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Livestock are terrestrial, domesticated animals raised in an agricultural setting to provide traction or produce commodities such as meat, milk, eggs and hides. They contribute to diverse agri-food systems globally, playing many roles for different groups of people. From the perspective of the sustainability of the global livestock sector, there are four important and interrelated aspects: food and nutrition security; livelihoods and growth; health and animal welfare; and climate and natural resource use. Sustainable livestock are at the interface of these four topics, which provide the structure of the breakout sessions in the 10th Global Forum for Food and Agriculture. This [...]

The report “Transforming the livestock sector through the sustainable development goals”  examines the sector’s interaction with each of the SDGs, as well as the potential synergies, trade-offs, and complex interlinkages involved. The publication is intended to serve as a reference framework for Member States as they move forward to realize livestock’s potentially major contribution to the Agenda 2030. 

This database contains projections used for the preparation of the report "The future of food and agriculture – Alternative pathways to 2050". It disseminates foresight analyses of food and agricultural systems and provides access to country-level information on FAO projections.   Data from 2012 to 2050 in five-year intervals is available for visualization and download at country level by scenario and where applicable, by commodity or animal species. Data is organized in thematic domains, such as macro variables and indicators, crop and animal production, market balances by commodity, food security indicators and greenhouse gas emissions.  

Poor rural people are often excluded from markets and do not benefit from tailored technologies and rural advisory services. These constraints lower their agricultural productivity, perpetuating poverty and hunger. To achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, agriculture needs to become more inclusive, sustainable and productive. FAO helps countries meet the goals of eradicating poverty and hunger by helping poor rural households to better benefit from agricultural advances, increasing their yields and income generating opportunities.To do so, FAO promotes investments in agriculture, including livestock, fisheries and forestry, and supports the design of rural development strategies and programmes that address the [...]

This policy brief has been devloped to provide an insight into the Early Warning Early Action modality at a country level and explore the benefits, both primary and secondary, for herding communities in Mongolia.

This sourcebook provides an overview of the second, digital edition of the Climate-Smart Agriculture Sourcebook. The new edition includes new findings, case studies and lessons learned. It also takes into account the changes in the landscape of international climate action since the original edition was published in 2013. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development – which encompasses the Paris Agreement on Climate Change, the Sustainable Development Goals and the Addis Ababa Action Agenda – provides an international framework for strong national actions and collective efforts to achieve sustainable development. Climate-smart agriculture, as an approach to achieve sustainable food and agriculture, [...]

This publication is a compilation of the success stories covering different regions’ landscapes where on-the-ground climate-smart agriculture (CSA) work has been implemented in recent years. Climate change affects all agricultural sectors, from mussel production along Chile’s coastline to floating gardens in Bangladesh. There are many agricultural practices that can achieve the three objectives of CSA, ranging from climate-smart agroforestry systems implemented in the Dry Corridor of Central America to Sloping Agricultural Land Technology (SALT) in coconut-farming communities in the Philippines. Whether climate change is experienced slowly over the course of many years, on a seasonal basis or as an extreme [...]

Climate is an essential input to agricultural production. Changes in climate will inevitably have an impact on agricultural productivity, output, farm incomes and prices. Elevated temperatures will also affect human and animal health. To date, most of the studies of climate impacts on agriculture have ignored the impacts on humans and livestock, focusing instead on the consequences for crop production. One of the foremost reasons is that research on crop impacts assessment is the field where the necessary modelling infrastructure was most fully developed.   The present paper provides an overview of the latest modelling research on the impact of climate change [...]

Kyrgyzstan experienced an extremely cold winter in 2012, with heavy snowfall followed by a significant spring run-off. This harsh winter led to considerable livestock mortality and price rises for animal products, with a substantial impact on the welfare of livestock herding households. On average, households affected by the harsh winter experienced a 5 percent reduction in food consumption expenditure in the first year following the shock, and 8 percent reduction four years later with respect to households not exposed to this shock (Figure 1). The significant and persistent impact of the harsh winter is particularly evident for the wealthiest households, [...]

Since its introduction to Libya in December 2015, Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza has spread to a number of farms in the country, causing serious economic losses to poultry farmers and affecting public health. Between 2014 and 2015, the losses to farmers caused by the disease were estimated at over USD10 million. The lack of qualified human resources and appropriate equipment meant that the outbreaks were not deeply investigated, while the absence of biosecurity measures and awareness enabled the evolution of the disease in the country, reaching over 60 percent in backyard farms and leading to an increase in the number [...]