A better environment aims to protect, restore and promote sustainable use of terrestrial and marine ecosystems and combat climate change (reduce, reuse, recycle, residual management) through more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems.
A better environment means:
Number of (a) plant and (b) animal genetic resources for food and agriculture secured in either medium- or long-term conservation facilities
Background:
Crop biodiversity fortifies agrifood systems against climate change, invasive species, pollution, urban sprawl and the overuse of land. In Mali, for example, rice and millet are staples. But with 80 percent of rainfed rice cultivation ravaged by drought, yields have shrunk drastically.
FAO’s actions:
The Benefit-sharing Fund, established through the FAO International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, supports farmers in developing countries to safeguard and use plant genetic diversity for food security. In Mali, it has helped communities identify local rice varieties that are both tough and high-yielding.
Results:
The fund’s work with local producers and communities through the Institut d'Économie Rurale has helped preserve 266 local rice varieties – and identify which species give maximum output while tolerating drought and excessive water submersion. The farmers are being given greater access to these varieties; these seeds were also recently sent to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault.
Impact:
By supporting the sustainable management of crop genetic resources in developing countries, the fund has increased the food security and improved the livelihoods of more than a million people.
Background:
Forests play a key role in keeping our planet healthy. Tragically, some 11 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions are linked to deforestation.
FAO’s actions:
FAO has supported some 40 countries in accessing Green Climate Fund (GCF) resources to meet climate goals. One project aims to reduce deforestation in Argentina. Another envisions low-emission fuel alternatives in Armenia’s rural areas. Yet another project involves maintaining Nepal’s landscapes. And the first African FAO-GCF project will boost zero-deforestation cocoa production in Côte d'Ivoire.
Results:
Nearly 3 000 local and Indigenous families in Argentina are being included in planning efforts to restore native forests, and prevent or respond to forest fires. In Armenia, the GCF project will promote energy-efficient stoves to reduce wood consumption by 30 percent. The GCF project in Nepal will help nearly 200 000 households mitigate the effects of extreme weather events. In Côte d’Ivoire, the project encourages naturally shaded cocoa agroforestry systems.
Impact:
Involving communities in managing their own resources makes it less likely that forests will be cleared illegally. Fostering ownership and engagement also reduces the causes of deforestation by ensuring that wood and other products, such as honey and nuts, are produced and traded sustainably.
Amounts provided and mobilized in USD per year in relation to the continued existing collective mobilization goal of the USD 100 billion commitment through 2025
Proportion of fish stocks within biologically sustainable levels
Background:
Oceans are essential for our ecosystems. But their management is extremely complex. No single nation governs what are known as areas beyond national jurisdiction (ABNJ), yet all have a joint duty to maintain them.
FAO’s actions:
The Common Oceans ABNJ Program (2014–2019) has improved fisheries management and biodiversity conservation. Funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and led by FAO, the program has helped reduce overfishing of tuna; protect marine life; safeguard vulnerable ecosystems; and tackle illegal, unregulated and unreported (IUU) fishing.
Results:
Eighteen new sites were established to protect at-risk marine life; reduce the mortality of marine mammals; and attract investment to combat IUU fishing. Eight out of 13 major commercial tuna stocks are no longer overfished. A second phase of the program has been approved, led by FAO and co-implemented by the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP).
Impact:
The program has collected data and conducted research on the effects of fishing operations in common ocean areas. It has also directly helped reduce the number of marine mammals caught accidentally (“bycatch”). Most notably, it has brought overexploited fish species back to sustainable levels.
Background:
Trees are still being lost at alarming rates. Quality local monitoring is needed to track successes and failures, and to catalyse and scale investments.
FAO’s actions:
FAO has counted trees in northeast Nicaragua by contracting a satellite internet provider and crowdsourcing help. The data was fed into FAO’s Open Foris tool, Collect Earth, which uses images from NASA, the European Space Agency and Google Earth, and Planet data from Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative. Validated data compiled in Collect Earth is then plugged into FAO’s System for Earth Observation Data Access, Processing and Analysis for Land Monitoring (SEPAL).
Results:
Experts and residents in Nicaragua were able to update previous surveys and monitor the restoration progress of tree cover. The “mapathon” there was followed by another in Ethiopia. In one part of India, local participants identified points where tree cover existed and where more could be grown. In one Rwandan district, the mapathon revealed more trees than expected.
Impact:
Mapathons are a novel way to integrate different stakeholders, including government forestry officials with their priorities and smallholder farmers with theirs. Thanks to the use of historical satellite data sets, such exercises allow governments to evolve adaptive management in a changing climate.
Forest area as a proportion of total land area
Mountain Green Cover Index
Background:
Mountain ecosystems provide vital resources to a significant proportion of the global population. But they are especially vulnerable to climate change. This is all the more alarming as mountain dwellers are among the world’s most food insecure.
FAO’s actions:
Together with the UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Centre (UNEP-WCMC), FAO has developed free, open-source tools to strengthen national technical capacity to report on the Mountain Green Cover Index (MGCI).
Results:
FAO has established agreements with data providers on using Earth Observation (EO) images. The Organization has also developed a methodology to simplify and automatize the measuring and monitoring of the MGCI based on EO products. In 2021, this methodology earned FAO the Group on Earth Observations Sustainable Development Goals Award in the category “SDG custodian agency”.
Impact:
EO data contributes both directly and indirectly to improving the availability, quality and consistency of SDG indicators. Part of FAO’s work towards more accurate monitoring of SDG progress includes working with Member Nations and partner organizations to further improve the MGCI methodology.
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