Agriculture and food

Explaining the link between heatwaves and climate change, the impacts of extreme heat, and what governments and cities are doing to adapt.

Long-running border disputes between Ethiopia and Sudan are intersecting with other internal conflicts, bringing greater militarization and economic instability.

£1000 grants are available for innovative and engaging ideas to deliver a fair and sustainable future.

Events in France and Germany show that policies to deliver sustainable food, transport and energy systems need to take far better account of the needs of rural communities.

Explaining the key issues at the COP28 summit in Dubai.

African leaders who went to St Petersburg expecting tangible results from Putin’s promised new programme of support for Africa will undoubtedly have concluded that Russia is unable to offer what they need.

As dust storms in the Middle East become increasingly frequent and intense, adversaries must cooperate to address the causes.

This episode features a conversation with Hon. Celso Ismael Correia on the challenges facing the agricultural sector in Mozambique.

The supply chain of a seemingly innocuous cash crop – sesame – has intersected with transnational conflict dynamics, exacerbating tensions between Ethiopia and Sudan.

Explaining the human activities that threaten biodiversity, and why a loss of biodiversity threatens the future of humanity.

This episode examines relations between Ethiopia and Sudan as part of an XCEPT project mini-series.

The conflict supply chain of wheat from Ukraine and Russia to Syria highlights interlinkages between the conflicts and the role of sanctions in driving cooperation.

Animation showcasing how a collaborative approach between policy institutes in the Global South and Global North can improve forestry policy decisions.

Despite few African trade and financial links with Russia and Ukraine, the war in Ukraine will cause civil strife in Africa due to food and energy inflation.

The Common Futures Conversations community share their ideas for how their communities can better adapt for the challenges presented by climate change.

A UN conference in December is hoping to set targets to mitigate humanity’s impact on wildlife and habitats. Here we assess the damage so far and why it matters.

This sensitive oral history of the conflict’s early years forgoes political analysis to reveal the suffering endured by all Yemenis, says Helen Lackner.

Chatham House environment experts give their initial reaction to the end of COP27, examining how much progress was achieved, and the key issues still to be worked on.

This episode discusses how the Horn of Africa’s worst drought in 40 years is affecting more than 20 million people across several countries.

Gareth Price examines the key factors contributing to the food crisis in Southeast Asia.

A special episode with HE Joaquim Chissano, former president of the Republic of Mozambique and the 2006 winner of the Chatham House Prize.

A record number of people were going hungry - and then the war in Ukraine made it worse. Arif Husain on why acting now will cost less in the future.

Nature-based solutions can protect African nations’ shared natural endowment and meet the needs of their people.

Focusing on the next UN climate change conference (COP27), which takes place 7-18 November 2022 in Egypt.

The fourteenth episode of our podcast mini-series examines the broader implications of the food crisis as a follow-up to an earlier episode in the series.

Ahmed Soliman examines the challenges the new president Hassan Sheikh Mohamud faces in his first 100 days as president.

Beyond immediate challenges of Russian’s invasion of Ukraine, NATO should consider how to prepare for a context in which climate impacts are becoming severe.

The ninth episode of our podcast mini-series examines perspectives from Brazil and the Africa region and the impact on their relations with Russia.

The Common Futures Conversations community share their priorities for rebuilding their communities in the wake of COVID-19.

Myroslav Shylo, a volunteer and restaurant owner from Trostianets in Ukraine, talks about life under Russian occupation.

Amid civil war and territorial rivalry on both sides of the Ethiopia–Sudan border, sesame has become central to a conflict economy that perpetuates violence and political instability.

Competing demands for land will increasingly complicate resource security and climate action, threatening international and environmental stability. This report explores the pressures, and sets out how the risks can be mitigated.

The war is making the challenges of climate change harder to overcome, both in Ukraine and worldwide.

Integrating nature-based solutions into the forest bioeconomy can help address the funding gap for these activities by tapping into existing flows of sustainable finance.

While current food systems hinder efforts towards climate and biodiversity goals, a transformation in the way food is produced could enable progress on these crises this decade.

From the international through to the local level, inclusive approaches are needed to ensure effective governance of forests and promote the sustainable use of land.

What might a transformed, healthy and sustainable global food system look like? Two contrasting models of sustainability show the options for targeting policy and investment.

While the war in Ukraine is having significant global impacts for energy, food and fertilizer markets, it may also aggravate wider economic and social upheaval.

Progress towards SDG2: Zero Hunger has slowed in recent years; reform of the Rome-based UN agencies may hold the key to getting this initiative back on track.

A new paper assesses the impacts of the pandemic on UK food and nutrition security, as the country establishes its post-Brexit priorities for trade and agriculture.

The international community must partner effectively with Brazilian stakeholders to conserve the Amazonian forest and foster sustainable economic development.

In the near term, climate change adaptation efforts must prioritize tackling socio-economic vulnerabilities in the most at-risk regions. Failure to act will worsen climate impacts across the world.

Ahead of COP26, the world is dangerously off track to meet the Paris Agreement goals. The risks are compounding, and without immediate action the impacts will be devastating in coming decades.

Global food production is the key driver of accelerating biodiversity loss. This paper introduces three levers for reducing pressures on land and creating a more sustainable food system.

The paper proposes a definition of sustainable procurement so goods, services, works and utilities achieve value for money on a life-cycle basis.

This paper explores the impacts of large-scale mining on forests, within this wider context of transition.

This report is the first of its kind to reveal the hidden costs of malnutrition for business.

Agricultural subsidies shape production and consumption patterns, with potentially significant effects on poverty, nutrition and other sustainability concerns. This paper maps the different types of support provided by governments to the agricultural sector, and highlights some of the complex political economy dynamics that underpin the relevant policies.

This paper explores a set of core trade-related issues affecting the food and land use system, and proposes constructive ways forward in reconfiguring the global trading system towards delivering a more sustainable and healthy diet for all.

Plant-based ‘meat’ and ‘lab-grown’ meat may help to tackle the unsustainability of the livestock sector. Focusing on the EU, this paper explores the challenges of scaling up production and generating demand for such meat analogues.

Indonesia has an uncommon chance to bypass the negative trajectory of diets in other emerging economies and build a healthy and sustainable food system.

Brexit, for better or worse, means a major structural change in how people in the UK think about the food they eat. There is an opportunity to reformulate food policy for the better, but this could be easily squandered if not managed carefully.

Policymakers must take action immediately to mitigate the risk of severe disruption at certain ports, maritime straits, and inland transport routes, which could have devastating knock-on effects for global food security.

Reducing global meat consumption will be critical to keeping global warming below the ‘danger level’ of two degrees Celsius, the main goal of the climate negotiations in Paris.

Human consumption of meat and dairy products is a major driver of climate change, but this new paper finds that there is a major lack of public awareness and understanding of the link between eating meat and dairy and climate change.