The importance of prevention cannot be overestimated. In this environment of climate change and global marketing of agricultural products, we would expect that transboundary diseases and pests and threats to the food chain would increase.

Prevention is the only way to save lives, to save livelihoods and to save money.

In this episode: researchers measure carbon levels stored within Tanzania's forests; Brazilian farmers turn to sustainable agriculture to rehabilitate the natural environment; Mali refugees arrive at the M'bera refugee camp in Mauritania in search of food and safety.

This short video - on an FAO roots and tubers project in Ethiopia - is FAO's contribution to a Rio+20 mini-campaign by UNISDR, the Geneva-based UN office for disaster risk reduction.

In this Episode of Hungry Planet: Rising sea levels and increasingly severe storms threaten millions of farmers living along Bangladesh's southern coast, increasingly unpredictable weather patterns in Chad fuel hunger and, in Ethiopia, distribution of high yield root and tuber varieties help farmers increase production in times of drought.

Rio+20 must result in a change of mind-set. We can no longer afford to ignore the interdependencies between natural resources, the environment, hunger and malnutrition. Sustainable agricultural and food systems that make efficient use of our natural resources must become the basis of tomorrow's economy. And with sufficient political will and vision, agriculture can help us achieve the sustainable future we want: a world without hunger.