Globally, nearly 3 billion people rely on traditional biomass, such as fuelwood, charcoal or animal waste, as sources of fuel for cooking and heating. The multi-sectoral challenges related to energy access make it crucial to view the issue in a broader frame. FAO's work on Safe Access to Fuel and Energy (SAFE) adopts a holistic, multi-faceted approach which takes into account the mutually reinforcing linkages between energy and nutrition, disaster risks and climate change, conflict, health, gender, protection and livelihoods. This publication aims to provide a comprehensive framework for mainstreaming energy access for crisis-affected populations as a key component of overall resilience-building.

The massive increase in demand for woodfuel for cooking caused by sudden influxes of refugees and other displaced people is usually the main driver of forest degradation and deforestation in displacement settings. It places enormous pressure on nearby forests and woodlands and is often a source of tension between the host and displaced communities. A lack of sufficient cooking fuel also has an impact on the nutrition and health of vulnerable people in such settings. This document aims to contribute on a sustainable forest management in displacement settings for building resilience and laying the basis for long-term solutions. In particular, well-planned forestry interventions can ensure a sustainable supply of woodfuel, timber and non-wood forest products for those communities, thereby helping ensure their well-being.

Violent conflict has increased in recent decades. The number of people worldwide who live in settings where conflict and violence are a daily occurrence is increasing. By 2030, it is estimated that more than half of all people living in poverty will be found in countries affected by high levels of violence. These conflict dynamics have a negative impact on households’ food security. Agriculture, natural resources, food security and nutrition can be sources of peace or conflict, crisis or recovery, tragedy or healing. Underpinning this is ensuring that the Organization’s projects and interventions are conflict-sensitive so that all stakeholders understand the dynamics of the diverse contexts in which FAO works. Especially in fragile and conflict-affected contexts, we need to make sure that our work avoids contributing to divisions, disputes and violent conflict, and does no harm. All that we do – both by ourselves and through partnerships – should follow this approach. We can also identify where FAO can positively contribute to social cohesion and peace – and these efforts must be rooted in robust theories of change. FAO is placing increasing emphasis on ensuring that our interventions make a positive contribution to peace – an objective shared across the United Nations system, and increasingly a requirement of our partners and donors. The focus of this how-to guide is to elaborate the pathways through which the Organization can optimize deliberate contributions to peace, and inform the design, adaptation and impact measurement of its interventions. In recent years, FAO has developed corporate tools, guidance and training on conflict sensitivity and context analysis. Operationalizing pathways to sustaining peace in the context of Agenda 2030 – A how-to guide is another crucial document in that series, developed through collaboration between the FAO Conflict and Peace Unit and Interpeace in the context of a wider partnership between the two Organizations. Following broad consultation across the Organization, this document provides operational guidance and inspiration to FAO project and technical staff on how our work can enhance FAO’s contributions to peace – and how to measure those contributions. It is part of an ongoing process, which complements FAO’s efforts through its Strategic Framework to support the transformation to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems, for better production, better nutrition, better environment and better life, leaving no one behind.

Now available online: The Global Politics of Human Rights: Bringing the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) into the 21st Century (2020), a publication from the Berlin Forum on Global Politics (BFoGP) in collaboration with the Institute for Global Dialogue and the RECLAIM! Universal Human Rights Initiative. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), even more than 70 years after its adoption, continues to provide the foundation for national and international laws concerned with human dignity and the universal and inalienable freedoms and claims of every person. A living document, the core principles enshrined in the UDHR are as relevant as ever to better the human condition and societies worldwide. This collected volume is an open knowledge publication, freely accessible under a Creative Commons license, which includes 24 articles written by numerous well-informed stakeholders from across the globe, who include human rights scholars and practitioners, experts and activists, researchers and members of civil society and non-governmental organizations. It addresses particular aspects of the history of the UDHR, the expansion and implementation of its Articles, its role in the prevention of violence, and its potential to address a changing world. As a whole, the publication serves two goals: on the one hand, it clarifies why the UDHR continues to be strongly relevant to the contemporary values, dynamics, and conditions of human rights in the 21st century; and, on the other hand, it illustrates how the UDHR and its Articles can be further adapted and implemented to uphold and safeguard human rights even in times when global politics often follow the siren songs of populism, authoritarianism, nativism, and extremism.

