The second phase of the Forest and Farm Facility (FFF) aims at supporting forest and farm producers and their organizations (FFPOs) to enable climate-resilient landscapes and improved livelihoods, through the approval of small grants for producers organizations, training and exchanges, and the documentation and dissemination of good practices. The mid-term evaluation highlights the uniqueness of the FFF and its potential to influence global forestry narratives and practices, beyond the sum of its achievements in core countries, and recognizes that the FFF is broadening FAO’s corporate narrative and global positioning on forestry and its interface with agriculture, livelihoods and the environment. The FFF is highly relevant to national contexts with its outcomes well-matching national policies, and to FFPOs priorities and needs; it has effectively applied adaptive management from the onset of Phase II; and it has also contributed to strengthened and expanded partnerships among FFPOs and APEX organizations. The programme achieved satisfactory to highly satisfactory progress towards three of its four outcomes with limited resources, demonstrating high levels of cost-effectiveness. The monitoring and learning system is highly organized and well-coordinated around letters of agreement tracking, but it could improve with the inclusion of an internal results-based monitoring and evaluation system to track the evolution of longer-term results beyond the letter of agreement grant cycle. The FFF is responsive to gender in all countries and to indigenous producer organizations, while the strategy to include youth could be improved.

Experiences from incentive-based forest management are examined for their effects on the livelihoods of local communities. In the second section, country case studies provide a snapshot of REDD developments to date and identify design features for REDD that would support benefits for forest communities.

Restoration ecology, as a scientific discipline, developed from practitioners’ efforts to restore degraded land, with interest also coming from applied ecologists attracted by the potential for restoration projects to apply and/or test developing theories on ecosystem development. Since then, forest landscape restoration (FLR) has emerged as a practical approach to forest restoration particularly in developing countries, where an approach which is both large-scale and focuses on meeting human needs is required. Yet despite increased investigation into both the biological and social aspects of FLR, there has so far been little success in systematically integrating these two complementary strands. Bringing experts in landscape studies, natural resource management and forest restoration, together with those experienced in conflict management, environmental economics and urban studies, this book bridges that gap to define the nature and potential of FLR as a truly multidisciplinary approach to a global environmental problem. The book will provide a valuable reference to graduate students and researchers interested in ecological restoration, forest ecology and management, as well as to professionals in environmental restoration, natural resource management, conservation, and environmental policy.

A clear, concise introduction to the quickly growing field of complexity science that explains its conceptual and mathematical foundations What is a complex system? Although "complexity science" is used to understand phenomena as diverse as the behavior of honeybees, the economic markets, the human brain, and the climate, there is no agreement about its foundations. In this introduction for students, academics, and general readers, philosopher of science James Ladyman and physicist Karoline Wiesner develop an account of complexity that brings the different concepts and mathematical measures applied to complex systems into a single framework. They introduce the different features of complex systems, discuss different conceptions of complexity, and develop their own account. They explain why complexity science is so important in today's world.

With climate change impacts already felt in the world’s drylands, there is an urgent need for action, at various scales and initiated by different stakeholders, to ensure the sustainability of food production and livelihoods in these regions in the coming decades. There is also the need to rapidly establish baselines, assess and start monitoring progress on sustainability, emerging as result of the action taken. To aid in this effort, this paper provides a short list of expected transformations (under each of the three sustainability pillars) for guiding the planning and implementation of policy, governance and practice-level actions. Gender and indigenous people’s rights and knowledge will be considered cross-cutting issues. The expected transformations will be shared with and agreed by dryland experts and practitioners and will be complemented with additional relevant information sources and indicators. However, it is recommended that national and subnational governments, programmes, projects and individual practitioners and experts define the indicators they will use for measuring their own progress towards the expected transformations, based on the availability of data and specific national and local conditions.The paper will also present case studies portraying actions that have led to progress in sustainability and are directly related to the expected transformations. A related policy brief Blooming Drylands will complement the paper and offer practical recommendations on how policymakers can reach the expected transformations.

Unless action is taken now to make agriculture more sustainable, productive and resilient, climate change impacts will seriously compromise food production in countries and regions that are already highly food-insecure. The Paris Agreement, adopted in December 2015, represents a new beginning in the global effort to stabilize the climate before it is too late. It recognizes the importance of food security in the international response to climate change, as reflected by many countries prominent focus on the agriculture sector in their planned contributions to adaptation and mitigation. To help put those plans into action, this report identifies strategies, financing opportunities, and data and information needs. It also describes transformative policies and institutions that can overcome barriers to implementation. The State of Food and Agriculture is produced annually. Each edition contains an overview of the current global agricultural situation, as well as more in-depth coverage of a topical theme."

Good agroecological practices are indispensable for the development of sustainable agriculture. In this book, principles, diversity and applications of agroecological practices for a range of systems are presented, transforming scientific research and participatory knowledge of production into practical application. It illustrates a broad range of research and teaching being used within the farming community to demonstrate best practice and current state-of-play within the field. Agroecological methods used in crop farming, grass-based livestock farming, fish production, and other complex farming systems are discussed. Conclusions are drawn from studies to provide an outlook on future trends of agroecological practices and on policies supporting implementation.Due to emphasis on real-life application, it is relevant not only to students of the agricultural sciences and public policy, but also to researchers, stakeholders and policy makers involved in the development of sustainable agriculture.