Cross-posted from the Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet. For over 40 years, Earth Day has served as a call to action, mobilising individuals and organisations around the world to address these challenges. This year Nourishing the Planet highlights agriculture—often blamed as a driver of environmental problems—as an emerging solution. Agriculture is a source of food […]
Danielle Nierenberg
Danielle Nierenberg, a food and agriculture expert. She is co-founder of Food Tank: The Food Think Tank (www.FoodTank.org). Twitter: @DaniNierenberg.
Posted inGeneral
Celebrating biodiversity
By Danielle Nierenberg & Amanda Stone The year 2010 was declared the International Year of Biodiversity by the United Nations and not surprisingly, the focus lay mainly on the usual species the public recognizes and adores, without addressing the bigger issues. It isn’t only pandas and rainforests that need protecting. There are also thousands […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Where cultivation meets conflict
Part I: Farming in Sudan’s war-torn Darfur region Producing enough food to satisfy domestic markets is a challenge that countries throughout sub-Saharan Africa face. But for places in Africa where conflict and war prevail, the threat of hunger and malnutrition is particularly acute. For many, the biggest obstacle is accessibility, as internal conflict often limits […]
Posted inNews/Politics
When two elephants fight, it’s the grass that suffers
By Danielle Nierenberg and Abby Massey “When two elephants fight, it’s the grass that suffers,” says Gertrude Hambira, Secretary General of the General Agriculture Plantation Workers Union of Zimbabwe (GAPWUZ), describing the state of her country since elections two years ago. The elephants in this case are Zimbabwe’s two leaders, Robert Mugabe and Morgan Tsvangirai, […]
Posted inGeneral
Thinking big by starting small
Originally featured in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on June 30, 2010 and written by Danielle Nierenberg, Molly Theobald and Stephanie Hanson. It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the fact that 1 billion people worldwide are going to bed hungry every night. And, in the United States, it is easy to look at sub-Saharan Africa — where the […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Working with the Root
The following is an eight-part series about Danielle Nierenberg’s visit to the Ecumenical Association for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development’s (ECASARD) work in Ghana. Cross posted from Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet. Part I: Working with the Root The Ecumenical Association for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (ECASARD), based in Accra, Ghana, is a unique […]
Posted inGeneral
Innovative Ways of Hearing Farmers’ Voices
This is a three part series about Danielle Nierenberg’s visit to the Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network in Pretoria, South Africa. Cross posted from Worldwatch Institute’s Nourishing the Planet. Part I: Working to connect farmers, researchers, and policy makers in Africa The Food, Agriculture, and Natural Resources Policy Analysis Network (FANRPAN) lives […]
Posted inLifestyle
The peanut butter model
It’s not every day you meet someone from Raleigh while travelling in Lusaka, Zambia. Dale Lewis might not have intended to spend decades in the landlocked African country of 12 million, but his passion for protecting wildlife and for conservation led him there — and his entrepreneurial spirit and desire to lift farmers from poverty while […]
Posted inBusiness
Zambian farmers lead the way
In the US, it seems like we only hear about what’s going wrong in Africa. We see and read stories about famine, HIV/Aids, disease, or conflict. In fact, few Americans will ever step foot in countries like Malawi or Zambia, largely because our media often scares people away. As I travel across Africa, working as […]
Posted inNews/Politics
Livestock keepers’ rights: Conserving endangered animal genetic resources in Kenya
By Dr Jacob Wanyama and Danielle Nierenberg Maralal, Kenya, is mostly known for its wildlife. And as we made the seven hour, bumpy trek from Nairobi — half of it on unpaved roads — we saw our fair share of water buffaloes, rhinos, impala, and giraffes. But we weren’t here to go on safari. We […]
Posted inGeneral
Recovery is a word you hear a lot in Rwanda
By Danielle Nierenberg and Jim Devries From public-service announcements on television to billboards — it’s the motto for a place that just 15 years ago was torn apart by genocide. More than one million people were murdered in 1994 as ethnic strife turned neighbour against neighbour in one of the bloodiest civil wars in African […]