Tag Archives: biodiversity

Soils’ vital role in climate change, biodiversity and sustainable farming – a conversation with Prof Pete Smith

Posted on 5 July 2022 by Geoff Tansey

When I was young there was a BBC radio comedy programme with a character whose catchphrase was ‘the answer lies in the soil’*. When it comes to climate change, biodiversity and sustainable farming systems we now realise that yes, a … Continue reading →

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New approaches needed to address biodiversity loss and seed systems argues Dr Selim Louafi

Posted on 16 May 2022 by Geoff Tansey

A new approach that goes beyond the narrowly scientific is needed to both work with farmers on their seed systems and address biodiversity loss, argues Dr Sélim Louafi, deputy director for Research and Strategy at CIRAD (French Agricultural Research Centre … Continue reading →

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The multiple roles for agriculture, forestry and other land use change in mitigating climate change – findings from latest IPCC report, interview with Dr Jo House

Posted on 8 April 2022 by Geoff Tansey

The latest almost 3000 page full report on Mitigation of Climate Change from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has just landed. Here Dr Jo House, Reader in Environmental Science and Policy at the University of Bristol, and a … Continue reading →

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Protecting biodiversity for food systems in the face of climate change 

Posted on 18 January 2022 by Geoff Tansey

Biodiversity, food systems and climate change are inextricably linked. The recent COP26 on climate change in Glasgow got worldwide coverage but it was sandwiched between the two-part COP15 of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Kunming China – which has … Continue reading →

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Defending farmers’ rights and farmers’ plant breeding systems

Posted on 24 November 2021 by Geoff Tansey

Francois Meienberg works to promote plant breeding for the benefit of society, fully implementing farmers’ rights to plant genetic resources and promoting biodiversity through The Association for Plant Breeding for the Benefit of Society (APBREBES), which he leads. The Association … Continue reading →

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Stop eating to extinction and maintain food biodiversity says Dan Saladino

Posted on 29 October 2021 by Geoff Tansey

Dan Saladino’s written an engrossing account of some of the world’s rarest foods in ‘Eating to Extinction: The world’s Rarest Food and Why We Need to Save Them‘. In this conversation he discusses why, tells some of the stories and … Continue reading →

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Four key words for the UN #FoodSystems Summit – power, control, risks, benefits.

Posted on 30 July 2021 by Geoff Tansey

There’s a veritable avalanche of reports, webinars and meetings around food systems at the moment. From the locally focussed National Food Strategy for England and Proposals for Sustainable Food Systems in Ireland (download report here), to the UN Food and … Continue reading →

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Safeguarding biodiversity for food and agriculture needed urgently

Posted on 22 June 2021 by Geoff Tansey

Global biodiversity is severely threatened, including that which we depend upon for food, Continue reading →

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Pharma, food and innovation – time for a rethink, says Prof Graham Dutfield

Posted on 26 February 2021 by Geoff Tansey

Rules on intellectual property and other legal requirements affect food, farming, medicines, biodiversity and are changing the meaning of property. Continue reading →

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It’s time to turn swords into ploughshares, bombs into bread, and soldiers into good Samaritans*

Posted on 23 April 2020 by Geoff Tansey

It is blatantly obvious that there is no military response that can defeat the COVID-19 virus. It should be equally obvious that military spending can’t deal with the other two great long-term, slower-acting pandemics – climate change and biodiversity loss. … Continue reading →

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