World Food Day is celebrated annually on 16 October to commemorate the founding of FAO and to mobilize attention and support around an issue critical to the drive for food security and agricultural and rural development. Nearly 140 countries organized activities in 1993 around the theme "Harvesting Nature's Diversity".
The 1993 celebration of World Food Day was infused with a double-edged awareness: although nature's bounty holds a true cornucopia of traits that can help humanity meet the vital needs of present and future generations and although methods for drawing on this biodiversity are increasing daily, destruction of habitats and ecosystems and over-reliance on a few varieties of plant and animal species are leading to the extinction of living resources at an alarming pace. Crop varieties that were developed over the centuries to meet precise needs (such as resistance to diseases and pests or tolerance of harsh environments) and preferences are being lost at accelerating rates. And once material from a species' genepool is lost, the valuable attributes it may have conferred cannot be recovered.
In the case of domestic animal species, some 30 percent of the 4 000 breeds developed by our ancestors are estimated to be at risk. In Europe alone, half of the breeds that existed at the beginning of the century have already been lost to intensive, highly selective commercial production. In crop diversity, just nine food crops account for over 75 percent of the plant kingdom's contribution to human dietary energy. As a result, nearly 75 percent of the genetic diversity of agricultural crops has been lost over the past 100 years as uniform, high-yielding varieties replace a mix of traditional ones.
In the area of marine resources, although most of the global aquatic harvest consists of wild rather than farmed species, overfishing is rapidly depleting popular stocks and threatening their ability to replenish; in the northwestern United States alone, 159 genetically distinct populations of ocean-migrating fish are at high or moderate risk of extinction. Forests and their species of flora and fauna are also threatened; deforestation of closed tropical rain forests may account for the loss of as many as 100 species every day. Between 1980 and 1990 alone, destruction of tropical forests reached 154 million hectares - a territory three times the size of France.
During World Food Day celebrations at FAO headquarters in Rome, a call was made not only for conservation of our precious natural resources, but for their best and most equitable use. Farmers and rural communities, especially in the developing world, were recognized for the considerable contribution they have made and continue to make to the creation, conservation and availability of genetic diversity. Attention was drawn to the need to consider farmers' rights in order that farmers, like plant and animal breeders who draw upon genetic diversity, may benefit from the resources that they and their forebears have helped develop and nurture over the years.
World Food Day is celebrated annually on 16 October in commemoration of FAO's founding and of its continuing commitment to improving the nutritional status of people worldwide. The first World Food Day was in 1981. Apart from the celebration at FAO headquarters in Rome, every year activities are organized at the regional level, by FAO's Regional Offices, and at the country level, where they are promoted by national committees and NGOs, often with the support of multilateral and bilateral agencies.
The government of Bangladesh together with the FAO office there awarded medals and certificates of merit to professionals, researchers and professors for their activities within World Food Day's theme, "Harvesting nature's diversity". In Kenya , displays and demonstrations showed the public how they can use traditional crops as substitutes for more expensive, imported products, providing foods that are equally or even more nutritious.Activities to commemorate World Food Day in France placed special emphasis on educational games and publications designed to expand children's understanding of the evolution of biological diversity and of people's relationship with nature. The celebration of World Food Day in Peru involved numerous activities throughout the country, among them an exhibition on the theme at the National Museum attended by over 12 000 people. During the exhibition, a buffet with samples of traditional Andean products was provided and a series of lectures was offered on the manifold aspects of biodiversity. A worldwide satellite teleconference on "Seeds of conflict: biodiversity and food security" connected a thousand receiving sites that a live, interactive panel discussion. This was the tenth anniversary of the World Food Day teleconference.