Green jobs in agrifood systems


Book Description

Populations in the G5 Sahel countries are growing rapidly. Given these large cohorts of young populations, over the next five years 11.4 million youth will turn 16 years old, and most will then start to seek jobs in the region. Although the countries are urbanizing, meaning that future economic growth may be faster in industry and services than in agriculture, in the short and medium run the bulk of new jobs are likely to be created in the agriculture sector and its supply chains. For the five countries of the G5 Sahel – Burkina Faso, Chad, Mauritania, Mali and Niger – this study aims to address the following questions: i) What employment can be created for youth, as agriculture and the agrifood value chains become environmentally sustainable as part of a rural green transition?; and ii) What policies, programmes and investment are needed to create these jobs and ensure that young women and men can access them?




Green Jobs


Book Description

Green jobs, employment that contributes to protecting the environment and reducing humanity's carbon footprint, will be a key economic driver of the 21st century. This report explores the role green jobs will play within the various industries, energy production, construction, transportation, energy-intensive industries, recycling and re-manufacturing, and agriculture and forestry.




Renewable energy for agri-food systems: Towards the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement


Book Description

In 2021, the United Nations Secretary-General will convene the Food Systems Summit to advance dialogue and action towards transforming the way the world produces, consumes and thinks about food guided by the overarching vision of a fairer, more sustainable world. The Secretary-General will also convene the High-Level Dialogue on Energy (HLDE) to promote the implementation of the energy-related goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Given the inextricable linkages between the energy and agriculture sectors, integrating the nexus perspective within the FSS and the HLDE is crucial to formulate a joint vision of actions to advance the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement. In this context, IRENA and FAO have decided to jointly develop a report on the role of renewable energy used in food chain to advance energy and food security as well as climate action towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement. While energy has a key enabling role in food system transformation and innovation in agriculture, its current use is unsustainable because of the high dependence on fossil fuels and frequent access to energy in developing countries. The challenge is to disconnect fossil fuel use from food system transformation without hampering food security. The use of renewable energy in food systems offers vast opportunities to address this challenge and help food systems meet their energy needs while advancing rural development while contributing to rural development and climate action.




Sustainable Food and Agriculture


Book Description

Sustainable Food and Agriculture: An Integrated Approach is the first book to look at the imminent threats to sustainable food security through a cross-sectoral lens. As the world faces food supply challenges posed by the declining growth rate of agricultural productivity, accelerated deterioration of quantity and quality of natural resources that underpin agricultural production, climate change, and hunger, poverty and malnutrition, a multi-faced understanding is key to identifying practical solutions. This book gives stakeholders a common vision, concept and methods that are based on proven and widely agreed strategies for continuous improvement in sustainability at different scales. While information on policies and technologies that would enhance productivity and sustainability of individual agricultural sectors is available to some extent, literature is practically devoid of information and experiences for countries and communities considering a comprehensive approach (cross-sectoral policies, strategies and technologies) to SFA. This book is the first effort to fill this gap, providing information on proven options for enhancing productivity, profitability, equity and environmental sustainability of individual sectors and, in addition, how to identify opportunities and actions for exploiting cross-sectoral synergies. - Provides proven options of integrated technologies and policies, helping new programs identify appropriate existing programs - Presents mechanisms/tools for balancing trade-offs and proposes indicators to facilitate decision-making and progress measurement - Positions a comprehensive and informed review of issues in one place for effective education, comparison and evaluation




The State of Food and Agriculture 2021


Book Description

The COVID-19 pandemic exposed the vulnerability of agrifood systems to shocks and stresses and led to increased global food insecurity and malnutrition. Action is needed to make agrifood systems more resilient, efficient, sustainable and inclusive. The State of Food and Agriculture 2021 presents country-level indicators of the resilience of agrifood systems. The indicators measure the robustness of primary production and food availability, as well as physical and economic access to food. They can thus help assess the capacity of national agrifood systems to absorb shocks and stresses, a key aspect of resilience. The report analyses the vulnerabilities of food supply chains and how rural households cope with risks and shocks. It discusses options to minimize trade-offs that building resilience may have with efficiency and inclusivity. The aim is to offer guidance on policies to enhance food supply chain resilience, support livelihoods in the agrifood system and, in the face of disruption, ensure sustainable access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to all.




