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Celebrating the contributions of rural and indigenous women to healthy food systems and a sustainable tomorrow Around a third of the world’s food is produced by smallholder farmers on less than two hectares of land. In Sub-Saharan Africa, the percentage is much larger, with some 60 percent of the population engaged as smallholder farmers in food production and processing. At least…

This chapter presents an overview of women’s restricted access to productive and financial resources. It examines discriminatory social institutions – formal and informal laws, social norms and practices – that restrict women’s access to and control over critical productive and economic resources and assets across 180 countries, covering areas such as secure access to land, secure access to non…

While groundwater accounts for 99 per cent of all running freshwater on Earth, it is often undervalued, mismanaged, and overexploited, according to a report published on Monday by the UN scientific organization, UNESCO. “Groundwater is a critical natural resource, invisible but indispensable for life on our planet”, UNESCO chief Audrey Azoulay said in the Foreword of Making the…

The Commission is presenting today a package of European Green Deal proposals to make sustainable products the norm in the EU, boost circular business models and empower consumers for the green transition. As announced in the Circular Economy Action Plan, the Commission is proposing new rules to make almost all physical goods on the EU market more friendly to the environment, circular, and energy…

To celebrate Spring, here are 20 books from Food Tank to cultivate new ideas about eating, growing, and learning about food and agriculture. Dan Saladino’s Eating to Extinction highlights foods and traditions at risk of extinction. In Healing Grounds, read how communities of color revived ancestral farming practices to restore soil health and cultural connections to land. Turn to The Blue…

The ocean covers over 70% of the planet and produces at least 50% of the planet’s oxygen. For this and many other important reasons, and to celebrate the World Oceans Day, our UNU-EHS expert Dr. Jack O’Connor explains some interesting facts about the ocean and its relationship with life and livelihoods. 1) Oceans help regulate climate Through their very biology and ecology,…