All publications and documents

Across sub-Saharan Africa agriculture is the backbone of the economy, accounting for 30-40% of nations’ gross domestic product, and a leading source of jobs for over two-thirds of the population. Improving the productivity, profitability and sustainability of agriculture on the millions of farms that cover the African continent is essential for ending poverty and boosting shared prosperity…

This report reviews the main linkages between climate change, water and agriculture as a means to identifying and discussing adaptation strategies for better use and conservation of water resources. It aims to provide guidance to decision makers on choosing an appropriate mix of policies and market approaches to address the interaction between agriculture and water systems under climate change.

The overarching challenge for Africa in the decades to come is massive population growth in a context of wide-spread poverty that, in combination, generate complex and interrelated threats to the human habitat. The main premise of this report is that successfully and effectively addressing the vulnerabilities and risks to which the African populations are increasingly being exposed may, perhaps,…

Brazil’s decisions around land use are some of the most important in the world. With a growing agricultural sector and abundant natural resources valuable for their biodiversity, fresh water, and carbon stock, Brazil’s challenge is to use available land as efficiently as possible to promote economic growth, while simultaneously protecting important conservation areas. Land markets are a vital…

The Global Sustainable Development Report (GSDR), requested by Governments at Rio+20, is the first and only comprehensive, global report on sustainable development. The present prototype global sustainable development report is the result of a collaborative effort of more than twothousand scientists and 50 staff from 20 UN entities from all world regions. The report illustrates a range of…

This policy-oriented report from the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) presents a synthesis of existing evidence about the causes of food losses and waste and suggests action to reduce them in order to improve food and nutrition security and the sustainability of food systems. The aim of this report, given the diversity of contexts, is to help all concerned actors…