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Desertification factsheet
Desertification occurs when the tree and plant cover that binds the soil is removed. It occurs when trees and bushes are stripped away for fuelwood and timber, or to clear land for cultivation. It occurs when animals eat away grasses and erode topsoil with their hooves. It occurs when intensive farming depletes the nutrients in the soil.
Wind and water erosion aggravate the damage, carrying away topsoil and leaving behind a highly infertile mix of dust and sand. It is the combination of these factors
that transforms degraded land into desert.
IFAD Annual Report 2009
IFAD, GEF Factsheet
country, give attention to an integrated approach to improving livelihoods through better access to natural resources and their sustainable management.
Remittances and Financial Literacy
Lightening the load - Labour saving technologies for rural women
Making the most of agricultural investment: A survey of business models that provide opportunities for smallholders
Comprehensive environment and climate change assessment in Viet Nam
This report was prepared for informing IFAD‘s Country Strategic Opportunities Program (COSOP) 2012 – 2017 for Viet Nam. In preparation of this report a brainstorming workshop was held on 9 May 2011 in Hanoi bringing together key national research institutes working on climate change (CC) and environment related issues, ministries of agriculture and environment and bilateral and multilateral donors.
Change Africa from within
IFAD's livestock position paper
Learning by working together - Microprojects financed through the Indigenous Peoples Assistance Facility (IPAF)
Alternatives to land acquisitions: Agricultural investment and collaborative business models
IFAD Decision Tools for Rural Finance
The potential for scale and sustainability in weather index insurance for agriculture and rural livelihoods
The difference we make, 2010
less than US$1.25 a day. About 1 billion of these men, women and
children live in the rural areas of developing countries.
Nearly 2 billion rural people live on less than US$2 a day. Most are
smallholder farmers and their families, who depend on agriculture for
their livelihoods.
Today, they must cope with rapid and unprecedented changes. Climate
change, a growing world population, and volatile food and energy
prices are pushing more people into extreme poverty and hunger.
For the first time in human history, the number of hungry people has
passed 1 billion. On top of this, tens of millions more people are
expected to go hungry by 2020 as a result of climate change.
Gender and livestock: tools for design
This Thematic Paper is part of a Toolkit for Project Design (Livestock Thematic Papers: Tools for Project Design) which reflects IFAD’s commitment to developing a sustainable livestock sector in which poor farmers and herders might have higher incomes, and better access to assets, services, technologies and markets.
The paper indents to be a practical tool for development practitioners, project designers and policymakers to define appropriate livestock development interventions. It also provides recommendations on critical issues for rural development and also possible responses and actions to encourage the socio-economic empowerment of poor livestock keepers.
Promoting women's leadership in farmers' and rural producers' organizations
This paper presents the outcomes of the Special Session of the 2010 Farmers’ Forum, Promoting Women’s Leadership in Farmers’ Organizations and Rural Producers’ Organizations, that was convened on 12 and 13 February in conjunction with the Thirty-third Session of IFAD’s Governing Council. The session was co-organized by IFAD and the non-governmental organization Women Organizing for Change in Agriculture and Natural Resources (WOCAN).
In plenary session and working groups, over 60 participants – including 35 women farmer representatives, members of the Farmers’ Forum Steering Committee, observers from NGOs and FAO, and many IFAD staff – had a rich discussion that generated important recommendations.
IFAD will follow up on those recommendations not only as a matter of equity, given women’s enormous contribution to agriculture, but also because a stronger women’s voice and leadership in agriculture are essential to making smallholder agriculture more productive and sustainable.
Gender and desertification: Making ends meet in drylands
Desertification is the process of land degradation that affects dryland areas and is caused by poverty, unsustainable land management and climate change. Drylands lose their productive capacity in a spiral of destruction that twins increased land degradation with increased poverty and food insecurity. Drought and desertification threaten the livelihoods of more than 1.2 billion people in 110 countries.
The problem is particularly acute in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia Desertification is the process of land degradation that affects dryland areas and is caused by poverty, unsustainable land management and climate change. Drylands lose their productive capacity in a spiral of destruction that twins increased land degradation with increased poverty and food insecurity. Drought and desertification threaten the livelihoods of more than 1.2 billion people in 110 countries. The problem is particularly acute in sub-Saharan Africa and Southern Asia.
Gender and desertification: Expanding roles for women to restore drylands
In addition to caring for their families, women across the developing world spend considerable proportions of their time and energy using and preserving land for the production of food and fuel and to generate income for their families and communities.
