Wetlands are useful in tourism, development, food security and biodiversity. In Seychelles, they provide economic and conservation benefits through fisheries and agricultural production, flood control, shoreline stabilization. But climate change is the major threat to wetlands and sensitive planning is required to balance benefits for both humans and nature. Read more here.

 

In northern Kenya herders will be able to purchase insurance policies for their livestock, based on a project launched by ILRI. The program will use satellite images of grass and other vegetation to assess the state of grazing land. The insurance is valuable even without the deaths of livestock because it can be used to obtain credit to buy feed or drugs for animals. Read this story here.

 

High commodity prices, growing demand for biofuels, booming consumer demand in the cities, and growing markets for organic and Fair-trade products could all work in favor of small farmers, who can break into these growing markets through organizing and upgrading their production. Read this story here.

 

Genetically modified (GM) crops have been used by small-scale farmers and widely commercialised in developing countries including South Africa. They have recently been approved in Burkina Faso. Some GM products can help farmers control pests and avoid crop losses. Read this story here.

 

This project responds to a real demand for tools to develop and maintain land registration processes. The project will help FAO member countries to test and adopt low-cost open source technology for land records maintenance. The project will first be piloted in Ghana. Read more here.