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This short version of the Regional Overview adresses the region's latest progress in meeting zero hunger and the regional trends related to hunger, food insecurity and the triple burden of malnutrition. It describes the situation in Latin America and the Caribbean, putting an emphasis on lagging territories; it also presents a diagnosis and the main trends in recent days. Finally it analyzes the main public policies that the countries of the region are developing to secure food security and nutrition for laggard territories. Also available in Spanish and Portuguese

Despite the importance of social protection, today more than 70 percent of the world’s population still has no or limited access to comprehensive social protection. Coverage in rural areas, where about 80 percent of the world’s poor live, is even lower. Achieving an effective extension of the coverage of social protection benefits and services to the rural population is a key challenge which must be addressed in order to achieve SDG 1.3. “Implement nationally appropriate social protection systems and measures for all, including floors, and by 2030 achieve substantial coverage of the poor and the vulnerable”.This will require bridging gaps [...]

Progress towards Zero Hunger must be protected from the dual challenges of pandemics and climate change. The frequency of infectious disease outbreaks – including the emergence of novel viruses and zoonotic diseases – is expected to continue rising as livestock, food security, economies, and global health are increasingly threatened by a destabilizing climate. At the same time, malnutrition is unacceptably high across all regions of the world. In 2019, nearly one in ten people in the world were exposed to severe levels of food insecurity.The 13th Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) in 2021 is seeking recommendations, guided by [...]

In response to the growing concern caused by the new SARS-CoV-2 variant strain, FAO has prepared this document to raise awareness amongst livestock professionals about highly susceptible captive farmed wild or domestic species and provide practical guidelines on how to prevent infecting animals or getting infected.See the full list of policy briefs related to COVID-19.

The urgent need for a positive impact on the livelihoods of livestock keepers is elaborated in this Regional Strategy for Animal Health and Production for FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia (REU). This strategy aims to present the main aspects of REU’s work on livestock and includes three pillars – animal health, animal production, and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) – along with seven cross-cutting issues, among them gender, environmental sustainability, community farming as a business, and coordination with other international organizations. The strategy follows FAO’s commitment to the UN 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through continuous and dedicated work [...]

This narrative provides useful insights when working with indigenous peoples. It offers an overview of some of the work done by the FAO Indigenous Peoples Unit and provides an historical background since the adoption of the Indigenous peoples ́ policy. It also explains the ongoing work-programme jointly designed by Indigenous peoples and FAO staff, describing its seven pillars and two thematic areas. The narrative introduces essential concepts such as indigenous peoples ́ food systems, FPIC, Interculturality and Biocentric restoration among others.

This report examines how forests contribute to or suffer from disasters. Three events are examined: the tempest Gudrun (Sweden, 2005); the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami (Japan 2011); and the 2017 firestorm in Chile.Forests are “victims” of disaster when unable to provide services required by society and cannot recover within a relevant timeframe. Trees damaged may host insect pests that may kill healthy trees or become fuel for forest fires. Fallen trees also damage infrastructure.Extreme events can change the cultural and economic life of small states/islands and/or cause the breakdown of societal services.Disasters affect timber supplies, distorting market functioning. Damaged timber [...]

This third edition of the State of Mediterranean and Black Sea Fisheries provides a comprehensive overview of the status of fisheries in the region, looking at their main features and trends, in order to better inform their management and better examine current and future challenges that they will face in the near future. The aim of this report is to produce a document that could provide useful analysis and direction for decision-making and future action. In this respect, this publication also represents a convenient source of information for the FAO Committee on Fisheries and offers a practical complement to the [...]

SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, probably originated from an animal source, similar to 60 percent of all human infectious diseases. The pandemic has emphasized the need to prepare for, prevent, detect and respond to diseases at primary spillover level, where a new pandemic is likely to start. Pathogens are most likely to spread in locations where wildlife comes into contact with livestock production, particularly where people earn livelihoods, such as in live animal markets, areas where bushmeat is hunted, traded and consumed, or where growing pressures on natural ecosystems has forced livestock, wildlife and humans into close proximity. As [...]

As part of the efforts to find sustainable solutions to complex land tenure issues, multi-stakeholder platforms (MSPs) create an inclusive forum where actors can discuss problems and propose solutions to improve governance of tenure and provide better access to natural resources. This publication highlights how MSPs at regional, national and local level demonstrate forward thinking, including innovative practices and approaches to respond to the above mentioned social challenges, for the benefit of all.