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Malnutrition affects all countries and one in three people. 800 million people are under nourished and 2 billion are affected by micro nutrient deficiencies. Boitshepo Giyose, Senior Nutrition Officer of the FAO Nutrition and Food Systems Division, explains the importance of nutrition and how it should be main streamed across all sectorial policies. She describes the FAO policy work, including key policy messages, to achieve this. See all videos in the Policy and Governance series :  AR  CH  EN   FR  RU  SP

If global population and food consumption trends continue, by 2050 the world will need 60 percent more food than is available today. Matthias Halwart, Senior Strategic Programmer Officer of the FAO Sustainable Agriculture Programme, explains the importance of sustainable agricultural intensification and its contribution to meeting this demand. He describes the FAO policy work, including key policy messages, to achieve food security.  See all videos in the Policy and Governance series:  AR  CH  EN   FR  RU  SP

The productivity and sustainability of agriculture, forestry and fisheries depend on healthy and biodiversity-rich ecosystems. Thomas Hofer, Team Leader of the FAO Forestry Department and Caterina Batello, Senior Officer with the FAO Plant Production and Protection Division explain the importance of ecosystem services and its contribution to food security. They describe the FAO policy work, including key policy messages, to achieve this goal. See all videos in the Policy and Governance series :  AR  CH  EN   FR  RU  SP

End hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition are at the heart of the sustainable development goals. The World has committed to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by 2030. But climate change is undermining the livelihoods and food security of the rural poor, who constitute almost 80% of the world’s poor. The effects of climate change on our ecosystems are already severe and widespread. Climate change brings a cascade of impacts from agroecosystems to livelihoods. Climate change impacts directly agroecosystems, which in turn has a potential impact on agricultural production, which drives economic and social impacts, which impact livelihoods. In other [...]

Since  the  effects  of  climate  change  are  already  being  felt,  incorporating adaptation  into agricultural policies, plans and investments is needed to maintain and enhance the benefits obtained from agriculture. Risk  management  strategies have  a  prominent  role  to  play  in adaptation,  ranging  from  increasing resilience  of  agro-ecosystems  through  better management  of  ecosystem services,  increasing  resilience of livelihoods through social protections policies to disaster risk response.

This report provides an overview of how the agriculture sectors have been considered in the INDCs, taking into account the interdependencies characterizing these sectors. It aims to identify the priorities and related needs of countries to inform international cooperation and support. The FAO analysis report aims to complement existing reports (see Annex C) including the UNFCCC synthesis report (2016) by providing a closer look at the agriculture sectors. Building on the results of this analysis, FAO has developed the paper The agricultural sectors in nationally determined contributions (NDCs): Priority areas for international support.  This paper outlines key types of support developing countries will require to effectively implement and [...]

Women and men play specific and complementary roles in agriculture and food and nutrition security, and building the resilience of their livelihoods in different ways. In most countries, women have less access to productive resources, services and employment opportunities than men. The gender gap is found for many assets, inputs and services such as land, livestock, labor, education, information services, and technology, all affecting the capacity to protect their communities from crises. While men account for the majority of direct casualties during wartime, women and children suffer more from displacement, reduced access to services and assistance, and loss of livelihoods. [...]

The provision of guidance for the quantitative assessment of biodiversity in livestock and other sectors is an emerging area of work. This document represents an initial step in which international experts with various backgrounds shared their views on biodiversity assessment. The general objective of this document was to develop principles applicable to different assessment methods in order to guarantee a minimum level of soundness, transparency, scientific relevance, and completeness. These principles can be used to identify crucial elements of livestock systems that affect biodiversity, to monitor changes and make improvements, and to produce assessment results for internal or external communication.

This publication addresses the need to strengthen the interface between the scientific community, knowledge-holders and policymakers, and build capacity for and strengthen the use of science and knowledge in policymaking on the topic of ecosystem services. With respect to the ecosystem service of pollination, FAO developed a protocol to identify and assess pollination deficits in crops – resulting in a global meta-analysis, with data from eleven countries. Results emerging from this endeavour give strong indication that pollination deficits may exist in a wide variety of farming systems across the world. As a response to this science, researchers and policymakers from [...]

Food losses and waste (FL&W) in the Near East & North Africa (NENA) region are high and contribute to reduced food availability, aggravated water scarcity, adverse environmental impacts and increased food imports, in an already highly import-dependent region. This document outlines a Regional Strategic Framework for reducing food losses and waste in the region. It responds to the FAO NERC-31 (in May 2012) recommendation calling on FAO to “assist member countries in addressing the key challenges of reducing food waste and losses by conducting comprehensive studies on impact of food losses and waste on food security in the region and in establishing a plan to [...]