On 12 May 2022, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the World Food Programme (WFP) jointly hosted the online event “School food and nutrition policy...

The FAO Development Law Service has just published a new Legal Paper on Human Rights and the Environment. Authored by two leading thinkers in the field of international human rights...

At its 36th Ordinary Assembly on 11 February 2022, the Latin American and Caribbean Parliament (PARLATINO) adopted the Model Law for the prevention and reduction of food loss and waste....

Legal frameworks are essential to anchor policy efforts for family farming into inclusive and sustainable agri-food systems. The United Nations Decade of Family Farming 2019-2028 (UNDFF) underscores the importance of...

What can law do to stop food fraud? The FAO Development Law Service (LEGN), in partnership with the FAO Food Systems and Food Safety Division (ESF) and the Resnick Center...

The FAO Development Law Service has just released a new study on the role of legislation in promoting healthy diets from a food systems perspective. The publication was prepared in...

On 12 October 2021, William Ross Edeson (Bill to his friends, colleagues and acquaintances), long time Senior Legal Officer with the FAO Legal Office (1988 to 2003) succumbed to a long illness that he had been coping with for many years in the latter part of his life. His passing ended a rich and active life as a family man, colleague, mentor and friend to many and a professional journey as a legal scholar, philosopher and practitioner, spanning many universities, regional and international organizations, countries, regions and continents.

The One Health approach recognizes the interface between human, animal and environmental health, and the urgent need to address these issues in a holistic manner. By developing knowledge and foresight on emerging threats to health and their consequences, as well as on resilience to disease and health improvement, the intrinsic value of this approach is being increasingly recognized as a multi-faceted lens through which to achieve sustainable agricultural production and global health.

FAO is renewing and strengthening its efforts to meet the global climate emergency with its new Strategy on Climate Change and related action plan, which are expected to be endorsed by the FAO Council in June 2022.  The Strategy will provide FAO with a vision and a shared accountability framework for positioning agrifood systems and FAO’s work at the forefront of global efforts to limit greenhouse gas emissions and adapt to the effects of climate change.

Transforming agri-food systems to make them more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable is key to achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 “Hunger Zero”. FAO acknowledges this through its Strategic Framework 2022-2031 which includes a better environment as an aspirational goal. One way to achieve a better environment is through its global legal protection and global recognition of the human right to a healthy environment.

The Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme is an innovative, collaborative and scalable initiative developed by the Organization of African, Caribbean and Pacific States and funded by the European Commission with...

The new FAO publication Thinking about the future of food safety - A foresight report – explores a selection of the most prominent drivers and related trends within and around...

FAO has published a Policy and Legal Diagnostic Tool to help fisheries actors implement the Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the Context of Food Security and Poverty...

Combatting Illicit Trade in Food and Food Fraud On 3 March 2022, the Development Law Service (LEGN) participated in a Special Edition of the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Dialogues on...

FAO and the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) have been collaborating to better understand the legal responses for combatting criminal activities in the fisheries sector. The FAO Development...

On 23 and 24 February 2022, the Development Law Service (LEGN) participated in the Global Seminar on strengthening regulations to protect pollinators from pesticides. Experts from recognized research institutions and international...

On 7 December 2021, Manuela Cuvi Rodríguez, Legal Officer at the FAO Development Law Service (LEGN) and Ornella Tiboni Oschilewski, Consultant in Nutrition and Food Systems at the FAO representation...

The Development Law Service (LEGN) and FAO El Salvador published a legal brief about the constitutional recognition of the right to adequate food in El Salvador. This brief is part...

In the context of Human Rights Day, the Legal Services for Development (LEGN) of FAO’s Legal Office and the Núcleo de Capacitación en Políticas Públicas launch the free and public course “Adequate food: a...

On International Human Rights Day, which marks the adoption on 10 December 1948 of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, we celebrate the achievements by all members of the international community –...