11 October 2014, Rome - Civil society plays a crucial role helping building consensus, giving a voice to the hungry, representing the diversity that exists in society and being a part of international decision-making processes, FAO Director-General told civil society representatives today at the Organization’s headquarters, where they began the annual forum of the International Civil Society Mechanism to UN Committee in World Food Security (CFS). Opening debate More than 200 civil society representatives will assess this weekend the last five years of the CFS since its reform in 2009.  Civil society representatives will work to...

More than 200 civil society representatives will meet this weekend to discuss issues concerning food security and nutrition during the 2014 Annual Forum of the Civil Society Mechanism (CSM) ,  11-12 October at FAO headquarters, as they prepare for the plenary session of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS), starting on Monday, 13 October. This is third consecutive year that FAO is hosting the CSM Annual Forum. Thisyear’s Forum will commemorate Chandrika Sharma, reknown defender of the fisherfolks rights and former participant of the CSM,...

8 October 2014, Rome – “Civil society has played a key role in the implementation of the Guidelines and has contribuited to including the Right to Adequate Food in the constitutions of 28 countries,” stated Jomo K. Sundaram, Assistant Director General – Coordinator for Economic and Social Development Department, FAO, during the presentation of the report by The Right to Food and Nutrition Watch Consortium this morning at FAO Headquarters. The 2014 Watch analyzes the “gains, concerns and struggles,” in the past ten years since the Voluntary Guidelines on the Right to Adequate Food were approved by the FAO...

New York, 24 September 2014 – In a world where increasing urbanization, rising populations, and expanding agricultural land use are encroaching on ecosystems and impacting on biodiversity, two United Nations agencies have come together to work for a more sustainable future. The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) that builds on the two agencies’ past collaborations and adds four priority work areas. “Partnerships of this kind are essential if we are to meet the challenges and demands of our changing environment and social landscape,” said Achim Steiner,...

2 July 2014, Rome - FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva met today with Hilal Elver,  the newly appointed Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food of the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights (OHCHR) and agreed to work together on their complementary mandates. As 2014 marks ten years since the adoption of the “Voluntary Guidelines to Support the Progressive Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of National Food Security,” Graziano da Silva and Elver discussed progress made so far in implementing the guidelines as well as the challenges that...