News archive 2012

The world's forests have a major role to play in the transition to a new, greener economy, a theme being discussed at the Rio+20 Conference. But to spark that shift, governments must enact programs and policies aimed at both unlocking the potential of forests and ensuring that they are sustainably managed, according to a new FAO report presented in Rio.

Italy will finance a new $3 million project that aims to improve food security and nutrition of women and young people in Egypt.The project aims to improve food and nutrition security through higher food production, nutrition education for women and young people and capacity building to strengthen national and decentralized institutions.

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.

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 it is also a moral imperative," Graziano da Silva told the pontiff.

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. So cautions a new FAO study on “energy-smart” food released ahead of the Rio+20 conference on sustainable development. While the report cautions on fossil fuel use and inefficiencies in the food chain, it also notes that there are tremendous opportunities within the agricultural sector to save, and even generate, energy.

FAO’s quarterly forecast of agricultural production and food security gives an overall positive outlook for cereal production worldwide, but warns that several regions of the world are expected to struggle with the consequences of poor rainfall, severe weather, armed conflict and displacement.

FAO and key partners are calling on companies and organizations worldwide to join in the SAVE FOOD initiative, a global effort designed to cut down on food losses and waste. Improving food security by cutting food losses and waste will be a central theme at the UN's Rio+20 Conference on Sustainable Development.

FAO has appointed Evo Morales, President of the Plurinational State of Bolivia, Special Ambassador to FAO for the International Year of Quinoa, which will be observed by the United Nations in 2013. The ceremony took place in Rome during the opening of FAO's governing Council.

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.

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 ahead of the World Day against Child Labour.