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The analysis of household resilience to food insecurity has become a key technical and evidence-based policy instrument for better tailoring development and humanitarian intervention designs. International development agencies must strengthen the capacity of vulnerable households to anticipate, cope with and adapt to shocks and stressors. Despite the humanitarian and development scope of household resilience strengthening, most resilience academic research and policies focused on protracted crises countries. Moreover, too little attention has been paid to in-depth gender inequality analysis in household resilience to food insecurity, and household food security. This paper aims to (i) analyse the key drivers of household resilience [...]

This brief summarizes the findings of the working paper Resilience to food insecurity and gender differential decomposition in the Gambia, which aims to analyse the key drivers of household resilience to food insecurity and assess differences in resilience capacity and food security indexes across male- and female-headed households. It identifies key drivers of these differentials at the national, urban and rural areas in the Gambia, by using Gambian Integrated Household Surveys on consumption expenditure and poverty-level assessment 2015–2016.

North Macedonia’s ambition to join the European Union requires reforms of the agricultural sector and subsidy system. One major reform is the alignment to the rules of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union on direct payments, including the “decoupling” of direct payments from production quantities. The decoupling of direct payments is likely to have significant impacts on production decisions, prices and therefore on farmer income. This paper identifies four possible scenarios for North Macedonia to align the direct payment scheme to the regulations of the European Union and subsequently analyses the impact of each scenario on farmer [...]

This policy brief summarizes the key findings and policy recommendations of the corresponding working paper Decoupling direct payments in North Macedonia – Impacts on farmer income. North Macedonia’s ambition to join the European Union requires reforms of the agricultural sector and subsidy system. One major reform is the alignment to the rules of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) of the European Union on direct payments, including the “decoupling” of direct payments from production quantities. The decoupling of direct payments is likely to have significant impacts on production decisions, prices and therefore on farmer income. This paper identifies four possible scenarios [...]

Transformation of agrifood systems can only be achieved by strengthening and capitalizing on the knowledge, experience, skills, and capabilities for collective action of a broad range of public and private actors - each of whom brings distinctive interests, needs, resources, influence and capacities. “Governance” is the name for this multidimensional capability for effective and inclusive collective action at all levels. In many country contexts, it is the governance bottlenecks that lead to a gap between policy expectations and their outcomes on the ground. For example, a given policy intervention can make a lot of economic sense but if it is perceived [...]

Diverse foods derived from livestock production systems, including grazing and pastoralist systems, and from the hunting of wild animals, provide high-quality proteins, important fatty acids and various vitamins and minerals – contributing to healthy diets for improved nutrition and health. Livestock species are adapted to a wide range of environments, including areas that are unsuitable for crop production. Globally, more than a billion people depend on livestock value chains for their livelihoods. Small-scale livestock farmers and pastoralists make up a large proportion of livestock producers. Well integrated livestock production increases the resilience of small-scale farming systems. Livestock also provide other important [...]

As a contribution to the new FAO Green Cities programme, the Forestry Division has developed in close collaboration with the Regional Offices in Africa, Asia and the Near East a new global programme: the Green Urban Oases Programme. The overall objective of the programme is to turn dryland cities into “green urban oases” and strengthen their overall resilience to climatic, health, food and economic crisis, as well as to reduce the impact of urbanization on biodiversity and the surrounding natural environment. The present document is intended to be used to provide a solid background to the role of urban forests [...]

The Issue Brief includes an overview of global trends on forests, energy, and livelihoods, and related policy and research. It analyses the nexus and interlinkages of forests, energy, and livelihoods, including the contribution of forests and forest products to wood-based bioenergy. It considers measures to: i) address the negative impacts of bioenergy; ii) promote and ensure access to efficient and clean bioenergy; iii) reverse deforestation, forest degradation, biodiversity loss, and climate change, and; iv) improve livelihoods, reduce poverty, and promote decent employment and health through a just transition. The Issue Brief also offers recommendations for integrated policies on forests, energy, [...]

The purpose of this Sourcebook is to provide advice on how to incorporate disaster risk reduction and resilience building into the watershed management process. As an increasingly heavier toll is exerted on agriculture and food systems by drought, floods, wildfires, and other extreme events, adopting risk reduction and management practices must become an integral part of watershed management. While the steps involved to incorporate resilience building are similar to those routinely carried out in integrated watershed management, this Sourcebook stresses the importance of understanding disaster and climate risks, adopting a landscape approach and targeting vulnerable groups (e.g. women, youth, indigenous [...]

The status of women in agrifood systems report uses extensive new data and analyses to provide a comprehensive picture of women’s participation, benefits, and challenges they face working in agrifood systems globally. The report shows how increasing women’s empowerment and gender equality in agrifood systems enhances women’s well-being and the well-being of their households, creating opportunities for economic growth, greater incomes, productivity and resilience. The report comes more than a decade after the publication of the State of food and agriculture (SOFA) 2010–11: Women in agriculture – Closing the gender gap for development. SOFA 2010–11 documented the tremendous costs of gender [...]