The CCAFS (CGIAR research program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security) newsletter Agriculture-Climate Letters - A Science-Policy Bulletin, is a valuable resource for those interested in receiving further updates on the links between food and climate –with a particular focus on developing countries. In their latest issue Sonja Vermeulen, CCAFS head of research, highlights the special issue of Environmental Research Letters on mitigation in the agriculture and land use sectors in developing countries.  See more information about the CCAFS newsletter and how to sign up here and read the full Environmental Letter series here.

This book uses a decade of primary research to examine how weather and climate, as measured by variations in the growing season using satellite remote sensing, has affected agricultural production, food prices and access to food in food-insecure regions of the world.

The International Trade Center’s (ITC) Trade and Environment Unit has recently released a training manual aimed at addressing climate change in the tea sector. With climate change already having an impact on both the quality and quantity of tea the manual sets out to help tea farmers and factories lower their emissions and reduce energy costs. One of the reasons for the focus on factories is that exporters are increasingly subject to requirements set by buyers and retailers to measure and reduce carbon emissions.

The World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD) has released a report on the water, food and energy nexus, entitled “Co-optimizing Solutions: Water and Energy for Food, Feed and Fiber.”

New official data from the European Union shows a 19.2 % reduction on GHG emissions on 1990 levels, suggesting that the union is within reach of its target to reduce emissions by 20% until 2020. Emissions fell by 1.3 % between 2011 and 2012, largely due to reductions in transport and industry and a growing proportion of energy from renewable sources. Italy alone accounted for 45 % of the total EU net reduction in emissions in 2012, largely due to lower emissions from transport and industry.

Balancing on a Planet argues that while the current Anthropocene epoch presents unique challenges to our food system, including climate change, that threaten our survival, most solutions continue to follow the Neolithic strategy that has been dominant since the beginning of agriculture some 13,000 years ago.