Related items
Showing items related by metadata.
-
Book (stand-alone)Technical bookRegional mapping of anticipatory action capacities in the Near East and North Africa agricultural sector 2025
Also available in:
No results found.The Near East and North Africa (NENA) region faces a growing number of complex, overlapping and compounding hazards that are undermining livelihoods, deepening food insecurity and slowing economic development. Increasingly frequent and severe climate extremes – such as droughts, flash floods, heatwaves – are converging with transboundary plant and animal diseases, protracted conflicts and economic volatility. These risks disproportionately impact the agricultural sector, which remains a cornerstone of rural livelihoods and food systems in the region. In this context, anticipatory action (AA) offers a promising, proactive approach to reduce disaster impacts by taking early action ahead of predictable shocks. Enabled by advances in climateforecasting, hazard modelling, and early warning systems, AA involves acting before a crisis unfolds. It uses pre-agreed triggers, protocols, and financing mechanisms to mitigate risks to lives and livelihoods. While AA is gaining traction in the NENA region, especially within humanitarian sectors, its integration into the agricultural domain remains limited and fragmented. Agricultural producers are often targeted as vulnerable recipients of humanitarian aid, rather than as essential actors whose protection is key to safeguarding food systems, rural economies, and national stability.This report argues for a strategic expansion of AA to more systematically include the agricultural components, to place it at the intersection of humanitarian response and long-term climateadaptation. It emphasizes early protection of production systems – livestock, crops, fisheries and natural resources – before forecasted shocks occur. By focusing on proactive risk reduction for agriculture, AA for agriculture offers a dual benefit: preserving rural livelihoods and protecting food supply chains, especially in fragile or climate-vulnerable areas.The Thirty-seventh Session of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Regional Conference for the Near East and North Africa (NERC37) recognized the urgency of this approach, calling for increased investment in AA systems for the agricultural sector. Priority areas include multihazard early warning systems (MHEWS), forecast-based financing mechanisms, agricultural insurance schemes, and links to social protection programmes. Yet significant gaps remain. Drawing on a comprehensive literature review, interviews with key stakeholders, and regional online survey data, this report provides a detailed mapping of existing AA initiatives, agricultural hazards, and delivery capacities in the NENA region. It highlights governance, coordination, early warning, financing and delivery challenges, while identifying promising opportunities for expanding AA to better address agricultural hazards. -
Book (series)Technical reportRegional review on status and trends in aquaculture development in the Near East and North Africa – 2020 2022
Also available in:
No results found.The Near East and North Africa (NENA) region covers 18 countries and territories: Algeria, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Morocco, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, United Arab Emirates, Western Sahara and Yemen with a total land area of 9.8 million km2. The region is mostly arid or semi-arid but has extensive coastlines and includes a wide range of different economies from high income, hydrocarbon-rich countries to low-income states, some of which have been severely impacted by conflict in recent years. NENA aquaculture production was worth USD 2.3 billion in 2018, two-thirds of which came from Egypt and around one-quarter from Saudi Arabia. Production has grown rapidly since the 1980s, more than doubling over ten years and increasing by 50 percent over the five years preceding 2018 to reach 1.7 million tonnes. Egyptian fish farms accounted for 92 percent of production and Saudi Arabia for 4.2 percent while other significant producers included Iraq (25 737 tonnes), Tunisia (21 826 tonnes), Algeria (5 100 tonnes), the United Arab Emirates (3 350 tonnes) and the Syrian Arab Republic (2 350 tonnes). Although current aquaculture production levels are low, all these countries have high ambitions with further developing the sector, often for improved food self-sufficiency. -
BookletHigh-profileAddressing food security challenges faced by Near East and North Africa region due to the Ukraine crisis
Regional overview
2022Also available in:
No results found.The Russian Federation and Ukraine are among the most important producers of agricultural commodities in the world. Both countries are net exporters of agricultural products, and they both play leading supply roles in global markets of foodstuffs and fertilizers, where exportable supplies are often concentrated in a handful of countries. This concentration could expose these markets to increased vulnerability to shocks and volatility. Many countries of the NENA region are heavily dependent on imported foodstuff and fertilizers from Russia and Ukraine; and thus, the current conflict puts the region at risk of shortening of food supply from Russia and Ukraine as well as raising food prices as a result of the disturbances in post-COVID-19.
Users also downloaded
Showing related downloaded files
-
Book (stand-alone)Technical bookThe future of food and agriculture - Trends and challenges 2017
Also available in:
No results found.What will be needed to realize the vision of a world free from hunger and malnutrition? After shedding light on the nature of the challenges that agriculture and food systems are facing now and throughout the 21st century, the study provides insights into what is at stake and what needs to be done. “Business as usual” is not an option. Major transformations in agricultural systems, rural economies, and natural resources management are necessary. The present study was undertaken for the quadrennial review of FAO’s strategic framework and for the preparation of the Organization Medium-Term plan 2018-2021. -
Book (stand-alone)Technical bookClimate change and food security: risks and responses 2015
Also available in:
End hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition are at the heart of the sustainable development goals. The World has committed to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger by 2030. But climate change is undermining the livelihoods and food security of the rural poor, who constitute almost 80 percent of the world’s poor. The effects of climate change on our ecosystems are already severe and widespread. Climate change brings a cascade of impacts from agroecosystems to livelihoods. Climate change impacts directly agroecosystems, which in turn has a potential impact on agricultural production, which drives economic and social impacts, which impact livelihoods. In other words, impacts translate from climate to the environment, to the productive sphere, to economic and social dimensions. Therefore, ensuring food security in the face of climate change is among the most daunting challenges facing humankind. Action is urgently needed now to reduce vulnerability and increase resilience of food systems to ensure food security and good nutrition for all. -
Policy briefPolicy briefAgricultural cooperatives, responsible sourcing and risk-based due diligence 2022
Also available in:
The objective of this technical paper is to consider how agricultural cooperatives in developing and transitional economies can help reduce adverse environmental, social and development impacts in global agricultural value chains (GVCs), including through risk-based due diligence. As an increasing number of governments begin to advance new or more stringent corporate sustainability and due diligence regulations, this paper assesses how agricultural cooperatives in developing contexts can adapt their training and extension services to help members, including smallholder farmers, meet the changing market needs on responsible agricultural production and sourcing. By implementing key recommendations from the OECD-FAO Guidance for Responsible Agricultural Supply Chains and it’s five-step framework for risk-based due diligence, cooperatives can demonstrate their compliance with government-backed standards on responsible business conduct (RBC) and increase their competitiveness as a responsible supplier in GVCs. For downstream companies, this brief highlights the risks, challenges and opportunities smallholder producers and their cooperatives may face to meet buyer food quality, safety and sustainable production requirements. Further, governments and other actors, such as non-governmental organizations, may find this paper useful in considering how agricultural trade and development policies can better support cooperatives in meeting downstream responsible sourcing requirements.