Results
![](fileadmin/user_upload/gaps/img/resources/large_blooming drylands sustainable transformation policy.png)
Briefs
2021
Blooming drylands – a practical approach for context-dependent economic, social and environmentally sustainable transformations
This policy brief is intended to inform decision-makers of nine transformational actions to sustain dryland production systems under the impact of climate change. It highlights the relevance of the local context for interventions and the importance of traditional and tested adaptive agrosilvopastoral strategies for building resilience. In addition, it emphasizes the potential for scaling up and using complementary technologies over wider areas. In particular, the roles of both women and men should not be neglected in terms of maintaining, creating and restoring dryland sustainable landscape.
![](fileadmin/user_upload/gaps/img/resources/large_climate resilient dryland forest agrosilvopastoral.png)
Issue paper
2021
Building climate-resilient dryland forests and agrosilvopastoral production systems. An approach for context-dependent economic, social and environmentally sustainable transformations
With climate change impacts already felt in the world’s drylands, there is an urgent need for action, at various scales and initiated by different stakeholders, to ensure the sustainability of food production and livelihoods in these regions in the coming decades. There is also the need to rapidly establish baselines, assess and start monitoring progress on sustainability, emerging as result of the action taken.To aid in this effort, this paper provides a short list of expected transformations (under each of the three sustainability pillars) for guiding the planning and implementation of policy, governance and practice-level actions. Gender and indigenous people’s [...]
![](fileadmin/user_upload/gaps/img/resources/large_disaster risk reduction 2021.png)
Issue paper
2021
The impact of disasters and crises on agriculture and food security: 2021
On top of a decade of exacerbated disaster loss, exceptional global heat, retreating ice and rising sea levels, humanity and our food security face a range of new and unprecedented hazards, such as megafires, extreme weather events, desert locust swarms of magnitudes previously unseen, and the COVID-19 pandemic. Agriculture underpins the livelihoods of over 2.5 billion people – most of them in low-income developing countries – and remains a key driver of development. At no other point in history has agriculture been faced with such an array of familiar and unfamiliar risks, interacting in a hyperconnected world and a precipitously [...]
![](fileadmin/user_upload/gaps/img/resources/large_social protection climate smart agriculture malawi.png)
Briefs
2021
Leveraging social protection to advance climate-smart agriculture: evidence from Malawi. FAO Agricultural Development Economics Working Paper 21-04
In many developing countries the adoption of climate sustainable practices is hindered by resource and risk barriers. This paper assesses the interactions between participation in Malawi’s largest public works programme, the Malawi Social Action Fund (MASAF), and three widely promoted climate-smart agriculture (CSA) practices. The underlying hypotheses to be tested are: (a) that participation in the MASAF programme reduce both the budget and the risk constraints to the adoption of sustainable management practices; and (b) the joint treatment effect of MASAF and CSA increases household farms’ productivity and welfare. Drawing on three waves of national panel household survey data, we [...]
![](fileadmin/user_upload/gaps/img/resources/large_food security pandemic climate change.png)
Issue paper
2021
How to feed the world in times of pandemics and climate change? Opportunities for innovation in livestock systems
Progress towards Zero Hunger must be protected from the dual challenges of pandemics and climate change. The frequency of infectious disease outbreaks – including the emergence of novel viruses and zoonotic diseases – is expected to continue rising as livestock, food security, economies, and global health are increasingly threatened by a destabilizing climate. At the same time, malnutrition is unacceptably high across all regions of the world. In 2019, nearly one in ten people in the world were exposed to severe levels of food insecurity.The 13th Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) in 2021 is seeking recommendations, guided by [...]
![](fileadmin/user_upload/gaps/img/resources/large_climate services adaptation.png)
Briefs
2021
Using climate services in adaptation planning for the agriculture sectors. Briefing note, December 2020
This brief provides an overview of Climate Services (CS) and how they can be used to assess risk and optimize adaptation decision-making in the agriculture sectors.1 It highlights entry points to integrate CS across all elements of adaptation planning while acknowledging the challenges and limitations of using CS, particularly in the least Developed Countries (LDCs). The brief also discusses key considerations in using climate services for planning and provides technical guidance on dealing with the uncertainty and confidence of climate projections.
Issue paper
2020
The pollination services of forests. A review of forest and landscape interventions to enhance their cross-sectoral benefits
Most flowering plants, including wild species and many food crops, are pollinated by animals and are vital, therefore, for biological production and the maintenance of biodiversity. Pollinators benefit from diverse natural habitats for forage and nesting, especially when these are limited in plant production systems. Landscape and forest management practices can help ensure the continued availability of pollinators and thereby increase resilience and the productivity of forestry and agriculture. The extent of forests and other natural habitats in a landscape plays a role in determining the species composition of pollinators. Agricultural landscapes adjoining fragmented forests and natural areas benefit from [...]
Report
2020
Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020. Main report
FAO completed its first assessment of the world’s forest resources in 1948. At that time, its major objective was to collect information on available timber supply to satisfy post-war reconstruction demand. Since then, the Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) has evolved into a comprehensive evaluation of forest resources and their condition, management and uses, covering all the thematic elements of sustainable forest management.This, the latest of these assessments, examines the status of, and trends in, forest resources over the period 1990–2020, drawing on the efforts of hundreds of experts worldwide. The production of FRA 2020 also involved collaboration among many [...]
![](fileadmin/user_upload/gaps/img/resources/large_indigenous peoples FAO climate change.png)
Issue paper
2020
Indigenous Peoples and FAO. Allies for sustainable development in the context of climate change
This narrative provides useful insights when working with indigenous peoples. It offers an overview of some of the work done by the FAO Indigenous Peoples Unit and provides an historical background since the adoption of the Indigenous peoples ́ policy. It also explains the ongoing work-programme jointly designed by Indigenous peoples and FAO staff, describing its seven pillars and two thematic areas. The narrative introduces essential concepts such as indigenous peoples ́ food systems, FPIC, Interculturality and Biocentric restoration among others.
![](fileadmin/user_upload/gaps/img/resources/large_good bee keeping practices.png)
Tool
2020
Good beekeeping practices: Practical manual on how to identify and control the main diseases of the honeybee (Apis mellifera)
This is a practical tool to help beekeepers, veterinarians and beekeeping advisory services to properly identify main honeybee diseases and to take the most appropriate actions in the apiary to control and/or prevent disease outbreaks. This publication follows the TECA publication Main bee diseases: good beekeeping practices (2018) which provided a more general overview of good beekeeping practices for bee diseases.This manual is a unique publication because, through its presentation of practical information, simple visuals, and understandable content, it helps beekeepers to correctly identify main honeybee diseases in a timely manner. More specifically, the manual creatively illustrates actions which facilitate [...]