Thrive Podcast

Georgina Smith of the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT)explores cassava in Vietnam, which is an important staple crop in much of Southeast Asia, especially in some of the highland areas, and is a key export commodity. She speaks to specialists who are exploring some of the severe threats this important crop is facing, not least of which are some unwelcome pest invaders.

Can the private sector put sustainability at the core of its business? Watch this film to find out how JSW Steel and Asian Paints are working with ICRISAT to improve local ecosystem health to ensure long term sustainability within the communities surrounding their plants.

In this episode of Thrive Podcast, filmmaker Doug Varchol speaks with attendees of the Global Landscapes Forum (a major parallel event of COP21) about the newly minted UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). For researchers, grassroots actors and policy makers, the new SDGs are primed to set the development agenda going forward. In an effort to understand how we can better manage our landscapes for a more sustainable future, Doug interviews people from various organizations to see what they think about the SDGs and more. Photo of the GLF: https://flic.kr/p/BBEjD7 Credit goes to Pilar Valbuena/ CIFOR

The CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE) was a Coordinating Partner of the Global Landscapes Forum this year. We also sponsored one of the five Challenge Teams in the Youth in Landscapes Initiative. The Youth in Landscapes Initiative ran as part of the GLF. It consisted of a 4 day mentoring/training program and culminated in the Dragon's Den session where each challenge team pitched their solutions (to real-world landscape challenges) to a panel of high level experts. Photo Credit: Andrew Wheeler for Wild Dog Limited /WLE_CGIAR 2015 all rights reserved worldwide.

Large-scale land acquisitions really took off in the wake of the financial crisis of 2008, as wealthier countries tried to ensure their food security by leasing and buying land elsewhere, much of it in sub-Saharan Africa. Most of those agreements, however, neglected water; water that fell on the land, water under the land, water to grow crops. Tim Williams and Alan Nicol discuss their work at World Water Week in Stockholm, where they spoke to the Thrive podcast about water rights. Check out and subscribe to our new iTunes podcast channel where you can download and play our podcasts anytime, on the go. https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/thrive-podcast/id1052661774 Image: David Brazier/IWMI

Stockholm World Water Week saw scientists from the CGIAR research program on Water, Land and Ecosystems share their thoughts on topics ranging from wetlands and food security to the forgotten role of water in large-scale investments in agricultural land. Hovering over almost all of the discussions was the question of climate change, and one of the few aspects of climate change we can be absolutely certain about is that things are going to become more variable. Hotter and colder, wetter and drier, more extremes, more often. For water, that means more floods and more droughts. Two speakers in Stockholm tackled the topic of water variability head on. Claudia Ringler, a team leader with the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE), co-organised a session devoted to water variability and resilience. And Jeremy Bird, Director General of the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), which hosts the WLE research program, spoke on the multiple dimensions of managing water variability. In the first of two reports, Claudia Ringler and Jeremy Bird spoke to the Thrive Podcast about the challenges of preparing for even more variability in water supplies. Check out and subscribe to our iTunes podcast channel where you can download and play our podcasts anytime, on the go. http://apple.co/1M5vlJi

In this episode of Thrive Podcast, we head to Northern Myanmar where filmmaker Douglas Varchol reports from the field. Varchol joins a research team headed by Dr. Oliver Springate-Baginski, on a visit to Myitkyina, a city is situated few miles south of the head waters of the Irrawaddy River. The area is a site of rapid ecological change and development challenges, and where planning has been hampered by historical conflicts and fierce competition for resources. Given these realities, there is very little research that has been done in the region, but Oliver, in partnership with the Shalom Foundation and Friends of WildLife, is aiming to develop a framework to improve landscape management in this complicated and rich environment. Check out and subscribe to our iTunes podcast channel where you can download and play our podcasts anytime, on the go. http://apple.co/1M5vlJi

On this episode of Thrive podcast, we sit down with of Dr. Deborah Bossio, the Area Director of Soils Research at the CGIAR International Center for Tropical Agriculture. Bossio has spent the last 20 years working at the nexus between soil and social sciences. Based in Kenya, she jointly leads two programs within the WLE network. One works on regenerating degraded ecosystems, the other on ecosystems services and resilience, a core theme in WLE. Check out and subscribe to our iTunes podcast channel where you can download and play our podcasts anytime, on the go. http://apple.co/1M5vlJi