Access to modern renewable energy services are a key input to poverty eradication and in ensuring food security. Biogas is a renewable energy option suited to provide clean, modern and decentralised sources of energy. Portable systems, such as FlexiBiogas, offer a lot of advantages over traditional fixed dome systems.

Protecting land is vital to achieving food security and reducing poverty. This is the insight on which the global WOCAT network was built two decades ago. WOCAT’s early focus on soil and water conservation has expanded into a tried and tested facility for decision support in all aspects of sustainable land management for every kind of land manager. There is a special focus on providing sustainable benefits for the rural poor, both efficiently and cost-effectively.

The number of woodfuel consumers in Africa is projected to increase from around 2.5 billion in 2004 to 2.7 billion by 2030, with sub-Saharan Africa accounting for the highest increase. Rwanda and Kenya are two good examples of countries in which woodfuel plays a key role in energy provision, poverty alleviation and economic development.

As the world continues to experience a severe food crisis, with over one billion people going hungry, land grabbing – the purchase or lease of land by wealthy, food-insecure nations and private investors from mostly poor, developing nations in order to produce food crops for export – is gaining momentum. Some governments and international agencies believe that the in? ux of money and technology can turn land grabbing into a win–win situation for all involved. But is this really the case?

African Governments are planning to leapfrog development and move to a middle income economy in a short time. This requires a sustainable strong economic growth, based primarily on African agricultural resources and initially with huge resources from outside, partly provided by donors but mainly from the private sector through sustainable and responsible investments. All actors should engage in a serious dialogue on how to facilitate and create good investments in order to attract the necessary resources for development.

Smallholder communities in the Bolivian highlands have managed to conquer hunger: cheese production o? ers great hope to the people of the Peñas Valley. Cheese provides healthy nourishment for their children, generates additional income for families, and stimulates the local economy. Education is a decisive factor.

Hardest hit by desertification is Sub-Saharan Africa, where poverty is more widespread, preparedness for catastrophe is lower, and means for adequately coping with the phenomenon are very weak; two thirds of the arable land will be lost by 2025.The subcontinent needs improved integrated initiatives on local, national und multinational level for a sustainable natural resources management. Environmental Information systems can increase awareness and throw light on decision making processes on the complexity of desertification badly needed by most African countries.

The rural areas of the South have undergone vital socio-economic and technological changes marked by globalisation, economic liberalization and political decentralization and by the information and communication sector. Will these changes suffice to improve the living standards of the rural population and lessen the urban-rural gap or will the rural sector remain in isolation and be also in ten years time home of the poor?

Few aspects of development policy are better furnished with empirical evidence than the interplay between support for agriculture in the context of rural development and the reduction of poverty and hunger. It is therefore surprising that German Development Cooperation has today largely disengaged from activities in this area: Despite the evidence that practically nothing is more effective and sustainable than combating poverty where it is most often found, namely in the rural areas of poor countries,we fail to take that route.

A lot is expected of poverty reduction strategies, and high hopes have been placed in the Voluntary Guidelines on the right to food. One question frequently raised is whether it is possible to integrate the right to food into the established instrument of poverty reduction strategies.The present article discusses to what extent the two approaches can mesh to make a significant contribution to hunger reduction.

Poverty in rural households have deepened in the past two years through world events: unprecedented rises in food and fuel prices were followed by global economic meltdown, all amidst growing climate uncertainty. Balancing water availability within and across growing seasons, water harvesting helps to buffer households against drought. Research on water harvesting in South Africa has focused on rural household livelihoods. Innovative results on appropriate water harvesting technologies and food security facilitation techniques are now being implemented in villages across South Africa.

The early development strategies of both China and India were urban- and industry-focused, discounting the importance of rural development. Despite sweeping reforms in both countries, the urban bias and subsequent spatial disparities still exist today. In order to reduce poverty and increase growth, developing countries need to correct these spatial disparities through a set of policies that take advantage of the synergies and linkages between rural and urban areas.