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The dominance of insular, supply-side technocratic thinking has posed a major challenge to improving water governance in the face of mounting resource scarcity, which has itself been accentuated by climate change. During the 1990s, global discourse moved from supply-driven sectoral interventions to more holistic approaches to water governance as part of larger socioeconomic and environmental processes. Integrated water resources management (IWRM) emphasized demand-side water management and used prices, participation, entitlements, laws and regulations to strengthen water governance at hydrological rather than territorial units. More recently, there have been pleas for more integrative approaches that link land, water, energy, food, livelihoods, [...]

Legislating for an ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) is complex, due to the holistic nature of EAF involving multiple factors that underpin the social, economic, environmental, and institutional aspects of fisheries sustainability. These factors include ecosystems integration, risks, intersectoral collaboration, research, participatory processes, monitoring, control, surveillance, and enforcement, among others. To assess how an EAF is being implemented through national policy and legal frameworks, FAO developed a diagnostic tool for implementing an ecosystem approach to fisheries through national policy and legal frameworks. The present legal report on the EAF used the diagnostic tool to assess the alignment of selected policy and [...]

While the aquaculture sector has seen extraordinary global growth over recent years, it also faces a number of important challenges. Although aquaculture may reduce pressure on wild fish stocks, the fact remains that the sector can also have a range of negative environmental impacts. At the same time, a degraded environment, in particular poor water quality, can adversely affect the health of aquatic animals and plants used in aquaculture and therefore the economic sustainability of the sector. Moreover, if appropriate bio-security measures, in the sense of measures to protect aquatic animal health, aquatic plant health and human health, are not [...]

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, [...]

Young people are key agents of change, with enormous innovation potential. FAO recognizes that youth are already at the frontline to build more sustainable agrifood systems and are best placed to rejuvenate the sector, acquire the knowledge and skills needed to innovate, uptake new technologies, and spearhead the digital transformation. The Organization provides support to countries to develop more youth-inclusive policies, strategies, investments and programmes, in order to enhance the overall well-being of young women and men. This compendium of good practices brings together snapshots of selected FAO’s youth-specific projects, activities and products in support of the Rural Youth Action [...]

The State of Land and Water Resources (SOLAW) in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region is part of a FAO flagship series launched in 2011. Being one of the most land and water scarce region in the world, the preservation of land and water resources is of critical importance to ensure food security and address the increased food demand. The publication aims at providing policy makers, institutions and other stakeholders a comprehensive overview of the current situation for land and water and the effect of climate change and urbanization on food production facilitating informed decision-making. The report provides [...]

Legislating for an ecosystem approach to fisheries (EAF) is complex, due to the holistic nature of EAF involving multiple factors that underpin the social, economic, environmental, and institutional aspects of fisheries sustainability. These factors include ecosystems integration, risks, inter-sectoral collaboration, research, participatory processes, monitoring, control, surveillance, and enforcement, among others. To assess how the EAF is being implemented through national policy and legal frameworks, FAO developed A diagnostic tool for implementing an ecosystem approach to fisheries through national policy and legal frameworks. The present legal report on the EAF used the diagnostic tool to assess the alignment of selected policy and [...]

This report provides an overview of the potential use of wood residues as feedstock for bioenergy production as part of the transition towards a sustainable and circular forest bioeconomy. While data and examples are abundant from developed countries, a specific focus will be put on the role and potential of wood residue-based energy in developing countries. The study is structured around the following four main objectives, each corresponding to a chapter: - define key terms and concepts related to wood residues and bioenergy value chains (Chapter 2); - characterize the status and trends in renewable energy, modern bioenergy and the forest-based bioeconomy and [...]

This document presents the methodology used to build the EX-Ante Carbon Balance Tool version 9 (EX-ACT). It describes in detail the main logic behind the tool, the tool structure, and the underlying equations and parameters used to calculate the carbon balance. EX-ACT is a land-use-based accounting system developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to evaluate the effects of the interventions in agriculture on greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and carbon stock changes expressed as carbon balance. The carbon balance comprises changes in GHG emissions and carbon stock changes in the five quantifiable carbon pools: above-ground [...]

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic has jeopardized the stability of agrifood systems and the welfare of the rural households that are actively engaged in the different components of these systems, particularly in developing countries. Efforts are underway to redress the negative impacts of the pandemic through investments to ‘build back better’. These efforts represent an enormous opportunity to make significant and lasting contribution to the longer-term resilience and sustainability of agrifood systems in the context of climate change. The objective of this report is to provide an overview of the current opportunities for harnessing short-term response and recovery efforts to address longer-term [...]