In the spirit and principle of solidarity and shared responsibility among countries, civil society organizations, the United Nations and other international development partners, world leaders agreed on a set of time-bound and measurable goals for fighting hunger and poverty at two world food summits held in Rome in 1996 and 2002. This commitment to halve the number of undernourished by 2015 was reaffirmed at the 2000 UN Millennium Summit. Since then, achievement and progress in reducing hunger was rapid in a few countries of the Asia- Pacific region, painfully slow in some, and non-existent or negative in most of the other countries.
As the largest UN specialized agency with a mandate to fight hunger and rural poverty, FAO provides its expertise in rural development and food production, safety and distribution to countries, working hand-in-hand with its members, development partners and civil society.
The first in a new series of biennial reports, this publication describes FAO priorities and programmes in the Asia-Pacific region during 2002 and 2003. It gives an account of FAO activities in areas ranging from natural resource management (land, water, plants, animals, fisheries and forestry) to providing access to food and developing rural areas. Policy guidance and capacity building are described and examples are provided of regional and national projects.
FAO’s decentralized structure and multi-disciplinary teams - in the Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, the Subregional Office for the Pacific Islands, country offices and numerous projects, supported by colleagues based in headquarters - have and will continue to promote an international alliance against hunger, regional partnerships for food security and sustainable development in the region. Answering this call and challenge, I look forward to implementing our pledges in the service of the people of the region.
He
Changchui
Assistant Director-General
and Regional Representative for Asia
and the Pacific
