At the international level, ‘customary law’ has been defined as a set of: ‘customs that are accepted as legal requirements or obligatory rules of conduct; practices and beliefs that are so vital and intrinsic a part of a social and economic...

Thirty percent of the world’s population suffers from food insecurity.[1] At the same time, agrifood systems account for more than thirty percent of global greenhouse gas emissions and contribute to environmental and ecosystem degradation.[2] The pursuit of environmental protection and the transformation to...

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the World Health Organization (WHO) and the World Organisation for Animal Health (WOAH, formerly OIE) have worked together for decades to address risks at the human–animal–environment interface. Since the adoption...

The Codex Alimentarius defines antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as “the ability of a microorganism to multiply or persist in the presence of an increased level of an antimicrobial agent relative to the susceptible counterpart of the same species” (Codex Alimentarius Commission,...

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...