Guidelines for measuring gender transformative change in the context of food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture

These Guidelines include step-by-step guidance to formulate qualitative and quantitative indicators of gender transformative change to help gender experts and food security, agriculture and nutrition programme specialists in their efforts to design, implement, monitor and evaluate gender transformative interventions. These indicators should be distinctive from and a complement to other reach, benefit and empower indicators intended to contribute to gender equality outcomes in food security, nutrition and sustainable agriculture. The Guidelines also present an overarching framework for measuring gender transformative change in the context of food and nutrition security and sustainable agriculture, including key dimensions and a socio-ecological model for identifying spheres of influence within which gender transformative change can be measured. Additionally, the Guidelines bring attention to other important issues to consider when to implement the framework and when to develop context-specific indicators of gender transformative change, such as the incorporation of insider perspectives and consideration to intersectional forms of discrimination

Sustainable Agricultural Productivity Growth and Bridging the Gap for Small-Family Farms: Interagency Report to the Mexican G20 Presidency

In 2011, G20 leaders committed to sustainably increase agricultural (production and) productivity (paragraph 43 of the Cannes Declaration). They "agree(d) to further invest in agriculture, in particular in the poorest countries, and bearing in mind the importance of smallholders, through responsible public and private investment," they "decide(d) to invest in research and development of agricultural productivity. Early in 2012 Mexico, as G20 President, invited international organisations to examine practical actions that could be undertaken to sustainably improve agricultural productivity growth, in particular on small family farms. The preparation of this report, co-ordinated by the FAO and the OECD, responds to this request. It is a collaborative undertaking by Bioversity, CGIAR Consortium, FAO, IFAD, IFPRI, IICA, OECD, UNCTAD, Coordination team of UN High Level Task Force on the Food Security Crisis, WFP, World Bank, and WTO. We, the international organisations, are pleased to provide you with this joint report and look forward to continuing collaboration within the G20 framework to further elaborate and, as appropriate, implement the recommendations that it contains

The emergence of international food safety standards and guidelines: understanding the current landscape through a historical approach

Following the Second World War, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) teamed up to construct an International Codex Alimentarius (or 'food code') which emerged in 1963. The Codex Committee on Food Hygiene (CCFH) was charged with the task of developing microbial hygiene standards, although it found itself embroiled in debate with the WHO over the nature these standards should take. The WHO was increasingly relying upon the input of biometricians and especially the International Commission on Microbial Specifications for Foods (ICMSF) which had developed statistical sampling plans for determining the microbial counts in the final end products. The CCFH, however, was initially more focused on a qualitative approach which looked at the entire food production system and developed codes of practice as well as more descriptive end-product specifications which the WHO argued were 'not scientifically correct'. Drawing upon historical archival material (correspondence and reports) from the WHO and FAO, this article examines this debate over microbial hygiene standards and suggests that there are many lessons from history which could shed light upon current debates and efforts in international food safety management systems and approaches

Assessing the impact of microfinance programming on children: an evaluation from post-tsunami Aceh

This paper presents an evaluation of the long‐term impact of microfinance programmes on Acehnese children during the post‐tsunami recovery. The study, conducted from June to August 2010, examined the impact of microfinance programming six years after the tsunami. The sample consisted of 185 microfinance participants, with a comparison group of 192 individuals who did not participate in microfinance programmes. All respondents were parents, interviewed through a structured survey. The study used four child protection indicators—diet, health, childcare and education—in contrast to traditional repayment rate indicators. The primary results were insignificant with respect to all four child protection indicators, suggesting that, with respect to these indicators, there was no long‐term difference between the impact of microfinance on beneficiaries' children and non‐beneficiaries' children. These findings signify a need for microfinance actors to move beyond traditional indicators of economic success to evaluate the social changes microfinance programmes are presumed to effect

Benthic habitat modelling and mapping as a conservation tool for marine protected areas: A seamount in the western Mediterranean

