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Governance work seeks to clarify and address the underlying political dynamics of decision making processes in order to arrive at workable solutions. Klaus Urban, Senior Officer (Governance and Institutions) of the FAO Economic and Social Development Department together with Dubravka Bojic, Programme Officer (Governance and Policy) explain how FAO works at all levels of governance—national, regional and global—to improve capacities for effective collective action and to solve problems as diverse as ending hunger, malnutrition and poverty; minimizing climate change; enabling transition to sustainable agriculture and sustainable use of natural resources; ensuring the health and safety of food and agriculture systems; and [...]

The training guide Gender-Responsive Disaster Risk Reduction in the Agriculture Sector is intended primarily for policy-makers and practitioners, who have a good understanding of disasters but limited knowledge of gender issues, and work on DRR policies, plans, information systems, or other activities related to disaster-prone communities. Its main objective is to present theoretical and practical approaches to address gender issues in DRR strategies for the agriculture sector, illustrating some  stories on how gender issues cut across men’s and women’s experiences of disaster risk and can be addressed in DRR decision-making. This guide also provides an overview of a gender-responsive planning [...]

The demand for food is expected to increase by 60 percent in the next 37 years as the world’s population is estimated to reach 9.2 billion by 2050. Mobile technology would effectively improve the transmission of agricultural research results forapplication in farmer’s fields.

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.

Between 2013 and 2015, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the French National Institute for Agricultural Research (INRA) undertook a survey of innovative approaches that enable markets to act as incentives in the transition towards sustainable agriculture in developing countries. Through a competitive selection process, 15 cases from around the world provide insights into how small-scale initiatives that use sustainable production practices are supported by market demand, and create innovations in the institutions that govern sustainable practices and market exchanges. These cases respond to both local and distant consumers’ concerns about the quality of the [...]

El presente estudio revisa las tendencias en la inversión y financiamiento rural y, particularmente, en el sector agropecuario de la región latinoamericana con el fin de ofrecer una perspectiva crítica de dónde están las principales limitantes para lograr sistemas financieros rurales más inclusivos y proponer áreas de intervención pública y privada que puedan favorecer dicho objetivo, de acuerdo con la evidencia recopilada de experiencias innovadoras en varios de los países de la región. Para ello, este estudio pretende analizar conjuntamente las tendencias en los mercados agropecuarios y las tendencias en los mercados financieros rurales para luego mostrar vínculos relevantes para el [...]

This Technical Guide on Governing Tenure Rights to Commons aims to support states, community-based organizations and civil society organizations, the private sector and other relevant actors to take proactive measures to implement the standards and recommendations of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests. This Technical Guide is now also available in Chinese, French and Spanish. 

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).

The LEAP (Livestock Environmental Assessment and Performance) Partnership is a multi-stakeholder initiative that is committed to improving the environmental performance of livestock supply chains, whilst ensuring its economic and social viability.  Farmers, consumers and other livestock stakeholders are increasingly in need of more information about the environmental performance and the sustainability of livestock supply chains. Although a wide range of environmental assessment methods have been developed, there is a need for comparative and standardized indicators in order to switch focus of dialogue with stakeholders from methodological issues to improvement measures.  LEAP develops comprehensive guidance and methodology for understanding the environmental performance of [...]

Strengthening sustainable forest management Over the last 25 years criteria and indicators for sustainable forest management (C&I for SFM) have become a vital tool for developing a common understanding of the key components of sustainable forest management. They have been adopted and widely applied particularly for international and national reporting and for forest certification. They have undoubtedly helped to define SFM, providing a framework for discussion, and have stimulated improved monitoring. However, their use in policy and practice is limited, for a range of reasons. The project was designed to take stock of the status and use of forest indicators globally, and [...]