These activities include crop production, growing fruits and vegetables, raising small livestock, tending trees, processing products for food and markets, and managing and collecting water and fuel. Women are usually responsible for the plots in which food crops are grown, while men are responsible for the plots on which cash crops are grown. The latter account for a major part of the threat of soil nutrient depletion and desertification.
Annual report on investigative and anti-corruption activities 2009
The Investigation Section of the Office of Audit and Oversight (OA/IS) has a mandate to investigate alleged irregular practices, namely (i) fraud and corruption, in relation to entities, contractors and non-staff individuals applying for or participating in an IFAD-financed project or headquartersrelated contract; and (ii) staff misconduct, pursuant to the adoption by the Executive Board in December 2005 of the IFAD Policy on Preventing Fraud and Corruption in its Activities and Operations (EB 2005/85/R.5/Rev.1). Implementation of this policy, along with the establishment of a Sanctions Committee, has aligned IFAD with best practices in this area of other United Nations agencies and the main multilateral financial institutions.
Twenty-seven new allegations were received in 2009, compared with 30 in 2008. Fifty-nine per cent were external, mostly involving bidding irregularities and procurement-related fraud. Emphasis has been placed on promoting awareness of the anticorruption policy at every stage of the project cycle, thus putting the anticorruption message in the foreground.
Enabling poor rural people to overcome poverty in Syria
IFAD works in partnership with the government, other donors, NGOs, local institutions and civil society organizations. It finances initiatives which enable poor rural people in Syria’s agricultural settlement areas to improve their incomes and living conditions.
IFAD is working towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals and its interventions endeavour to reduce poverty and promote gender equality and environmental sustainability.
Sending Money Home to Africa
Remittances: sending money home
Eritrea - Catchments and landscape management project
restore vegetative cover and habitat diversity in areas of degraded rangelands,
forests and woodlands; and increase biodiversity within crop, livestock and
forest production landscapes.
Niger - Agricultural and rural rehabilitation and development initiative
Initiative, which will complement the ongoing IFAD-financed Agricultural and
Rural Rehabilitation and Development Initiative Project (ARRDI), will similarly
focus on southern Niger’s Maradi region – home to 20 per cent of the nation’s
population – targeting poor and extremely poor communities vulnerable to
environmental risk, with special emphasis on women and youth.
Ethiopia Community-based integrated natural resources management in Lake Tana watershed
chronically or periodically food insecure. Agriculture generates approximately 50 per cent of the GDP and 90 per cent of export earnings. Despite its importance, agricultural performance has improved little over the past 50 years and food security has deteriorated. Low agricultural productivity and chronic food insecurity are direct results of the ongoing degradation of natural resources in the
Ethiopian highlands.
Community-driven development decision tools for rural development programmes
Food prices: Smallholders can be part of the solution
Recent price volatility on international markets is putting pressure on global food security. For the 2 billion people who live and work on small farms in developing countries, life has become more precarious. But with the right investments, policies and development programmes in place, smallholder farmers have a huge potential to increase food production, improving their lives and contributing to greater food security for all.
IFAD Annual Report 2008
First mile project - factsheet 3
Mobile signal coverage is expanding fast. More and more people own and use mobile phones and some are finding innovative ways to use them to enhance their earning potential. In the Republic of Tanzania, Internet connectivity is evolving rapidly, but few people in rural areas have access to the technology. The use of mobile phones and text messages, or SMS, is still far more widespread than e-mail. Yet the speed of change is dramatic. Communication technologies that allow wireless access within a 30-km radius are being extended throughout Tanzania and tests are verifying the feasibility of using GPRS modems in remote districts.
“It was important that we adapt quickly, looking for ways to ensure that everybody benefits
from these changes,” says Clive Lightfoot, technical advisor of the First Mile Project. “We want
to make certain that groups of people are not left behind and that the revolution is also
directed towards reducing rural poverty.”
Fighting water scarcity in the Arab coutries
The Arab countries account for more than 5 per cent of the world’s population, but less than 1 per cent of global water resources. And as a consequence of the phenomena associated with climate change, the region is facing an even greater water shortage.
For 30 years now, IFAD and its partners in the region have worked to develop effective, replicable solutions to help poor rural communities manage their scarce water resources. More than half of IFAD’s programmes and projects in the region include a focus on water.