Crafting sustainable food systems (SFS) that nourish people and the planet is THE imperative of our time. This month, we present a wealth of resources, ideas and opportunities to reflect on how we can advance SFSs through the mainstreaming of natural resource management (NRM) at all scales of food systems. 

We encourage your active engagement in this effort:

• Submit a blog or resource on this topic (contact Michael Saltz — [email protected] — for details); 
• Participate in our webinar May 24th, 9:30–11 a.m. EST featuring keynote speaker Dr. Ravi Prabhu, Director General of the World Agroforestry Center, mission colleagues from Peru and Mozambique, and Dr. Selena Ahmed, an Indigenous food systems expert. Registration link coming soon; and 
• Stay tuned to Agrilinks for more announcements. 

Why Is Mainstreaming NRM Imperative?

Agriculture and food systems are essential to human survival and are severely threatened by climate change, natural resource degradation and loss of biological diversity. Concurrently, agricultural extensification and unsustainable farming practices accelerate climate change and threaten the ecosystems and many of the natural resources upon which food security depends. 

Every aspect of these linked problems involves management of natural resources. Sound NRM, mainstreamed and monitored from farm plot to landscape scale, is central to addressing these challenges and meeting USAID’s ambitious food security and climate objectives.