Despite significant progress in meeting the Millennium Development Goals on poverty and hunger, almost a billion people still live in extreme poverty (less than $1.25 per person per day) and 795 million still suffer from chronic hunger. Much more will have to be done to achieve the new Sustainable Development Goals on eradicating poverty and hunger by 2030. Most of the extreme poor live in rural areas of developing countries and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods. They are so poor and malnourished that their families live in a cycle of poverty that passes from generation to generation. Many developing countries are adopting a successful new strategy for breaking the cycle of rural poverty – combining social protection and agricultural development. Social protection measures such as cash benefits for widows and orphans and guaranteed public works employment for the poor can protect vulnerable people from the worst deprivation. It can allow households to increase and diversify their diets. 

This publication is the latest in a series of reports by FAO, the first of which was published in 1948. It is a synthesis of key results from the 2015 Global Forest Resources Assessment which is conducted every five years. It summarizes findings and data sources and links to more detailed publications and online resources. Timing for this document is critical in that it is designed to be distributed and released at the World Forestry Congress on 8 September 2015. The Congress is co-organized by FAO and the Government of South Africa.

The Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) was an inclusive inter-governmental meeting on nutrition jointly organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) and held at FAO Headquarters in Rome from 19-21 November 2014. The conference brought together 2 200 participants, including representatives from over 170 governments–with over 100 ministers and vice ministers, 150 representatives from civil society and nearly 100 from the business community. Pope Francis, Queen Letizia of Spain, Nadine Heredia, First Lady of Peru, King Letsie III of Lesotho and Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein of the United Arab Emirates addressed the conference as special guests.

The evidence is clear: to change behaviour 'environmental education' needs to change its focus – with less emphasis on knowledge and raising awareness (although still needed) and more on competency, action skills and problem solving. Based on the educational and psychological research reviewed in this report, the following key objectives are proposed for planning or evaluating educational programmes designed at achieving behaviour change.

This publication is a summary of the workshop held in Bangkok, Thailand from 18 to 20 June 2015 to promote the mainstreaming and up-scaling of Climate-Smart Agriculture in the region. Included in the report are successful case studies that agriculturists have been practicing as a means to address food security under adverse circumstances.