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The guiding vision of SAFA is that food and agriculture systems worldwide are characterized by four dimensions of sustainability: good governance, environmental integrity, economic resilience and social well-being. For each of these four dimensions of sustainability, SAFA outlines essential elements of sustainability based on international reference documents and conventions. The 21 themes and 58…

The first years of the twenty-first century will be remembered for a global land rush of nearly unprecedented scale. An estimated 500 million acres, an area eight times the size of Britain, was reported bought or leased across the developing world between 2000 and 2011, often at the expense of local food security and land rights. When the price of food spiked in 2008, pushing the number of hungry…

FAO’s Strategic Framework focuses on five Strategic Objectives, streamlining its priorities, results and resource allocation to accelerate the eradication of hunger, malnutrition, poverty, and the sustainable use of natural resources. Success relies on strong partnership and the mobilization of voluntary contributions in addition to FAO’s own resources. FAO now presents 11 Corporate Areas for…

Infectious diseases caused by food-borne parasites have not received the same level of attention as other food-borne biological and chemical hazards. Nevertheless, they cause a high burden of disease in humans, may have prolonged, severe, and sometimes fatal outcomes, and result in considerable hardship in terms of food safety, security, quality of life, and negative impacts on livelihoods. The…

The drylands of the world occur on every continent, covering some 41% of the terrestrial surface. One third of humanity inhabits these harsh degrading landscapes, eking out a living through adaptive processes that have served them well until recent increases of land degradation. Growing pressures from population growth, increasingly erratic climatic conditions, and a general…

The workshop will try to answer five crucial questions that could facilitate the uptake and scaling-up of VSS: (1) how to make them work for farmers and small food producers; (2) how can VSS be used to enable green trade opportunities, particularly in agri-food products not currently using VSS; (3) how to make them work for consumers globally; (4) how to make it work for the private sector; and …