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Sustainable food production and climate change












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    Factsheet
    Scaling Up Climate-Smart Crop and Mechanization Systems to Promote Sustainable Crop Production in Sri Lanka and Zambia 2021
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    Unsustainable agriculture practices contribute to land degradation, which impacts the fertility and productivity of soil and leaves land vulnerable to the negative effects of climate change. These issues threaten food security and reduce livelihoods, particularly for smallholder farmers. To combat these problems, FAO implements the Save and Grow approach. This approach promotes and intensifies sustainable crop production through the use of high quality seeds and planting materials and the implementation of integrated pest management and conservation agriculture practices. Key to conservation agriculture are the planting and management of climate smart crops and the implementation of mechanization systems for land preparation, direct seeding, weeding and harvesting. The project will be implemented in Sri Lanka and Zambia. It was designed to create synergies with an ongoing project that is already supporting the implementation of the approach in the targeted countries. Several constraints to the adoption of sustainable crop production practices have been identified throughout the implementation of the ongoing project. These include a lack of knowledge of sustainable agronomy and its benefits among beneficiaries and inadequate market linkages, which limit the availability of sustainable agronomic inputs and mechanization services, as well as the sale of crop yields. The goal of this project is to help rural smallholder farmers in Sri Lanka and Zambia to overcome these challenges and to encourage them to adopt the Save and Grow approach.
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    Book (series)
    Technical study
    Climate change mitigation and smallholder agriculture in Zambia 2015
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    This policy brief summarizes the main points of the mitigation analysis of the EPIC programme for Zambia. It identifies the principal sources of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and highlights that the Agriculture, Forestry and Land Use (AFOLU) sector contributes the bulk of national emissions. It then examines GHG mitigation potential and the role of smallholder agriculture, analysing the impact of sustainable land management practices, agroforestry and improvements in livestock production. The b rief concludes that sector development strategies targeting productivity increases, as well as resilience to climate variability through specific sustainable land management practices and smallholder livestock development options, can also benefit climate change mitigation in Zambia.
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    Book (series)
    Working paper
    Climate-change vulnerability in rural Zambia: the impact of an El Niño-induced shock on income and productivity 2019
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    This paper examines the impacts of the El Niño during the 2015/2016 season on maize productivity and income in rural Zambia. The analysis aims at identifying whether and how sustainable land management (SLM) practices and livelihood diversification strategies have contributed to moderate the impacts of such a weather shock. The analysis was conducted using a specifically designed survey called the El Niño Impact Assessment Survey (ENIAS), which is combined with the 2015 wave of the Rural Agricultural Livelihoods Surveys (RALS), as well as high resolution rainfall data from the Africa Rainfall Climatology version 2 (ARC2). This unique, integrated data set provides an opportunity to understand the impacts of shocks like El Niño that are expected to get more frequent and severe in Zambia, as well as understand the agricultural practices and livelihood strategies that can buffer household production and welfare from the impacts of such shocks to drive policy recommendations. Results show that households affected by the drought experienced a decrease in maize yield by around 20 percent, as well as a reduction in income up to 37 percent, all else equal. Practices that moderated the impact of the drought included livestock diversification, income diversification, and the adoption of agro-forestry. Interestingly, the use of minimum soil disturbance was not effective in moderating the yield and income effects of the drought. Policies to support livestock sector development, agroforestry adoption, and off -farm diversification should be prioritized as effective drought resiliency strategies in Zambia.

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    Technical report
    Report of the Twenty-Fifth Session of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission 2013
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    This publication reports the proceedings of the twenty-fifth session of the Asia-Pacific Forestry Commission (APFC) held in Rotorua, New Zealand from 5 to 8 November 2013. In line with the "forests for prosperity"� theme of the session, the Commission reported on recent initiatives in several countries to expand value-added wood processing, enhance wood recovery from forest resources, tap new market opportunities, develop payments for ecosystem services and create more jobs in the forestry secto r. Main themes considered were: sources of forest financing; forest law enforcement and governance; promoting opportunities presented by the growing awareness of links between forests and climate change; and mechanisms for capacity building, awareness raising and information sharing, among others. An in-session seminar highlighted the issue of building resilience in forests, landscapes and forest-dependent communities. Main recommendations are included in the report.
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    Book (series)
    Technical report
    Report of the Technical Consultation to Draft a Legally-binding Instrument on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing. Rome, 23–27 June 2008, 26–30 January 2009, 4–8 May 2009 and 24–28 August 2009 2009
    This document contains the report of the Technical Consultation to draft a legally-binding instrument on port State measures to prevent, deter and eliminate illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. The Consultation was held in four sessions at FAO headquarters, Rome, from 23–27 June 2008, 26–30 January 2009, 4–8 May 2009 and 24–28 August 2009. The Consulation was convened by the Director General of the Food and Agriculture of the United Nations upon the recommendation of the twentyse venth session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries. The Technical Consultation finalized the draft Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing on 28 August 2009. The Consultation was funded by the Governments of Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Norway and United States of America.
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    Book (series)
    Technical report
    Report of the thirtieth session of the Committee on Fisheries
    Rome, 9-13 July 2012.
    2012
    The thirtieth session of the Committee on Fisheries (COFI) was held in Rome, Italy, from 9 to 13 July 2012. The Committee reviewed the issues of an international character and the FAO programme in fisheries and aquaculture, and their implementation. The Committee, while stressing the high value of the State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture as a flagship publication, recommended that FAO should provide more support to countries in data collection and quality control, as well as consider a si mpler classification of stock status. The Committee expressed strong support for the standards and norms of the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries and its related instruments and agreed on further effort to facilitate their accessibility and more effective implementation. The Committee agreed on the development of best practice guidelines for traceability. The Committee reiterated its support to FAO’s collaboration with the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora and the World Trade Organization. The Committee reiterated the request for additional assistance for aquaculture development in Africa and Small Island Developing States. The Committee requested FAO to develop a conformity assessment framework for aquaculture certification guidelines as well as a draft strategy paper including a long-term strategic plan for the Sub-Committee on Aquaculture and emphasized the specific needs for future work. The Committee urged FAO to reinforce it s emphasis on fish as food, ensure that these aspects were not lost in the global and regional frameworks for ocean conservation and management, and assert its leading role in fisheries and aquaculture in ocean governance. The Committee requested FAO to address the issue of hydrocarbon deposits in the oceans and assess possible threats arising from their development. The Committee called for continuous consultation with all stakeholders in the development of the International Guidelines for Secu ring Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries and agreed on the need to develop implementation strategies for the Guidelines. The Committee agreed that illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing continues to be a persistent and pressing problem adversely impacting on sustainable fisheries and food security. The Committee endorsed the terms of reference for the Ad hoc Working Group for the 2009 FAO Agreement on Port State Measures. The Committee requested to convene the second resumed session of the te chnical consultation on the draft Criteria for Flag State Performance. The Committee reiterated its support for the Global Record of Fishing Vessels, Refrigerated Transport Vessels and Supply Vessels. The Committee agreed that FAO should focus on challenges relevant to its core mandate and must join efforts with partners in better coordination and urged FAO to ensure that fisheries and aquaculture priorities were reflected under the Strategic Objectives. The Committee adopted the revised Rules o f Procedure and endorsed the related changes in current practice. The Committee also approved the Multiyear Programme of Work (MYPOW) 2012–2015.