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2019 Africa Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition - Key messages

Containing the damage of economic slowdowns and downturns to food security in Africa












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    Book (series)
    Working paper
    Regional analysis of the nationally determined contributions in the Near East and North Africa
    Opportunities and gaps in the agriculture, water and land use sectors
    2022
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    This report provides a unique, sector-specific synthesis of the agriculture, water and land use sectors in the nationally determined contributions from Near East and North Africa. It summarizes the substantial contributions already put forward by countries, opportunities for further action and the gaps, barriers and needs that will need to be addressed if the region is to raise mitigation and adaptation ambitions. The findings of this report will help member countries to reflect on their progress in advancing toward nationally determined contributions priorities for agriculture, water and land use, and associated national climate goals including related targets under the Sustainable Development Goals. The analysis also helps to make clear the links between the nationally determined contributions from the region and the ongoing work of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change in support of the Koronivia Joint Work on Agriculture (KJWA). Finally, the report serves as a guide to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, as well as other international actors, of the support that will be required to help countries in the region move forward to implement agriculture, water and land use priorities in their NDCs and ensure that future commitments from the sector are quantifiable, verifiable and sufficiently ambitious.
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    Book (series)
    Flagship
    The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2017 2017
    Flagship publication series, monitors progress towards globally agreed food security and nutrition targets, providing analytical interpretation of trends and in-depth analysis on emerging issues to inform decision making and contribute to the achievement of ending hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition. Directly contributes to FAO’s Strategic Programmes aiming to Help eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition (SP1), and depending on the thematic issue of the report, contributes the other four SPs: this year the thematic issues contributes most specifically to Increase the resilience of livelihoods to threats and crises (SP5). The international community is committed to ending hunger and all forms of malnutrition worldwide by 2030. While much progress has been made, conflict and human-induced and natural disasters are causing setbacks. This year’s The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World warns that the long-term declining trend in undernourishment seems to have come to a halt and may have reversed, largely on account of the above-mentioned factors. Meanwhile, though progress continues to be made in reducing child malnutrition, rising overweight and obesity are a concern in most parts of the world. These and other findings are detailed in the 2017 edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (formerly, The State of Food Insecurity in the World). For the first time, this year’s report is published by an expanded partnership, with UNICEF and WHO now joining FAO, IFAD and WFP. The report also marks a new era in the monitoring of food security and nutrition.
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    Book (series)
    Technical study
    Africa Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition 2018
    Addressing the threat from climate variability and extremes for food security and nutrition
    2018
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    This year’s edition of the Africa Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition reports that the food security situation on the continent continues to worsen. For Africa, 20.4 percent of the continent’s population – 257 million people – are undernourished, up from 19.7 in 2016 – 241 million people. In sub–Saharan Africa, there are 237 million undernourished in 2017, up from 222 million in 2016. The worsening situation in Africa is due to difficult global economic conditions and, in many countries, conflict and climate-related disasters, sometimes in combination. Economic growth slowed in 2016 due to weak commodity prices, in particular for oil and minerals. Food insecurity has worsened in countries affected by conflict, often exacerbated by drought or floods, and in Southern and Eastern Africa many countries have been adversely affected by prolonged drought. Notably, several countries have achieved sustained progress in reducing food insecurity in the face of challenging circumstances. The deterioration of the food security situation and the lack of progress towards the WHO global nutrition targets makes it imperative for countries to step up their efforts, if they are to achieve a world without hunger and malnutrition by 2030. The need for greater efforts also emerges clearly from the findings of the inaugural biennial review of progress in implementing the goals of the Malabo Declaration. In addition to specific food security and nutrition policies, this year’s report reviews four important cross-cutting topics, namely, youth employment, remittances, intraregional trade, and climate change. It highlights their interplay with the food system and their role in food security and nutrition. The thematic part of the report presents an evidence–based assessment of the threat posed by more frequent occurrences of climate extremes and rising climate variability to food security and nutrition in the region. Climate change in combination with poor development planning, poverty and environmental degradation increases the risk of a climate event becoming a disaster. A collective approach that combines climate change adaptation with disaster resilient development is an opportunity to address climate and disaster risks within the context of broader development goals.

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    Book (series)
    Flagship
    The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2023
    Urbanization, agrifood systems transformation and healthy diets across the rural–urban continuum
    2023
    This report provides an update on global progress towards the targets of ending hunger (SDG Target 2.1) and all forms of malnutrition (SDG Target 2.2) and estimates on the number of people who are unable to afford a healthy diet. Since its 2017 edition, this report has repeatedly highlighted that the intensification and interaction of conflict, climate extremes and economic slowdowns and downturns, combined with highly unaffordable nutritious foods and growing inequality, are pushing us off track to meet the SDG 2 targets. However, other important megatrends must also be factored into the analysis to fully understand the challenges and opportunities for meeting the SDG 2 targets. One such megatrend, and the focus of this year’s report, is urbanization. New evidence shows that food purchases in some countries are no longer high only among urban households but also among rural households. Consumption of highly processed foods is also increasing in peri-urban and rural areas of some countries. These changes are affecting people’s food security and nutrition in ways that differ depending on where they live across the rural–urban continuum. This timely and relevant theme is aligned with the United Nations General Assembly-endorsed New Urban Agenda, and the report provides recommendations on the policies, investments and actions needed to address the challenges of agrifood systems transformation under urbanization and to enable opportunities for ensuring access to affordable healthy diets for everyone.
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    Technical study
    Land statistics. Global, regional and country trends 1990–2018 2020
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    The FAOSTAT Land Use statistics and associated land indicators provide information on the full land use matrix by country, including agricultural land (1961–2018) and forest land (1990–2018). These statistics are based on data collected annually from countries via a standard Land Use, Irrigation and Agricultural Practices questionnaire. Forest land statistics in the dataset are collected separately from countries through the FAO Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA, 2020). The FAOSTAT Land Cover statistics are conversely produced by FAO, based on its Land Cover Classification System (FAO-LCCS) (De Gregorio, 2015). Information is derived from remote sensing products generated independently by specialized Agencies, currently NASA (MODIS land cover) and the European Copernicus Climate Change service (CCI land cover). Thei brief provides an overview of the main results and changes over time in land use statistics with a focus on agricultural land uses, and with details at global, regional and country level. Additional information is provided on important irrigation and agricultural practices also collected via the above-mentioned FAO questionnaire. It also presents some of the results from the land cover dataset also at global, regional and country level and compares them to land use statistics, thus giving for the first time a joint view of land statistics in FAOSTAT.
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    Brochure, flyer, fact-sheet
    Brochure
    OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2023–2032
    Executive summary
    2023
    The OECD-FAO Agricultural Outlook 2023–2032 provides an assessment of the ten-year prospects for agricultural commodity and fish markets at national, regional, and global levels in a context of continued economic risks, uncertainty and high energy prices. The report is a collaborative effort between the OECD and FAO, prepared with inputs from Member countries and international commodity organisations.