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This “insurance for small-scale fisheries” brochure is one of the Blue Finance guidance notes, prepared under FAO's Blue Growth Initiative. Other brochures in the Blue Finance guidance notes series cover subjects such as insurance for small-scale fisheries and aquaculture, blue bonds, blended finance and innovative investment approaches. The Blue Finance guidance notes aim to provide governmental, non-governmental, private and public stakeholders with information, resources and concrete pathways for obtaining finance to support blue growth transitions at local, national, regional and global scales.This brochure describes why insurance is important for the sustainable development and management of small-scale fisheries. It discusses the [...]

Blue Bonds are a subset of the Green Bond Market, a $200 billion global market of environmental bonds that has been growing rapidly. Because they are part of this environmental market, compliance of the underlying projects with appropriate green bond standards is required. This is what sets them apart from ordinary or vanilla bonds. Broadly, these standards address 3 concerns of investors, beyond financial requirements: Environmental, Social & Governance (ESG). Find more Blue Growth guidance notes here.

This Unasylva issue aims at showcasing forest and landscape restoration (FLR) opportunities and recent developments that have the power to upscale restoration, in order to achieving the Bonn Challenge pledge and other national and international commitments (Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD) Post-2020 Agenda, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) Land Degradation Neutrality, Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC)) and addressing the needs of the UN Decade 2021-2030 on Ecosystem Restoration.The content adresses thematics of relevance to various audiences: i) flagship restoration initiatives that differ from the so-called [...]

The FAO strategy on mainstreaming biodiversity was approved at the FAO Conference in 2019, in view of preparations for the post-2020 global biodiversity framework. The Strategy aims to mainstream biodiversity across agricultural sectors at national, regional and international levels in a structured and coherent manner, taking into account national priorities, needs, regulations and policies and country programming frameworks. The expected result of the application of the Strategy would be to reduce the negative impacts of agricultural practices on biodiversity, to promote sustainable agricultural practices and to conserve, enhance, preserve and restore biodiversity as a whole. Full meeting document FAO Conference Sessions 163 (CL [...]

The health and environmental consequences of our dietary choices impose costs on society that are currently not reflected in the price of those foods or diets that contribute to these detrimental impacts. This paper provides updated estimates of two major cost items: the healthcare-related costs associated with unhealthy diets, and the climate-change costs associated with the emissions attributable to diets and food production. Results suggest that the health and climate-change costs of current diets are substantial and projected to increase up to 1.3-1.7 trillion USD annually by 2030. See here the The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020 [...]

This publication offers a synthesis of the major factors at play in the global food and agricultural landscape. Statistics are presented in four thematic chapters, covering the economic importance of agricultural activities, inputs, outputs and factors of production, their implications for food security and nutrition and their impacts on the environment. The Yearbook is meant to constitute a primary tool for policy makers, researchers and analysts, as well as the general public interested in the past, present and future path of food and agriculture. See here the Statistical Pockebook

The Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines) are the first international instrument dedicated entirely to the small-scale fisheries sector. While the implementation of the SSF Guidelines will require legal and regulatory adjustments beyond national fisheries legislation to ensure political and legislative coherence and fully reflect the breadth of their provisions, the fundamental function of fisheries law in a sustainable use, management, and the development of small-scale fisheries is indisputable. Appropriate fisheries legislation provides the strongest possible framework for inclusive, participatory fisheries governance and resource management by providing a coherent basis [...]

Both the CFS Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security (Right to Food Guidelines) and the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines) hold the realization of the right to adequate food as their main objective. The Right to Food Guidelines emphasizes the role of small-scale producers in several sections and the SSF Guidelines as their first objective call “to enhance the contribution to fisheries to food security and nutrition and support the realization to the [...]

With the global population approaching 8 billion, the role of agricultural value chains (VCs) is increasingly important in ensuring sustainable and equitable food production. However, in developing countries, market failures can prevent small farmers from fully participating in domestic and global value chains, and issues related to climate change create further challenges. Moreover, greening policies and actions, as well as concerns regarding nutritional outcomes, add complexity to providing nutritious high-quality food to feed a growing population. In this context, it is critical to examine how markets can be shaped to be pro-poor and to reduce negative social and environmental externalities.The [...]

The COVID-19 pandemic has more than ever shown the changing risk environment, as well as the systemic and overlaying nature of risks that affect and threaten all sectors. It has reinforced the call for multi-sectoral, multi-hazard and preventive and anticipatory approaches that consistently integrate disaster, climate and crisis risk management for strengthening the resilience of people, their agricultural livelihoods and the ecosystems they depend on in a sustainable manner. In her opinion paper, FAO Natural Resources Officer Wirya Khim discusses the impact of COVID-19 on the agriculture and food systems through a disaster risk reduction lens and offers some key [...]