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This policy brief emphasizes the critical importance of leveraging domestic resources and effectively reallocating subsidies to amplify their efficacy in addressing food crises and fostering the transformation of agricultural food systems. By strategically directing resources within national economies and optimizing existing subsidy frameworks, governments can significantly enhance their capacity to prevent and mitigate food crises while simultaneously advancing sustainable agricultural practices. This approach not only ensures the efficient utilization of available funds but also promotes greater resilience and long-term viability within the agricultural sector.

The Global Framework on Water Scarcity in Agriculture (WASAG) was launched during the UNFCCC’s COP22 in Marrakech Morocco in November 2016. WASAG has since steadily received recognition and mandate to support countries in finding solutions to cope with water scarcity in agriculture in the face of climate change. In April 2017, a meeting of partners agreed to establish the WASAG partnership to be hosted by FAO to advance the mandate of the framework.Emerging from its foundational years, WASAG held its first International Forum with the theme “Leaving no one behind”, from 19 to 22 March 2019 in Praia, Cabo Verde, [...]

Strengthening agricultural producer organizations (POs) and cooperatives has been recognized as a key way forward to support farmers in the West Bank and Gaza Strip (WBGS) and, in turn, promote food security, income generation and private sector development. Agriculture in the WBGS is characterized by smallholdings; there are just over 110 000 of these, and 90 percent are classified as small or medium-sized. The annual report on states that have limited or absent governance capability and are vulnerable to conflict or collapse. Yet, few would deny the extreme fragility of the WBGS given the conflict situation, a deadlocked political process [...]

Highly vulnerable to the effects of climate change, heat waves in Egypt are increasingly severe and frequent, raising the already high evaporation rate, accelerating crop transpiration, increasing soil aridity and elevating water requirements for both human and agricultural consumption in a country where water is imported. The forecasted spike in rainfall variability will affect flow of the Nile River, increasing both drought and high-flow years. While Egypt must produce more food for its rapidly growing population and confront high levels of child malnutrition, agricultural performance is slowing due to inefficient use of land, labour, water and energy along with environmental [...]

Amid a worsening climate crisis and slow progress in cutting greenhouse gases, sustainable agrifood systems practices can help countries and communities to adapt, build resilience and mitigate emissions, ensuring food security and nutrition for a growing global population. FAO is working with countries and partners from government to community level to simultaneously address the challenges of food security, climate change and biodiversity loss. But none of this will ultimately succeed unless the world commits to a significant increase in the quality and quantity of climate finance.

Disasters are resulting in unprecedented levels of destruction across the world. These shocks and disruptions affect the functioning and sustainability of agricultural production and threaten the livelihoods of millions of people reliant on agrifood systems. Reducing the impact of disasters in agriculture requires a better understanding of the extent to which these events produce negative impacts in agriculture and necessitates an investigation into the underlying risks that make agriculture vulnerable to the effects of disasters. The FAO flagship report on ‘The Impact of Disasters on Agriculture and Food Security’ provides a timely and comprehensive overview of how disasters are affecting agriculture and [...]

En se basant sur un des messages clés de La situation mondiale de l’alimentation et de l’agriculture (SOFA) 2020 - «Investir dans les sources d’eau non conventionnelles, notamment la réutilisation de l’eau ou le dessalement, est une stratégie de plus en plus importante face à la rareté de l’eau» - le bureau sous-régional de l’Organisation des Nations Unies pour l’alimentation et l’agriculture pour l’Afrique du Nord (FAO-SNE) et l’Union du Maghreb arabe (UMA) continuent à améliorer les connaissances et les compétences sur la réutilisation saine et durable des eaux non conventionnelles. Ils fournissent aux pays du Maghreb des informations et [...]

Agrifood systems in the Near East and North Africa are characterized by increasingly degraded natural resources and vulnerability to climate change, rapid population growth and protracted crises. In addition, the region has been affected by conflict that has further exposed the fragilities and worsened the challenges already faced by communities.   Conflict negatively affects the poverty rate, the economic capacity and functioning of agrifood value chains and people’s ability to produce, distribute and access food. In volatile operating environments, resources, government spending and private investment are frequently diverted or reduced, with lasting impact on agri-food value chains and consequently nutrition and food [...]

This publication provides an overview of the common and unique sustainability elements of Indigenous Peoples' food systems, in terms of natural resource management, access to the market, diet diversity, Indigenous Peoples’ governance systems, and links to traditional knowledge and Indigenous Peoples' languages. While enhancing the learning on Indigenous Peoples' food systems, it will raise awareness on the need to enhance the protection of Indigenous Peoples' food systems as a source of livelihood for the 476 million Indigenous inhabitants in the world, while contributing to the Zero Hunger Goal. In addition, the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition (2016–2025) and the UN [...]

In the Asia–Pacific region, water resources form the basis of agrarian prosperity and economic development. However, increasing water demand due to population growth, rapid industrialisation and urbanisation, and a changing climate undermine those water resources. Like many parts of the world, Asia–Pacific faces increasing water scarcity, with varying characteristics, causes and trends across a diverse range of countries at different stages of development. Understanding of the spatial and temporal differences in water scarcity across the region is, however, limited, and while policies and management strategies are under development in all countries, their effectiveness varies significantly. Responses to water scarcity are often [...]