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Climate is an essential input to agricultural production. Changes in climate will inevitably have an impact on agricultural productivity, output, farm incomes and prices. Elevated temperatures will also affect human and animal health. To date, most of the studies of climate impacts on agriculture have ignored the impacts on humans and livestock, focusing instead on the consequences for crop production. One of the foremost reasons is that research on crop impacts assessment is the field where the necessary modelling infrastructure was most fully developed.   The present paper provides an overview of the latest modelling research on the impact of climate change [...]

Kyrgyzstan experienced an extremely cold winter in 2012, with heavy snowfall followed by a significant spring run-off. This harsh winter led to considerable livestock mortality and price rises for animal products, with a substantial impact on the welfare of livestock herding households. On average, households affected by the harsh winter experienced a 5 percent reduction in food consumption expenditure in the first year following the shock, and 8 percent reduction four years later with respect to households not exposed to this shock (Figure 1). The significant and persistent impact of the harsh winter is particularly evident for the wealthiest households, [...]

Migration is an expanding global reality, one that allows millions of people to seek new opportunities. But it also involves challenges for migrants and for societies, both in areas of origin and of destination. This report analyses migratory flows – internal and international – and how they are linked to processes of economic development, demographic change, and natural-resource pressure. The focus is on rural migration, the many forms it takes and the important role it plays in both developing and developed countries. The report investigates the drivers and impacts of rural migration and highlights how related policy priorities depend on [...]

Bioeconomycomprises the parts of the economy that use renewable biological resources (plants, animals, micro-organisms, etc.) to replace fossil fuels, and produce food, animal feed, and other biobasedproducts. Its cross-cutting nature offers a unique opportunity to comprehensively address interconnected societal challenges such as food security, natural resource scarcity, fossil-resource dependence and climate change, while achieving sustainable economic development. As bioeconomyplays an increa singly important role in many countries and regions, it is crucial to establish guidelines that enable it to be developed in a sustainable way. Find more Project Highlights here.

The Understanding Codex will be at its 4th Edition and it is a very useful tool to introduce the Codex Alimentarius and its collection of international food standards to the public. The Codex Alimentarius is a collection of international food standards that have been adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. Such standards cover all the main foods and also  material used in the further processing of food. Codex provisions concern the hygienic and nutritional; quality of food, including microbiological norms, food additives, pesticides and veterinary drug residues, contaminants, labelling and presentation, and methods of sampling and risk analysis. The Codex Alimentarius [...]

Family Farming, represented by more than 500 million farms, produced about 80% of the World´s food in value terms, using reduced resources. It is fundamental to Food Security and Nutrition (FSN), fighting poverty, mitigating the impacts of climate change and preserving biodiversity and landscape. Family agriculture contributes directly to ten of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and will be on the international political agenda for the next ten years in the face of the recent adoption of Resolution 72/239 on the Decade of Family Agriculture (2019-2028), by the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly. This importance can also be [...]

This edition of The State of Agricultural Commodity Markets focuses on the complex and underexplored intersection between agricultural trade, climate change and food security. The report makes an important contribution to the policy debates on climate change adaptation and mitigation under the Paris Agreement and the multilateral agricultural trade rules. The report discusses policies – both domestic support and trade measures – that can promote food security, adaptation and mitigation, and improve the livelihoods of family farmers around the world. Given both the slow- and rapid-onset impacts of climate change, policies that can significantly promote climate change adaptation and mitigation [...]

An overview of the current scientific knowledge available on climate change implications for fisheries and aquaculture is provided through three technical papers that were presented and discussed during the Expert Workshop on Climate Change Implications for Fisheries and Aquaculture (Rome, 7�9 April 2008). A summary of the workshop outcomes as well as key messages on impacts of climate change on aquatic ecosystems and on fisheries- and aquaculture-based livelihoods are provided in the introduction of this Technical Paper. The first paper reviews the physical and ecological impacts of climate change relevant to marine and inland capture fisheries and aquaculture. The paper begins [...]

New evidence this year corroborates the rise in world hunger observed in this report last year, sending a warning that more action is needed if we aspire to end world hunger and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030. Updated estimates show the number of people who suffer from hunger has been growing over the past three years, returning to prevailing levels from almost a decade ago. Although progress continues to be made in reducing child stunting, over 22 percent of children under five years of age are still affected. Other forms of malnutrition are also growing: adult obesity continues [...]

The Karamoja region, in North East Uganda, is one of the least developed regions of the country, and is highly vulnerable to resource-based conflict and climate change variability. Addressing food insecurity of vulnerable people is a major challenge in the region. Measuring resilience provides more informed policies for withstanding shocks. For this reason, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Food Programme (WFP) developed a Joint Resilience Strategy (JRS) launched in January 2016. The JRS is based on four main pillars: strengthening the productive sector to increase household income [...]