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Forests and trees contribute to food security and nutrition in multiple ways. They provide wood, energy, foods and other products. They generate income and employment for many people, often the most vulnerable. They deliver ecosystem services vital for food security and nutrition in the long term, including water and carbon cycle regulation and protection of biodiversity. These contributions vary according to types of forests and the way they are managed. Increasing and competing demands on land, forests and trees create new challenges and opportunities and impact food security and nutrition. This report calls for a renewed understanding of sustainable forestry in order to fully integrate [...]

Investments in agriculture have proven to be one of the most effective means of reducing poverty in rural areas of developing countries. Acting in accordance with the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security can help investors better understand and manage the substantial financial, legal, operational and reputational risks inherent in investing in landbased assets. Those who plan and operate their investments in a way that is consistent with the Guidelines can reduce their investment risk and increase the likelihood of realizing a reasonable risk-adjusted return. Such investments are more likely to be successful [...]

Since 2013, the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF) has been empowering forest and farm producers and their organizations, the “missing links” that are needed to put the SDGs and NDCs into practice. Evidence from the last four years and strong demand for FFF support from FFPOs and governments in more than 50 countries worldwide has shaped our proposed Phase II. The goal of Phase II of the FFF is to support forest and farm producers and their organizations to enable ‘Climate Resilient Landscapes and Improved Livelihoods.’ This brochure gives the highlights of the FFF Phase II proposal.

The Addressing agriculture, forestry and fisheries in National Adaptation Plans – Supplementary guidelines (referred to as the NAP-Ag Guidelines) responds to a call by the Least Developed Group (LEG) of the UNFCCC, inviting international actors to draft sectorial guidelines to the UNFCCC NAP Technical Guidelines.  The NAP-Ag Guidelines aim to support developing countries in: reducing vulnerability of the agriculture sectors to the impacts of climate change by building adaptive capacities and resilience; addressing agriculture in the formulation and implementation of NAPs; and enhancing the integration of adaptation in agricultural development policies, progammes and plans. The NAP-Ag Guidelines outline four elements and related steps for preparing [...]

Forests have the potential to contribute to food security and nutrition in a number of ways. They are a source of food and they provide woodfuel for cooking, income, employment and ecosystem services that are essential to support agricultural and fishery production. Despite this potential, most often the existing forestry policies are focused on economic efficiency and do not consider the relevance of forests to sustainable food security and nutrition. Conversion of forests to other land uses, for example, is usually justified on an economic basis, with insufficient attention to the long-term environmental and livelihood impacts on local people. This [...]

This introductory note provides the background to the FIRST Policy Guidance Notes series and comprises three sections. Section 1 describes the rationale of the guidelines; section 2 introduces the different guidance notes included in the guidelines and describes the step-wise approach adopted; section 3 unpacks the concepts related to food security, nutrition and policy.  See the complete Policy Guidance Series Now also available in Spanish and French.

The daily food and incomes of billions of people, particularly the rural poor, are determined by their access to land, fisheries and forests. Societies decide and regulate access to these resources through systems of tenure. Paul Munro-Faure, Deputy Director and Francesco Romano, Land Tenure Officer of the FAO Partnership, Advocacy and Capacity Development Division explain how supporting responsible governance of tenure is critical to achieving food security and allowing families to invest in sustainable production. They describe the FAO policy work, including key policy messages. See all videos in the Policy and Governance series :  AR  CH  EN   FR  RU  SP [...]

The Guidance document aims to assist FAO Members in incorporating decent rural employment interventions across different agricultural sub-sectors. It is organized into three main sections that answer respectively to the questions: "Why", "When" and "How" to integrate DRE. In particular, the section on “How to incorporate DRE considerations” outlines and analyzes the following 4 strategic planning phases: Phase 1: Conducting the problem and stakeholder analysis – Applying a DRE lens; Phase 2: Defining desired impacts and beneficiaries – Prioritizing DRE; Phase 3: Developing the result chain and the strategies and programmes to achieve the results - Developing a DRE-inclusive results [...]

Nearly three years ago, world leaders agreed to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – the central framework for guiding development policies throughout the world. This edition of The State of the World’s Forests is aimed at enhancing our understanding of how forests and their sustainable management contribute to achieving several of the SDGs. Time is running out for the world’s forests: we need to work across sectors, bring stakeholders together, and take urgent action. The State of the World’s Forests 2018 identifies actions that can be taken to increase the contributions [...]

Forests play important provisioning and supporting roles in the livelihoods of rural households (Byron and Arnold, 1999, Sunderlin et al., 2005) and the majority of those who live in extreme poverty are reliant on forests for their livelihood. Products from non-cultivated ecosystems such as natural forests, woodlands, wetlands, lakes, rivers, and grasslands can be a significant income source for rural households providing energy, food, construction materials and medicines both for subsistence and cash uses. Beginning with seminal studies on environmental resource use (e.g. Cavendish, 2000) the contribution of forest and other environmental resources to household income accounts were found to [...]