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FAO promotes the transition to sustainable and climate-resilient agricultural policies and governance mechanisms, working with countries on reviewing their policies and investment strategies and helping them align their policies and programmes in support of implementing the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as well as the Paris Agreement on climate change.

Over 700 thousand people lost their lives as a result of disasters between 2005 and 2015. Approximately 23 million were made homeless. The total economic loss is estimated at more than US $1.3 trillion. Stephan Baas, Strategic Advisor of the FAO Resilience Management Team together Nina Koeksalan, Climate Change Officer describe the importance of reducing risks and strengthening resilience for improved food security and nutrition in rural communities particularly vulnerable to natural hazards and disasters. They describe the FAO policy work, including key policy messages. This video forms part of a series of policy and governance videos being produced by [...]

Climate change plays an increasingly important role in the international debate on food security. While the key concern is on how climate change can impact world food security: how to meet the food needs of a world population reaching 9.5 billion people under climate uncertainty, the agrifood sector is also increasingly under scrutiny to increase its contribution to climate change mitigation efforts. This is not surprising since worldwide, the agrifood chain (including agriculture as well as food processing, distribution, retail and utilisation) contributes to over 20 percent of total GHG emissions (excluding land use emissions).

Poverty is one of the biggest obstacles to human development and economic growth. About 2.1 billion people still live in poverty and 900 million are extreme poor. Most of them live in rural areas and depend on agriculture and rural livelihoods for their income and food security.

This document introduces RIMA-II, the technical evolution of the FAO Resilience Index Measurement and Analysis (RIMA) tool. RIMA was completely and deeply revised by the FAO Resilience Analysis and Policies (RAP) team; it was technically cleared by a restricted group of high-profile experts. RIMA-II will integrate the old version of RIMA with breakpoint and will guarantee extended analysis and new tools for measuring resilience.

This document introduces RIMA-II, the technical evolution of the FAO Resilience Index Measurement and Analysis (RIMA) tool. RIMA was completely and deeply revised by the FAO Resilience Analysis and Policies (RAP) team; it was technically cleared by a restricted group of high-profile experts. RIMA-II will integrate the old version of RIMA with breakpoint and will guarantee extended analysis and new tools for measuring resilience.

This fact sheet presents an overview of current gender equality and women’s empowerment issues in the fisheries sector. Women’s engagement in fisheries can be viewed from social, political and technical perspectives, all of which show that the role of women is often underestimated. This inadequate recognition of women’s contributions hampers the sustainable development process, resulting in increased poverty and food insecurity. This fact sheet provides information on policy, institutions and planning processes; statistical dimensions in gender analysis; and specific concerns in the field of fisheries industries. It identifies lessons learned and opportunities for gender mainstreaming at macro, meso and microoperational levels. The information provided does not represent an exhaustive analysis of the subject, [...]

At the request of the Ecuadorian Government, FAO undertook a technical assistance to generate an integrated assessment climate impacts on the banana value chain in support of the Ecuador initiatives towards sustainable and climate-adapted strategies. Both biophysical and socio-economic analyses were carried out using a team of FAO and international experts. Evidence was generated on: (i) banana suitability under climate change in Ecuador and other banana producing countries; (ii) climate impacts on yields and potential diseases incidence for bananas in Ecuador; (iii) carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions from production to consumption, including transportation and waste disposal. Policy analysis focused on the [...]

This policy brief demonstrates that Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs) can enhance agricultural productivity, support food security and rural development, and at the same time reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. NAMAs can function as a mechanism for the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the achievement of a number of sustainable development goals (SDGs).

The pilot projects of the Mitigation of Climate Change in Agriculture (MICCA) Programme of FAO in Kenya and the United Republic of Tanzania have promoted climate-smart agriculture (CSA) and have been integrated into ongoing development programmes. The objective of the pilot projects was to show that smallholder farmers can improve their livelihoods and increase their productivity and contribute to climate change mitigation at the same time. The approach was to develop packages of climate-smart agricultural practices based on participatory assessments and expert consultations, implement the selected practices using a variety of extension methods and evaluate their effects on yield, food security and their potential to reduce greenhouse [...]