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Parliamentary action is critical to securing the right to adequate food and transforming food systems that deliver healthy diets for all. Food security and nutrition indicators tend to show significant improvement when there is strong political will informing public policies and programmes anchored in legislation. FAO, through its Partnerships and UN Collaboration Division, seeks partnership and closer collaboration with parliamentarians, considering these relationships as key to its work on meeting mutual commitments on food and nutrition security, including the right to adequate food. In line with the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-2031, which seeks to support the 2030 Agenda through the [...]

This background paper to the guidance that FAO is developing on strengthening science–policy interfaces (SPIs) for agrifood systems at the national level sets provides information about the structures and patterns common to global SPIs. It aims to: 1) provide a broad overview and comparison of how international SPIs work, 2) identify a set of categories that are relevant to the work of SPIs, 3) present a systematic, comparative analysis based on publicly available data, 4) draw preliminary conclusions based on findings, and 5) suggest further avenues for study. The conceptual framework identifies three key components of SPIs that, operating together, [...]

Transforming agrifood systems depends crucially on how people can promote and benefit from innovation in governance. Fresh ways to look at policy dialogues and decision-making processes can help societies rapidly face interconnected challenges such as food insecurity and malnutrition, conflicts and the climate crisis. FAO promotes governance innovation to support countries in adopting the best-tailored strategies to pursue a sustainable, efficient, inclusive and resilient agrifood systems transformation. - In Indonesia, FAO has helped the government rethink its national strategic planning by using innovative analysis and modelling and supporting continuous consultation of actors at national and decentralized levels. - In Uganda, FAO has helped [...]

The Global Parliamentary Pact against Hunger and Malnutrition 2023 is the outcome of the Second Global Parliamentary Summit against Hunger and Malnutrition, held in Chile on 15-16 June 2023.

This policy brief is a summary to the Guidelines for action on food loss and waste reduction in the Near East and North Africa, which aims at providing support to Member Countries to implement the Voluntary Code of Conduct for Food Loss and Waste Reduction, an international instrument designed to guide FLW policymaking and interventions at global level. These regionally tailored Guidelines offer a basis for developing national strategies, policies, and legislation enabling food loss and waste reduction in line with national agrifood system objectives of NENA countries. The actions and principles put forward herein have the goal of accelerating [...]

The Guidelines for action on food loss and waste reduction in the Near East and North Africa provide support to Member Countries to implement the Voluntary Code of Conduct for Food Loss and Waste Reduction, an international instrument designed to guide FLW policymaking and interventions at global level. These regionally-tailored Guidelines offer a basis for developing national strategies, policies, and legislation enabling food loss and waste reduction in line with national agrifood system objectives of NENA countries. The actions and principles put forward herein have the ultimate goal of accelerating the region’s transition to sustainable and resilient agrifood systems. Check out [...]

Public policies for family farming – when done appropriately – provide a perfect match between different policy areas related to productive, economic, social, environmental and cultural dimensions of sustainable food systems. The Learning framework for inclusive, integrated and innovative public policy cycles for family farming was developed under the framework of the United Nations Decade of Family Farming (2019–2028) to support policymakers, family farmers’ organizations and other relevant stakeholders to increase their understanding of public policy cycles and family farming related policies. This technical and methodological capacity development programme is adaptable to local, national or regional priorities. It offers a [...]

This handbook was developed by OECD and FAO to help companies embed considerations on deforestation and forest degradation into their corporate due diligence procedures. It is informed by FAO’s extensive work and experience on halting deforestation and forest degradation and promoting responsible governance of tenure. The handbook builds on the leading international, government-backed standards on supply chain due diligence and responsible business conduct: the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises and the associated due diligence framework set out in the OECD-FAO Guidance for Responsible Agricultural Supply Chains and the OECD Due Diligence Guidance for Responsible Business Conduct. This handbook demonstrates how [...]

This course maps key features of governance and offers concrete methods for recognizing and managing governance issues related to agrifood systems, as well as for improving the effectiveness of FAO’s technical and policy assistance. The course follows the logic of the four phases of governance analysis developed by FAO and tested in several countries. This course is based on the Focus on governance for more effective policy  and technical support - Framework paper  

Legislating for an ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) is complex, due to the holistic nature of EAF involving multiple factors that underpin the social, economic, environmental, and institutional aspects of fisheries sustainability. These factors include ecosystems integration, risks, intersectoral collaboration, research, participatory processes, monitoring, control, surveillance, and enforcement, among others. To assess how an EAF is being implemented through national policy and legal frameworks, FAO developed a diagnostic tool for implementing an ecosystem approach to fisheries through national policy and legal frameworks. The present legal report on the EAF used the diagnostic tool to assess the alignment of selected policy and [...]