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This report explores the nature of the 2030 Agenda, its goals and targets, and their relevance to aquaculture development. It examines the potential contribution of aquaculture development to the SDGs, and the strengths and weaknesses of existing aquaculture guidance to support implementation of the agenda. Almost all the SDGs, and many associated targets are relevant to aquaculture development. Existing guidance and initiatives designed specifically to promote sustainable aquaculture development (including the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (CCRF) and associated Technical Guidelines; the Bangkok Declaration & Phuket Consensus; the Blue Growth Initiative) will support delivery of the SDGs. These guidance [...]

The GreeNTD is based on a socio-ecological territorial development methodology that supports a wide stakeholder’s engagement in seeking progressive territorial consensus through a holistic, bottom-up and negotiated vision. The final objective is to get an agreed, socially legitimate and sustainable use and management of natural resources whilst safeguarding the ecosystem, current and future. The proposed methods and tools are thought to facilitate the potential users in the implementation of the approach and to facilitate the application of the agreement. The toolkit presents a set of tools to be used in various steps of the territorial development interventions within the GreeNTD [...]

Climate change is a top corporate priority for FAO. Through this newly-endorsed Strategy on Climate Change, FAO aims to enhance the institutional and technical capacities of Member States, improve the integration of food security, agriculture, forestry and fisheries within the international climate agenda and strengthen the internal coordination and delivery of FAO’s work.

Forests and trees contribute to food security and nutrition in multiple ways. They provide wood, energy, foods and other products. They generate income and employment for many people, often the most vulnerable. They deliver ecosystem services vital for food security and nutrition in the long term, including water and carbon cycle regulation and protection of biodiversity. These contributions vary according to types of forests and the way they are managed. Increasing and competing demands on land, forests and trees create new challenges and opportunities and impact food security and nutrition. This report calls for a renewed understanding of sustainable forestry in order to fully integrate [...]

In many regions of the world, sustainable and reliable delivery of water services has become increasingly complex and problematic. Complexities that are very likely to increase, considering the unprecedented confluence of pressures linked to demographic, economic, dietary trends, and climate change. Particularly if overall demand for freshwater exceeds supply, the delivery of water services is often less about engineering, although engineering is still required, and more about politics, governa nce, managing and protecting sources, resolving conflicts about water, ensuring rights to water are respected, and so on. It is also about understanding and monitoring the hydrological cycle at the appropriate scale [...]

The MENA region is known for its water scarcity situation and competition over the limited natural resources to grow grain in order to enhance domestic food supplies, or to grow high-value fruits and vegetables for export is intense and escalating. The choice between food security and lucrative exports is not simple because land and water continue to remain a fundamental part of people’s cultural identity, social relations, livelihood strategies and economic well-being. The trade-offs are critical and many aspects and may stakeholders need to be brought to the decision table. The proposed approach helps stakeholders to select and put into practice those land uses that will best meet [...]

Nearly three years ago, world leaders agreed to the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) – the central framework for guiding development policies throughout the world. This edition of The State of the World’s Forests is aimed at enhancing our understanding of how forests and their sustainable management contribute to achieving several of the SDGs. Time is running out for the world’s forests: we need to work across sectors, bring stakeholders together, and take urgent action. The State of the World’s Forests 2018 identifies actions that can be taken to increase the contributions [...]

Pastoralists produce food in the world’s driest, coldest, hottest as well as mountainous environments, yet they are often misunderstood and marginalized. They not only sustain vibrant and culturally unique communities, but are also linked with many other people who depend on their activities. Pastoral production systems produce a variety of products and services from multiple sources in the ecosystem. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) supports pastoralists and agro-pastoralists worldwide in a wide range of areas to promote food security, resilient livelihoods, pastoral economies and healthy environments. This product is part of a broader series composed by several [...]

Forests play important provisioning and supporting roles in the livelihoods of rural households (Byron and Arnold, 1999, Sunderlin et al., 2005) and the majority of those who live in extreme poverty are reliant on forests for their livelihood. Products from non-cultivated ecosystems such as natural forests, woodlands, wetlands, lakes, rivers, and grasslands can be a significant income source for rural households providing energy, food, construction materials and medicines both for subsistence and cash uses. Beginning with seminal studies on environmental resource use (e.g. Cavendish, 2000) the contribution of forest and other environmental resources to household income accounts were found to [...]

This document containing the FAO’s Voluntary Guidelines on agro-environmental policies is mainly directed at people in charge of making and implementing policies on agriculture, livestock, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture in Latin America and the Caribbean. The guidelines are the result of an extensive consultation process and debates carried out through the project “Strengthening Agroenvironmental policies in Latin America and the Caribbean Through Dialogue and Exchange of National Experiences,” implemented by Brazil between 2012 and 2015 in the framework of South-South Cooperation, with the collaboration of Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Nicaragua in the fi rst stage, and Costa Rica, Cuba, Panama and Paraguay in the second [...]