The northern part of Uganda has faced several challenges including two decades of civil war between 1986 and 2006 and a high influx of refugees from the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Sudan. Poverty levels are very high. Most people depend on smallholder farming in mixed cropping systems on less than two hectares of land. The major crops are seasonal cereal crops, including millet, sorghum, sesame (simsim) and upland rice. Perennial pigeon pea, however, has traditionally acted as both cash and food crop.

ZEF Director Prof. Joachim von Braun received on December 12th 2019 the BMZ“One World Medal in Gold” for his research and policy advise in support of ending hunger.

Inclusive and sustainable development is a difficult task in oil dependent countries. Oil dependency is usually accompanied by problems like volatile oil prices, rent seeking and non- or de-industrialization. Recent developments in global geopolitics and the rising interest in green growth and renewable energy, means that oil dependency is set to become even more unsustainable for national economies. The bioeconomy is often seen as an alternative for economic development that could improve income, employment, and environmental sustainability. In many African countries bioeconomic sectors are the largest contributors to economic growth.

ZEF congratulates its Distinguished Senior Fellow Professor Oded Stark on his ranking among the world's leading professors of economics: in October 2019 RePEc/IDEAS listed Professor Stark among the world’s top 1% of professors of economics.

The number of malnourished people is increasing worldwide. More than two billion people suffer from a lack of micronutrients. Infant mortality rates are unacceptably high. Against this background, there is a need for the global pooling of research efforts, more research funding and an international body for food security and agriculture that prepares policy decisions. This is what Prof. Joachim von Braun from the University of Bonn, Dr. Robin Fears from the European Academies Science Advisory Council (EASAC) and Prof. Volker ter Meulen, President of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) call for in the journal "Science Advances".

Kenya hosts unique forest ecosystems that are under threat from deforestation and degradation. The

four-year project ‘Reconciling human livelihood needs and nature conservation in Kenya’, funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), aimed at understanding biodiversity and land use patterns in three Kenyan forest biodiversity hotspots.

Navneet Kumar was first author of the award-winning article on Geospatial Mapping and received the award at a ceremony in Meghalaya in India.

The food and agriculture sector in Africa presents great potential for prospective private sector investors in the context of rising food demand, which is a consequence of population growth, urbanization, and growing incomes. Foreign direct investment (FDI) has the potential to fill this gap

Among the factors behind Bonn University’s recent success in the German Excellence Initiative is a strategic focus on “Innovation and Technology for Sustainable Futures”. ZEF-Director Joachim von Braun and ZEF senior-researcher Jan Börner give you insight into the research agenda’s initiatives and activities at Bonn University

As land use change continues, the big issue for nature conservationists is how much of this area's unique biodiversity can be preserved or regained.

Industrialized countries, like Germany, are called on to assume their global responsibility for the future development of the planet.

Interview with Professor Adamou Rabani, Vice Chancellor for Research and Foreign Affairs of the Université Abdou Moumouni of Niamey, Niger.

ZEF researcher Christine Schmitt is part of group of 46 international scientists who wrote a Technical Comment which was published in science on October 17. The experts criticize the conclusions that their colleagues from the ETH in Zürich, Switzerland, drew regarding their research on tree planting which was published in a previous issue of science.

Follow our Right Livelihood College's event at Youtube

The PEGNet Conference (Sept. 9-10) 2019 on "Promoting social, economic and socio-political development through social protection" in Bonn was co-organized by ZEF.

From September 3 to 6, 2019, the China - German Dialog Forum took place in Qingdao and Beijing. Von Braun gave a speech on cooperation opportunities between Germany and China in climate change policy.

The IPCC presented its special report on Climate change and land in Geneva on August 8, 2019. ZEF senior researcher Alisher Mirzabaev was co-author in working group 2 on impacts, adaptation and vulnerability and attending the press conference in Geneva.

International research team shows potential of larvae to substitute other animal- or plant-derived protein sources in commercial livestock feed.

Interview with ZEF Alumnus Dr. Fazlullah Akhtar

in: Forsch, July 2019.

Launch ceremony at the University for Development Studies in Wa, Ghana, with more than 100 high-ranking participants, students and researchers from six West African countries and Germany.