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Biodiversity for food and agriculture comprises all the components of biodiversity that contribute to crop and livestock production, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture – both wild and domesticated, and at genetic, species and ecosystem levels. It is vital to food security and nutrition, livelihoods and the supply of a range of ecosystem services. The Framework for Action on Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture was endorsed by the FAO Council in 2021. It contains more than 50 individual actions grouped into three strategic priority areas: characterization, assessment and monitoring; management (sustainable use and conservation); and institutional frameworks. It was developed in response to [...]

Small and medium agrifood enterprises (SMAEs) such as processors, transporters and other service providers, play an important role in achieving sustainable development objectives. For instance, they connect farmers to urban markets; make significant investments in rural areas; provide employment to vulnerable populations such as women and youth; and propel the modernization of agrifood value chains. In sub-Saharan Africa, where agriculture comprises 53 percent of total employment and 15.5 percent of gross domestic product, supporting SMAEs can have great implications for pro-poor growth and rural transformation. To support SMAEs in fulfilling their potential, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United [...]

This technical guide is a product of the fruitful collaboration between FAO and UINL (MoU signed in 2016) which led to illustrate that the preventive administration of justice and notaries, as independent public legal officers, can play a key role in achieving the VGGT recommendations.By exercising their function responsibly and implementing best practices, practitioners in the preventive administration of justice can make a considerable contribution to improving the living conditions of citizens worldwide, to achieving sustainable livelihoods, housing security, rural development and environmental protection for the benefit of all citizens. The guide advocates for responsible governance of tenure through the [...]

The brochure provides data disaggregated by sex on various issues under the following topics: Small family farms and women's decision-making roles in agriculture Secure rights over land Employment, work and time use in agricultural contexts Access to digitalization and financial services Food security It also identifies some of the areas in the rural and agricultural contexts where there is only a partial understanding of the reality due to the lack of sex‑disaggregated data and gender-relevant statistics.

Mobility is a vital strategy employed by pastoralists to capitalize on the scarce availability of resources in variable environments, making pastoralism economically feasible and environmentally sustainable. Through mobility, pastoralists can produce animal-sourced products that provide food and income security to populations in the world’s rangelands. Such a practice also provides a range of benefits to the environment while fostering the capacity to adapt to changing social and natural environments.With a few exceptions, policies have largely not kept up with new scholarship and development discourse that acknowledges the importance of mobility to pastoralism. There is a lag in and resistance to [...]

Ce guide en image est le fruit d’un processus participatif et inclusif de Renforcement des capacités des Comités régionaux de transhumance qui ont réuni plus de 90 participants (pasteurs/éleveurs, administration territoriales, conseils régionaux, structures techniques décentralisées des différents départements ministériels clefs, les organisations de la société civile, ainsi que les représentants de projets et les organisations non gouvernementales (ONG) au niveau des Willayas pastorales). Organisées du 17 mars au 23 mars 2019 au niveau des Willayas de l’Assaba et des deux Hods, ces rencontres ont permis aux acteurs présents d’échanger, en lien avec la gouvernance des terres pastorales, sur les [...]

This paper presents a methodology for public expenditure review and analysis for climate change adaptation and mitigation in the agricultural sector. It outlines the basic methodological concepts, including the classification of public expenditures in the context of their links to climate change adaptation and mitigation. It also illustrates how such analysis can usefully contribute to policy decision making to better achieve the climate change adaptation and mitigation goals using the case study of Uganda. The proposed classification allows for analysing the level and the composition of public expenditures that influence adaptation capacity of the sector to climate change, and actions [...]

In its 2020 communiqué, the International Advisory Council on Global Bioeconomy has urged to strengthen good practices and policies to advance the global bioeconomy.The transition from a fossil-based economy to a bioeconomy happens at three levels: technological, organizational and social. In particular, agri-food systems are key to achieve a shift to sustainable and circular production and consumption patterns, since they occupy the biggest share of the bioeconomy from an economic, value-added perspective as well as having potential for discovery and innovation.This Compendium outlines 250 sources of good practices and policies. It covers the entire continuum of economic sectors that have [...]

To promote the production, utilization, conservation and regeneration of biological resources in ways that support global food and nutrition security and sustainable development, it is necessary to have a holistic vision for a sustainable and circular bioeconomy. Through the International Sustainable Bioeconomy Working Group (ISBWG), a multistakeholder group established in 2016, FAO provides international support to increase national capacities to develop strategies and policies that can realize this vision for a transition towards sustainability.Aware that the implementation of bioeconomy involves potential synergies and trade-offs with regards to sustainability, the ISBWG proposes to mainstream a set of Aspirational Principles and Criteria [...]

Empowerment is the “expansion of people’s ability to make strategic life choices” (Kabeer, 1999). According to the UN, women’s empowerment has five components: women’s sense of self-worth; their right to have and to determine choices; their right to have access to opportunities and resources; their right to have the power to control their own lives, both within and outside the home; and their ability to influence the direction of social change to create a more just social and economic order, nationally and internationally (FAO, 2017). The process of empowerment rests on enabling social conditions including social norms and legislative action [...]