Myanmar’s agrifood system has proven surprisingly resilient in the face of multiple crises—COVID 19, the military coup, economic mismanagement, global price instability, and widespread conflict—with respect to production and exports. Household welfare has not been resilient, however. High rates of inflation, especially food price inflation, have resulted in dietary degradation across all house hold groups, especially those dependent on casual wage labor. Among household members, young children experience the highest rates of inadequate dietary quality. Expanded social protection to improve access to better-quality diets for vulnerable households and individuals is therefore needed. Beyond the current political crisis, increased public and private investment in a more efficient and dynamic agrifood system should be a high priority. This will help drive down poverty rates and ensure access to healthy diets in the near term, while laying the foundation for sustained growth and struc tural transformation of the economy.

Forest landscape restoration (FLR) in the tropics is often undertaken by smallholders and communities whose livelihoods rely on agriculture and forestry. While digital technologies can improve efficiency in FLR efforts, socio-technical barriers often impede the participation of these key actors in the restoration process. The main barriers are lack of technical infrastructure, access to digital tools and services, lack of ease of use for non-tech-savvy farmers, and lack of design targeted for low-literate and marginal groups. Moreover, precisely because of the transformative momentum of digitalization, there is a risk for smallholders to enter the digital divide and power asymmetry gap. The platform has been piloted in Kenya and Cameroon and tracks and monitors activities along the entire restoration chain, from seed collection to on-farm tree planting and monitoring of management activities and payouts to farmers. GeoTree offers participatory functionalities, including interactive forms, polls, geospatial features and maps, and community-driven data collection, which can be integrated into community channels. While other digital tools focus on monitoring tree planting for the purpose of carbon offsetting, GeoTree addresses the digital barriers facing smallholders and communities and enables them to participate fully in FLR efforts. GeoTree leverages blockchain technology to provide an integrated planting management process. The system allows gathering ground-level data with offline encryption and supporting low-internet environments and tracing the restoration process to provide transparency, facilitate real-time monitoring, evaluation, and verification, and support mobilization of sponsors.

Ethiopia faces a growing challenge of balancing natural resource utilisation with long-term sustainability. Its linear economic model leads to unsustainable waste generation from agriculture, urban populations, and the industry sectors. This paper explores the potential of a circular bioeconomy (CBE) as a solution. By promoting closed-loop systems that minimise waste and maximise resource use, CBE offers a pathway for Ethiopia to achieve sustainable resource management, economic growth, and better livelihood opportunities. CBE business models create valuable products such as organic fertiliser, biochar, bioenergy, and alternative proteins. CBE practices provide new income opportunities for farmers and urban dwellers and reduce the country’s reliance on virgin resources, chemical fertiliser, and non-renewable energy while addressing environmental pollution and soil depletion. Major organic waste streams in Ethiopia that could be recovered and reused include agricultural crop residues, animal manure, human excrement, and industrial sludge. Addressing the vast untapped potential of resource recovery from waste, this study analyses opportunities and challenges associated with promoting CBE in Ethiopia, focusing on analysing the regulatory framework, business licensing and registration procedure, government support, access to finance, and business support services. The paper employs a comprehensive desk review of peer-reviewed literature complemented by grey literature to capture recent trends or non-traditional research aspects. Semi-structured interviews with sector experts were conducted to fill information gaps. Key findings of this study are that a robust regulatory framework, streamlined business registration, and access to finance are critical for creating an enabling investment climate for CBE. Government support, business networks, and support services can empower CBE ventures and contribute to sustainable resource management. By focusing on policy interventions that combine sustainable waste management and livelihood creation, CBE can significantly contribute to achieving a more sustainable development path for all Ethiopians.

The Tank Cascade System (TCS) is an ancient, man-made rainwater harvesting and irrigation system unique to Sri Lanka’s dry zone. An ecosystem in itself, the TCS consists of an intricate network of small to large ‘tanks’ positioned along a gradient and connected through a series of canals. Within the system, paddy fields and dense forests coexist providing habitats for socio-ecologically significant species. Historically, the system has been crucial in drought and flood mitigation. Furthermore, fully functioning TCSs harvest copious amounts of rainwater, which is primarily used for irrigation to enable year-round crop production by the farming communities of the cascade landscape. The system’s important role in food security, rural livelihoods and local culture led to its designation as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System in 2017. Despite the TCS’s significance, the system has been deteriorating, and its sustainability is threatened by widespread tank neglect, rapid land use changes and biodiversity loss –the impacts of which are exacerbated by the effects of climate variability. There is national interest in safeguarding the TCS, though. The system has been recognized in Sri Lanka’s 2016-2025 National Adaptation Plan for Climate Change Impacts and within the 2021 Nationally Determined Contributions as an important Nature-based Solution (NbS) for strengthening national climate resilience. However, there is little evidence of this national support translating into on the ground action and of effective solutions to the challenges threatening TCS sustainability. This case study aims to fill these evidence gaps by sharing findings from research and project activities carried out under the Healthy Landscapes project. With a special focus on mainstreaming biodiversity and strengthening cascade ecology, the project rehabilitated and promoted the sustainable management of the TCS. This case study will highlight pathways for TCS rehabilitation to strengthen its function as a NbS, including associated challenges and further opportunities. As the cascade landscape community plays an important role in climate adaptation and resilience within the country's dry zone, we also emphasize the importance of investigating their perceptions of current national policy and formulating localized adaptation strategies that benefit climate resilience, food security and rural livelihoods.