FAO.org

In view of the twenty-sixth session of the Conference of the Parties (COP26) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and more specifically in view of reporting on the progress and outcomes of Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture (KJWA), it has become increasingly urgent to understand the potential future of agriculture under the Convention as the KJWA roadmap reaches its completion.This publication outlines five potential pathways/outcomes of the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture. These should be considered not as a set of rigid and exclusive pathways, but rather as illustrative examples whose key features can be combined. [...]

This publication describes climate-smart agriculture (CSA) case studies from around the world, showing how the approach is implemented to address challenges related to climate change and agriculture. The case studies operationalize the five action points for CSA implementation: expanding the evidence base for CSA, supporting enabling policy frameworks, strengthening national and local institutions, enhancing funding and financing options, and implementing CSA practices at field level. The publication provides examples of the innovative roles that farmers, researchers, government officials, private sector agents and civil society actors can play to transform food systems and help meet the Sustainable Development Goals; it also demonstrates [...]

Climate finance is a fundamental element of the global development agenda and has been accelerating in recent years. Yet between 2000 and 2018 the share of global climate finance in the agriculture and land-use sector has decreased, passing from an average of 45 percent of the total flows at the beginning of the millennium, to 24 percent in 2013 where it has since stayed. The total sum of contributions to the agriculture and land-use sector between 2000 and 2018 amounted to USD 122 billion, representing 26 percent of the global climate finance flows to all sectors.This report aims to increase [...]

This paper describes FAO’s vision and gives guidance on the implementation of green and climate-resilient agriculture. It looks at how FAO is applying and scaling it up in an integrated way through country support and global advocacy. It is complemented by a webpage showcasing relevant FAO practices, success stories as well as related articles, publications and videos.

To support the implementation of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and help achieve its goals, there is a need for a shared vision of ecosystem restoration. A key step in creating a shared vision of ecosystem restoration is to adopt principles that underpin the full set of ecosystem restoration activities. To this end, this brochure presents ten principles for ecosystem restoration including a first principle that orients restoration in the context of the UN Decade, followed by nine best-practice principles. These best-practice principles detail the essential tenets of ecosystem restoration that should be followed to maximize net gain for [...]

In this study, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR) teamed up to investigate how transformational change (transformational change) is understood in the scientific literature. The study, the first of its kind to review academic studies on transformational change, focuses on two main questions: (i) What does ‘transformational change’ mean? and (ii) What drives it?

Parliamentarians from around 50 countries and nine parliamentary networks gathered in the context of the Virtual Parliamentary Dialogues on Food Security and Nutrition in the time of COVID-19. From March to September 2021, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), pledged to put food security and nutrition at the forefront of national, regional, and global agendas and to take proactive steps to address the consequences of the pandemic. In their legislative, budgetary, and oversight responsibilities, parliaments are strategically positioned to strengthen food security, nutrition, and inclusion [...]

This report presents the results of a study on agricultural plastic products used globally in a range of different value chains. The study assessed the types and quantities of plastic products, their benefits and trade-offs. Sustainable alternative products or practices were identified for products assessed as having high potential to cause harm to human and ecosystem health or having poor end-of-life management. The report is based on data derived from peer-reviewed scientific papers, governmental and non-governmental organization’s research reports, as well as from industry experts, including relevant trade bodies. The report’s recommendations were verified during extensive consultation and review with FAO [...]

The Progress towards Sustainable Agriculture initiative (PROSA) is a framework that seeks to complement ongoing efforts on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and particularly indicator 2.4.1, to support country-level assessments using data already available at the national level. Making agriculture more sustainable – productive, environmentally friendly, resilient and profitable is fundamental, as agriculture remains the main source of livelihood for the majority of the world’s poor and hungry. The pathway towards sustainable agriculture must ensure increasing output, but also make more efficient use of increasingly scarce global resources, be resilient to and help mitigate climate change, and improve human well-being.This [...]

Growing international and domestic demand for tropical timber has resulted in critical wood supply gaps for many tropical timber-producing countries, in some instances linked to a surge in illegal logging. Growing shortages of legal timber supply have necessitated the exploration of alternative sources of legally produced timber. Community forestry has been recognized as a potential source that could boost legal timber supply on the domestic market of tropical timber-producing countries. This brief seeks to share the experience accrued across Asia, Africa and Latin America in addressing and overcoming challenges faced in legal frameworks, market access, and capacity building.