1. An ecologically representative, well‐connected, and effectively managed system of marine protected areas (MPAs) has positive ecological and environmental effects as well as social and economic benefits. Although progress in expanding the coverage of MPAs has been made, the application of management tools has not yet been implemented in most of these areas. 2. In this work, distribution models were applied to nine benthic habitats on a Mediterranean seamount within an MPA for conservation purposes. Benthic habitat occurrences were identified from 55 remotely operated vehicle (ROV) transects, at depths from 76 to 700 m, and data derived from multibeam bathymetry. Generalized additive models (GAMs) were applied to link the presence of each benthic habitat to local environmental proxies (depth, slope, backscatter, aspect, and bathymetric position index, BPI). 3. The main environmental drivers of habitat distribution were depth, slope, and BPI. Based on this result, five different geomorphological areas were distinguished. A full coverage map indicating the potential benthic habitat distribution on the seamount was obtained to inform spatial management. 4. The distribution of those habitats identified as vulnerable marine ecosystems (VMEs) was used to make recommendations on zonation for developing the management plan of the MPA. This process reveals itself as an appropriate methodological approach that can be developed in other areas of the Natura 2000 marine networkEn prensa1,92

Association between wasting and food insecurity among children under five years: findings from Nepal demographic health survey 2016

Background Wasting is a consequence of food insecurity, inappropriate dietary practices, and inadequate caring and feeding practices. The present study assessed association between wasting and household food insecurity among under 5 years old children, along with other socio-demographic characteristics. Methods This study is a secondary analysis of the Nepal Demographic and Health Survey 2016. The survey is cross-sectional in design with use of standardized tools. The sampling frame used is an updated version of the frame from the 2011 National Population and Housing Census. The participants were children under 5 years of age (n = 2414). Logistic regression was carried out to identify the odds of being wasted for children belonging to different levels of food insecure households using odds ratio and 95% confidence intervals. Results The prevalence of wasting increased with the level of food insecurity, from mild (9.4%) to moderate (10.8%) and to severe (11.3%). The highest proportions of wasted children were in Province 2 (14.3%), from rural areas (10.1%), born to mothers with no education (12.4%) and from a richer quintile (11.3%). Children belonging to severe food insecure households had 1.36 (95%CI 0.72–2.57) adjusted odds of being wasted and those belonging to mild food insecure and moderately food insecure households had 0.98 (95%CI 0.64-1.49) and 1.13 (95%CI 0.65–1.97) odds of being wasted respectively. Province 1 (AOR 2.06, 95%CI 1.01–4.19) and Province 2 (AOR 2.45, 95%CI 1.22–4.95) were significantly associated with wasting. Conclusion Considering the increment in childhood wasting as per level of food insecurity, an integrated intervention should be developed in Nepal that, 1. addresses improving knowledge and behavior of community people with respect to diet and nutrition; 2. reduce the problem of food insecurity through agricultural interventions

Rangelands Atlas

Rangelands can be described as land on which the vegetation is predominantly grasses, grass-like plants, forbs or shrubs, and often with trees that are grazed or have the potential to be grazed by livestock and wildlife. They are diverse in their vegetation driven by highly fluctuating rainfall, temperature and other climate phenomena, and habitat for a wide range of wildlife, many species of which are found nowhere else. Rangelands store vast amounts of carbon and either originate or serve as freshwater catchment areas for most of the world’s largest rivers and wetlands. Rangelands are home to millions of people, from pastoralists to hunter-gatherers to ranchers to conservationists. Rangelands feed millions of people worldwide. Rangelands have significant cultural and aesthetic value too, and for many, are places of inspiration and beauty. This Rangelands Atlas has been developed to document and raise awareness on the enormous environmental, economic and social value of rangelands as well as their different ecosystems. It highlights many of the changes taking place in rangelands due to climate change, land use and conversion trends, investments and other changes: of most concern is the predicted trends of climate change and biodiversity loss, which will have significant impacts on some rangeland ecosystems. The spatial mapping of rangelands was produced by focusing on seven of the 14 global biomes categorised by WWF in their mapping of terrestrial ecoregions around the world. These seven biomes include different types of mainly dryland grasslands, savannas, shrublands and forests, together with wetter and colder biomes such as tundra. Though this mapping does not take into account actual land use and other changes that have taken place on the ground, it is a useful starting point for identifying, documenting and raising awareness on the overall characteristics of rangelands, their contribution to livestock and other food production, ecosystem services, conservation and the broader trends of change taking place. The Atlas also highlights significant data gaps in rangelands, which have seen proportionately less investment in this regard than other land uses and ecosystems. The spatial map of rangelands is combined with other existing global datasets on different themes, to produce a mapping of that data ‘for rangelands.’ Each entry is presented with a short explanation of the map, some key figures produced from the big data that produced the map, a story from the field adding a taste of a local experience and/or perspective, and some explanation of terminologies used in the map as required. We are reliant on the accuracy of the datasets we have accessed: the data have not been verified at regional, country or local level, and therefore is only an indicator of broad and estimated figures and trends

