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Over 150 small-scale fishers in Sri Lanka’s Puttalam district will benefit from safety equipment distributed by the FAO Regional Fisheries Livelihoods Programme for South and Southeast Asia, (RFLP), an initiative funded by the Kingdom of Spain. The equipment - which includes GPS systems, life rings, first aid kits, life jackets and VHF radios - was handed over to fishers at a ceremony held today at the Coastal Environmental Centre in Kandakuliya,...

The Forest Management Bureau (FMB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) of the Philippines is awarded the prestigious Edouard Saouma Award for Excellence today by FAO at their headquarters in Rome, Italy, for outstanding achievements in forest restoration implementing the Assisted Natural Regeneration (ANR) project. Funded by the Technical Cooperation Programme (TCP) of FAO with a total budget of just US$253 000, the initiative has changed the...

Funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented through the World Bank with FAO technical assistance, the inter-country Livestock waste management project - implemented by China, Thailand and Viet Nam - addresses negative environmental impacts of rapidly increasing livestock production. Project achievements The Livestock waste management in East Asia project was conceived and implemented with the aim of putting the brakes on environmental pollution caused by livestock waste. Collaborators of this project worked...

Timor-Leste has joined the Asia Pacific Fishery Commission (APFIC) to become the 21st member of the regional fisheries advisory and consultative body.APFIC is an inter-governmental Regional Fishery Body which works towards improvement, understanding, awareness and cooperation in fisheries/aquaculture in the Asia-Pacific region. Simon Funge-Smith, Secretary of APFIC and Senior Fisheries Officer at the Food and Agriculture Organization Regional Office for Asia Pacific said, “By joining the Asia Pacific Fishery Commission Timor...

As we prepare to recognize that rinderpest, a killer disease also known as cattle plague, has finally been eradicated from live animals in every last country and territory, we are pressed to develop post-eradication strategies which include surveillance, training and contingency planning, an FAO statement said today. Rinderpest has been known, and dreaded, for many millennia. Wherever it has occurred, the deadly animal disease has killed countless millions of cattle, buffalo,...

The decades-long campaign to eradicate rinderpest, an ancient cattle plague, is fast approaching its goal. This month, rinderpest will become the first animal disease to be eradicated, and only the second disease of any kind, after smallpox in humans. Rinderpest caused much devastation and decimated populations of cattle, buffalo and various kinds of wildlife for centuries. The historic importance of the global eradication of rinderpest, also known as cattle plague, cannot...

World Milk Day is celebrated tomorrow in Thailand and many other countries in the world. In the context of poverty and malnutrition in Asia, milk has a special role to play for its many nutritional advantages as well as providing income for millions of small-scale farmers. In 2010 Asia’s milk production crossed the 250 million tonnes mark, meaning that the region’s output increased fivefold over the last four decades. Over this same...

“Climate change may cause unprecedented disruptions to aquatic and coastal systems upon which many millions of Asian people depend. It is vital that governments in the Asia-Pacific region understand the risks, identify vulnerable systems and develop adaptive strategies”, FAO’s Simon Funge-Smith said today at the end of a meeting convened by the Asia-Pacific Fishery Commission (APFIC) with 48 representatives from government fisheries and climate change agencies, and international and non-governmental...