ACToday Archives - State of the Planet

people at a table looking at their phones

Crowdsourcing to Build Better Insurance

In order to offer protective insurance to greater numbers of smallholder farmers, in 2021, the ACToday project began testing mobile crowdsourcing apps that tap into the experiences and memories of farmers themselves.

by |April 25, 2022
ACToday’s Ethiopia country lead, Tufa Dinku (middle) stands with officials from the country’s National Meteorological Agency and other agencies during the launch of Ethiopia’s national framework for climate services

ACToday Empowers National Meteorological Services

As part of its goal to increase food security in six countries, the ACToday project has helped develop new climate services that lead to better agricultural decision making.

by |April 20, 2022
girl walking across a dry farm field

The Climate-Nutrition Connection in Food Security

In early 2021, ACToday, Cheikh Anta Diop University and Senegal’s national meteorological service organized a three-hour webinar to launch discussions about connections between climate and nutrition.

by |April 19, 2022

How ACToday Builds a Global Community of Climate-Trained Decision Makers

In the last year, project members trained more than 1,600 professionals and graduate students on integrating climate knowledge into food planning and policy, to help combat hunger.

by |April 13, 2022
melody braun headshot

Why COP26 Matters

An interview with Mélody Braun, whose work helps farmers and policy makers implement climate adaptation and management strategies.

by Brynne Wilcox |November 3, 2021

Insurance Tools for Climate Adaptation: Q&A with Rahel Diro

Diro is an expert on index-based insurance, a proven way to help farmers cover some of the financial losses caused by drought and other weather extremes that damage their crops.

by |September 3, 2021
Farmers from southern Mali's Sikasso region tend to their cowpea crop.

Columbia Institute to Be Key Partner in New World Bank-funded Climate Resilience Project

The Accelerating the Impact of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa project will help farmers anticipate and prepare for destructive climate-related events.

farmer holds a fish in hands

Video: From Farm to Training in Bangladesh

A project that gives farmers access to climate information can help them implement management strategies that protect their fish and other crops.

by |May 13, 2021
john furlow headshot

John Furlow Named Director of the International Research Institute for Climate and Society

Furlow joined IRI in 2017 with the goal of better connecting the institute’s research to the real-world challenges facing developing countries.

Two field laborers pour harvested rice grains into a specially labeled packet

Report: 2020-2021 Highlights from the ACToday Columbia World Project

The project remains focused on its goal of combating hunger by increasing climate knowledge in six countries.

by Lisa Goddard and Walter Baethgen |April 22, 2021