Amidst the citrus trees, cows crossing the streets and hazelnut orchards, a typical sight in the Samegrelo-Upper Svaneti region, Marina Kacharava, 69, is pursuing her passion of making high-value European cheeses in her small farm next to her home in the town of Abasha. In the region, she is one of the most successful students of a Farmer Field School (FFS) run by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). 

The population of great cormorants in Europe has increased in recent decades from some 50 000 birds in the 1970s to an estimated population of more than 2 million today. The success of this bird conservation by the European Union Birds Directive of EU Member States has had unintended consequences on the ecological balance of European waterways and on fisheries and aquaculture operations.

Central Asia, home to ecologically important river and wetland systems, extensive grasslands, and high mountain ranges that support unique biodiversity, faces escalating pressures. The region is particularly vulnerable due to its arid nature, increasing demands for natural resources, unsustainable development, and changing climate patterns, which contribute to an estimated USD 6 billion in annual economic losses related to land degradation alone. In response, five Central Asian countries – Kazakhstan, Kyrgyz Republic, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan – are supporting the development of the Central Asia Water-Land Nexus (CAWLN) programme.

The Republic of Moldova is stepping up its efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance (AMR) within its agrifood sector through a comprehensive new project launched by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with national authorities. The initiative was inaugurated through a series of workshops held in Chișinău from 12 to 16 May 2025. More than 30 national partners from the agrifood and health sectors gathered to strengthen intersectoral cooperation and assess progress in the Republic of Moldova on combating AMR.

QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) today urged immediate action on water conservation, transboundary cooperation, and sustainable agricultural practices to safeguard Central Asia’s future. The FAO Director-General spoke at the opening session of the Astana International Forum hosted by the Government of Kazakhstan. 

Veterinarians are often the first to detect, prevent and respond to zoonoses, or diseases transmitted between humans and animals. As the world becomes more connected and interactions increase between humans and animals, the risk of zoonotic outbreaks is greater than ever. To address this, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has launched the Zoonoses for Field Veterinarians course in English on the FAO Virtual Learning Center platform.

In many countries of the Europe and Central Asia region, the majority of smallholder farmers own fragmented land parcels that are difficult to farm efficiently, hampering economic growth and sustainable production.

One solution is land consolidation, the reallocation of agricultural land parcels to improve the farm structure. At a three-day LANDNET workshop in Budapest, Hungary, from 28 to 30 May, experts from more than 30 countries will discuss how the process benefits women’s land rights and tenure security, combats climate change and land degradation, and boosts the development and regulation of agricultural land markets.

North Macedonia’s forestry sector, historically the country’s primary greenhouse gas (GHG) sink, is increasingly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. More frequent forest fires, rising temperatures, and land use changes are weakening the sector’s ability to sequester carbon. To reverse...

While Bosnia and Herzegovina has successful examples of land degradation neutrality efforts, more aggressive action is needed to address the broader challenges.

The priorities should include harmonising land regulations across both entities and Brčko District, followed by the adoption of unified methodologies and the creation of reliable collection, storage and analysis capabilities. Only through an approach that ensures a uniform framework across all administrative units in Bosnia and Herzegovina can the issue of land protection be effectively addressed.

A three-day workshop aimed at strengthening regional cooperation for the surveillance and control of PPR is underway in Almaty, Kazakhstan, with support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). Field veterinarians and epidemiologists from Armenia, Bulgaria, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Romania, Tajikistan, Türkiye, and Uzbekistan are participating in sessions on outbreak investigation, cross-border risk assessment, and emergency response planning.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) this week held a two-day workshop for experts, representatives of universities and other partners from Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and Türkiye to teach them more about the approach and share best practices. As a platform for presenting achievements, sharing lessons learned and strengthening regional collaboration on the future of IPM, the workshop set the ambitious goal of encouraging long-term commitment to IPM strategies across the region.

A training course on strategic carbon accounting was held this week in Belgrade, Serbia to give experts and businesspersons practical tools to measure and reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions within the agrifood sector. The training was convened by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) as part of a larger project on Developing Nationally-Determined Contributions (NDC) Roadmaps for Climate-Smart Agrifood Systems, that is helping  Serbia and Uzbekistan decarbonize agrifood systems, adapt to climate risks, and attract private sector investment.

Today on World Bee Day, we all have an opportunity – whether we work for governments, organizations or civil society or are concerned private citizens – to promote actions that will protect and enhance pollinators and their habitats, improve their abundance and diversity, and support the sustainable development of beekeeping. Developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the publication Digital technologies and solutions for beekeeping explores how innovative technologies are helping support this vital practice, boosting productivity and complementing the deep-rooted expertise, knowledge and skills of beekeepers.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), through a Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP), is ready to provide Montenegro with the tools needed to modernize its feed methods and accelerate the livestock sector: new types of seeds, fertilizer, expert knowledge and reinforcing the power of community, all of which are important in empowering smallholders and gearing up the agricultural sector, scaling up production, and supporting the country’s accession process to the European Union (EU).

Starting today, a two-day session of the Informal Consultation, organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) will again be hosted by Hungary in Budapest, with the objective to shape and refine the FAO priorities for the Europe and Central Asia region for 2026–2027 in the context of a rapidly changing world and the countdown to the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Over 30 Members from the European and Central Asia region have come to the session, opened by the Minister of Agriculture of Hungary Istvan Nagy and FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative, Viorel Gutu. 

“The airborne spores of rusts do not respect borders, as Norman Borlaug indicated,” says Fazil Dusunceli, Plant Pathologist for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), referring to the 1970 Nobel Peace Prize winner for his contribution to the Green Revolution. “The rust fungi mutate into new strains which travel in the air, creating new risks in different regions in their trail.” 

Forests are critical to Armenia, in part for their importance in mitigating the effects of climate change. As highlighted by Aram Meymaryan, Deputy Minister of Environment of Armenia, at a 29 April meeting for a project to cultivate 5 000 ha of forest in the country, particularly in the northern Lori and southern Syunik regions. Funded primarily by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), the project leverages resources and expertise from other actors, including the Government of Armenia, the Austrian Development Agency, the Autonomous Province of Bolzano (Italy), World Wildlife Fund for Nature Armenia, and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Plants provide essential resources to life on Earth. Agrifood systems and food cultures in Europe and Central Asia are heavily dependent on plants – a dependence which relies on those plants being healthy and thriving. Protecting plant health under the holistic One Health approach can help countries of the region boost economic development, reduce rural poverty, support biodiversity, and improve nutrition. Therefore, this year’s International Day of Plant Health, celebrated globally on 12 May, focuses on plants as a critical pillar within One Health.

Montenegro, rich in forest resources, faces increasing climate-related challenges such as droughts, floods, and forest fires. The country has demonstrated its commitment to climate action through its updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) (2025), targeting a total of 55 percent reduction in national greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by 2030 from all sectors including the Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU). Despite the recognition of its importance in terms of vulnerability and contribution to emissions, data information gaps continue to exist, limiting the ability to design and implement targeted actions, specifically also for AFOLU sectors.

A group of municipality representatives from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Georgia visited Mafra, a Portuguese municipality, last week to learn more from its example on localizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Mafra has shown a strong commitment in overall SDG implementation at the municipal level and in the development of a Voluntary Local Review (VLR), the internationally accepted process to review the implementation of SDGs at sub-national level.