The outcome document of the 2014 World Conference on Indigenous Peoples contains a series of commitments calling for multifaceted action by a range of actors, first and foremost Member States, but also the United Nations system. Among these is a request that the Secretary-General develop a system wide action plan...

Este video forma parte de un módulo de comunicación y capacitación sobre tierras comunales desarrollado en Guatemala para fomentar la participación activa e informada de las comunidades rurales en procesos decisionales relacionados con la tenencia de sus tierras. Este segundo bloque temático presenta conceptos básicos, diferentes categorías y formas de reconocimiento...

An Open Letter by the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food highlighting concern over the Regional Arusha Protocol for the Protection of New Plant Varieties by the African Regional Intellectual Property Organization (ARIPO)The letter highlights concern that the Arusha Protocol is inappropriate for the ARIPO region and the non-transparent...

A Unique Sense of Place - the Tarnava Mare area of South-eastern Transylvania is one of the forgotten jewels in Romania's crown. It is one of the Europe's most important natural and cultural landscapes, including some of the finest pristine wildflower rich grasslands – the result of centuries of good...

Only a small number of governments have established meaningful and effective farmer-centred measures for the implementation of access and benefit sharing of genetic resources. One reason is the highly complex nature of the international regulatory system. This special issue of Farming Matters magazine presents practical ways in which access and...

This educational video presents Participatory Guarantee Systems (PGS) through practical examples and theory. It is illustrated by 4 PGS initiatives: “Nature et Progres” in France, “Rede Ecovida de Agroecologia” in Brazil, “Bryanston Organic and Natural Market” in South Africa and “Sabeto Organic Producers Association” in Fiji. The video is structured...

New information materials (a video and five factsheets) are providing important insight into the Forest and Farm Facility’s (FFF) work at country, regional and global level. The FFF, a partnership comprising FAO, IIED and IUCN hosted by FAO, has developed a model delivery mechanism for multi-stakeholder actors to improve the...

UNESCO and the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS-France), in partnership with Indigenous Peoples of Africa Coordinating Committee and Tebtebba, will organize an international conference on indigenous knowledge and climate change. Indigenous peoples, scientists and governments are invited to a transdisciplinary dialogue to better understand the role that indigenous and...

A group of coffee farmers in Turrialba, Costa Rica, is successfully exploring diversification options with horticultural food crops. This is being done in collaboration with two vegetable seed banks that allow family farmers to use varieties freely under the multilateral system of FAO´s International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for...

Food and nutrition insecurity has been a major challenge in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). With land frontier closing, farmers in SSA must intensify and diversify food production to alleviate food and nutrition insecurity. In the face of climate change, African Indigenous Vegetables (AIVs) can offer opportunities to diversify production systems and...

When Typhoon Haiyan (known locally as Yolanda) struck in November 2013, it severely damaged or destroyed many seaweed facilities, crippling the income of Filipino coastal farmers who relied on this as their main source of livelihood. The Philippines is one of the world’s largest producers of seaweed and initial assessments...

Model Sheep Fold is a good example of how traditional farming methods are supported by technical exper-tise to ensure that the traditional way of life in Romanian villages may be maintained. Solar panels supply the shepherds with electricity for light and for charging their cell phones. This enables the shepards...

Even as many pockets of the state, including its capital, battle the ravages of development and consumerism, a couple of villages visited by the author stand as examples of resilient local economies and lifestyles.  The village is not very old; it all began in 1963 with three families. Nongtraw comprises of...

Many countries in the region met or exceeded the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) on hunger several years before the deadline. Going forward, to meet the 2030 hunger target of the Sustainable Development Goals, the challenge will be to fully eliminate the prevalence of undernourishment across the region and to achieve...

Fundația ADEPT Transilvania  is listed among the 1.000 worldwide cultural institutions on the Google Cultural Institute, which brings together millions of artifacts from multiple partners, with the stories that bring them to life, in a virtual museum

On 21 February 2016, at Sighişoara, Fundaţia ADEPT repeated for the 6th consecutive year, its popular annual event dedicated to Family Farmers and Small-scale Producers from the Târnava Mare area, bringing together around 200 local farmers with the specialists who have contributed to the survival and prosperity of their landscapes....

Various agro-ecological practices have existed in the region, primarily as an alternative to conventional chemical-intensive farming based on Green Revolution prescriptions. These alternatives are often directed at enhancing soil fertility, through organic matter management and water conservation. Throughout Asia and the Pacific, different terms are used for specific practices including:...

La agricultura familiar en Colombia está representada por campesinos, indígenas, afrocolombianos, pescadores, agricultores urbanos y neo-rurales que viven, en general, en condiciones de pobreza y abandono. Las políticas y programas rurales del país la subordinan y no existen criterios de política diferencial que reconozcan sus particularidades y potencien sus capacidades;...

Efforts to rapidly increase on-farm biodiversity are a matter of urgency in an era of climate change. To do so, farmers need better access to the genetic material of research stations and gene banks. Collaboration with scientists who are willing and able to work together with family farmers is crucial....

The experiments in farming described in this book represent new social forms of agriculture which have arisen in recent years while traditional family farms have declined and industrial agriculture has increased. These new famers involve many local families directly in the decisions and labour which produce the vegetables, fruits, milk,...