Natural Resource Management and Food Security in the Context of Urbanization – the Nexus

The food security and wellbeing of urban dwellers strongly depends on key goods and services provided by healthy natural resources and ecosystems in and around cities. These include products sush as woodfuel and non-wood forest products (fruits, herbs and wild meat), and clean water and services such as biodiversity conservation, soil conservation and pollutants removal, among others. In many cities, however, rapid and unplanned urbanization has caused a serious depletion of natural resources, with consequent increased vulnerability of cities to the consequences of chronic and extreme climatic events. The sound management of the natural resources and ecosystems in and around urban areas, for productive, recreational and other purposes, is increasingly being acknowledged as a valuable tool to enhance the sustainability of urban development and strengthen the resilience of cities to the growing environmental and socio-economic challenges they are facing. This side event will demonstrate how FAO and partners are supporting a multi-sectoral and multi-stakeholder approach to contribute to sustainable urban development through urban and periurban forestry and agriculture actions, showcase normative and technical tools - putting information within reach-, share policy expertise, insights from the field and bring knowledge to the local urban context.