Communities and Watersheds
Tropical hillsides, covering some 13 million square kilometers,
globally sustain an estimated 525 million rural people,
many of whom depend on beans, cassava, and livestock.
Most of these people live in absolute poverty, reinforced
by low agricultural productivity, limited access to
basic services, and a lack of political power. Their
livelihoods are further jeopardized by the gradual degradation
of hillside soils, biodiversity, and water resources.
Visit the CIAT Communities
and Watersheds Web site.
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Forest Margins
The vast Amazonian rain forests are being cleared at an alarming
rate, resulting in the permanent loss of biodiversity
and huge emissions of greenhouse gases through forest
burning. Shifting cultivation by small-scale farmers
has been estimated to account for about a third of the
deforestation, with the rest caused by large-scale commercial
exploitation. Cassava, rice, and tropical forages figure
importantly in the predominant production systems of
this agroecosystem.
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Savannas
The South American savannas, occupying more than 250 million
hectares, are the world's last significant agricultural
frontier. Agriculture has already made deep inroads
into this environment, and sizable areas are now sown
to grass pastures and annual crops, such as rice. But
the use of inappropriate production technology has caused
extensive land degradation, resulting in significant
siltation of rivers, in addition to reducing the savannas'
agricultural potential.
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Africa and Asia
Much of the improved crop seed that CIAT develops in
tropical America, together with many of the tools we
devise for natural resource management, are also applicable
in key environments of other regions. Our products are
especially relevant to the midaltitude areas of eastern,
central, and southern Africa as well as to the uplands
of Southeast Asia—environments that are similar
in many ways to the tropical American hillsides.
Visit the following related Web sites: CIAT
Asia, and Sustainable
Cassava Production Systems in Asia.
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