E.2: Assessments, Analyses, and Studies

Regular assessments, analyses and outlook studies for food and agriculture

Other Information:

FAO is a provider of global assessments and analyses to the world community. The challenge for the Organization is to respond to the increasing and more diversified demand for these services while also adapting to the changing needs of its membership. Major outputs such as Agriculture towards 2015, The State of Food and Agriculture, The State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture, State of the World's Forests and Food Outlook will continue to be prepared as well as more specific assessments, analyses and outlook studies on food and agriculture, based on accurate, up-to-date information. These may be multisectoral or sectoral in their focus. Topics addressed will cover priority areas such as food and nutrition, major sectors such as agriculture, fisheries and forestry, and key cross-sectoral issues such as biological diversity, climate change and resource degradation. Important socio-economic issues such as gender and poverty will also be addressed. Emphasis will be given to presenting assessments in such a way as to achieve maximum impact on target audiences in order to raise awareness and stimulate action. Strategy components: The components include: analysing and assessing the state of, trends in and outlook for nutrition, food, agriculture, fisheries, forestry and related natural resources, wherever possible basing assessments on diversified data sources and carrying them out in participation with external partners; identifying and analysing current and emerging issues and drawing them to the attention of the international community; this will include the development of improved indicators for use in assessing progress towards sustainable agriculture and rural development; and facilitating the participation of countries in assessments and outlook studies, including through regional and global information networks, and providing technical support to countries in carrying out their own strategic assessments. Comparative advantages and partnerships: FAO's comparative advantage lies first in its direct, official interface with national governments and their data and information on food and agriculture, and next in its role as a neutral forum for assessment and analysis. Its mandate and its range of expertise, underpinned by both normative and field experience, greatly facilitates the preparation of broadly based, comprehensive studies. FAO assessments cover all phases in the production and consumption cycle and consider a wide range of social, economic and environmental issues in the agricultural and related natural resource fields. This contributes to making the Organization an authoritative source for such studies, which are internationally recognized for their technical and policy contributions in the sectors concerned. FAO's analytical work depends on inputs from a wide variety of sources. Hence, external partnerships are critical to reliable and comprehensive assessments and analyses. FAO will continue to strengthen linkages and form alliances with national and international partners, including with IFIs, other UN organizations, CGIAR and national research systems, academic and research institutions and other centres of excellence, development agencies and CSOs. These partnerships will involve peer reviews, joint assessments and analyses, development and application of common tools and methods, including modelling and scenario analysis, and networking to obtain the best data and information available to validate findings and conclusions.

Indicator(s):

Indicator:1

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