Agroecological production methods strengthen farmers’ autonomy and adaptive capacity. When expanding agroecological systems, greater societal benefits depend on closer relationships between producers and consumers.   Connecting producers to more equitable and sustainable markets through short food supply chains can increase producers’ income, at the same time as maintaining a fair price...

Intensive crop production, use of pesticides, and unsustainable farming practices are known to cause land degradation and soil contamination. Both have led to a decline in biodiversity and changes in the functional groups of soil microorganisms. Although physicochemical methods have been used to apply soil amendments to agricultural land, mushroom...

Sylvia Kuria is an organic farmer in Kenya who founded Sylvia’s Basket, a farm based in Limuru, committed to providing fresh organic vegetables to its customers. She is also an IFOAM – Organics International ambassador who has conducted workshops to teach women and other smallholder farmers how to grow food organically. She told us...

We may not realise at first, but all living creatures play an important part in our ecosystem. Even the smallest of insects can make a big difference, from pollinating plants to enriching soil. Since 1970, over 40% of insect species have declined in Britain and a third are endangered. Although...

When land is degraded and becomes scarce, women and girls are uniquely and differentially affected due to the major role they play in agriculture and food production, their heavy reliance on forests, their vulnerability to poverty, their lack of education, and their typically weak legal protections and social status. Mainstreaming gender...

The Government of Japan boosts the Food and Agriculture Organizations of the United Nations (FAO) emergency interventions in Yemen by contributing USD 2 090 909 allocated as part of its ongoing response in Yemen.The “Emergency Agricultural Livelihood Assistance to Conflict and COVID-19 Affected Populations” project enables FAO to provide emergency...

How to encourage generation renewal, young people to stay, newcomers to settle? Which barriers do they face and how policies can help to overcome them? These were the questions raised during the conference of the Horizon 2020 project Ruralization on 8th and 9th November 2021, where Blandine Camus, Communication and Policy Officer,...

Soils are essential to life on Earth. Their protection is of the utmost importance to ensure the future of agri-food systems and the provision of key ecosystem services. While there is increasing attention to the importance of biodiversity for food security and nutrition, especially above-ground biodiversity such as plants and...

In Spain, the G100 Rural Proofing project aims to develop a Spanish model for rural proofing. The G100 initiative is led by the social economy NGO El Hueco and is supported by the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and the region of Navarra.  The impact of legislation on rural areas has been analysed for...

The scarcity and deterioration of fresh water is one of the most alarming problems facing humanity today. As a solution strategy, different competent administrations, such as UNESCO and the Royal Legislative Decree of Spain, have proposed the reuse of wastewater. Cuba is not exempt from these problems and its national...

In order to preserve their livelihoods, women processors in Senegal have come together to oppose the Tosyali steel project. Since 2009, women fish processors of Khelcom in the traditional municipality of Bargny, about 35km from Dakar, have been facing the aftermath of development projects that jeopardise their environment, health, security and...

Following a by the Government of Ukraine, FAO is supporting the country create a foreign agricultural attaché infrastructure. The idea behind this is to help Ukrainian agrifood producers enter foreign markets, through increased awareness of the country’s food-production potential, and by providing professional in-market support to Ukrainian suppliers and future...

Vietnam has 16,247,492 hectares of agri-forest areas, with a forest cover of 42 percent. Of these, 5.5 million hectares (ha) are protection forests, 8.5 million are production forests and 2.2 million are lands without forests. Income from forestry production reached Vietnamese Dong 23.9 trillion (approximately $1B) in 2015 gaining 7.09%...

The economic impact of COVID-19 on the world’s most populous region is threatening to further undermine efforts to improve diets and nutrition of nearly two billion people in Asia and the Pacific who were already unable to afford healthy diets prior to the pandemic, says a new report published today...

Urbanization and ecosystems are profoundly intertwined. As urbanization takes over more land and has greater impacts on ecosystems, and as towns and cities of all sizes demand ecosystem services (food, fiber, water, energy, etc.), flows of people, goods, services, information, capital, etc. define and drive urban–rural linkages in complex and intricate...

The 65th session of the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) of the United Nations took place from 15 to 26 March 2021. The theme of the session was: “Women’s full and effective participation and decision-making in public life, as well as the elimination of violence, for achieving gender...

EU Pollinator Week is an event that focuses on the importance of pollinators for healthy ecosystems, our wellbeing, and culture. In 2021, it will be an online event held on 27-30 September with the theme "A New Deal for Pollinators".  The 2021 EU Pollinator Week is organised by Members of the...

Young people all over the world participate in both policy and action to avoid, minimize and reverse land and ecosystem degradation. The youth make their voice heard on multiple restoration policy platforms and by taking action on themes such as climate change and biodiversity. But their ability to act as...

El documento inicia con una caracterización tanto del agro peruano en términos de roles, estructura y desempeño, como de las prioridades de las políticas públicas implementadas en el período pre Covid-19. Prosigue examinando los escenarios agro-alimentarios en contexto de crisis Covid-19 tanto en términos de disponibilidad/abastecimiento de alimentos para el mercado. Finalmente,...

The European Network of Women in Fisheries and Aquaculture in Europe (AKTEA) urges the Office of the Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans and Fisheries to integrate gender into all aspects of European fishing policy. On 8 March International Women’s Day, AKTEA wrote a letter to Commissioner VirginijusSinkevi?ius, Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans...