Forests harbour a large proportion of the Earth’s terrestrial biodiversity, which continues to be lost at an alarming rate. Deforestation is the single most important driver of forest biodiversity loss with 10 million ha of forest converted every year to other land uses, primarily for agriculture. Up to 30 percent...

Women’s capacity for entrepreneurship calls for more opportunities in alternative livelihoods to be made available for women in the coastal villages of Kuching, Sarawak. Coastal research in Sarawak, Malaysia, typically, does not target gender. Some projects have added gender-segregated data, but gender studies in fisheries generally remain unfunded. Given the difficulty...

Drawing on practical examples from eight countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America, this Policy Brief focuses on the contributions that the territories and areas governed, managed and conserved by custodian indigenous peoples and local communities — ‘ICCAs – territories of life’ — make to food sovereignty and how,...

Tackling biodiversity loss is a growing priority for human survival. Introducing incentives for positive actions could play a key role in helping to reverse this loss. This paper explores the potential of using a novel approach to promote biodiversity conservation. Biodiversity credits or ‘biocredits’ are coherent units of measurement that track...

Bamboo and rattan are ideal resources for development that integrate poverty reduction and environmental sustainability. The International Network for Bamboo and Rattan’s (INBAR) priority is to give people, at all levels, the knowledge and skills they need for long-term development involving bamboo and rattan. Rattan is a natural material and...

Bamboo and rattan are ideal resources for development that integrates poverty reduction and environmental sustainability, and the International Network for Bamboo and Rattan (INBAR) priority is giving people at all levels the knowledge and skills they need for long-term development involving bamboo and rattan. Nowadays furniture is manufactured in the...

Although, rattan (climbing tree) is an ideal resource for development that integrates poverty reduction and environmental sustainability, the cultivation of rattans is only practiced on a relatively small scale. INBAR’s priority is giving people at all levels the knowledge and skills they need for long-term development involving rattan. Therefore, the...

A field trip to Teluk Bahang, a fishing village on the northwestern tip of Penang in Malaysia, shed light on the lives of small-scale fishers

The 33rd session of the FAO Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific (APRC) will convene in Putrajaya, Malaysia, from 7 to 11 March 2016, hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture & Agro-Based Industry, Malaysia. The conference will focus on the opportunities and challenges in the region and priority areas of...

Within the SPOTS Project, L’Oréal has committed to purchasing RSPO-certified production from smallholders in the Sabah Region (Malaysia) over five years, through a partnership with the NGO Wild Asia and its suppliers. The initiative gives these smallholders a long-term access to the international market, allowing them to improve their agricultural...

The third in the pace-setting series of symposia, SEAVEG 2016 will focus on improved nutrition and livelihoods, and will be held at the Putrajaya Marriott Hotel, Putrajaya, Malaysia, 6-8 September 2016. This symposium will highlight the critical importance of vegetables in Southeast Asia and identify technologies for increased vegetable production,...

Many innovations led by women are based on agroecological principles such as increasing diversity, using fewer pesticides, or building new relationships with consumers. Through small experiments women learn, get organised and strengthen their autonomy. They gain increasing recognition and visibility in their communities and increase their self-esteem. This positive spiral...

Women from small and marginal farming families doing SRI have been making the news in India for their adoption of a new approach that challenges the age-old beliefs and practices of rice farming. However, rarely one comes across mention of the impact of SRI on their wellbeing and their bodies.  ...

The International Year of Family Farming (IYFF) has uncovered well-grounded resolve to place family farmers as protagonists in addressing a number of challenges we face, from eradicating hunger and poverty to conserving natural resources. Nothing comes closer to the sustainable food production paradigm than family farming. The diverse set of...

GIAHS are found throughout the developing world, linked to centers of diversity.  Agroecosystems cover more than one quarter of the global land area, reaching about 5 billion hectares. Agroecosystems are ecosystems in which people have deliberately selected crop plants and livestock animals to replace the natural flora and fauna.  

I n the recently completed CFC/FAO Organic Aquaculture Project, INFOFISH helped fish farmers in the Asia-Pacific region adapt to the new market niche for organic aquaculture products.

During 2004 and 2005, the Caribbean Regional Fisheries Mechanism (CRFM), assisted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), carried out case studies in Belize, Dominica, Jamaica, Saint Lucia, Trinidad and Tobago and the Turks and Caicos Islands on the consideration of socio-economic and demographic concerns in...

This publication reflects the outcome of an ambitious initiative to identify instances of exemplary forest management in the region and examine the core components of high quality forest management in an effort to illustrate good forest management to a wide audience and encourage others to take up some of the...

These guidelines provide general principles and basic considerations for those involved in providing microfinance services to fisheries and aquaculture and for those who intend to include fishing and fish farming communities as part of the client base of their operation. The guidelines further elaborate on lending models, methodologies and policies...