News archive 2018

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and Refugee Agency (UNHCR) launched today a new handbook to help restore forests in displacement-affected areas, where heavy reliance on woodfuel puts forests and woodlands in jeopardy.

Water pollution from unsustainable agricultural practices poses a serious risk to human health and the planet's ecosystems, a problem often underestimated by policymakers and farmers alike, cautions a new report from FAO and the International Water Management Institute.

Development is the only way to stop migration, President Mahamadou Issoufou of Niger said today at a meeting with the FAO Director-General Jose Graziano da Silva.

The Council of the European Union has stressed FAO’s role as a knowledge-based organization for sustainable agriculture as well as food security and nutrition. In a resolution the Council approved today it highlighted that “FAO has a substantial role to play in the 2030 Agenda and the Paris Agreement.”

As of today, FAO will implement an Open Access policy, enabling maximal reach and ease of use for FAO knowledge products. FAO will apply a Creative Commons 3.0 IGO license to all eligible publications and documents published on its Web site.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has called for a fundamental shift in the way drought is perceived and managed in the Near East and North Africa region. The agency said in a new report issued today that a more pro-active approach based on the principles of risk reduction is needed to build greater resilience to droughts.

Thanks to an initiative sponsored by Belgium's Minister for Development Cooperation Alexander De Croo – geared to promote innovation – FAO was granted two million euros to broaden its fight against Fall Armyworm in Africa and restore agricultural productive activity in Gaza.

The United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and its Global Soil Partnership launched today a new programme to boost soil productivity and reduce soil degradation for greater food and nutrition security in Africa. The Afrisoils programme aims to increase soil productivity in 47 African countries by 30 percent, and reduce soil degradation by 25 percent in the next ten years.

After years of steady decline, child labour in agriculture has started to rise again in recent years driven in part by an increase in conflicts and climate-induced disasters. This worrisome trend, not only threatens the wellbeing of millions of children, but also undermines efforts to end global hunger and poverty, warned FAO today as it observed World Day Against Child Labour.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organization is supporting ten projects in countries in Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Eastern Europe and South America to lay the groundwork for climate-resilient adaptation initiatives, funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF)’s Readiness Programme.