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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 [...]

Many studies have provided global and regional overviews of the state of social protection policies and their importance to poverty reduction, food security and nutrition. However, little is known about how such policies are designed and implemented in rural areas, or how they complement and link to agricultural support programmes, which may cover the same geographical areas and reach similar types of beneficiaries. Both social protection and agricultural policies are needed for poverty reduction in poor rural populations. Yet coordination between the two sectors is generally limited and, until recently, little attention has been paid to their complementarities and how these [...]

This document summarizes the online discussion The African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement and agricultural development: challenges and prospects held on the FAO Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition in Africa (FSN Forum Africa) from 5 May to 2 June 2020. The discussion was facilitated by Jean Senahoun from FAO’s Regional Office for Africa in Accra, Ghana. This online discussion aimed to exchange ideas on the challenges to and prospects for the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) Agreement in Africa’s agricultural sector and its implications for food security and nutrition. Participants shared ideas on the Trade [...]

This report describes: (i) policy measures enacted by the governments of the Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS) Member States to contain the spread of the virus; (ii) policies and measures to stabilize the functioning of agri-food systems; (iii) potential effects of policies on agri-food systems and vulnerable groups. Finally, the profile also assesses longer-term options for agri-food system policies and investments in ECOWAS so as to make them more resilient. See more COVID19-related publications. 

This report describes: (i) policy measures enacted by the Government of Solomon Islands to contain the spread of the virus; (ii) policies and measures to stabilize the functioning of agri-food systems; (iii) potential effects of policies on agri-food systems and vulnerable groups. Finally, the profile also assesses longer-term options for agri-food system policies and investments in Solomon Islands so as to make them more resilient.  See here more COVID-19-related resources 

The Food and Nutrition Security Impact, Resilience, Sustainability and Transformation (FIRST) Programme represents a partnership between the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the European Union (EU). In 2018, the partnership agreed on the need to have a policy effectiveness analysis conducted in most of the FIRST countries. As policy implementation rather than formulation is repeatedly raised as one of Pakistan’s challenges, this assessment considered the implementation challenges of specific policy processes relevant to the FAO-EU partnership in the country, rather than the entire suite of relevant policies. It considered the necessary conditions to move forward and [...]

La Organización de las Naciones Unidas para la Agricultura y la Alimentación (FAO), a través de Global Environment Facility (GEF) junto a la Unión Internacional para la Conservación de la Naturaleza (UICN), desarrolló un proyecto global centrado en la Degradación y en el Manejo Sostenible de Tierras en las zonas de pastoreo compuestos por praderas y pastizales (Proyecto GCP/GLO/530/GFF). El Proyecto global tenía por objetivo fortalecer la capacidad de los actores locales y nacionales en las zonas de pastoreo compuestas por pastizales para evaluar la Degradación de Tierras (DT), tomar decisiones informadas hacia la promoción del Manejo Sostenible de Tierras [...]

FAO’s Investment Centre provides a wide range of investment support services to developing and transition countries. This third annual review shines a light on the work of the Investment Centre and its partners - the international financing institutions - carried out in 2019 to increase the volume and quality of investments in food security, nutrition, agriculture and rural development. During that year, the Centre supported investment-related policy studies and processes to increase policy dialogue and contributed to the design, technical assistance, supervision or evaluation of investment projects in 133 countries. It increasingly linked both its policy work with investment support to [...]

The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets 2020 (SOCO 2020) aims to discuss policies and mechanisms that promote sustainable outcomes – economic, social and environmental – in agricultural and food markets, both global and domestic. The analysis is organized along the trends and challenges that lie at the heart of global discussions on trade and development. These include the evolution of trade and markets; the emergence of global value chains in food and agriculture; the extent to which smallholder farmers in developing countries participate in value chains and markets; and the transformative impacts of digital technology on markets.Along these themes, SOCO [...]

Under the Safe Access to Fuel and Energy (SAFE) programme, FAO has contributed to improving resilience and livelihoods for refugees and internally displaced people in 14 countries through four types of activities: clean cooking, forest management, renewable energy in agri-food chains and policy support.This publication evaluates FAO’s energy-in-emergency portfolio in Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan to define innovative programming options for efficient energy access within the humanitarian settings of these three countries.