What we’ve been reading this week

This week’s summary on the news stories, reports and blogs that have grabbed our attention. We welcome your thoughts and comments on these articles.

Climate, Environment and Biodiversity

Agriculture is everywhere—why is it not mentioned in the COP21 agreement? The Economist

Why we’re losing foods we love, why it matters, and how we can stop it, The Washington Post

Climate change: Cereal harvests across the world ‘fall by 10% in 50 years’, Independent

Agreement at the Paris Climate Summit: an important step forward, let’s build on it, The Economist

Food and Nutrition Security

The Role of SDGs in Achieving Zero Hunger, IPS

‘Very, very severely malnourished’: South Sudan’s children on the brink, The Guardian

Ending hunger: Can we achieve humanity’s elusive goal by 2050? Oxford Farming Conference

The Next Great Famine, The New Yorker

People are starving in East Africa — again — as the world looks away, Los Angeles Times

Women in Agriculture

This Land is Our Land: Gender perspectives on tenure and rights, Global Landscapes  Forum

Why the Paris Agreement is Good News for Women and Girls, DipNote

Beyond advocacy: What it takes to strengthen women’s land rights, Devex

Women and landless youth benefit from Ethiopian government land investments, Thrive

Technology, Biotechnology, and innovation

Farmers film their homegrown solutions, Thrive

Africa takes fresh look at GMO crops as drought blights continent, Reuters Africa

Drones set to give global farming a makeover, The Guardian

The global pipeline of GM crops out to 2020, Nature

It’s practically impossible to define “GMOs” Grist

The sceptical optimist helping poor people boost earnings – and resilience, The Guardian

Enter the Dragon’s Den: Youth innovators and landscapes, Thrive

Politics and Policy

We Need to Defend the DfID Budget and Make Sure It Is Used for International Development, Huffington Post

Researchers map top 100 development questions, SciDevNet

What Happened To The Food Industry Last Year? TechCrunch

How can governments and investors be held to account for land deals in Africa? PLAAS

Fake seeds; is creation of a regulatory body the answer? Sunrise

EU food safety watchdog hits back at scientists in glyphosate row, Reuters