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Achieving Food Security in the future while using water resources in a sustainable manner is a major challenge for us and the next generations. Agriculture is a key water user. A careful monitoring of water productivity in agriculture and exploring opportunities to increase it are required. But how can we monitor the performance of water use in agriculture? FAO has developed a publicly accessible near real time database using satellite data that allows monitoring of agricultural water productivity.

The purpose of this report is to assess the current implementation of forest and landscape restoration (FLR) in Africa. It presents the context for FLR on the African continent, highlights major FLR initiatives, and provides an overview of FLR in Africa at the start of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration (2021–2030). It identifies key challenges, opportunities, actors and processes, illustrated with some case studies. Data collection was both primary (interviews) and secondary (extensive desk research).The report contributes to tracking progress on the implementation of AFR100 and other FLR initiatives in Africa on the ground. It provides a baseline for [...]

Due to the economic dominance of the agriculture sector, Mali is extremely dependent on natural resources and also vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change. The deterioration of ecosystems has strongly affected rural populations, resulting in a very poor performance in environmental governance. Gender inequalities are also present at all social levels and help create or exacerbate tensions between different social groups. In addition to the social tensions, the security situation in Mali is precarious due to the presence of non-state armed groups. The conflict analysis was carried out to take stock of the current situation regarding conflicts over natural [...]

In Burkina Faso, the exacerbation of conflicts over natural resources and the rapid development of insecurity are sources of major concern for both the public authorities and the populations. The report features the main findings of the conflict analysis that was carried out to: (i) take stock of conflicts over natural resources and other conflicts in rural areas; (ii) identify initiatives for conflict prevention and management; and (iii) formulate proposals to improve the effectiveness of conflict prevention and management mechanisms. The conflict analysis is one of the main activities implemented under the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations [...]

The Crop Sector Development Strategy for Eastern Africa 2021 - 2026 defines a series of goals and interventions agreed by representatives of the Ministries of Agriculture from the countries within the jurisdiction of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Subregional Office for Eastern Africa, as well as inputs from FAO representatives in the member countries, the East African Community Secretariat, the Intergovernmental Authority on Development Secretariat, the Desert Locust Control Organization for Eastern Africa and the CGIAR centres.The Strategy presents a holistic approach to improving crop production and productivity through a unified approach. This should be [...]

This paper is the first in a series of ongoing and planned efforts to build on current knowledge and develop methodologies for estimating new components of food systems emissions, with a view to disseminate the information in FAOSTAT. It provides a methodology for estimating the GHG emissions associated with historic and current domestic food transport, in an effort to inform countries of the environmental impact of their food distribution systems.Our efforts respond to the call of the upcoming Food Systems Summit to characterize the role of food and agriculture to accelerate achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. In particular, they [...]

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has developed this three-year strategy to strengthen resilience of agriculture-based livelihoods in Nigeria under recurring threats from both conflict and natural hazard-induced disasters to better withstand shocks and thrive. It integrates the pathways for resilience through four main outcome areas. The first one is the strengthening of the national institutions and their entities for disaster risk reduction, natural resources management and food crisis prevention and management in the agriculture sector. Secondly, it aims to inform agriculture-based livelihood interventions with reliable data, analysis and a well-established early warning system against known and [...]

Se proponen cinco mensajes claves relativos a ámbitos de mejora de la gobernanza del agua en territorios agrícolas, a partir de un análisis de contexto (FAO, otras agencias ONU, otras fuentes), el desarrollo de los planteamientos sobre las oportunidades de mejora, la síntesis de los aprendizajes de los casos de estudio en Chile, Perú y Bolivia, así como el resumen de las intervenciones de representantes de instituciones gubernamentales, ONGs, la academia y la FAO en el diálogo subregional de septiembre 2020 sobre los casos de estudio:     La profundización de los ajustes en la institucionalidad     La adaptación de los instrumentos de [...]

Pastoral systems have evolved to function with the natural environment and therefore with variability. By identifying variability as an entry point, this paper aims at (i) engaging FAO in the mainstreaming of pastoralism by establishing the understanding of pastoralism, and its systematic inclusion in the normal operations of FAO, and at (ii) presenting an evidence based narrative on pastoralism to a specialists’ audience. Two main points are made in this document: First, pastoral systems are emblematic of farming with nature. Second, pastoral systems make use of variability in inputs (the environment) by matching it with variability in their own operational [...]

Against the background of fast expanding trade and a surge in food import bills, which has come to characterise much of developments shaping global food markets in 2020/21, early forecasts for 2021/22 point to resilient food trade and a continuation of strong international prices amidst many supply and demand uncertainties.This report provides supply and demand forecasts for basic foodstuffs, fish and fishery products along with price analysis and policy information. The report’s special feature of this report puts recent trends in global food trade under the spotlight, with particular focus on how commodity flows have measured-up during the COVID-19 pandemic. [...]