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This new edition of the report focuses on food losses and waste, providing new estimates of the world’s food post-harvest up to, but excluding, the retail level. Addressing policy makers, the report also offers a comprehensive analysis of the critical loss points in specific supply chains, thus providing examples on appropriate measures for an effective reduction.

The sustainable management of forest and tree resources requires adequate and reliable information about the extent and state of the existing resources and their changes over time. The last countrywide forest inventory in Uzbekistan was conducted in 1978. The lack of data on forest and tree resources hampered the development of the forestry sector and international reporting obligations. Thus, the project addressed capacity building to establish a forest-monitoring system to supply the lacking data. Once established, the forest monitoring system will contribute to sustainable rural development with improved livelihoods of local communities and mitigate climate change. 

The implementation of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda is just at the onset. Pursuing the wide and ambitious Sustainable Development Objectives (SDGs) poses major challenges at all levels, from the sub-national, to the regional and the international level, and calls for a timely decision of effective policy actions in a quickly-evolving world of scarce resources. In this context, the ability to design sound policies and monitor their outcomes is a key requirement. Measuring progress towards international goals and their national and subnational specifications is of paramount importance. This pocketbook presents, at a glance, selected key indicators on agriculture and food security, [...]

Desde 2004, las Directrices sobre el derecho a la alimentación formularon un planteamiento que ha influido en la agenda global para erradicar el hambre y la malnutrición, y que es relevante para los actuales esfuerzos mundiales dirigidos al cumplimiento de los Objetivos de Desarrollo Sostenible (ODS) de la Agenda 2030. Los ODS están arraigados en los derechos humanos, a la vez que recuerdan la importancia de la realización progresiva del derecho a una alimentación adecuada. Esta publicación destaca los esfuerzos de varios países, organizaciones y asociaciones, tanto a nivel mundial como regional y nacional, por tomar medidas legislativas, diseñar políticas y [...]

FAO and UNEP are both custodians of the indicators to measure the Sustainable Development Target 12.3. “By 2030, to halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses.” Given that the existing measurement methods differ greatly for the production and consumption stages, the custodian agencies, FAO and UNEP, recommend that an additional sub-indicator 12.3.1.b on Food Waste be formally considered for the 2020 comprehensive review of the Global Indicator Framework. By acknowledging that an additional sub-indicator can only be approved in 2020, FAO and UNEP [...]

The FAO Blue Growth Initiative seeks to balance the sustainable management of aquatic resources with economic and social benefits for local communities and Indigenous Peoples. The Blue Growth Initiative values the crucial role Indigenous Peoples play as custodians of traditional knowledge and practices and stewards of the ecosystems in which they live. Blue Growth approaches support the needs of Indigenous Peoples, ensuring their voices are heard in decision-making processes that affect them, supporting access rights to their traditional lands and territories, and encouraging the preservation of their cultural heritage through sustainable fisheries and aquaculture management that benefits future generations.

The following series of flyers highlights the work being carried out by FAO's Strategic Programmes. This flyer is specifically on "Strategic Programme 2: Making agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and more sustainable". The vision of FAO for sustainable food and agriculture, enshrined in the 2030 Agenda, requires a radical rethink of the status quo and of current agricultural policies. Farmers, pastoralists, foresters and fishers are encouraged to produce more while using less in an economically, socially and environmentally sustainable way. Building more efficient and equitable agriculture and food systems and investing in rural development can accelerate achievement of goals [...]

Inland waterway management is complex and faces unique challenges as inland waterways have a variety of users. The mixture and overlap of local, regional, national and at times international regulations exacerbate the problem of managing inland waterways. In this context, the regional conference ‘River habitat restoration for inland fisheries in the Danube River basin and adjacent Black Sea areas’ was held on 13-15 November 2018 in Bucharest, Romania. This event was organised by the FAO Regional office for Europe and Central Asia in partnership with the International Organisation for the Development of Fisheries and Aquaculture in Europe (EUROFISH) and EIFAAC [...]

The high cost to Ecuador’s national budget of maintaining a minimum guaranteed producer price for rice led to the introduction of a price bracket system in 2017. The minimum support price policy and a complimentary high import tariff were meant to protect small rice producers from competition from world markets and increase their incomes. However, farmers with greater productive capacity are currently accruing the highest income transfers from the guaranteed minimum rice price. Moreover, the policy has led to distortions throughout the marketing chain, only partially meeting its objective of price stability. The introduction of the price bracket system and [...]

Strategic investments in the agriculture sector are a catalyst for sustainable, economic growth and poverty reduction.  Through their partnership, the Caribbean Development Bank (CDB) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have produced this comprehensive study on the State of Agriculture in the Caribbean, drawing upon decades of research on the many drivers of change affecting the CDB’s Borrowing Member Countries (BMCs), including international trade, institutional policies, and climate change. This report follows forty years of structural change in the agriculture sector of BMCs, and can support the development of an updated Agriculture Sector Strategy, by identifying [...]