A group of municipality representatives from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Georgia visited Mafra, a Portuguese municipality, last week to learn more from its example on localizing the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Mafra has shown a strong commitment in overall SDG implementation at the municipal level and in the development of a Voluntary Local Review (VLR), the internationally accepted process to review the implementation of SDGs at sub-national level.

For farmers in Uzbekistan’s borderlands, even the threat of a sick goat can jeopardize an entire season. Peste des petits ruminants (PPR) — a highly contagious viral disease affecting sheep and goats — has never been officially detected in the country. However, as part of regional preparedness efforts, Uzbekistan is taking proactive measures to safeguard animal health. Recent trends in transboundary animal disease outbreaks across several regions underscore the importance of early warning systems and regional preparedness. With mortality rates in infected flocks reaching up to 90 percent, PPR has devastating consequences for rural livelihoods, particularly among smallholder farmers and women engaged in livestock production.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), in collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy of North Macedonia, organized a national consultation workshop on 28 April in Skopje to accelerate the digital transformation of the agrifood sector. The event gathered around 40 attendees, including farmers, young students and representatives from government institutions, civil society, academia and the private sector, to discuss the current state of digitalization in agriculture and jointly develop concrete policy recommendations for sustainable progress.

Stakeholders from across Turkmenistan gathered in Ashgabat on 17 April 2025 for a consultation focused on accelerating the country's access to climate finance by identifying crucial climate-resilient technologies and boosting private-sector engagement in climate action. The consultation was part of the Green Climate Fund (GCF) Readiness project Improving the Capacity of Turkmenistan to Access Climate Finance through Capacity Building and Strategic Frameworks.

Strong, sustainable forest governance, underpinned by technical data, digital technologies, and institutional capacity are the necessary foundation to ensure the economic benefits of the forest sector to rural livelihoods and to mitigate climate change impacts. As part of the European Union and Sweden-funded programme to support sustainable and multipurpose forest management, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) conducted a targeted training to enhance the capacities of Kosovan officials for assessing and monitoring the economic aspects of the forestry sector. 

Just a few days before Stop Food Waste Day on 30 April, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has successfully delivered the first regional edition of a virtual learning course on tackling food loss and waste (FLW). Developed in collaboration with the International Food Waste Coalition (now part of the Waste and Resources Action Programme Europe) and hosted on FAO’s Virtual Learning Center, the course offered a hands-on, practical training experience tailored for key actors in the region’s agrifood value chains and systems.

Just a few years ago, registering of land or changes in property rights, such as an inheritance or a purchase, was a time-consuming and often costly process in Serbia. It would take months to register a transaction. Data were fragmented, unreliable and not easily accessible, often available only in analogue archives. The process of obtaining the documents to prove someone’s land rights usually required several visits to the cadastre offices, which could be in another village.

National food control systems, in line with internationally recognized food safety and quality standards, are a cornerstone of ensuring the safety and quality of the food we put on our tables. Recognizing this priority, the Republic of Belarus has requested support from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) to facilitate a self-assessment by using the Food Control System Assessment Tool (FCSAT), developed by FAO and the World Health Organization (WHO).

Mountain regions especially in the world’s developing countries face growing pressure from climate change, biodiversity loss and land degradation, yet mountain communities have great potential for climate-resilient development and work to upgrade mountain products sectors such as organic food, textiles and tourism services is already paying off, QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) said here today.   

The AgriTech Observatory, an initiative of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) for countries in Europe and Central Asia, has been officially recognized as a Digital Public Good (DPG) by the Digital Public Goods Alliance—a multi-stakeholder initiative endorsed by the United Nations to promote open-source technologies that accelerate progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).