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Bioeconomycomprises the parts of the economy that use renewable biological resources (plants, animals, micro-organisms, etc.) to replace fossil fuels, and produce food, animal feed, and other biobasedproducts. Its cross-cutting nature offers a unique opportunity to comprehensively address interconnected societal challenges such as food security, natural resource scarcity, fossil-resource dependence and climate change, while achieving sustainable economic development. As bioeconomyplays an increa singly important role in many countries and regions, it is crucial to establish guidelines that enable it to be developed in a sustainable way. Find more Project Highlights here.

FAO recognizes that crop improvement through innovative technologies, including both conventional breeding and modern biotechnologies, is an essential approach to achieving sustainable increases in crop productivity and thus contributes to food security. Scientific evidence has shown that modern biotechnologies offer potential options to improving such aspects as the yield and quality, resource use efficiency, resistance to biotic and abiotic stresses and the nutrition value of the crops. FAO is also aware of the public perception and concerns about the potential risks to human health and the environment associated with genetically modified organisms (GMOs). FAO underlines the need to carefully evaluate [...]

FAO has prepared this Programme for Action to help support Sustainable Management of FAW in Africa. FAO works closely with its development and resource partners to maximize coordinated results and minimize duplications.  FAO proposes a five-year programme of action to help farmers, their organizations, their public institutions, national governments and development partners quickly respond the challenges of FAW infestation in smallholder farmers’ fields across Africa.

Foot and mouth disease (FMD) is the most prevalent and economically important infectious disease of livestock in Pakistan. The project aimed to develop a national FMD control program and control FMD outbreaks, improve the livelihood of livestock farmers, curtail the losses caused by the disease and improve overall productivity of livestock.

Livestock and poultry-keeping are crucial to the farming and livelihood systems of Ghana. In May 2015, outbreaks of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) threatened these systems and made it essential that measures be put in place to forestall losses caused by the disease in the affected areas and elsewhere. The project was designed to control the disease in Ghana and, above all, to prevent its spread to non-affected regions of the country and to neighbouring countries, by means of an immediate response. Find more Project Highlights here.

This study provides a rationale for building linkages between social protection and sustainable forestry in developing countries through: the development of a conceptual framework for understanding the two-way relationship between social protection instruments and forestry policies; a review of evidence of the role of forestry policies in reducing vulnerabilities and fostering livelihoods among forest-dependent people; a review of the evidence of the impact of social protection instruments on th e resilience of forest-dependent people and on the promotion of sustainable forest management; and a discussion of ways of developing linkages between social protection and forestry policies.

GLEAM-interactive (GLEAM-i) brings the core functionalities of the FAO Global Livestock Environmental Assessment Model to the public in a single Excel file. The current version of GLEAM-i allows the direct comparison between Baseline and Scenario conditions, includes feedlot systems for cattle and incorporates the 2010 background data from GLEAM. GLEAM-i is the first open, user-friendly and livestock specific tool designed to support governments, project planners, producers, industry and civil society organizations to calculate emissions using Tier 2 methods. GLEAM-i can be used in the preparation of national inventories and in ex-ante project evaluation for the assessment of intervention scenarios in [...]

Preventing animal disease and plant pest outbreaks and food safety incidents before they occur is essential to protecting the food chain. Most food chain crises are preventable with timely actions and the right investments. The Food Chain Crisis - Emergency Prevention System, known as FCC-EMPRES, is FAO’s approach to pursuing just that. This publication, based on 23 FCC-EMPRES information sheets published on a monthly basis by the FCC Intelligence and Coordination Unit of the FAO Agriculture and Consumer Protection Department, showcases some of the best practices currently in use. This publication promises to help experts, policy makers, national institutions, and development [...]

Conservation agriculture (CA) aims to achieve sustainable and profitable agriculture and subsequently aimes at improved livelihoods of farmers through the application of the three CA principles: minimal soil disturbance, permanent soil cover and crop rotations. CA holds tremendous potential for all sizes of farms and agro-ecological systems, but its adoption is perhaps most urgently required by smallholder farmers, especially those facing acute labour shortages. It is a way to combine profitable agricultural production with environmental concerns and sustainability and it has been proven to work in a variety of agroecological zones and farming systems. It is been perceived by practitioners [...]

This video tells the story of Tembani, an inspiring young Zimbabwean forestry officer who is battling against alien invasive pests that are threatening Eucalyptus trees and woodlots around the country. His work is being supported by FAO and the Africa Solidarity Trust Fund (ASTF) through training in integrated pest management, national surveillance programmes, and the introduction of biological controls to control the spread of the pests.