FAO.org

Progress towards Zero Hunger must be protected from the dual challenges of pandemics and climate change. The frequency of infectious disease outbreaks – including the emergence of novel viruses and zoonotic diseases – is expected to continue rising as livestock, food security, economies, and global health are increasingly threatened by a destabilizing climate. At the same time, malnutrition is unacceptably high across all regions of the world. In 2019, nearly one in ten people in the world were exposed to severe levels of food insecurity.The 13th Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) in 2021 is seeking recommendations, guided by [...]

The Government of Palestine officially endorses a new national food and nutrition security policy and a corresponding National Investment Plan. Read the whole article here.

This manual systematically describes basic management techniques needed to ensure best practices in raising crickets for food production. These techniques are based on 20 years of practical experience in cricket farming in Thailand, and previously unpublished data and knowledge collected by the author and support team. Robust research data related to cricket farming is still lacking, but will undoubtedly increase over time. However, in the interim, the growing cricket farming sector can be enhanced through the application of known best practices and related guidance. Also available in Burmese.

Uncertainties related to the impacts of COVID-19 on daily life are increasingly growing. Inherent effects have grown beyond the well-defined spear of health risks and have shocked the livelihood and food security in several countries. Particularly in the poorest countries, the impact is more devastating due to the limited availability of resources to slow down the spread of the disease. These countries require immediate actions to safeguard food security and human health. Irrigation has a great role in improving crop productivity and ensuring food security. However, expanding irrigation could impact the availability of water for sanitation and hygiene which has a central role in slowing down the spread of the disease. [...]

In partnership with the Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa (NENA) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Policy Centre for Inclusive Growth (IPC-IG) has developed a toolkit with a new step-by-step methodology to calculate the extent to which a population is covered against the risks that affect them throughout their life cycle (Bacil et al. 2020). This approach focuses on identifying different social groups and the risks to which each of them is vulnerable, defining a coverage function for each risk that enables a calculation of how much an intervention is capable [...]

FAO  urges  governments,  academia,  NGOs,  international  community  and  indigenous  peoples authorities to take specific measures that ensure the respect to indigenous peoples’ rights during the pandemic and that includes an intercultural approach when dealing with the emergency, safety and health aspects of the response. Also available in Spanish and French

The Ecosystem approach to aquaculture mangament handbook aims to provide skills and tools to develop in stakeholders and facilitators the necessary know-how to develop an Ecosystem approach to aquaculture managment plans targeting sustainable and climate change resilient aquaculture. The handbook will provide the necessary knowledge on how to:- manage aquaculture under holistic approaches;- address aquaculture issues and challenges;- apply Climate Change Adaptation and Disaster Risk Management strategies- reduce user group conflicts;- work cooperatively with other stakeholders;- empower communities towards political changes- help unlock financial resources to implement plantThe handbook also provides the information to understand the principles of EAAM, how [...]

This report examines how forests contribute to or suffer from disasters. Three events are examined: the tempest Gudrun (Sweden, 2005); the Tohoku earthquake and tsunami (Japan 2011); and the 2017 firestorm in Chile.Forests are “victims” of disaster when unable to provide services required by society and cannot recover within a relevant timeframe. Trees damaged may host insect pests that may kill healthy trees or become fuel for forest fires. Fallen trees also damage infrastructure.Extreme events can change the cultural and economic life of small states/islands and/or cause the breakdown of societal services.Disasters affect timber supplies, distorting market functioning. Damaged timber [...]

This paper presents a sector-specific framework for better understanding the role of the AFOLU sector in the nationally determined contributions (NDCs) at the country and aggregate level. It is designed to facilitate the stocktaking and analysis of national climate change mitigation and adaptation priorities, barriers to implementation and support needs specific to the AFOLU sector in order to inform country programming and guide the flow of external support. It can also be used at the country-level to facilitate NDC enhancement and encourage compliance with the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) of the Paris Agreement. As such, it is directed at national [...]

The 2018-drought directly affected more than two-thirds of Afghanistan (22 out of total 34 provinces) with around 10.5 million people being most severely affected (of the total 17 million in these 22 provinces). 13.5 million people were facing “Crisis” or worse levels of food insecurity in September 2018 and at least 300,000 people internally displaced due to drought. This was one of the most severe droughts in recent times in Afghanistan. Several strands of scientific analyses and experiential evidence from Afghanistan indicate the increasing frequency, scale, duration, and impacts of drought in the country; a trend that is set to [...]