Agriculture & Food Systems To 2050: Global Trends, Challenges And Opportunities


Book Description

This book features a comprehensive foresight assessment, exploring the pressures — threats as well as opportunities — on the global agriculture & food systems between now and 2050. The overarching aim is to help readers understand the context, by analyzing global trends and anticipating change for better planning and constructing pathways from the present to the future by focusing on the right questions and problems. The book contextualizes the role of international agricultural research in addressing the complex challenges posed by UN 2030 Agenda and beyond, and identifies the decisions that scientific leaders, donors and policy makers need to take today, and in the years ahead, to ensure that a global population rising to nine billion or more combined with rising incomes and changing diets can be fed sustainably and equitably, in the face of the growing climate threats.




Agroecology


Book Description

Agroecology was chosen by INRAE as one of the interdisciplinary foresight projects aimed at identifying research fronts in response to major societal challenges. Eighty researchers drew up an assessment and proposed research avenues for agroecology. This book summarizes their main conclusions.




Investment guidelines for youth in agrifood systems in Africa


Book Description

The Investment guidelines for youth in agrifood systems in Africa, developed jointly by FAO and the African Union Commission (AUC) through a multi-stakeholder and participatory process, highlight the importance of youth as change agents and key stakeholders contributing to sustainable agrifood systems. The guidelines aim to accelerate investments in and by youth in agrifood systems by providing practical guidance - including tools and examples - to design, develop, implement, monitor and evaluate youth-focused and youth-sensitive investment programmes and to engage youth fully as partners in the entire process. The guidelines were prepared with the support of the AUC and FAO Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) “Partnership to Support AU’s Strategies on Social Protection, School Feeding and Rural Youth Employment” of the FAO Regional Office for Africa (RAF) and from the Investment Centre (CFI). This publication is part of the Investment Toolkits series under the FAO Investment Centre's Knowledge for Investment (K4I) programme.




Green Jobs for a New Economy


Book Description

Green Jobs For a New Economyacknowledges the global and national movement toward sustainability and its influence on today's education consumers, who view this concept not only as a major factor in choosing a college or university, but also as a guide to finding a career that will satisfy professional aspirations and benefit the planet in the process. 1. Review of professional and skilled labor jobs in the new green economy, with profiles on - Work Environment - Career Paths - Earning Potential - Education/Licensure/Training/Certification - Related Jobs - Organizations for more information2. Brief, informative articles on green topics. Examples: -What Does "Sustainability" Mean? -How Green is Your College? Sustainability Initiatives Explained - Top Green In-Demand College Majors - Top 10 Career Fields for the Eco-Conscious - The Hottest Green Careers Today - Top 10 Greenest Places to Work and Live - Job Interview? Find Out How Green The Company Is - Greening Your Vocabulary: What the Global Citizen Needs to Know3. Career/Industry Categories: -Agriculture - Alternate Fuels (Biofuels, Geothermal, Hydroelectric, Solar, Wind) - Environmental Conservation - Environmental Engineering - Environmental Law - Environmental Planning and Land Use - Environmental Science - Green Building Design and Construction (Retrofitting Buildings) - Transportation Systems Planning - Urban Planning4. Top four-year and two-year colleges for green programs of study, with profiles including data on: - Degree/License/Certificate - Costs - Financial Aid - Admissions Requirements - Application and Information - Green Campus Organizations/Projects - Union Programs for Training and Retraining5. State and Federal Funding for Workplace Training6. Results from Peterson's Survey of Sustainability Efforts in Higher Education (sent to a universe of about 4,000 respondents: all UG2 & UG4 schools in the U.S. and Canada)7. Lists of organizations involved in and promoting sustainability (different from those in t




Local Food Systems; Concepts, Impacts, and Issues


Book Description

This comprehensive overview of local food systems explores alternative definitions of local food, estimates market size and reach, describes the characteristics of local consumers and producers, and examines early indications of the economic and health impacts of local food systems. Defining ¿local¿ based on marketing arrangements, such as farmers selling directly to consumers at regional farmers¿ markets or to schools, is well recognized. Statistics suggest that local food markets account for a small, but growing, share of U.S. agricultural production. For smaller farms, direct marketing to consumers accounts for a higher percentage of their sales than for larger farms. Charts and tables.