As the world reels from concurrent and successive crises, so much is clear: food, agricultural and forestry systems will need to change if we are to ensure a future worth living for succeeding generations. We cannot continue to produce food, fibre, timber and energy at the cost of the planet; destroyed forests are too high a price to pay for cosmetics; degraded farms that produce lower-quality food are an unnecessary cost; and the energy that drives all of this can no longer come from below or above the surface of the Earth unless it is renewable.
Find out how CIFOR-ICRAF is addressing five major global challenges with actionable, game-changing solutions.
Deforestation and biodiversity loss
Forests and trees absorb carbon, regulate the climate, and provide fresh water, food, shelter, energy, medicines and livelihoods to millions of people.
Yet we continue to log and degrade forest landscapes at alarming rates …
A climate in crisis
Global heating is a well-documented fact, and the impacts of a changing climate are being felt worldwide.
But we are fast reaching a tipping point from which we cannot return …
Transforming food systems
As the global human population approaches an estimated 9 billion people by 2050, the consequences of a global food crisis loom larger each year.
Time is running out to transform the way we produce food …
Unsustainable supply and value chains
Consumer awareness about the unsustainability of commodity production has delivered a wake-up call to private companies, governments and financial service providers.
But are they doing enough, quickly enough, to change business as usual?
Extreme inequality
Deforestation and land degradation, global heating, failing agriculture and destructive value chains … all of these challenges hit the most vulnerable people the hardest.
What will it take for women, Indigenous Peoples and rural communities to be heard?
These challenges interact with and amplify each other in myriad ways (Figure 2). Our work addresses these challenges directly and in their complexity, contributing to long-term solutions as well as to global processes including the Sustainable Development Goals.
