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In brief to the Impact of Disasters on Agriculture and Food Security 2023

Avoiding and reducing losses through investment in resilience











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  • FAO. 2023. In Brief to The Impact of Disasters on Agriculture and Food Security 2023 – Avoiding and reducing lossesthrough investment in resilience. Rome.




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      The Impact of Disasters on Agriculture and Food Security 2023
      Avoiding and reducing losses through investment in resilience
      2023
      Disasters are resulting in unprecedented levels of destruction across the world. These shocks and disruptions affect the functioning and sustainability of agricultural production and threaten the livelihoods of millions of people reliant on agrifood systems.Reducing the impact of disasters in agriculture requires a better understanding of the extent to which these events produce negative impacts in agriculture and necessitates an investigation into the underlying risks that make agriculture vulnerable to the effects of disasters.The FAO flagship report on ‘The Impact of Disasters on Agriculture and Food Security’ provides a timely and comprehensive overview of how disasters are affecting agriculture and food security around the world.Building on previous work of the FAO on this topic, the report estimates losses caused by disasters on agricultural production over the past three decades and delves into the diverse threats and impacts affecting the crops, livestock, forestry, and fisheries and aquaculture subsectors. It analyzes the complex interplay of underlying risks, such as climate change, pandemics, epidemics and armed conflicts, and how they drive disaster risk in agriculture and agrifood systems at large.The report provides examples of actions and strategies for investing in resilience and proactively addressing risks in agriculture. It demonstrates ways to mainstream disaster risk into agricultural practices and policies and calls for a deeper understanding of the context in which these solutions are implemented.
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      The impact of disasters and crises on agriculture and food security 2017
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      2018
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      The impact of disasters and crises on agriculture and food security. Natural disasters have cost billions of dollars in lost agricultural production. The human food chain is under continuous threat from an alarming increase in the number of outbreaks of transboundary animal and plant pests and diseases. Conflict and protracted crises are putting more and more people in conditions of poverty, food insecurity and displacement. This has become the "new normal" and the impact of climate change will further exacerbate these threats and challenges. Agriculture often bears a disproportionate share of disaster impacts, many of which are borne directly by smallholders. As resources become increasingly scarce, objective evidence is needed to effectively target our investment in resilience, preparedness and mitigation. This second edition of FAO's report on the Impact of Disasters and Crises on Agriculture and Food Security provides the latest data on the impact of disasters and crises on agriculture sectors, combined with sound analysis of remaining gaps and challenges. It is not limited to natural disasters alone, but includes the first-ever analysis of the effect on agriculture of conflict and food chain crises. The 2017 report considers how the entire sector is impacted, not only crops and livestock but also forestry, fisheries and aquaculture.
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      In Brief to The Impact of Disasters on Agriculture and Food Security 2025
      Digital solutions for reducing risks and impacts
      2025
      This document summarizes the findings of the flagship report 'The Impact of Disasters on Agriculture and Food Security 2025'.This biennial flagship report provides comprehensive evidence on the escalating impact of disasters on global agricultural systems, revealing losses of USD 3.26 trillion over the period 1991–2023. The 2025 edition introduces enhanced methodologies for assessing disaster impacts across crops, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture subsectors, offering Member States robust data for evidence-based policymaking.Aligned with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, this edition provides actionable recommendations for integrating disaster risk reduction into agricultural policies and investments through digital innovations. From AI-powered early warning systems to mobile-based insurance reaching millions of smallholder farmers, the report demonstrates how technology is revolutionizing agricultural risk management.Yet technology alone isn't the answer. The report emphasizes putting farmers at the centre – designing solutions with them, not for them – while addressing the digital divide that leaves 2.6 billion people offline. Through compelling case studies and actionable frameworks, it provides a roadmap for building resilient agricultural systems capable of feeding the world in an era of mounting climate risks.This publication serves as an essential resource for governments, development partners, and stakeholders working to build resilient agrifood systems in the face of climate change and increasing disaster risks.

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      Public support mechanisms for agriculture in many cases hinder the transformation towards healthier, more sustainable, equitable, and efficient food systems, thus actively steering us away from meeting the Sustainable Development Goals and targets of the Paris Agreement. This report sets out the compelling case for repurposing harmful agricultural producer support to reverse this situation, by optimizing the use of scarce public resources, strengthening economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, and ultimately driving a food systems transformation that can support global sustainable development commitments. The report provides policymakers with an updated estimate of past and current agricultural producer support for 88 countries, projected up until 2030. The trends emerging from the analysis are a clear call for action at country, regional and global levels to phase out the most distortive, environmentally and socially harmful support, such as price incentives and coupled subsidies, and redirecting it towards investments in public goods and services for agriculture, such as research and development and infrastructure, as well as decoupled fiscal subsidies. Overall, the analysis highlights that, while removing and/or reducing harmful agricultural support is necessary, repurposing initiatives that include measures to minimize policy trade-offs will be needed to ensure a beneficial outcome overall. The report confirms that, while a few countries have started repurposing and reforming agricultural support, broader, deeper, and faster reforms are needed for food systems transformation. Thus, it provides guidance (in six steps) on how governments can repurpose agricultural producer support – and the reforms this will take.
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      In recent years, several major drivers have put the world off track to ending world hunger and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030. The challenges have grown with the COVID-19 pandemic and related containment measures. This report presents the first global assessment of food insecurity and malnutrition for 2020 and offers some indication of what hunger might look like by 2030 in a scenario further complicated by the enduring effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. It also includes new estimates of the cost and affordability of healthy diets, which provide an important link between the food security and nutrition indicators and the analysis of their trends. Altogether, the report highlights the need for a deeper reflection on how to better address the global food security and nutrition situation.To understand how hunger and malnutrition have reached these critical levels, this report draws on the analyses of the past four editions, which have produced a vast, evidence-based body of knowledge of the major drivers behind the recent changes in food security and nutrition. These drivers, which are increasing in frequency and intensity, include conflicts, climate variability and extremes, and economic slowdowns and downturns – all exacerbated by the underlying causes of poverty and very high and persistent levels of inequality. In addition, millions of people around the world suffer from food insecurity and different forms of malnutrition because they cannot afford the cost of healthy diets. From a synthesized understanding of this knowledge, updates and additional analyses are generated to create a holistic view of the combined effects of these drivers, both on each other and on food systems, and how they negatively affect food security and nutrition around the world.In turn, the evidence informs an in-depth look at how to move from silo solutions to integrated food systems solutions. In this regard, the report proposes transformative pathways that specifically address the challenges posed by the major drivers, also highlighting the types of policy and investment portfolios required to transform food systems for food security, improved nutrition, and affordable healthy diets for all. The report observes that, while the pandemic has caused major setbacks, there is much to be learned from the vulnerabilities and inequalities it has laid bare. If taken to heart, these new insights and wisdom can help get the world back on track towards the goal of ending hunger, food insecurity, and malnutrition in all its forms.