FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean

News

The first Donors’ Roundtable, held at the ACTO headquarters in Brasilia, aims to align and mobilize investments and strengthen international cooperation in the region

News

The CELAC Ministers of Agriculture reviewed the Plan's results and progress one year after it was updated

News

Climate variability and extreme weather events (such as droughts, floods, and storms) are reducing agricultural productivity, disrupting food supply chains, increasing prices, impacting food environments, and threatening progress in reducing hunger and malnutrition in the region

News

The International Year of Cooperatives 2025, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly, aims to highlight its role in sustainable development, economic growth, and the inclusive transformation of agrifood systems.

News

With these simple steps, you can reduce the amount of food that ends up in the trash, contributing to the fight against hunger and malnutrition

News

The Organization, along with the Caribbean Network of Animal Health and Veterinary Public Health (CaribVET) and the Caribbean Agricultural Health and Food Safety Agency (CAHFSA) held a collaborative workshop for enhanced emergency preparedness in the Caribbean sub-region to support the region to bolster its preparedness capacity from a One Health perspective

News

The Emergency Centre for Transboundary Animal Diseases (ECTAD) supported responses to nearly 250 animal disease outbreaks in 2023 alone. In Latin America and the Caribbean, it is now active in Peru, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, and Colombia, with more countries to join in 2025.

Highlights
Stories
Events

Resilience of the food system in medium-sized cities

Virtual Event, 06/08/2024

Background

Nearly 70% of the world's population is expected to live in urban areas by 2050, up from more than 50% in 2018, with the most significant growth occurring in intermediate cities of up to 1 million inhabitants. This rapid urbanization, coupled with the overall increase in global population, creates enormous challenges related to all aspects of sustainability.

Moreover, it is occurring at a time of climate emergency; weather patterns are increasingly unpredictable and climate-related disruptions and stresses such as droughts, floods, storms, etc. are becoming more frequent.

Cities are relevant to the causes of climate change as they are responsible for 70% of global greenhouse gas emissions. A large amount of food reaching urban residents is produced and transformed by a globalized food industry, the third largest contributor to global emissions, and responsible for massive depletion of natural resources and loss of biodiversity.

Cities are also highly vulnerable to the effects of the climate crisis. Events such as hurricanes, floods, prolonged droughts and temperature spikes can cause severe disruption to the infrastructure and systems on which cities depend. This includes the impact on stakeholders, activities and assets of city food systems (food production, aggregation, processing, distribution and storage, markets, consumption and waste management) in urban, peri-urban and rural hinterlands and further afield.

The most vulnerable socio-economic groups (including marginal actors in the food system, people living in informal settlements without basic infrastructure and sanitation, women, youth, people with disabilities and others) are the most affected and have the least opportunities for recovery, jeopardizing not only their livelihoods, but also their food security and nutrition.

Cities can be hubs of technological and social innovation that devise solutions to reduce carbon footprints and create environments for health and well-being.

Objective

This webinar is oriented to cities and their food systems, considering the global perspective of cities, the situation of the region, as well as orientations and proposals underway to promote innovative solutions for urban planning of agri-food systems, improve the resilience of intermediate cities in the face of extreme weather events.

Panelists

Mario Lubetkin, FAO Assistant Director-General and FAO Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean.

João Intini – Food System Policy Officer,

Angela Blanco, Emergency and Rehabilitation Officer, FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean

Guido Santini, Technical Coordinator of the City-Region Food System Program, FAO NSP

Ana Albornoz, Mayor of Santa Juana, Chile, member city of the Intermediary Cities and Agrifood Systems Network (CISA).

Marisson Melo, Head of International Relations Consultancy, National Supply Company (CONAB), Brazil. 

Kevin Lagos, Manager, Management Planning and Evaluation Unit, Suplidora Nacional de Productos Básicos, (BANASUPRO), Honduras.

Rodrigo Perpétuo. Executive Secretary, Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI).

Moderators

Sara Granados, Food Systems Specialist - Governance FAO Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean.

Makiko Taguchi, Agriculture Officer, FAO NSP

Carmen Zuleta, FAO NSP City-Region Food System Program Specialist, FAO NSP

Live broadcast
Documents
Regional Representative
Regional Representative

Mr. Mario Lubetkin has been Assistant Director General and FAO Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean since 1 August, 2022.

Key Documents
Publications
2024

The use of antibiotics and thus the threat of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) can be reduced by adopting the right husbandry practices. This publication provides practical tips to the livestock producer aiming at improving animal health and hence the reduced use of antibiotics

FAO's four priorities in Latin America and the Caribbean
In depth
38 FAO Regional Conference for Latin America and Caribbean

18 to 21 March, 2024, Georgetown, Guyana

We are all connected

how our health is linked to that of animals, plants and the environment.

FAO Campus

Courses of self-study, semi face-to-face and virtual with tutor.


African Swine Fever

Recommendations to prevent spread.

 

Central American Dry Corridor

Stories and facts about this "land of opportunities" in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras.

Parliamentary front against hunger

More than 400 legislators work with FAO, the Spanish Cooperation and AMEXCID

1000 Digital Villages in Latin America and the Caribbean Initiative

Rural tourism experiences and digitization in Latin America and the Caribbean.

Global
Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS)

Discover the systems in Latin America globally recognized as agricultural heritage.

One Country One Priority Product

Global action on green development.

World Food Day

Water is life, water is food. October 16, 2023. Leave no one behind.

Gender Equality

Empowering women in food and agriculture.

Global School Feeding Platform

Technical resources for experts and practitioners.

Data on food and agriculture

Free access to data from more than 245 countries.

Multimedia
04/12/2024

In this episode: FAO calls for urgent agricultural aid to the Democratic Republic of the Congo amid the severe food insecurity in the country; a new FAO report offers guidance on integrating nutrition goals into international food trade policies; and, in Riyad, Saudi Arabia, FAO joins global call...

Related Links
 Join the conversation
Press contact

Communications unit

Santiago, Chile.
Phone: (+56) 229 232 100