Young people have an enormous stake in the present and future state of Earth. Almost half of the human population is under the age of 25. If young people's resources of energy, time, and knowledge are misdirected towards violence, terrorism, socially-isolating technologies, and unsustainable consumption, civilization risks destabilization. Yet, there is a powerful opportunity for society if young people can participate positively in all aspects of sustainable development. In order to do so, young people need education, political support, resources, skills, and hope.This volume offers a global perspective on education initiatives by and for young people that promote a transition to sustainability. It includes 38 essays co-authored by 68 contributors from 25 nations, representing a diversity of geography, gender, and generation. "The development of youth leadership has been a central concern of my professional work. Young people have a lot to offer to sustainable development and should participate in planning for our planet's future. This rich collection of theoretical and practical approaches captures the growing response of young people to this challenge. I am particularly pleased with the attention paid to the role of often-underrepresented regions of the world, to the role of women, and to the Earth Charter in the creating of a peaceful and sustainable future."Julia Marton-Lefèvre, Director General of IUCN (International Union for Conversation of Nature), and former Rector of the University for Peace"This book is a rich, global tapestry depicting the inter-linkages among youth, education and sustainable development. What is particularly interesting is that it shows how education, at all levels, can be a powerful engine for promoting sustainability. This work is an important contribution to the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable
Economic growth in Africa accelerated in the new millennium, enhancing confidence in the continent's future. Positive developments have taken place in the liberalization of trade and markets, in the strengthening of institutions and policies, and in investments in human and social capital and infrastructure. However, the growth has not trickled down to the large number of rural people experiencing chronic or crisis-driven hunger and poverty. Thus, Africa has had a larger proportion of extreme poor than any other region of the world. Most of Africa's poor are rural and most rely largely on crops, livestock, trees and fish – along with off-farm income – for their livelihoods. The improvement of agriculture, particularly smallholder farming systems, is fundamental to overcoming the problems of rural poverty and lagging rural economies. The African rural development context is unique and diverse, in its geography, agro-ecology, history, politics and culture. National and regional decision makers face the challenge of identifying the best agricultural and rural development opportunities with the greatest impact on food security, livelihoods and economic growth. Experience has shown that policy and investment decisions must be better grounded in local context-specific analyses, incorporating multi-stakeholder and systems approaches focused on the livelihood strategies and opportunities of farm men and women. The value of targeting technologies and policies to different farming systems has been recognized in the Science Agenda of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA). At the opening of the new millennium an FAO/World Bank analysis was published that examined rural development opportunities over the period from 2000 to 2015 from the perspective of farm households in major farming systems of the developing world (Dixon et al. 2001; www.fao.org/farmingsystems/). The analysis classified and mapped farming systems, including those of Africa, examined the drivers of change for the 2000–2015 period and identified strategic priorities for each system. This farming system framework and analysis has proved to be valuable for targeting and prioritizing agricultural research and development initiatives and has been used repeatedly – for example, by the InterAcademy Council report on Africa, the Millennium Villages Project, the CGIAR Collaborative Research Programs, and others. Given the major changes in African agricultural opportunities, it was time for an update of the 2000 FAO/World Bank analysis of African farming systems looking forward from 2015 to 2030. Since 2000 the African population has increased by a third, dynamism has returned to many African economies and regional agricultural research and development organizations have generated and disseminated many new varieties and practices – but farm household vulnerability and international market volatility have increased. The Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research supported an update, with assistance and guidance from the New Partnership for Africa's Development, the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, the CGIAR, the World Bank, and the Food and Agricultural Organization. The work was coordinated by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) in Nairobi. More than 60 scientists and development professionals, working in multi-disciplinary teams, assessed constraints, trends and strategic interventions in the 15 major farming systems across the continent. The analysis integrated key recent strategic reports and a wealth of expert knowledge and spatial data – including natural resource, production, infrastructural and nutritional information from FAO, World Bank, CGIAR, International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) and other sources. The resulting book provides a unique systematic, forward-looking, compendium of continent-wide farming system assessments and databases for agribusiness, policy makers and science leaders. The document will undoubtedly be a fundamental guide for years to come for prioritization and targeting of public and private investments to deliver food and nutrition security and rural transformation in Africa.
Due to capital constraints and land scarcity in developing countries, introducing new technology to boost productivity is difficult. As a result, working to improve cassava production efficiency is the best option available. Cassava is increasingly being used as a food source as well as an industrial raw material in the production of economic goods. This study estimates cassava production efficiency and investigates the causes of inefficiency in southern Ethiopia. Cross-sectional data from 158 households were collected using a systematic questionnaire. The Cobb-Douglas (CDs) stochastic frontier production model was used to calculate production efficiency levels. The computed mean result showed technical efficiency (TE), allocative efficiency (AE), and economic efficiency (EE) levels of 74, 90, and 66%, respectively. This demonstrated that existing farm resources could increase average production efficiency by 26, 10, and 34%, respectively. The study found that land size, urea fertilizer application, and cassava planting cut all had a positive and significant effect on cassava production. It was discovered that TE was more important than AE as a source of benefit for EE. Inefficiency effects modeled using the two-limit Tobit model revealed that household head age, level of education, cassava variety, extension contact, rural credit, off-farm activities involvement to generate income, and farm size were the most important factors for improving TE, AE, and EE efficiencies. As a result, policymakers in government should consider these factors when addressing inefficiencies in cassava production. It is especially important to provide appropriate agricultural knowledge through short-term training, to provide farmers with access to formal education, to access improved cassava varieties, and to support agricultural extension services.
This document contains the draft Chapter 4 of the IPBES Global Assessment on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. Governments and all observers at IPBES-7 had access to these draft chapters eight weeks prior to IPBES-7. Governments accepted the Chapters at IPBES-7 based on the understanding that revisions made to the SPM during the Plenary, as a result of the dialogue between Governments and scientists, would be reflected in the final Chapters.IPBES typically releases its Chapters publicly only in their final form, which implies a delay of several months post Plenary. However, in light of the high interest for the Chapters, IPBES is releasing the six Chapters early (31 May 2019) in a draft form. Authors of the reports are currently working to reflect all the changes made to the Summary for Policymakers during the Plenary to the Chapters, and to perform final copyediting.
