Countries across the Near East and North Africa face mounting pressures from land degradation, water scarcity, climate change and rising food insecurity. In response, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is intensifying efforts to mobilize investment and strengthen country-driven action for ecosystem restoration. Within this context, FAO has launched a series of national consultations to introduce and refine a new regional programme proposal entitled “ReInvest NENA – Restoration and Investment for Ecosystems, Sustainability and Transformation in the Near East and North Africa.” The consultations were recently held in virtual format with Tunisia, Algeria and Lebanon.

The National Agriculture Strategy of the Syrian Arab Republic 2026-2030 will capitalize on agriculture as the country’s strategic sector to recover from more than fourteen years of crisis. Under the generous patronage of the General Secretariat of...

Amid growing climate challenges and increasing water scarcity in Iraq, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in Iraq, in collaboration with the Ministry of Water Resources and local governments in Muthanna and Najaf governorates, inaugurated model projects aimed at improving irrigation efficiency and promoting sustainable water use.

 

Hammamet, Tunisia 29 January 2026, FAO officially launched the two-year regional project Greening Agroforestry Economies Strengthening Non-Wood Forest Product Chains and Smallholder Cooperatives on 29 January 2026 in Hammamet, Tunisia. The launch took place in the context of a regional gathering bringing together country focal points and partners from across the Near East and North Africa region.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) convened a Regional Consultative Technical Meeting (RCTM) this week as part of the preparatory process for the Thirty-eighth Session of the FAO Regional Conference for the Near East (NERC 38), which will take place in 2026.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) convened a two-day Stakeholder Validation Exercise in Cairo on 4-5 February 2026 to review and refine the initial prototype of the regional dashboard “Towards Healthy Diets from Sustainable Agrifood Systems” for the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region.

As the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia accelerates its efforts to restore degraded land and expand vegetation cover under Vision 2030 and the Saudi Green Initiative, the need for robust science-based verification systems have become increasingly critical to measuring real impact and ensuring long-term sustainability. Field verification grounded in scientific methodologies is emerging as a cornerstone for translating ambitious land rehabilitation targets into measurable and comparable results—advancing FAO’s Four Betters: Better Production, Better Nutrition, a Better Environment, and a Better Life. 

The Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Central Region (CRC) and the Commission for Controlling the Desert Locust in the Western Region (CLCPRO), in collaboration with the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), concluded a specialized regional training programme hosted by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources in Ar‑Rumais, Sultanate of Oman, from 25 to 29 January 2026.

Fisheries scientists and managers from across the Near East and North Africa will gather in Alexandria, Egypt this month for a regional workshop aimed at strengthening cooperation and further building capacity for responsible fisheries management in the Mediterranean basin.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in partnership with the Directorate General of Forests of the Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Fisheries of Tunisia, together with the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), the International Land Coalition (ILC), 

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), through the Desert Locust Control Commission in the Central Region (CRC) and the Desert Locust Control Commission in the Western Region (CLCPRO), in cooperation with the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Water Resources of the Sultanate of Oman, has launched the first regional training programme for drone pilots dedicated to desert locust survey and control operations.

To address the escalating challenge of water scarcity in the world’s most water-stressed region, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and its partners launched today the "Regional Collaboration and Annual Review Meeting" of the Water Scarcity Initiative (WSI) Programme.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has secured two new partnerships with Belgium and France as part of a wider initiative to scale up cash-based assistance to 1 000 farming households in the Gaza Strip ahead of the next growing season and enable them to restore food production.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) organized a regional workshop in Amman, Jordan, bringing together national experts and policymakers from Egypt, Jordan, Palestine, and Tunisia to advance improved water allocation for agriculture in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region.

Cairo, December 2025 – Food markets across the Near East and North Africa (NENA) showed signs of relative stability in the final quarter of 2025, but deep structural challenges linked to climate change, water scarcity and conflict continue to threaten food security across the ...

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture of Iraq (MoA) and the Ministry of Agriculture and Water Resources of the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (MoAWR-KRI), has officially launched the regional Technical Cooperation proj...

22–23 December 2025, Foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) remains one of the most economically significant transboundary animal diseases, affecting livestock production, trade and livelihoods. In 2025, FMD re-emerged in North Africa, with confirmed outbreaks in Tunisia in March a...

 More than 72 000 farming and herding families in the West Bank – nearly two-thirds of all agricultural families – urgently require emergency agricultural assistance, according to a new survey published today by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

Under the patronage and in the presence of H.E. Dr. Nizar Hani, Minister of Agriculture, and with the participation of Ms. Nora Ourabah Haddad, FAO Representative in Lebanon, the First National Consultative Workshop on Strengthening Rural Advisory Services (RAS) to Support the Recovery of Farmers in Lebanon was convened today.