UNITED NATIONS, Jun 19 2012 (IPS) - By now, the dilemma is well recognised but hardly solved: as the global population grows, resources become increasingly scarce. Indeed, food production will have to increase by a whopping 60 percent by 2050 in order to meet the future demand for food and agricultural products.

Agricultural practises, naturally, are key to addressing this problem, and as such, play a key role in sustainable [...]

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jun 18 (TerraViva) As stated in the 1972 United Nations Conference on the Human Environment and the 1992 Earth Summit, human beings are at the centre of sustainable development.

However, even today, over 900 million people still suffer from hunger. Poor populations worldwide, especially in rural areas, are among those most vulnerable to the food, climate, financial, economic, social and energy crises and threats the world faces [...]

15 June 2012, Rome - FAO's governing Council has endorsed Director-General José Graziano da Silva's reform proposals to regenerate the Organization by reallocating budgetary savings to strengthen country offices, increase strategic planning capacity and provide resources for interdisciplinary work.

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"I feel there is a real engagement of countries and other partners in what is becoming a truly collective process to build a better Organization," Graziano da Silva told the Council's [...]

14 June 2012, Rome – Agriculture’s heavy dependence on fossil fuels is undermining the sector’s ability to feed the world, perpetuating poverty and undermining efforts to build a more sustainable world economy, FAO said today.

The warning came as the UN Food and Agriculture Organization released a study on “energy-smart” food production and use ahead of the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development, where global energy challenges [...]

Rome, June 14, 2012 - The Director-General of FAO, José Graziano da Silva, met with Pope Benedict XVI today in a private audience at the Vatican. "Ending hunger makes political, economic and social sense, and is also a moral imperative," Graziano da Silva told the pontiff.

The Director-General called for the "renewed support of the Church in the fight against hunger at the global and local levels, as [...]

Rome, 11 June 2012 - Evo Morales, President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, was appointed Special Ambassador to FAO for the International Year of Quinoa, to be observed by the United Nations in 2013.

The ceremony took place today in Rome during the opening of FAO's governing Council. President Morales also held a bilateral meeting with FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, and attended a special [...]

11 June 2012, Rome - The internationally agreed target of eliminating the worst forms of child labour by 2016 will be missed if countries don't step up their efforts to combat child labour in agriculture, FAO warned today ahead of the World Day against Child Labour (12 June 2012).
 

Worldwide 215 million children are child labourers, of whom around 130 million boys and girls between 5 and 17 work [...]

11 June 2012, Rome - Falling food prices due to good harvests and increases in stocks should mean a reduction in the number of hungry in the world in 2012, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva told the opening session of the Organization's governing Council today.

"That means that we should expect a reduction in the number of hungry people in the world in 2012," he said. [...]

30 May 2012, Rome - Sustainable development cannot be realized unless hunger and malnutrition are eradicated, FAO said in a policy document prepared for the Rio+20 Summit to be held in June in Rio de Janeiro.

"We cannot call development sustainable while this situation persists, while nearly one out of every seven men, women and children are left behind, victims of undernourishment," [...]

29 May 2012, Rome - The cooperative model offers unique solutions to "free people from hunger and poverty in a globalized world in which crises, including climate change, touch everyone", President of Costa Rica Laura Chinchilla said today in a speech at FAO.

Using the example of her country, the President stressed that cooperatives can make a major contribution to sustainable development and the competitiveness [...]