The potato, an important crop that is consumed by over one billion people around the world, will be celebrated on 30 May 2024, the first-ever International Day of Potato. The theme will be: ‘Harvesting diversity, feeding hope’. The theme underscores the fact that with over 5 000 improved varieties, and farmers’ varieties/landraces of the crop, there are ample choices for the needs of diverse production systems, culinary preferences and industrial applications.

The agricultural sector - plant and animal production, fisheries, aquaculture, and forestry - depends on biodiversity and the ecosystem services it provides, but it is also the sector with the greatest influence on biodiversity. Through this call for submissions, stakeholders are invited to submit contributions on experiences and best practices, and concrete, scalable solutions concerning biodiversity and agriculture, in order to inform the International Symposium "Agriculture, Biodiversity and Food Security: From Commitments to Actions" – to be held in Quebec City, Canada, from April 30 to May 2, 2024 – and facilitate the development of recommendations.

Join FAO in marking the International Day of Forests on 21 March with a livestreamed event from FAO HQ in Rome to find out about some of the outstanding innovations that are helping to protect forests and unlock the many benefits they bring. New solutions are transforming forestry, allowing more accurate mapping and monitoring, empowering Indigenous Peoples to be the guardians of forests, promoting ecosystem restoration and driving the development of more sustainable wood and forest products.

Transforming our agrifood systems to make them more efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable is key to addressing the triple planetary crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. This was the overarching message from the Deputy Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Maria Helena Semedo, in a series of events during the sixth session of the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA) and the Second Quadripartite Executive Annual Meeting.

FAO and UN Environment Programme have named seven initiatives from Africa, Latin America, the Mediterranean and Southeast Asia as UN World Restoration Flagships under the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration. UN World Restoration Flagships are chosen as the best examples of ongoing, large-scale and long-term ecosystem restoration by the Task Forces for Science and Best Practices of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and approved by its Executive Board.

You are kindly invited to join the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER), and IUCN’s Commission on Ecosystem Management for the official launch of Standards of practice to guide ecosystem restoration: A contribution to the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021–2030 on 6 and 8 March 2024. These Standards of Practice have been developed to serve as a universal framework for all forms of restorative efforts during the UN Decade, ranging from minimizing societal impacts to advancing ecological restoration.

FAO is currently seeking applications from experts to join the Scientific Advisory Group (SAG) of its Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) Programme for the 2024-2025 term. The Scientific Advisory Group, composed of nine members nominated by the FAO's Director-General, serves as a crucial expert body. Members are selected based on their individual merits rather than as representatives of member countries, with a focus on ensuring a balance in terms of region and gender.

Over the last three years, under the ACP-MEAS 3 project, a European Union-funded initiative that seeks to strengthen environmental governance and implement Multilateral Environmental Agreements (MEAs), Zimbabwe has made significant progress in policy development, sustainable agriculture research and development, mitigation of the impact of Highly Hazardous Pesticides (HHPs), and promotion of ecosystems-based agricultural practices through farmer field schools.

FAO has launched a new phase of work – supported with $2 million from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) – to assist developing countries in monitoring and reporting data on both the state and changes in their forest cover more effectively and transparently. The project will directly benefit at least 20 countries and more broadly support 236 countries and territories that are part of the FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment national correspondent network.

For generations, Ariel Benitez's ancestors, the Ava Guaraní people, one of the Indigenous Peoples living in eastern Paraguay, have been harvesting the green leaves of the yerba mate tree to make the bitter, caffeinated brew beloved in South America and beyond.