Large, flavorful tomatoes ripen in Odina Sattorova’s backyard greenhouse in Uzbekistan’s Ferghana Valley. Their perfect shape, rich colour and smooth texture – undeniable indicators of quality – are the result of many days of intensive work in the greenhouse. Odina, who has worked in greenhouses taking care of seedlings and...

This brief examines some of the key legal considerations related to school gardens, and also explores regulatory options for strengthening the legislative environment for sustainable school food and nutrition in the country. This brief is rooted in a holistic approach to school food and nutrition and the analysis provided in...

Elsa Varela is a postdoctoral researcher with expertise on silvopastoral systems, rural livelihoods and environmental valuation of ecosystem services in the Mediterranean. She recently joined the Social-ecological Interactions in Agricultural Systems group to investigate innovative strategies for improving the sustainability and resilience of multifunctional landscapes and their associated farming systems. Read on to...

The “SDG localization in Europe and Central Asia – Guidelines to support subnational development planning and budgeting” provides guidance to support local authorities and other relevant stakeholders in subnational development planning and budgeting, in the context of SDG localization. It gives an overview of decentralization and subnational decision-making in Europe...

In 2021, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation (FAO) launched the global Digital Villages Initiative to promote digital innovations to rural communities. Now the initiative is being scaled up in Europe and Central Asia, aiming to improve livelihoods, wellbeing, and social cohesion in this region. The virtual event...

Following the evidence-based analysis of gender in the regional response to the war in Ukraine published last year, the Regional Gender Task Force, the leading advocacy and information and coordination platform on gender in humanitarian action in Europe and Central Asia, has released a new gender brief on Ukrainian refugees’ livelihoods...

Learning by doing is one of the most powerful educational approaches, both for adults and children. Kids observe what their parents and others in the community do, and they copy it.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is hosting the third regional workshop of an informal technical network on community development for Europe and Central Asia. Members will discuss ways to promote the principles of the territorial approaches to rural development in the region. The event is...

This Regional Initiative uses a complex, multidisciplinary and area-based development approach, tailored to the Europe and Central Asia region. It takes into consideration the region’s heterogeneity and the special challenges it faces. The overall goal is to address the key problems of rural people by empowering smallholders and family farms to...

On 20 December, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and oriGIn hosted the online event, Third regional consultation on geographical indications in Europe and Central Asia. Some 111 representatives from 34 countries of geographical indications (GIs) groups, national intellectual property offices and the World Intellectual Property...

Short food chains narrow the gap between producers and consumers, but when food is traded through wholesalers and when supermarkets sell their own brands, active efforts are undertaken to make farmers anonymous. This never really occurred to me until Vera Kuijpers, from the organic farm and farm shop Het Eikelenhof in north-eastern Limburg,...

In this chapter we argue that industrial food production, distribution and consumption play a central role in perpetuating the present intersecting crises of poor health, biodiversity loss, climate change and inequality. At the centre of our argument lies a contention that multiple rifts (e.g. between humans and nature, urban and...

This quarterly bulletin features agricultural trade policy changes in the region. It provides current trade measures, agreements, statistics and articles by experts covering trade-related issues in countries across the region, and it is sent to members of the Agricultural Trade Expert Network. The network connects experts from Eastern Europe, Caucasus...

Following the 2021 United Nations Food System Summit call for implementing nature-positive production, this document provides an overview on the conceptual, theoretical and operational aspects of nature-positive production agriculture. The concept of nature-positive production revolves around the possible synergies between ecosystem restoration and food/biomass production and among biodiversity, nature and agriculture....

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has announced its commitment to assess the competence of veterinary graduates in the field of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and antimicrobial stewardship in selected countries of Eastern Europe, Caucasus, and Central Asia. This initiative is part of the project “Reducing the...

The gouverments in Sweden and Norway have nominated the "Summer farming at fäbod andseter – knowledge, traditions and practices related to grazing of outlying lands and artisan food production” to the UNESCO Representative list of the intangible cultural heritage of humanity There are now only 750 active summer- mountain frams in...

Potatoes are cultivated in over 150 countries and consumed all over the world, including here in Europe and Central Asia where it is both an important crop and a staple in regional diets. It is food, fodder, and a source of income for farmers. Potatoes are low in fat and high...

Does Eastern Europe have a specific dynamic regarding the development of LSPA (Local Solidarity Partnerships for Agroecology)? Together, let’s find different methods and models to build a more sustainable food system. The module is designed for consumers and producers interested in finding out more information about CSA in Hungary and Romania. It may also...

The abandonment of agricultural land in North Macedonia is a pressing concern, with approximately 32 percent of arable agricultural land in the country having been abandoned – a much higher rate than in most other European countries. Land abandonment has significant implications for North Macedonia, including environmental degradation and lost opportunities...

According to estimates, in Europe and Central Asia, 42 percent of monitored terrestrial animal and plant species have declined in population in the past decade. It is now more important than ever before to conserve and use biodiversity sustainably, and to reduce the pressure on natural resources and ecosystems. Action...