While interest is generated over new and emerging technologies, there is a diversity of knowledge, technologies and practices in agriculture, health care, conservation and sustainable use of natural resources and ecosystem management. Many of these support the livelihoods of small farmers, fisherfolk, indigenous peoples and local entrepreneurs affecting millions of people and communities across the world, especially in developing countries. In many cases, national industries have developed from traditional knowledge and endogenous technologies.There are thus vast potential and promises in these sustainable systems and practices, requiring investment and mainstreaming into development policies at the national, regional and international level. A holistic approach to technology assessment and choice would develop sophisticated principles, criteria and indicators that enable countries to benefit from sustainable production and conservation systems.

Sustainable Agriculture Increases Crop Yields in Tigray, Ethiopia

The report documents the results of a 10-year experiment in sustainable development and ecological land management in the Tigray region of Ethiopia. […]

Democratising Technology

The concept of ‘technology transfer’ has long been presented as a means to address the great divide between industrialised and less industrialised countries. But just providing access to basic technologies is not enough. People need to be given control […]

Sustainable Agriculture: Critical Ecological, Social & Economic Issues

Various ecological, social and economic challenges must be addressed if agriculture is to be truly sustainable. This briefing discusses the choices facing developing countries and policy makers, and suggests some ways forward. […]

Feeding the world?

Jules Pretty, Director of the Centre for Environment and Society at the University of Essex, examines the myths and realities of sustainable farming’s quiet revolution […]

Coexistence of Agricultural Production Systems

The report concludes that voluntary GMO-free zones might be a tool for sustainable co-existence. […]

Yields rose 79% from sustainable agriculture in South

A study published in the journal ‘Environmental Science & technology’ suggests that poor farmers in developing countries can increase agricultural productivity by adopting “resource-conserving” or sustainable agriculture. […]

The Myths of Agricultural Biotechnology: some ethical questions

The author contends that the key problem facing agroecologists, is that modern industrial agriculture, today epitomized by biotechnology, is founded on philosophical premises that are fundamentally flawed. […]

The Potential of Agroecology to Combat Hunger in the Developing World

The authors maintain that agroecology, a scientific discipline that uses ecological theory to study, design, manage and evaluate agricultural systems that are productive but also resource conserving, may well be the answer of hunger in the Third World. […]

Agroecology: principles and strategies for designing sustainable farming systems

The author introduces agroecology as an example of the practice of sustainable agriculture. […]

Seed Purity

This research report documents the alternatives to thresholds and concludes that no relaxation of the zero tolerance standard is required given the availability of commercially viable, extremely low risk pathways to import seed. […]