An algorithm to assess methodological quality of nutrition and mortality cross-sectional surveys: development and application to surveys conducted in Darfur, Sudan

Background Nutrition and mortality surveys are the main tools whereby evidence on the health status of populations affected by disasters and armed conflict is quantified and monitored over time. Several reviews have consistently revealed a lack of rigor in many surveys. We describe an algorithm for analyzing nutritional and mortality survey reports to identify a comprehensive range of errors that may result in sampling, response, or measurement biases and score quality. We apply the algorithm to surveys conducted in Darfur, Sudan. Methods We developed an algorithm based on internationally agreed upon methods and best practices. Penalties are attributed for a list of errors, and an overall score is built from the summation of penalties accrued by the survey as a whole. To test the algorithm reproducibility, it was independently applied by three raters on 30 randomly selected survey reports. The algorithm was further applied to more than 100 surveys conducted in Darfur, Sudan. Results The Intra Class Correlation coefficient was 0.79 for mortality surveys and 0.78 for nutrition surveys. The overall median quality score and range of about 100 surveys conducted in Darfur were 0.60 (0.12-0.93) and 0.675 (0.23-0.86) for mortality and nutrition surveys, respectively. They varied between the organizations conducting the surveys, with no major trend over time. Conclusion Our study suggests that it is possible to systematically assess quality of surveys and reveals considerable problems with the quality of nutritional and particularly mortality surveys conducted in the Darfur crisis.BioMed Central Open acces

Adverse Effects of Methylmercury: Environmental Health Research Implications

Background: The scientific discoveries of health risks resulting from methylmercury exposure began in 1865 describing ataxia, dysarthria, constriction of visual fields, impaired hearing, and sensory disturbance as symptoms of fatal methylmercury poisoning. Objective: Our aim was to examine how knowledge and consensus on methylmercury toxicity have developed in order to identify problems of wider concern in research. Data sources and extraction: We tracked key publications that reflected new insights into human methylmercury toxicity. From this evidence, we identified possible caveats of potential significance for environmental health research in general. Synthesis: At first, methylmercury research was impaired by inappropriate attention to narrow case definitions and uncertain chemical speciation. It also ignored the link between ecotoxicity and human toxicity. As a result, serious delays affected the recognition of methylmercury as a cause of serious human poisonings in Minamata, Japan. Developmental neurotoxicity was first reported in 1952, but despite accumulating evidence, the vulnerability of the developing nervous system was not taken into account in risk assessment internationally until approximately 50 years later. Imprecision in exposure assessment and other forms of uncertainty tended to cause an underestimation of methylmercury toxicity and repeatedly led to calls for more research rather than prevention. Conclusions: Coupled with legal and political rigidity that demanded convincing documentation before considering prevention and compensation, types of uncertainty that are common in environmental research delayed the scientific consensus and were used as an excuse for deferring corrective action. Symptoms of methylmercury toxicity, such as tunnel vision, forgetfulness, and lack of coordination, also seemed to affect environmental health research and its interpretation

Adverse Effects of Methylmercury: Environmental Health Research Implications

Background: The scientific discoveries of health risks resulting from methylmercury exposure began in 1865 describing ataxia, dysarthria, constriction of visual fields, impaired hearing, and sensory disturbance as symptoms of fatal methylmercury poisoning. Objective: Our aim was to examine how knowledge and consensus on methylmercury toxicity have developed in order to identify problems of wider concern in research. Data sources and extraction: We tracked key publications that reflected new insights into human methylmercury toxicity. From this evidence, we identified possible caveats of potential significance for environmental health research in general. Synthesis: At first, methylmercury research was impaired by inappropriate attention to narrow case definitions and uncertain chemical speciation. It also ignored the link between ecotoxicity and human toxicity. As a result, serious delays affected the recognition of methylmercury as a cause of serious human poisonings in Minamata, Japan. Developmental neurotoxicity was first reported in 1952, but despite accumulating evidence, the vulnerability of the developing nervous system was not taken into account in risk assessment internationally until approximately 50 years later. Imprecision in exposure assessment and other forms of uncertainty tended to cause an underestimation of methylmercury toxicity and repeatedly led to calls for more research rather than prevention. Conclusions: Coupled with legal and political rigidity that demanded convincing documentation before considering prevention and compensation, types of uncertainty that are common in environmental research delayed the scientific consensus and were used as an excuse for deferring corrective action. Symptoms of methylmercury toxicity, such as tunnel vision, forgetfulness, and lack of coordination, also seemed to affect environmental health research and its interpretation