Two studies, one in Nature and the other in Science present evidence to demonstrate the importance of biodiversity in maintaining long term ecosystem productivity and sustainability.
The Soil Association has published Just say N2O: From manufactured fertiliser to biologically-fixed nitrogen. This report reviews the extent to which organic systems can meet the double challenge of reducing nitrogen losses and building stores of soil...
A couple of papers by FCRN mailing-list members on soil carbon sequestration: these conclude that the benefits of soil carbon sequestration activites (through the incorporation of organic matter and/or reduced tillage) have been overstated and may...
A paper in Science reports on a study which finds a correlation betweeen species diversity and multifunctionality – ie the number of ecosystem services it performs. The study focuses on drylands on all continents except Antarctica. It...
This study of large land acquisitions in developing countries published by the International Land Coalition (ILC) finds more evidence of harm than benefits. More than 40 organisations collaborated on the Global Commercial Pressures on Land...
In September, Wilton Park hosted a conference on ‘Global Land Use: Policies for the future’. The conference was the second in a series on ‘Agriculture, food and land use: the international policy challenges’. The conference...
New research commissioned by Friends of the Earth Europe from Sustainable Europe Research Institute shows the scale of flows of ‘virtual land’ around the world – this is all the land that has been used to produce traded products. The European...
BioCarbon Tracker – funded by the biofuels company, Greenergy, with technical support from Ecometrica, The University of Edinburgh and the UK‘s National Centre for Earth Observation – is a tool that has been developed to provide a clear picture of...
This report, published by the Union of Concerned Scientists, looks at the multitude of drivers which cause deforestation, and as such it includes chapters on soy, palm oil and cattle ranching.
This report, published by WWF in 2011, recognises that demand for soya beans and soya products has risen dramatically in recent decades. In just 15 years, production of the crop has doubled, and the land used to grow soya worldwide now covers an area...
