News archive 2011

Following the emergency meeting on the food and humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa held in Rome on 25 July at the request of the French Presidency of the G20, FAO and WFP welcome the international community's determined mobilization in response to the situation.

The Committee on World Food Security has launched a new online consultation on food security and nutrition governance. The purpose of this consultation is to gather inputs for the preparation of a Global Strategic Framework for Food Security and Nutrition.

A year after the devastating floods that struck Pakistan in July 2010 some 900,000 farming families, or seven million people, have been helped to get back on their feet thanks to a FAO programme that helped secure crops, livestock and livelihoods.

The international community rallied today to the aid of drought- and famine-affected populations in the Horn of Africa with an immediate, twin-track programme designed to avert an imminent humanitarian catastrophe and build long-term food security in the region.

Germany, Norway and Switzerland have contributed a first donation of $1,000,000 to a new, FAO-managed fund designed to help developing countries conserve and sustainably use their livestock breeds. The fund will provide financing for individual projects submitted by countries in support of the internationally-agreed Global Plan of Action for Animal Genetic Resources.

Famine in Somalia has killed tens of thousands of people in recent months and could grow even worse unless urgent action is taken, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warns, appealing for $120 million to respond to the drought in the Horn of Africa and provide agricultural emergency assistance.

Reforming forest tenure systems and securing forest ownership rights can significantly improve peoples’ livelihoods and enable them to gain income from forest products, said FAO in a newly published guide, Reforming Forest Tenure. The continuing demand for land, weak governance in many countries, and climate change add urgency to forest tenure reform.

South Sudan, which celebrates its independence on July 9 faces many challenges building a strong and stable economy that supports the food security of its people. FAO has been helping the country in many ways, including managing a $61 million emergency programme, making a state-of-the-art land cover survey and drafting a $50 million plan of action for the agriculture sector.

FAO, WFP and Oxfam call on the international community to extend all necessary political, moral and financial means to address the worsening crisis in the Horn of Africa. The statement is signed by Jacques Diouf, Josette Sheeran and Barbara Stocking.

FAO's Food Price Index rose one percent to 234 points in June 2011 - 39 percent higher than in June 2010 but four percent below its all-time high of 238 points in February of this year. A strong rise in international sugar prices was behind much of the increase.