News archive 2009

In an unprecedented display of cooperation between developed and developing countries on climate change, eighteen Heads of State publicly expressed their commitment and support for REDD — Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation in developing counties.

Producing 70 percent more food for an additional 2.3 billion people by 2050 while at the same time combating poverty and hunger, using scarce natural resources more efficiently and adapting to climate change are the main challenges world agriculture will face.

Poor 2009 crop prospects in the Horn of Africa following below-average rains combined with conflict and displacement are aggravating an already serious food insecurity situation in the region. Nearly 20 million people currently depend on food assistance in the region, and this number may increase as the hunger season progresses.

FAO is to honour five new high profile personalities as Goodwill Ambassadors. The First Lady of the Dominican Republic, Margarita Cedeño de Fernández, French fashion designer Pierre Cardin, American athlete Carl Lewis, Indonesian singer and songwriter Anggun and Colombian singer/songwriter Fanny Lu will be awarded the title on World Food Day (16 October) in Rome.

FAO has started a major operation in support of small scale farmers in Zimbabwe as part of its joint efforts with the European Union (EU) to fight hunger this year. The organization has procured 26 000 tons of seeds and fertilizers for distribution to 17 6000 vulnerable farmers – representing between 10 and 15 percent of communal farmers in the country.

FAO hails the late Dr Norman Borlaug as one of the 20th Century's great scientific benefactors of humankind

Indigenous peoples are keepers of a vast but endangered treasurehouse of healthful, nutritious foods that more affluent societies can only envy. But as wild habitats recede these native foodstuffs are vanishing fast — together with the diets that once kept tribespeople healthy and trim.

With climate change increasing the incidence and severity of weather events, agriculture, one of the most climate dependent of all human activities, depends heavily on effective meteorological services which are vital to climate change mitigation and adaptation.

The final text of a new treaty that aims to close fishing ports to vessels involved in illegal fishing has been agreed upon by a group of 91 countries during talks brokered by FAO. Once it enters into force, the treaty will help block illegally caught fish from entering international markets, removing an important incentive for some fishermen to engage in illicit activities.

The detection of an H1N1 virus in turkeys in Chile raises concern that the virus could spread to poultry holdings elsewhere in the world, first in the southern hemisphere and then the northern hemisphere. There is not, however, any immediate threat to the human population.