This Regional Priority Programme supports Member Nations in strengthening national capacities and enhancing processes for sustainable natural resources management; adapting and mitigating climate change and reducing disaster risks in agriculture, forestry and fisheries; preserving biodiversity through natural capital investment, innovation and public–private partnerships; and reducing the environmental impacts of agrifood systems – including pollution and chemical and plastic wastes – through bioeconomy and socially inclusive and equitable approaches.

The Regional Priority Programme promotes achievement of the Paris Agreement, the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Sustainable Development Goals, especially goals 1, 2, 6, 12, 13 and 15. It also contributes to the FAO Strategic Framework 2022–31 and its four betters.

The Regional Priority Programme offers a regional mechanism to assist countries in accessing climate finance, such as the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), including tools and thematic support to formulate interventions at the nexus of climate change, food security, gender and rural poverty.

The Priority Programme works through three main components:

The Priority Programme leverages four FAO accelerators:

• Technology: The Regional Priority Programme promotes the most appropriate climate technologies, green technology and local knowledge to enhance evidence-based decision-making and help increase the efficiency and climate-resilience of agrifood systems.
  
  
• Innovation: The Regional Priority Programme supports countries in envisaging a new paradigm on agriculture, fisheries and forestry, helping them promote production while supporting environmental sustainability. Innovation is key to achieving this goal. This Priority Programme aims to make available science-based evidence and frameworks in collaboration with academic institutions.
  
  
• Data: To support the uptake of innovative, climate-smart technologies and policies, it is important that disaggregated data related to climate and environmental impacts be available at the national level. Data collection and dissemination are important for the deliverance of the Priority Programme’s goals across varied subjects, linking to the Hand-in-Hand Priority Programme’s geospatial platform.
  
  
• Complements: The Regional Priority Programme contributes to strengthening national and institutional capacities to develop and assess trade-offs and implement and sustain evidence-based policies and strategies for climate action, natural resources management, biodiversity and bioeconomy.

Publications on natural resources management, biodiversity and climate change

Featured news

Embedding cross-cutting themes:

• Inclusion of Indigenous Peoples, women, youth, and poor and vulnerable communities
• Regional Technical Platform on Green Agriculture

This Regional Priority Programme also contributes to the promotion of Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS), supporting the acknowledgment of traditional, highly valuable agricultural systems in the region that are examples of heritage to be preserved. The GIAHS programme recognizes these systems as outstanding landscapes of aesthetic beauty that combine agricultural biodiversity, resilient ecosystems, and valuable cultural heritage. Located in specific sites around the world, these systems sustainably provide multiple goods and services, food, and livelihood security for millions of small-scale farmers.

Events

FAO and the GCF

Policy analysis of nationally determined contributions in Europe and Central Asia

FAO and Climate change

FAO and Agroecology

Strategy for FAO’s work on climate change

Scaling up Agroecology Initiative

FAO’s work on agroecology

FAO and GEF

Building a common vision for sustainable food and agriculture

Strategic work of FAO for sustainable food and agriculture

Publication: Nature-based solutions

Sustainable Development Goals