Climate change adaptation in agriculture and natural resource management

Integrating climate change in sustainable development

Date: 03 -14 February 2014; Venue: East Africa, The Netherlands

-      NFP Fellowships available – apply before 07 May 2013   -

Please find below more information on the International course on:Climate change adaptation in agriculture and natural resource management. Please feel free to circulate this email in your network. We request you to inform us of any links to a related websites on which we could also post this announcement.

  

Introduction

Without appropriate responses, climate change is likely to constrain economic development and poverty reduction efforts. But if you plan for it, adaptation to climate change is possible. Well-designed strategies, based on climate-smart approaches, can offer ways out. Read more

Application

Interested candidates can apply at the website of Centre for Development Innovation, Wageningen UR for admission to the training. Click here to apply.

NFP Fellowships

A limited number of fellowships is available from Nuffic - the Netherlands Fellowship Programme (NFP) for nationals of certain countries. In order to apply for such a NFP fellowship, you have to register through the Nuffic Scholarship Online (SOL) system.. Applications for NFP fellowships should be submitted before 07 May 2013. SOL opens on March 01. You will be informed by Nuffic whether your application has been accepted. More information on the NFP fellowships.

Important

Please note that for a valid NPF fellowship application you need to register directly at CDI as well as at Nuffic (SOL). Your fellowship application will not be taken into account if you register with only one of these two institutions.

Please feel free to circulate a link to this announcement in your networks.

Course coordinator: Irene Koomen 

Centre for Development Innovation (CDI)
Wageningen UR
P.O. Box 88, 6700 AB Wageningen, The Netherlands
E-mail: Irene.koomen@wur.nl  

Please like us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/CDIwageningenUR

Website: www.wageningenur.nl/cdi

Twitter: www.twitter.com/CDIwageningenUR

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Climate change governance: International course on

Adaptation and mitigation as institutional change processes

Date: 02 – 13 September, 2013; Venue: The Netherlands, Wageningen

-      NFP Fellowships available – apply before 05 February 2013   -

Introduction

Large contrasts exist in how we manage the food we have available. While in parts of our societies there is a shortage of food, in the urban and wealthier communities, good food is thrown away only because it is beyond its sell-by date. Optimising the ‘farm to fork’ chain can contribute significantly to food security. Read more

Application

Interested candidates can apply at the website of Centre for Development Innovation, Wageningen UR for admission to the training. Click here to apply.

NFP Fellowships

A limited number of fellowships is available from Nuffic - the Netherlands Fellowship Programme (NFP) for nationals of certain countries. In order to apply for such a NFP fellowship, you have to register through the Nuffic Scholarship Online (SOL) system. Applications for NFP fellowships should be submitted before 5 February 2013. SOL opens on December 01. You will be informed by Nuffic whether your application has been accepted. More information on the NFP fellowships.

Important

Please note that for a valid NPF fellowship application you need to register directly at CDI as well as at Nuffic (SOL). Your fellowship application will not be taken into account if you register with only one of these two institutions.

Please feel free to circulate a link to this post through email in your network.

Course coordinator: Ingrid Gevers

Centre for Development Innovation (CDI)
Wageningen UR
P.O. Box 88, 6700 AB Wageningen, The Netherlands
E-mail: Ingrid,gevers@wur.nl

Please like us on facebook: www.facebook.com/CDIwageningenUR

Website: www.wageningenur.nl/cdi

Twitter: www.twitter.com/CDIwageningenUR

Climate protection: International fellowships for young leaders

Interested candidates from developing and emerging countries can now apply again for an International Climate Protection Fellowship offered by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. The deadline for application is 1 December 2012.

 

The International Climate Protection Fellowship brings young leaders from developing and emerging countries to Germany for twelve months. Before submitting their applications, they must have selected and established contact with an appropriate host university or institution, where they will carry out free, independent research on a subject connected with climate protection and resource conservation. The Humboldt fellows also engage in intensive discussion of their research findings, methods and techniques with their host institutions. This year, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation selects up to 15 young qualified leaders. 

 

To be eligible for a an International Climate Protection Fellowship, applicants must have gained a first degree in the last 12 years. They must also have a further academic or professional qualification or have worked in their chosen profession for at least four years. Leadership experience is also a selection criterion.

