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Bioeconomycomprises the parts of the economy that use renewable biological resources (plants, animals, micro-organisms, etc.) to replace fossil fuels, and produce food, animal feed, and other biobasedproducts. Its cross-cutting nature offers a unique opportunity to comprehensively address interconnected societal challenges such as food security, natural resource scarcity, fossil-resource dependence and climate change, while achieving sustainable economic development. As bioeconomyplays an increa singly important role in many countries and regions, it is crucial to establish guidelines that enable it to be developed in a sustainable way. Find more Project Highlights here.

The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, known as the VGGT, promote secure tenure rights and equitable access to land, fisheries and forests. Their overarching goals are to achieve food security for all, and support the progressive realization of the right to adequate food. Liberia, Mongolia and Sierra Leone are among the first countries to make significant progress in implementing the VGGT. Maintain ing government commitment and the general momentum around the VGGT is key to ensuring their internalization, and related processes in national programmes. Find more Project [...]

Food and nutrition insecurity is a severe and widespread problem in Afghanistan. About 30 percent of the population is food insecure, and 40 percent of Afghan children under five years of age suffer from chronic undernutrition. The majority of vulnerable and food insecure people live in rural areas, and depend on agriculture and livestock as their main sources of livelihood. The Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation and Livestock (MAIL) developed a strategy to address the critical issues of food a nd nutrition security. However, its institutional structures and technical and management capacities need strengthening in order to effectively implement this strategy. Find [...]

This Discussion paper explores the relationship between food loss and waste (FLW) and the right to adequate food. It focuses on the need to develop sustainable global consumption and production systems to contribute to the realization of the right to adequate food while it argues for a human rights-based approach to tackle FLW.  As such, it presents key notions of FLW and expands on their impact for the realization of the right to adequate food. Simultaneously, it looks into the different components of the right to adequate food and offers ways through which its legal obligations could help processes and initiatives [...]

The Understanding Codex will be at its 4th Edition and it is a very useful tool to introduce the Codex Alimentarius and its collection of international food standards to the public. The Codex Alimentarius is a collection of international food standards that have been adopted by the Codex Alimentarius Commission. Such standards cover all the main foods and also  material used in the further processing of food. Codex provisions concern the hygienic and nutritional; quality of food, including microbiological norms, food additives, pesticides and veterinary drug residues, contaminants, labelling and presentation, and methods of sampling and risk analysis. The Codex Alimentarius [...]

The brochure describes the six pilots of the project "Developing capacity for strengthening food security and nutrition in selected countries of the Caucasus and Central Asia". Following an explanation of making operational the linkages between social protection, nutrition and agricultural interventions across the food systems, the brochure describes in detail the “School food and nutrition programmes linked to the agricultural sector”, “Strengthening food systems for nutrition sensitive social protection” and “Promoting inclusive economic growth through matching grants” pilots in Armenia, Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan. Also available in Russian. 

Family Farming, represented by more than 500 million farms, produced about 80% of the World´s food in value terms, using reduced resources. It is fundamental to Food Security and Nutrition (FSN), fighting poverty, mitigating the impacts of climate change and preserving biodiversity and landscape. Family agriculture contributes directly to ten of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and will be on the international political agenda for the next ten years in the face of the recent adoption of Resolution 72/239 on the Decade of Family Agriculture (2019-2028), by the 72nd Session of the United Nations General Assembly. This importance can also be [...]

This brochure presents the key findings and recommendations of the study entitled “the Regional Outlook on Gender and Agri-food Systems,” which was jointly conducted by the FAO and the African Union Commission. The brochure describes gender gaps in (i) access to and control over productive resources and opportunities, (ii) influence and collective capacity, and (iii) agricultural policies, investment and rural context. Additional analysis on progress and good practices across countries in Africa informed the brochure further to provide recommendations and next steps to move from commitments to collective actions. Also available in French. 

Family farming is by far the most prevalent form of agriculture both in developed and developing countries, represents the largest source of employment worldwide, and is much more than a mode of food production, it is also a way of life. In 2014, the International Year  of Family Farming (IYFF 2014) focused world’s attention on family farmers’ important role in alleviating hunger and poverty, providing food security and nutrition, improving livelihoods, sustainably managing natural resources, protecting the environment, and fostering sustainable development. In 2017, the International Decade of Family Farming 2019-2028 was proclaimed, as a framework for countries to develop public [...]

At its 42nd session in October 2015, the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) requested the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) to prepare a report on Nutrition and Food Systems, to be presented at CFS 44 in October 2017. This topic is highly relevant to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the implementation of the 2014 Rome Declaration on Nutrition, the subsequent Decade of Action for Nutrition, and the fulfilment of the right to adequate food. The purpose of this report is two-fold: (i) to analyse how food systems influence people’s dietary patterns and nutritional [...]