SciDev Highlights October 20 2013

Sustainable food production: Facts and Figures Farming must feed more people more sustainably. Zareen Bharucha looks at scientific approaches past and present in our most recent Spotlight.

Agriculture Feature: 18/10/13 Ethiopian dam plans spark regional tensions The project's potential impact on water supplies in Egypt and Sudan is causing friction, finds Rehab Abd Almohsen. Spotlight: 16/10/13 Producing food sustainably Our Spotlight focuses on sustainable agriculture and asks how science and technology can help boost productivity within resource limits. Multimedia: 16/10/13 Nepal's shifting rains and changing crops Climate change is turning rice cultivation into a losing bet for Nepali farmers. Multimedia: 15/10/13 Nepalese women farmers in portraits Celebrating the role that women play in the rural economy on the UN's International Day of Rural Women. Multimedia: 14/10/13 Q&A: Rural women, from farming to trading Umadevi Swaminathan is helping marginal women farmers in India make their livelihoods more secure. Multimedia: 14/10/13 Q&A: Empowering female farmers in Nigeria Salamatu Garba, director of the Women Farmers Advancement Network, talks about her capacity building work with rural women in Nigeria.

Environment Multimedia: 18/10/13 Brazil’s dammed rainforest Daniel Beltrá’s photography shows the environmental impacts of one of the world’s biggest hydropower projects.

Health Analysis blog: 17/10/13 Focus on Private Sector: Loaned equipment keeps hospitals running Joshua Howgego talks to a biomedical engineer about how equipment loans may work best for developing nations. News: 14/10/13 Scientists urge global collaboration on malnutrition Experts highlight report that calls for researchers, funders and policymakers to merge their separate efforts.

Governance SciDev.Net at large: 17/10/13 Access to science defined as a 'continuum' The human right to science is hard to define, but we can conceive of it as a 'continuum of access', say experts News: 16/10/13 UN declares migration's importance for development A declaration offers hope that the issue will be included in future global development goals, says UN rapporteur.

Enterprise SciDev.Net at large: 18/10/13 Low-tech data access is still needed In places without Internet access, residents can access data in other ways, the World Social Science Forum has heard. News: 17/10/13 Funders urged to back 'blue-sky' African social science A narrow focus on development problems hinders the delivery of vital, broader knowledge, say experts.

Communication News: 19/10/13 Mentoring schemes for female scientists planned The Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World aims to offer help from schools to labs. SciDev.Net at large: 16/10/13 Researchers get down with the kids Brian Owens hears at the World Social Science Forum how children have helped to study their peers' mobility.