 

Tomorrow’s experts

 

The International Climate Protection Fellowships are primarily intended for people who are already engaged in climate protection,’ says Francois Buscot, a member of the selection committee. One of the key aims is to promote exchange of ideas among the recipients of the fellowship. To do that, they travel around Germany and get to know organizations engaged in the field of climate protection. The idea is that the fellowship recipients build up a network which they can then draw upon later when they are working around the world as experts in a range of fields.

 

A variety of additional benefits

 

The Alexander von Humboldt Foundation’s support is not merely financial: the fellowship also includes a one or two-month intensive language course, an introductory seminar, training courses and a final meeting in Berlin for all fellows.

For further information and application, please refer to the website of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Soil Science: Healing Our Planet's Ills from the Ground Up

Under our feet and ubiquitous, lowly soil can be easily overlooked when it comes to addressing climate change and population growth. But in the January-February issue of the Soil Science Society of America Journal, a team of scientists say soil is an essential piece of the biosphere and more attention should be paid to protecting it. Strategies for doing so include refocusing and boosting research, and communicating its importance to the public.

 "The article is a call to better engage with each other and with those concerned about the coming stresses to the planet," said soil scientist Cesar Izaurralde of the Joint Global Change Research Institute in College Park, Md., a collaboration between the Department of Energy's Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in Richland, Wash., and the University of Maryland. "A better understanding of soils is needed to help us weather the changes, many of which will be around for future generations to contend with."

While people don't think much about soil, it quietly and continuously services life on Earth. Soil provides the basis for food and fiber production; it supports a diversity of plant, animal, and microbial life; it regulates nutrient cycles and gas exchange with the atmosphere; it cultures our inner feelings for home, for place, for renewal of spirit.

However, changes occurring to our planet are affecting the services provided by soil. Whether these changes are natural or stimulated by the activities of an ever-increasing population, there is an urgent need to rejuvenate the essential services provided by soil. After all, soil depletion has hastened the collapse of at least one society, the Greeks, and contributed to economic hardship as recently as the last century in the Great Plains of the United States.

The international team of researchers suggest how soil scientists and others can work together to devise strategies to save the soil for the benefit of the planet, the people that inhabit it now and in the future, and all other life that depends on human stewardship.

Representing the 2008 Emerging Issues in Soil Science Committee of the Soil Science Society of America, this team defined some of the most urgent questions that humanity will be facing in coming decades and explored ways that research in soil science might help address those questions.

In their broad discussion, the scientists address eight critical issues: demands for food, water, nutrients, and energy, and the challenges of climate change, biodiversity loss, biological waste recycling, and global resource equity.

For example, feeding the burgeoning population will require planning to protect the soil and environment, and managing soil can help people use dwindling pools of freshwater more wisely. Nutrients in the soil can be depleted, so it will be important to preserve soil's fertility while improving harvests. Climate change will undoubtedly affect the productivity and resilience of soil, and soil underpins the biodiversity of organisms large and small. Using soils to recycle biological wastes has the potential to replenish our invaluable renewable resources. Finally, soil is the skin of the planet Earth and as such must be viewed as a global resource managed locally.

The authors recommend four steps soil scientists should take to address these critical issues. They include refocusing research to the most urgent problems, broadening their vision from soil to entire ecosystems, enticing young scientists to pursue careers in the field, and improving soil science's image problem with better stories of its past successes and future prospects.

The conversations the researchers hope to elicit may help direct soil science toward greater relevance in preserving our fragile home on this changing planet.

Journal Reference:

1. H. H. Janzen, P.E. Fixen, A. J. Franzluebbers, J. Hattey, R. C. Izaurralde, Q. M. Ketterings, D. A. Lobb, W. H. Schlesinger. Global Prospects Rooted in Soil Science. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 2011; 75 (1): 1 DOI: 10.2136/sssaj2009.0216

Source

DOE/Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (2011, February 9). Soil science: Healing our planet's ills from the ground up. ScienceDaily. Retrieved August 23, 2011, from http://www.sciencedaily.com­ /releases/2011/02/110209151312.htm