This booklet has been written by the European Access to Land network in cooperation with Urgenci, the network for Community Supported Agriculture (CSA), based on CSA members’ stories from across Europe. Land and communities – new building stones for European food and agriculture. In the last 10 years alone, Europe has...

The FAO Director-General argued that the world's rural areas will be the key battleground in the push to achieve the 2030 sustainable development agenda, since it is there that poverty and hunger are most concentrated.At the same time, most of the increases in agricultural yields required to feed a world...

The Expert Meeting on Climate Change Implications for Mediterranean and Black Sea Fisheries, was held at the GFCM, Rome, 4–6 December 2017, with the objective to provide technical support the development of an adaptation strategy to cope with the potential effects of climate change on fisheries, in the framework of...

The vast majority of agricultural holdings in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia are less than 2 hectares, made up of multiple parcels – 7 on average. This fragmentation of agricultural land is one of the greatest challenges for the country’s agricultural sector, having adverse effects on the productivity, competitiveness...

In 2009 the Italian Association for Organic Agriculture (AIAB) launched the first bio-district in Italy. A bio-district is a geographical area where farmers, citizens, tourist operators, associations and public authorities enter into an agreement for the sustainable management of local resources, based on organic principles and practices, aiming at the...

The forty-first session of the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean as well as the eighth session of the Committee on Administration and Finance was attended by delegates of 22 contracting parties, as well as of three cooperating non-contracting parties and one non-contracting party. Representatives from 20 intergovernmental and non-governmental...

The Expert Meeting on Climate Change Implications for Mediterranean and Black Sea Fisheries, was held at the GFCM, Rome, 4–6 December 2017, with the objective to provide technical support the development of an adaptation strategy to cope with the potential effects of climate change on fisheries, in the framework of...

A modern national food safety system for Ukraine’s fishery products – in line with European Union requirements – is the overarching goal of a new FAO project launched here today. Funded by Norway and carried out in close collaboration with Ukraine’s Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food, the project will address...

Organic and eco-sustainable farming is particularly suited to farms situated within parks, because it does not harm local ecosystems as it does not use pesticides and promotes biodiversity, improving biological links and creating ideal habitats for animal life. It also promotes grants that reward farmers for acting as “guardians/stewards of...

Global change presents risks and opportunities for social-ecological systems worldwide. Key challenges for sustainability science are to identify plausible future changes in social-ecological systems and find ways to reach socially and environmentally desirable conditions. In this context, regional-scale studies are important, but to date, many such studies have focused on...

Silk manufacturing is as an ancient tradition in Azerbaijan, and spring is silkworm season. The Otharashvili family in Gakh region have a long, enclosed porch that they dedicate to the care and feeding of these distinctive white larvae. Care means maintaining the right temperature and humidity in the room. Feeding...

Gender equality is a key to eliminating poverty and hunger, as it has been demonstrated by the FAO throughout its research worldwide. As part of the FAO efforts on generating evidence and knowledge, and in compliance with the FAO Policy on Gender Equality, the purpose of the Country Gender Assessment...

The objective of ‘Guidelines on Gender Mainstreaming and a Human Rights-Based Approach (HRBA)’ is to provide a concise and compact guide for FAO REU / SEC staff to use at different stages of the project cycle. By bringing together the key elements of gender mainstreaming and HRBA found within the...

Farmers in Kazakhstan have been increasing the land area devoted to growing oilseed and pulse crops – and it makes good sense from several viewpoints. An FAO-organized seminar on “Pulses and oilseeds: prospects for development” was held here today, one of many forward-looking events on offer this year at Astana...

A global drive to reduce food losses and waste all along the value chain has arrived in Ukraine, where this week the fisheries and aquaculture sector tackles the issue. Experts from FAO’s Fisheries Division in Rome, Italy are conducting a training course in Kyiv for representatives of Ukraine’s Ministry of Ecology...

The exodus of young people is one of the main problems of rural communities in Mediterranean Europe. The declining rural population is counterbalanced by migrants that have come to live and work in the countryside. Paradoxically, it is thanks to migrant shepherds that ancient pastoral traditions are kept alive and...

Four decades of communism and an overnight transition from socialism to the free market caused dramatic shifts in food consumer – producer relationships across Eastern Europe. In the Czech Republic, a history of cooperatives and local food production contrasts with today’s situation, in which the country is almost entirely dependent...

A model fish-production farm that uses new, water-saving production methods is being inaugurated today in Sayat-Nova, in Armenia’s Ararat province. The new installation was made possible by an FAO project and a public private-partnership. Groundwater levels in the Ararat Valley have been falling in recent years due to overutilization – by...

A geographical indication label on a food product conveys information about the food’s quality, reputation or unique characteristics linked to its origin. Since these labels help guide consumers in their food choices, and help farmers and producers of traditionally produced products market those products, a well-functioning geographical indication scheme benefits...

Most European consumers are familiar with migratory species like salmon and sturgeon, and with farmed trout and carp. The long-term viability of these and other inland fish species is the focus of an FAO regional commission whose meeting opens here today. The European Inland Fisheries and Aquaculture Advisory Commission, established in...