News and Press Releases
Healthy eco-systems, Healthy food, Healthy people
06.12.2016 Savai'i, Samoa
Farming families in the Samoan island of Savai’i benefit from sustainably producing nutritious crops in lowland areas while helping to conserve the cloud forest eco-systems in the island’s highlands. FAO has been working with the Government of Samoa in establishing Community Conservation Areas in the villages of Taga, Gataivai and Matautu. Part of a much larger global environment project, the conservation areas were established to preserve the biodiversity and maintain...
Promoting Ecosystem-based Agriculture in Samoa
06.12.2016 Apia, Samoa
Biodiversity and ecosystem services are at the heart of sustainably increasing agricultural productivity and contributing to national development goals and objectives. Ecosystem-based approaches to agriculture – that build on the natural ecosystem from soil fertility, ecological management of pests and weeds, integrated and organic farming systems – to deliver better outcomes for food and nutrition security and reduce negative environmental influences. In addition, ecosystem-based agriculture can open up more opportunities...
UN FAO warns progress to defeat hunger is slowing in Asia-Pacific while obesity is on the rise as diets change
06.12.2016 Bangkok, Thailand
Progress toward defeating hunger in the world’s most populous region has slowed and countries of Asia-Pacific must redouble their efforts if the Sustainable Development Goal of zero hunger is to be met by 2030, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization warned today.
The Asia-Pacific region is home to more than 60 percent of the roughly 800 million hungry people in the world. Since 1990, the region as a whole managed to reduce hunger by half – a key...
UN FAO to release first post-MDG food security and nutrition report for Asia-Pacific
Tuesday, 6 December 10:00 am – Crowne Plaza Bangkok Lumpini Hotel, Room Crowne 234
29.11.2016
Can the countries of the world’s largest and most populous region achieve Zero Hunger by 2030? The clock is ticking.
Released exclusively in Bangkok, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) will launch its 2016 Asia-Pacific regional report on food insecurity entitled “Investing in a Zero Hunger Generation.” This substantive report, the first of its kind since the introduction of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), examines the present state of food...
Mongolia and FAO set sights on South-South Cooperation to boost agricultural development
New agreement builds on successful exchanges with China
28.11.2016 Rome
Mongolia and FAO will work more closely together to promote international partnerships and exchanges that support sustainable agriculture in the East Asian country, the UN agency said today.
A new agreement, signed by FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva and Mongolia's agriculture minister Purev Sergelen today, will strengthen the partnership between FAO and Mongolia on South-South and Triangular Cooperation -- a form of development partnership that boosts countries' agricultural capacity by...
Using technology to respond to disasters in Fiji
18.11.2016 Suva, Fiji
FAO is using data collection technology to reduce the impacts of disasters on agriculture and food security in Fiji and across the Pacific. As part of this initiative, FAO and the Fiji Ministry of Agriculture have been running a training exercise that changes the way disaster assessment and response is handled across the Pacific. The training introduces KoBo Toolbox, a free data collection software which can be customized to...
Food Security Monitoring Systems for Vanuatu
18.11.2016 Sanma, Vanuatu
The Department of Agriculture and Rural Development (DARD), the Risk and Resilience Unit (RRU) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) have been working together since the beginning of 2016 to develop a food security monitoring system for Vanuatu. This collaboration is possible thanks to funding from the European Union. The food security monitoring system is a tool that monitors food production while strengthening the...
Disaster-prone communities in Vanuatu prepared with food preservation technology
18.11.2016 Malekula, Vanuatu
With El Nino following hard on the heels of Tropical Cyclone Pam in March 2015, subsistence farmer Ruta Bule faced a difficult recovery. “Cyclone Pam came and that was bad. The storm spoiled our gardens. But then El Nino came and that was even worse.” Said Ruta.
Rebuilding lives and making land productive again takes time and effort. Fruit trees and gardens have suffered causing concern for food security of families...
Countries in Asia-Pacific race against the clock to overcome antimicrobial resistance (AMR)
14.11.2016 Bangkok, Thailand
Representatives from countries in Asia and the Pacific have pledged to take immediate action to combat the spread of antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
The pledge was made with the support and collaboration of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE) and the World Health Organization (WHO). It reaffirms a wider commitment to combat AMR and increase awareness about the scale of the...
ASEAN Member States to present a united voice at COP22 on shared vision to adapt agriculture to climate change
08.11.2016 Bangkok, Thailand
ASEAN Ministers of Agriculture and Forestry (AMAF) have adopted a common regional position on agriculture sector issues and will be promoting it at the forthcoming 22nd Conference of Parties (COP22) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) that begins this week in Morocco.
The ASEAN Common Position on Issues Related to Agriculture for COP22 and Associated Bodies and Working Groups (ASEAN Common Position) was concluded during a meeting...