News archive 2009

Climate change is projected to impact heavily on agriculture, forestry and fisheries in the Pacific islands, leading to increased food insecurity and malnutrition. FAO urged governments and donors to immediately start implementing robust and action-oriented climate change adaptation plans for all Pacific islands.

A new treaty that aims to close fishing ports to ships involved in illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing has been approved by FAO's governing Conference. Once it enters into force, it will be the first ever legally binding international treaty focused specifically on this problem.

The Conference of FAO's 192 Members has agreed to enlarge and strengthen FAO's Committee on World Food Security (CFS) clearing the way for the creation of a stronger global governance of food security. It has also approved FAO's budget for the next biennium.

Libya and FAO will work closely together over the next five years to strengthen food security and sustainable development in the country.

FAO has signed agreements with the Governments of Barbados, Egypt and Tunisia to increase the capacity of the UN agency's decentralized offices to respond to the needs of member countries in a timely and effective manner.

The three-day World Summit on Food Security ended here today after committing the international community to investing more in agriculture and eradicating hunger at the earliest date. FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf, who hosted the event, said the Summit marked "an important step towards the achievement of our common objective - a world free from hunger".

World leaders convened at FAO Headquarters for the World Summit on Food Security today unanimously adopted a declaration pledging renewed commitment to eradicate hunger from the face of the earth sustainably and at the earliest date.

On the eve of the World Summit on Food Security, the governing bodies of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP) have all approved a strategy for collaboration between the three agencies.

Scientists from a leading Brazilian university will provide their expertise to FAO for its agricultural development programmes in Latin America and Portuguese-speaking African countries.

On the eve of the World Summit on Food Security, FAO and the Islamic Development Bank announced a $1 billion agreement to fund agricultural development in poor countries that belong to both organizations. The agreement comes at a critical moment, when the international community recognizes it has neglected agriculture for many years.