The training manual on improving grassroots equity in the forests and climate change context, aims to develop the knowledge and capacity needed among grassroots facilitators to implement genuinely participatory processes for improving grassroots equity in forest-based climate change policy…

Large amounts of resources and energy are consumed in the building sector. However, in response to the growing awareness of global environment problems, those in the building sector also recognized the necessity of making contributions toward the mitigation of environmental problems. The…

The Millennium Challenge Corporation's Rick Gaynor discusses how the Voluntary Guidelines for Land Tenure help to strengthen women farmer's claims to land and improve food security around the world.
 

José Graziano da Silva, Director-General of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), on the role of family farms for global food security, the need for sound rural development stategies and the responsibility of governments, the private sector and civil society.

Family farming has many different meanings to many different people. While such farms come in all shape and sizes, one thing all practitioners agree on is that family farming is more than a business – it’s a way of life. The following article shows what constitutes this way of life, the…

Family farms are especially well suited to meet the challenges of labour organisation in agriculture. In early stages of development, they play a particularly important role in creating productive employment for the major share of the population. Moreover, they have strong incentives to use…

Despite the crucial role of women in family farms and small-scale agriculture, gender inequality is still present in many ways – jeopardising the food and nutrition security of millions of people.

In a world of rapidly changing conditions, enhancing the adaptability and hence the resilience of family farms is crucial to their viability. Here, diversity plays an important role, as the following article demonstrates.

Family farms are often associated with greater sustainability. But the definition of sustainability is a highly disputable topic. The School of Agricultural, Forest and Food Sciences (HAFL) in Switzerland has developed a method enabling a more objective evaluation of sustainability in…

Is there good reason to make family farms a focus of global attention for a year? Or is it not rather reckless to advocate a concept while completely disregarding the fact that the necessary conditions are often not in place? A few entirely personal thoughts on the International Year of Family…

Access to modern renewable energy services are a key input to poverty eradication and in ensuring food security. Biogas is a renewable energy option suited to provide clean, modern and decentralised sources of energy. Portable systems, such as FlexiBiogas, offer a lot of advantages over…

Throughout the world, demands on finite soil resources are ever increasing, and can lead to irreversible soil degradation, as the soil is used beyond its “bio-capacity”. A quarter of the inhabitated land area has already been affected by human-induced soil degradation. Against this background,…