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Climate change poses a major threat to reducing poverty, eradicating hunger, and achieving sustainable development. It accelerates the frequency and intensity of extreme natural hazards, thus affecting the lives and livelihoods of those living in rural areas. Protecting poor and vulnerable small-scale food producers from climate change-related risks is necessary for achieving FAO’s strategic objectives and Sustainable Development Goals 1 (ending poverty) and 2 (zero hunger). This brief stresses the important role social protection plays in supporting inclusive climate risk-management strategies that contribute to safeguarding livelihoods and increasing the resilience of households.

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 [...]

Globally, and with only a few exceptions, rural and indigenous women fare worse than rural men and urban women and men on every indicator for which data are available. Although they share challenges in the form of rural location and genderbased discrimination, rural women and girls are not a homogeneous group. The opportunities and constraints they face differ across their lifetimes, contexts and circumstances; they are influenced by location and socio-economic statusand social identities associated with other forms of marginalization, such as indigenous origin and ethnicity, age, disability, migrant or refugee status. The complex experiences of rural and indigenous women [...]

The aim of this study is to provide readers with an overview of how agricultural insurance and social protection interventions can complement each other, within the frame of disaster risk management for vulnerable agricultural actors. Specifically, it aims to underline the operational nuances, challenges, opportunities and constraints associated with employing agricultural insurance within social protection systems. Furthermore, it presents a number of practical lessons learned and considerations that can be used by relevant public stakeholders (such as local policymakers and development agencies) to introduce aspects of agricultural insurance in programmes and initiatives that seek to strengthen social protection for vulnerable [...]

This progress report details the work carried out by FAO across the Southwest Asia to combat the unprecedented threat to food security and livelihoods posed by the ongoing desert locust invasion. The report outlines the control measures taken so far as well as the longer-term reposnse planned for safeguarding the means of survival of millions of vulnerable people who could be affected by the pest, particularly with the compounding impact of COVID-19 and the restrictions this will likely incur for the Organization's humanitarian assistance.

At its 74th session, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2021 the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables (IYFV). The primary role of the food and the agriculture sector is to adequately feed people by increasing the availability, affordability and consumption of varied, safe and nutritious foods that are in line with dietary recommendations and environmental sustainability. In this way, the IYFV is a unique opportunity to raise awareness on the important role of fruits and vegetables in human nutrition, food security and health and as well in achieving the United Nations (UN) Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Also available in French [...]

Accurate information is critical for natural resources to be managed sustainably. Developed by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the System for Earth Observation Data Access, Processing, and Analysis for Land Monitoring (SEPAL) helps countries monitor and report on forests and land use. SEPAL offers users unparalleled access to satellite data, an easy-to-use interface, and powered by cloud-based supercomputers, paving the way for improved climate change mitigation plans and data-driven land-use policies.

The occurrence and spread of an animal health threat can be prevented when a timely assessment of the risk is carried out to inform prevention, response and control measures. These technical guidelines on rapid risk assessment (RRA) are designed as a simple and practical tool to be used by veterinary services to build risk assessment capacities and assist decision-makers in conducting qualitative RRA on the emergence, occurrence and/or spread of animal health threats. Using available evidence, data and information, a multidisciplinary team can conduct an RRA in a short time (within two weeks).The publication provides a simple and flexible methodology [...]

In a year characterized by unprecedented disruption due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this publication records the steps the Codex Alimentarius has taken from July 2019 (CAC42) to September 2020 (CAC43) on the road to safe and quality food for everyone.Over the course of the year, some Codex committees were able to meet as scheduled to discuss updates to international food standards, guidelines and codes of practice. Those meetings able to complete their work include the six FAO/WHO Coordinating Committees covering all regions of the globe. Meetings were suddenly halted in March 2020 and since then Codex has been breaking new [...]

This Country Programming Framework (CPF) sets out five government priority areas to guide the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations' (FAO) partnership and support to the Government of Nigeria (GoN) – bringing together innovative international best practices and global standards with national and regional expertise during a five-year period from 2018 to 2022.The priority areas are:1. Strengthen national food security and nutrition through enhanced nutrition-sensitive and climate smart food systems.2. Support for appropriate and operationally effective agricultural policy and regulatory frameworks.3. Support to Nigeria's economic diversification agenda and the promotion of decent employment for youth and women in [...]