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Brochure, flyer, fact-sheetBiodiversity in Action — #1 2022
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No results found.Biodiversity provides ecosystem services – such as pollination, healthy soils and clean air – that are essential to all forms of life and are key to improving food security and nutrition. As on the global scale, the rich biodiversity and diverse ecosystems of Europe and Central Asia are threatened by changes in land use and intensification in agricultural sectors. The problem of genetic erosion caused by, inter alia, the steady trend of the replacement of local varieties with modern ones is common across the region. The disappearance of the extraordinary diversity of cultivated plants and domesticated breeds selected over millennia and of agricultural and food production knowledge rooted in the cultural identities of local populations will inevitably lead to the collapse of ecosystem services, threatening food security. The FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, through Regional Initiative 3 – “Managing natural resources sustainably and preserving biodiversity in a changing climate” – supports Members in the region in their efforts to reverse the loss and restore biodiversity for food and agriculture and transition to more climate-resilient, sustainable agriculture and food systems by providing them with important tools, knowledge, information and technical support. -
Book (stand-alone)Hand in hand with nature – Nature-based Solutions for transformative agriculture
A revision of Nature-based Solutions for the Europe and Central Asia region, supported by Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS) examples
2021Also available in:
This report seeks to provide the countries in the Europe and Central Asia region with an overview and real examples of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) applied to agriculture. This is FAO’s first attempt to present NBS applied to agriculture especially pointed at the countries of this region, prompting the scaling-up of these actions as solutions to brought ashore the transition towards resilience and sustainable agriculture. Nature-based Solution is a recent concept that has been rapidly embraced and promoted by international organizations, government bodies, scientific research, and social organizations to face current societal challenges. In agriculture, these solutions are supported by ecosystems functioning to provide food security and livelihoods. By doing so, natural resources and biodiversity are managed in such a way that they maintain their functions providing ecosystem services to the agro-ecosystem. Europe and Central Asia is a highly diverse region in which agri-food systems have had to adapt to severe and context-specific conditions. Therefore, it is also a treasure trove of NbS in agriculture, ingeniously developed and maintained by its local communities for centuries. By providing time-tested successful NbS examples coming from Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS), this report encourages the recognition and identification of already existing NbS in the region as supportive actions that could be enhanced thanks to innovation and science. This way "Hand in Hand with nature: Nature-based solutions for transformative agriculture" supports ECA countries to manage natural resources sustainably while also coping with climate change and other threats to agri-food systems. -
Book (stand-alone)Five practical actions towards low-carbon livestock 2019
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No results found.Livestock provide valuable nutritional benefits as well as supporting livelihoods and the resilience of families and communities. Demand for animal products continues to grow in response to rising population and increasing wealth, especially in low- and middle-income countries. In spite of productivity gains, greenhouse gas emissions from livestock are also increasing. Successful action on climate change through practical action in livestock agrifood systems is an urgent priority, but must not come at the expense of other sustainability objectives, particularly those relating hunger and poverty. Hence there is a need to balance the benefits of animal-source foods and livestock keeping for nutrition, health and livelihoods, with the urgent need to reduce greenhouse gas emissions to tackle the climate crisis, which also threatens food security. The following five practical actions can be widely implemented for measurable and rapid impacts on livestock emissions: 1) boosting efficiency of livestock production and resource use; 2) Intensifying recycling efforts and minimizing losses for a circular bioeconomy; 3) capitalizing on nature-based solutions to ramp up carbon offsets; 4) striving for healthy, sustainable diets and accounting for protein alternatives; and 5) developing policy measures to drive change. This brief describes how these can be implemented in integrative and sustainable ways, taking account the diversity of livestock systems and enhancing synergies and managing tradeoffs with other sustainable development objectives. FAO can help by providing developing tools, methodologies and protocols for measuring emissions, and supporting the development and analysis of technical and policy options towards sustainable, low-carbon livestock.
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