Biodiversity constitutes an essential element in our global ecosystems and provides the foundation for agricultural practices and food production. It is essential to our well-being and food security, but it is often threatened by our activities. In some places, however, farmers have learned to work in harmony with the environment and use knowledge passed down over centuries to implement sustainable practices and protect the biodiversity in their surrounding ecosystems. These farmers and rural communities have envisaged and implemented ingenious ways to conserve, preserve and sustainably use biodiversity while safeguarding their livelihoods and the unique landscapes in which they live.

Fishing gear has been lost, abandoned or otherwise discarded in our seas and oceans for centuries. But the impact of Abandoned, Lost or Discarded Fishing Gear (ALDFG), also known as ghost gear, is gaining more attention as fishing activities have expanded offshore and to deep sea marine environme...

Two new sites in Japan - an inland fisheries and associated paddy farming system centred on the country’s largest lake and a traditional fruit-growing area  believed to have been the birthplace of Japanese grape cultivation - have been formally recognized as Globally Important Agricultural H...

Billions of people, in developed and developing nations, benefit daily from the use of wild species for food, energy, materials, medicine, recreation, inspiration and many other vital contributions to human well-being. The accelerating global biodiversity crisis, with a million species of plants ...

Through clear Arctic skies, the small plane carrying 10 precious boxes of seeds from Spain arrived at Svalbard airport on the morning of the 7th of June. Two days later a box arrived from Lithuania. It was an occasion for the two countries to celebrate.

The Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has endorsed two thematic strategies that will guide FAO’s work on climate change and on science, technology and innovation over the next decade.

UNDP Regional Goodwill Ambassador completes an excruciating feat to raise awareness about the climate emergency and food security.

Paralyzed from the chest down Michael Haddad, Regional Goodwill Ambassador, Michael Haddad, yesterday defied all odds to achieve the imposs...

The Food and Agriculture organization of the UN led events at Stockholm+50 that presented solutions to halt environmental degradation through the transformation of our agrifood systems

2 June 2022, Stockholm, Sweden – “Stockholm+50 is an opportunity to start putti...

Today there is less food security, less health security, less economic security and greater inequality.

By recognizing the importance of multilateralism in tackling the multiple crises facing today’s world. Stockholm+50 will act as a springboard to accelerate the implementation of the UN D...

On the occasion of Biodiversity Day, the International Treaty has just issued a new call for project proposals to be supported by the Benefit-sharing Fund. The fifth round of the Benefit-sharing Fund (BSF) will disburse over USD 7 million to projects that benefit small-scale farmers in developing...

The world’s food security depends on biodiversity: from domesticated crop varieties and livestock breeds, to wild species such as bees and earthworms that live in and around production systems, to whole ecosystems such as forests, grasslands, seagrass beds and coral reefs. However, much of this b...

Humans rely on a shockingly low number of plants for the majority of our daily calories. In fact, of the thousands of fruit and vegetable species cultivated for food, fewer than 200 make up a substantial part of food produced globally. But what if climate change, invasive species, pollution, city...

They are in the lotion that keeps our skin smooth or the herbal tea we sip on Sunday afternoons. They are waiting to be drizzled on salads or tucked into the daily food supplements we take. Wild plants are scattered throughout our everyday existence offering us with food, oxygen and medicine. Glo...

 The Global Environment Facility (GEF) announced a US $5.25 billion replenishment for GEF-8, the next four-year phase of the GEF.  A nearly 30 percent over GEF-7, it will be the largest replenishment in the history of the GEF. 

FAO calls for the agriculture and food sectors to be recognized for their fundamental role in ensuring the conservation, sustainable use, and restoration of biodiversity.

Geneva, Switzerland – Negotiations between the 196 Parties to the UN Convention on Bi...

Romeo Mikičić has been fishing in the azure waters of the Adriatic Sea for more than 40 years.The father of two is passionate about the sea and comes from generations of fishers who lived on the island of Cres, one of more than a thousand islands in the Republic of Croatia that depend on fishing.

This webinar, co-organized by the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, introduced the Framework for Action on Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture approved by the FAO Council in December of last year. The webinar p...

"It eats everything, leaves nothing and reproduces very quickly," laments Mouradh, a fisherman from the Tunisian islands of Kerkennah. For the country’s fishers, the blue crabs that were being hauled out of the water, tangled up in their broken nets, were a disaster.

It is around five in the morning, and the Imataca Forest Reserve is stirring with the voices of Kariña women. They advance towards the middle of the jungle, bound for the Botanamo river to gather the day’s water. Then, these indigenous women will prepare “casabe”, a circular tortilla made from cassava flour, to accompany what other members of the tribe have brought in from the hunt. After breakfast they turn to their main task of the day: managing and conserving the forest.

“We go to look for oysters in the mangroves to feed our families and for business. This is how I make a living. If I work for two to three days, I can earn money to cover my expenses,” says Fatou Sarr, President of the Women Transformers Group of Diamniadio, a cooperative and producers’ organization that supports small-scale oyster producers.