This publication aims to inform the debate on the status of food security in Arab countries, and provide policy options for enhancing food security in the future, in line with the overarching directions of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Given the heterogeneity of the Arab region, both in terms of natural endowment, particularly in water resources, and economic capabilities, the report’s analysis divides the region into four subregions, each consisting of a more homogeneous group of countries.

Finance is a key lever for turning agriculture from a potential source of environmental harm and social inequity to a driver of conservation and social inclusiveness. Private and public sector funding for farmers to combat climate change and protect and restore nature (‘Paying for Nature’) is rapidly increasing. Yet this new funding may not reach its aims without drastically improving farm-level reward mechanisms.

The International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) financed the second Cordillera Highland Agricultural Resource Management Project (CHARMP2), in areas where poverty is most severe among indigenous peoples in the highlands of the Cordillera Region in northern Philippines. The aim is to reduce poverty and improve the livelihoods of indigenous peoples living in farming communities in the mountainous project area. The indigenous peoples consist of many tribes whose main economic activity is agriculture.

Many United Nations Entities are leveraging innovative approaches ranging from data, artificial intelligence, drones and the internet of things, to low-carbon technologies, climate smart agriculture and nature-based solutions to help people around the world mitigate and adapt to climate change. This compendium explores these innovative approaches leveraged in the following areas: AIR; ENERGY; FORESTS; LAND; WATER; FOOD SYSTEMS; CITIES & LIFESTYLES; GREEN ECONOMY; DISASTERS & CONFLICTS; CAPACITY STRENGTHENING; ADVOCACY.

This report aims at inspiring strategic thinking and actions to transform agrifood systems towards a sustainable, resilient and inclusive future, by building on both previous reports in the same series as well as on a comprehensive corporate strategic foresight exercise that also nurtured FAO Strategic Framework 2022–31. It analyses major drivers of agrifood systems and explores how their trends could determine alternative futures of agrifood, socioeconomic and environmental systems.

The purpose of this report is to increase understanding of the nature of the challenges that agriculture and food systems are facing now and will face into the 21st century. Its analysis of 15 global trends provides insights into what is at stake and what needs to be done. Most of the trends are strongly interdependent and, combined, inform a set of 10 challenges to achieving food security and nutrition for all and making agriculture sustainable. ‘Business-as-usual’ is not an option.

This report explores three different scenarios for the future of food and agriculture, based on alternative trends for key drivers, such as income growth and distribution, population growth, technical progress in agriculture, and climate change. Building on the report The future of food and agriculture – Trends and challenges, this publication provides scenario-based quantitative projections to 2050 for food and agriculture.

Climate change is causing unprecedented damage to our ecosystem. Increasing temperatures, ocean warming and acidification, severe droughts, wildfires, altered precipitation patterns, melting glaciers, rising sea levels and amplification of extreme weather events have direct implications for our food systems. While the impacts of such environmental factors on food security are well known, the effects on food safety receive less attention.