This report proposes a World Bank strategy for assisting the rural, environmental, and social development of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. It has been produced for a general audience partly for consultation purposes, and is therefore a work in progress. Each of the three areas of development is examined in separate chapters, and each summarises the World Bank assistance strategy in that area. The conclusion is that the challenge posed by the objectives of this report are far beyond the World Bank's abilities to achieve on its own.

With the larger role that the agricultural sector plays in the Eastern Europe and Central Asian (ECA) region, emphasis must be placed on the sector's sustained growth and prosperity. The Bank strategy for rural development in the ECA region during the early phase of transition emphasized the reform of agricultural policies and assistance in privatizing, restructuring, and rebuilding agriculture and agro-industrial complexes. In retrospect, it can be seen that the ECA countries concerned made the right choice when they set their objective to transform their socialized agriculture into a private-ownership and market-based system. Given the developments of the past decade, it is clear, however, that the initial expectations for the outcomes of such reforms were overly optimistic. The transition process in agriculture is far more complex than originally envisaged by both the countries themselves and the international community, including the Bank. Increased social problems and alarming growth of poverty have added a new, unexpected, dimension to the transition process. As the analysis indicates, the region's rural economy is still struggling to adjust to new economic realities, and this will require further refinement and adjustment of the Bank's approach as well. This volume, based on an overview of recent regional developments, summarizes the revised World Bank assistance strategy for rural development in the ECA region.

Despite the fact that three quarters of the world's poor live in rural areas, the level of international development aid directed at rural areas has continued to decline over the last decade, particularly in terms of the agricultural sector. In 2001, lending for agricultural projects was the lowest in the World Bank's history. This publication presents the World Bank's new rural development strategy based upon a results oriented approach which stresses practice, implementation, monitoring and empowerment aspects. The strategy seeks to highlight rural development efforts, focusing on the needs of the rural poor, fostering a broad-based economic growth and addressing the impact of global developments on client countries.

This Climate Finance toolkit was prepared by the Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, jointly with the United Nations Environment Programme Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, as part of the efforts both organizations systematically conduct to support countries to access scaled-up sources of climate finance. This document aims at compiling relevant and up to date information on different sources of climate finance, through which countries in Europe and Central Asia could identify opportunities to finance their objectives and goals defined in the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) submitted to the United Nations Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). In this sense, it includes information on the overarching architecture for climate financing at global level and the key conceptual framework related to climate finance and provides detailed briefs for the most relevant sources of finance with operations in this region.

The Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition in Europe and Central Asia 2018 provides new evidence for monitoring trends in food security and nutrition within the framework of the 2030 Sustainable Development Agenda. The in-depth analysis of progress made against Sustainable Development Goal 2 Target 2.1 (to end hunger and ensure access to food by all) and Target 2.2 (to end all forms of malnutrition), as well as the state of micronutrient deficiencies, is complemented by a review of recent policy measures taken to address food security and nutrition in all its dimensions. The Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region encompasses great economic, social and environmental diversity, and its countries are facing various food security and nutrition challenges. While they have made significant progress in reducing the prevalence of undernourishment over the past two decades, new evidence shows a stagnation of this trend, particularly in Central Asia. Malnutrition in one or more of its three main forms – undernutrition, micronutrient deficiencies, and overweight and obesity – is present to varying degrees in all countries of the region. Often, all three forms coexist, creating what is called the “triple burden of malnutrition.” Overweight among children and obesity among adults continue to rise – with now almost one-fourth of the region’s adults obese – and constitute a significant concern for future health and well-being and related costs. While poverty levels in most ECA countries have been declining in recent years, poverty coupled with inequality has led to increased vulnerability of disadvantaged groups and populations in rural and remote areas of low- and lower-middle-income countries. New analysis shows that adult women have a higher prevalence of severe food insecurity than men in some areas, pointing to gender inequalities that are reflected in access to food. Addressing gender and other inequalities is key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals and heeding the call to “leave no one behind.” The publication’s focus this year is on migration, gender and youth and the linkages with rural development and food security in Europe and Central Asia. Migration is linked in multiple ways to gender, youth, and agricultural and rural development – both as a driver and possible source of development opportunities, with labour migration and remittances playing significant roles in the region. Changing migration processes need to be fully understood to better address the challenges of migration and harness the potential benefits for sustainable development and revitalized rural areas. Governments, public and private institutions, communities and other concerned parties must strengthen collaboration and scale up efforts towards achieving the goals of a thriving, healthy and food-secure region.

This publication has the objective of providing a comprehensive analysis of the key trends in greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and vulnerability to climate change in the Europe and Central Asia (ECA) region, compiling the most relevant efforts and progress reported by countries in the implementation of mitigation and adaptation goals and measures in recent years. Considering the areas of the FAO mandate, this document aims to provide information with relevance for the agricultural, and land use, land-use change, and forestry (LULUCF) sectors as key contributors to country gross domestic product (GDP) and one of the most vulnerable areas of economic activity to the impacts of climate change. This policy analysis report consists of three main sections that consider the levels of economic development, as well as diverse geopolitical contexts, in the region. To reflect this diversity of country realities, the information is structured and presented by sub-regions, including the Caucasus, Central Asia, (European part of) the Commonwealth of the Independent States and Ukraine 2 (hereinafter referred to as CIS), EU27+UK, 3 European Free Trade Association (EFTA), and Southeastern Europe (SEE).

Digital agriculture has the potential to contribute to a more economically, environmentally and socially sustainable agriculture and meet the agricultural goals of a country or a region more effectively, and both ICTs and agriculture are important enablers in achieving SDGs. Most stakeholders have long recognized the need for national e-agricultural strategies. Nevertheless, most of the countries have not yet implemented a national strategy for the agricultural sector's use of ICTs. ITU Offices for Europe and CIS regions in collaboration with FAO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia developed this report on state of Digital Agriculture and Strategies developed in 18 countries. The emerging role of ICTs in Europe and CIS region is clearly observed and experienced as an engine for agricultural development, especially in view of the growing demand for reliable information and its quick access at all levels of the industry. The state of the digital agriculture ecosystem differs from country to country and is also fragmented by the regions, within the individual countries. There is an overwhelming wave of innovation in this area where a digital agriculture strategy can be helpful in finding the right path.