Globally, the number of conflicts is increasing which is the main cause of much of the recent deterioration of the global food security situation. This situation is exacerbated by climate related shocks. Since 2009, a combination of man-made and natural disasters has disrupted livelihoods, threatened food security and forcibly displaced millions of people in northeast Nigeria. The conflict, in northeast Nigeria, takes on a central role in the ongoing food crisis by severely curtailing the ability of populations to access land and other natural resources such as woodfuel, the central object of this analysis. Access to energy is a precondition to food security, both are often highly constrained during crises. The ways in which energy is produced and used, can aggravate the vulnerability of populations to a number of risks and challenges by exposing them to malnutrition and other health conditions, reduced resilience to natural hazards and to environmental degradation, a disproportionate work burden for women, protection risks, conflicts and unsustainable livelihood activities. FAO, UNHCR and WFP have been promoting the multi-sectoral Safe Access to Fuel and Energy approach (SAFE) in the context of forced displacement to support an effective response and to contribute to building the resilience of vulnerable populations. The starting point of such a response in northeast Nigeria is this woodfuel supply and energy demand assessment, which provides a baseline for designing comprehensive interventions that take into account the energy needs of affected populations. The desired outcome of the SAFE approach is to “satisfy the fuel and energy needs for cooking, heating, lighting, and powering in a safe and sustainable manner, without fear or risk to health, well-being, and personal security of crisis affected populations”. The SAFE approach could make an effective and significant contribution to improve food security and nutrition, and ensure the sustainable management of natural resources. In addition, it will positively affect livelihoods, women and youth empowerment, protection and health risks. By taking adequate climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, the SAFE approach will also help to increase the resilience of vulnerable populations in the face of natural hazards and disasters, and contribute to peaceful coexistence between IDPs and local communities.

Forty-nine million people live in the Lake Chad region, exploiting its rich natural resources and relatively constant supply of water, fodder and fertile land all year round. The area used to be a food production hub, with local markets supplying produce to Cameroon, Chad, the Niger and Nigeria. However, poor natural resource management, poor coordination across the different countries of the region, and the widespread impact of climate change have contributed to the significant deterioration of the Lake’s natural ecosystem capacity. Agricultural soils and pastures have been widely degraded, leading to a huge reduction in food productivity and, thus, job opportunities, especially for the youth living in rural areas who account for a high percentage of the population. Conflicts and tensions have created a conducive context for young people in search of income and opportunities to join the Boko Haram terrorist movement originated in Nigeria. This evaluation was conducted to address FAO’s response to the Lake Chad Basin crisis, including interventions conducted in 2015‒2018, as FAO published the Lake Chad Basin Crisis Response Strategy (2017–2019) to address the needs of the identified 6.9 million people affected by soaring food insecurity in the Lake Chad Basin in early 2017. The objectives of this evaluation were to analyse FAO’s responses to the crisis at operating level, with a focus on efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability, while assessing the relevance and consistency of the regional approach from a strategic perspective. The evaluation team visited many of the areas concerned, and at the end of each visit they organized a debriefing session with the respective FAO country team to share information gathered and collect complementary data and analysis to inform its deliberations. This helped to ensure transparency in the data collection process and to maximize the learning process. For FAO to support the food security and nutrition of communities in the Lake Chad region effectively, a regional strategy focused on supporting the resilience of communities is relevant and appropriate. Complementary to FAO’s country-based programmes, a regional strategy bears the potential to devise interventions that adapt to the cross-border nature of issues that each country faces and would allow supporting a more cohesive and collaborative way of working. Based on the Regional Response Strategy (2017–2019), FAO should revise its strategy and approach by incorporating governmental objectives, and translate it into an operational action plan, in line with other partners’ strategies in the region.

FAO recognizes the potential of rural women and men in achieving food security and nutrition and is committed to overcoming gender inequality, in line with the pledge to “leave no one behind”, which is at the heart of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda. The publication illustrates the consistent and sustained work of FAO towards gender equality and women’s empowerment, which are at the core of the Organization’s work to eliminate hunger and rural poverty. Each chapter h ighlights the relevance of gender work to achieving the FAO Strategic Objectives, and describes main results achieved, showcasing activities implemented at country and international levels. Stories from the field demonstrate the impact of FAO’s work for beneficiaries, highlighting successes and significant insights gained.

The international community is committed to ending hunger and all forms of malnutrition worldwide by 2030. While much progress has been made, conflict and human-induced and natural disasters are causing setbacks. This year’s The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World warns that the long-term declining trend in undernourishment seems to have come to a halt and may have reversed, largely on account of the above-mentioned factors. Meanwhile, though progress continues to be made in reducing child malnutrition, rising overweight and obesity are a concern in most parts of the world. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (formerly The State of Food Insecurity in the World). For the first time, this year is published by UNICEF and WHO now joining FAO, IFAD and WFP. Agenda for Sustainable Development and the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition. The assessment of both the traditional measure of the prevalence of undernourishment and the new indicator, the prevalence of severe food insecurity, based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale. The report further looks at various forms of malnutrition, including trends and situations for child stunting, wasting and overweight and for adult obesity, breastfeeding and anemia in women. The thematic part of the world is affecting food security and nutrition. It also explores how, by improving food security and nutrition and by making rural livelihoods more resilient, it is possible to help prevent conflicts and sustain peace.

The FAO Migration Framework guides the Organization in carrying out its work on migration at global, regional and country levels. It aims to ensure greater coordination between technical units and decentralized offices, and strengthen coherence and synergies across the Organization. It presents FAO definition, vision and mission on migration and spells out the rational for FAO engagement in this area. It presents what FAO does on migration, identifying the four main thematic areas of work along the migration cycle. Finally, it describes how FAO works on migration along its core functions.