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Agriculture & Environment: Food security

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Displaying 1-12 of 12 links

Access to Global Online Research in Agriculture

Launched in 2003, AGORA provides free or subsidised journal access to not-for-profit institutions in eligible countries. Once details are finalised, all institutions in countries with a GNP per capita under US$1,000 will be given access to participating literature. The journal collection focuses on agriculture and related sciences, and includes titles from major publishing houses. AGORA is an FAO initiative. Click here for more details about registering.

Africa Portal

The Africa Portal, part of the larger Africa Initiative project, is an online resource for policy-related issues in Africa, covering climate change, food security, energy and health, among other areas. It is published by the Centre for International Governance Innovation; Makerere University, Uganda; and the South African Institute of International Affairs. The website offers an open access publications library with more than 3,000 books, journals, and digital documents available online or to download. It also publishes opinion and analysis on current issues, a directory of experts on African policy, and announcements including events and grants.

African Journal of Food Agriculture, Nutrition and Development

AJFAND is an academic journal — published quarterly — by the Rural Outreach Programme, a non-profit company based in Kenya. The journal's free-access website features peer-reviewed articles about poverty, food security, disease and agriculture in Africa. It also provides commentaries, short communications, book reviews, and relevant news and events. Students can submit work to the student section.

AlertNet: Alerting humanitarians to emergencies

A project of the Thomson Reuters Foundation, AlertNet is a news aggregator that aims to raise awareness of humanitarian crises around the globe, particularly 'forgotten' emergencies that rarely make headlines. It publishes news from over 400 aid agencies and other media outlets across a range of topics, from natural disasters to climate change to health. AlertNet also provides tools for journalists, including facts and figures, crisis briefings and training modules.

Global Health Frontline News

This website publishes video news coverage of under-reported global health stories, focusing on HIV/AIDS; polio; tuberculosis; malaria; neglected tropical diseases; maternal and child health; and food security. Each topic includes an overview of the subject, a photo gallery, and the latest news and videos highlighting current issues. The website includes a blog, a 'newsroom' page that highlights developments within the organisation, details of current and future film projects, and links to related organisations.

GRAIN bird flu page

GRAIN is a nongovernmental organisation that promotes sustainable management of agricultural biodiversity. The bird flu page of its website provides free access to a number of publications and websites on bird flu and its impact on small-scale farmers in the developing world. The list of publications includes a commentary on the problems created by a top-down approach to controlling bird flu, as well as GRAIN's report on the role of the poultry industry in spreading the disease — available in English, French, German, Portuguese and Spanish.

Guardian Environment

The Guardian Environment website publishes news and commentary on environmental issues such as climate change, energy, ethical living, food and recycling.

It also provides blogs, job listings and multimedia, including audio and video podcasts. Users can comment and are encouraged to join discussions.

The website also aggregates relevant news from members of the Guardian Environment Network, which brings together the world's best environment websites including SciDev.Net, China Dialogue, Real Science and the World Resources Institute.

HarvestPlus

HarvestPlus works towards reducing micronutrient malnutrition, or 'hidden hunger', by improving the level of micronutrients in staple food crops in Africa and Asia using bio-fortification. It focuses on iron, zinc, and vitamin A — recognised by the WHO as critical micronutrients — and on crops such as millet, wheat, rice and sweet potato.

The website details current activities through an online map and provides access to publications including abstracts, technical monographs, and working papers produced with 60 partner institutions.

A list of links to online resources including reports, articles, and blogs is also made available.

See below for a HarvestPlus video about their work:

 

Nourishing the planet

This blog from the Worldwatch Institute publishes news, commentary and videos about agricultural innovations such as cropping methods or irrigation technologies. The blog contributors highlight projects and activities from across the developing world, with the aim of demonstrating the benefits of flexible food systems for sustainability, diversity, ecosystem health and hunger eradication.

Plantwise

This initiative, run by the non-profit organisation CABI (the Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International), aims to improve food security by reducing crop losses. It helps smallholder farmers by gathering and disseminating information about plant health via plant clinics and a knowledge bank. The knowledge bank is hosted on CABI's website, and contains key plant health information from across the world, including a diagnostic tool and factsheet library. A map is available to view pest and crop distribution data alongside other information, including climate data. The website also enables access to publications, and includes a media centre providing press releases, news, and multimedia.

Prolinnova

This programme was set up by several nongovernmental organisations to promote sustainable agriculture and natural resource management in developing nations. It aims to facilitate the use of indigenous knowledge to help farmers devise systems to cope with change, achieve food security, sustain livelihoods and protect the environment. It also works towards integrating local innovations into formal agricultural research.

The website offers information on projects arranged by country and project theme, as well as relevant news and events. It also publishes extensive resources including links to publications, training materials and a gallery with audiovisual resources.

The World of Food Science

This online quarterly journal, published jointly by the US-based Institute of Food Technologists and the International Union of Food Science and Technology, publishes reports on food science and technology from around the globe. It also publishes policy papers, regional reports, updates on international regulations and feature articles on subjects such as food science and technology in West Africa and China.

Food security features often in the journal, and there is a special section in each issue dedicated to it.