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The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2005

The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2005 (SOFA) focuses on the critical importance of reducing hunger, both as the explicit target of the WFS and MDG 1 and as an essential condition for achieving the other MDGs. The first section of the report analyses long-term trends in reducing undernourishment and explores the impact of economic growth, governance and natural disasters. The second section examines each of the MDGs separately, highlighting ways that hunger holds back development and hunger reduction could accelerate progress. SOFA 2005 was prepared as a collaborative effort within FAO led by the Economic and Social Department (ES).

http://www.fao.org/documents/show_cdr.asp?url_file=/docrep/008/a0200e/a0200e00.htm

(Added: Thu Dec 08 2005   Hits: 414)

AskFAO

AskFAO is a service driven by user information needs, providing answers to queries related to the organization's areas of expertise. Working with FAO offices around the world as well as with our partner organizations, it provides a mechanism to communicate directly with technical experts in a particular field of interest.

http://www.fao.org/askfao

(Added: Wed Nov 30 2005   Hits: 526)

FAO Best Practices

FAO Best Practices Web site provides a series of summaries that introduce some best practices in FAO's areas of expertise. It also provides links to further resources with supporting technical information.

http://www.fao.org/bestpractices

(Added: Wed Nov 30 2005   Hits: 493)

Aid workers lament rise of 'development pornography'

14 Sep 2005, Source: AlertNet. By Ruth Gidley. Twenty years ago, such images thrust Ethiopia's deadly famine into the global spotlight, helping to raise billions of dollars in aid. But the pictures also sparked soul-searching among aid agencies who felt they reinforced debasing stereotypes of Africa and robbed the subjects of their dignity. That soul-searching led to the development of voluntary standards on the use of images in charity fundraising and appeals, but now some experts say fierce competition for donations in a ballooning NGO sector has led to an alarming resurgence in shock tactics that critics call "development pornography".

http://www.alertnet.org/thefacts/reliefresources/112669283410.htm

(Added: Mon Sep 26 2005   Hits: 311)

Famine Resource File: The reality of hunger

AlertNet has produced a package of useful resources on hunger and famine that aims to dispel myths about food crises and answer basic questions about a daily disaster that affects one in six of the world's people.

http://www.alertnet.org/thefacts/reliefresources/112688954097.htm

(Added: Mon Sep 26 2005   Hits: 88)

U.S. food aid: time to get it right (PDF 576 KB)

By Sophia Murphy and Kathy McAfee, Institute for Agriculture and trade Policy (IATP), 2005. The paper first considers the issue of food security, setting the context in which food aid should operate and then reviewing the mechanics of food aid - who gives what food, in what ways, to whom. The authors focus primarily on the United States, but use other donor states and multilateral institutions as a comparison. In order to understand how food aid interacts with the wider context of food security, the paper examines sub-Saharan Africa, where food deficits and food-related crises are most heavily concentrated. The main criticisms of U.S. food aid are reviewed, and specifically the relationship of food aid to the dominance of domestic interests, especially commercial shipping and food processing firms, but also including the role of Private Voluntary Organisations (PVOs. International and local market problems that poorly planned and implemented food aid programs may cause are further considered. The paper concludes with recommendations for fundamental changes to U.S. food aid.

http://www.tradeobservatory.org/library.cfm?refid=73512

(Added: Wed Sep 21 2005   Hits: 49)

Peoples' Food Sovereignty -The Agriculture Trade Network

This is the website of a loose global coalition of peasant-farmer organizations and NGOs working on food and agriculture issues. The site is a rich source of studies, contacts, statements and announcements from social movements and civil society groups' worldwide working to democratize international policies and build alternatives to the current global trade regime.

http://www.peoplesfoodsovereignty.org/

(Added: Mon Sep 19 2005   Hits: 52)

UPWARD On-line

UPWARD On-line brings you news about the UPWARD Network, information resources on participatory research and development (PR&D), and recent innovations for sustainable rootcrops livelihood. UPWARD On-line aims to promote information sharing and support networking among PR&D professionals and organizations especially in Asia and the developing world.

http://www.eseap.cipotato.org/upward/

(Added: Mon May 30 2005   Modified: Thu Jun 02 2005   Hits: 132)

Assessment of the World Food Security Situation 2005

Committee on World Food Security, Thirty-first Session Rome, 23-26 May 2005. Armed conflicts are now the leading cause of world hunger with the effects of HIV/AIDS and climate change not far behind, according to an FAO report presented today at a meeting of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS). The report warned that the goal of reducing the number of the world's hungry by half by the year 2015, set by the World Food Summit in 1996 and reinforced by the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) in 2000, are almost certain to be missed by a wide margin if current trends persist. However, the goal of cutting the proportion of hungry and poor, the so-called MDG1, may be achieved in most regions with the exception of sub-Saharan Africa.

http://www.fao.org/docrep/meeting/009/J4968e/j4968e00.htm#P104_13134

(Added: Tue May 24 2005   Modified: Wed Jul 12 2006   Hits: 457)

Food safety in food security and food trade (PDF)

edited by Laurian J. Unnevehr. International Food Policy research Institute (IFPRI), 2020 Focus 10. An enormous challenge faced by enabling food security is to assure people have access to enough food to lead healthy and productive lives. This means that food safety is increasingly gaining importance as a global issue and this is now evident in the international trade arena. The time has come for IFPRI and the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) to take up food safety as a major cross-cutting research issue linked other issues such as plant breeding, animal health, and irrigation practices. Because IFPRI see it as imperative that their work focuses on the food safety concerns of the poor, they plan to make food and water safety an important theme in their policy research in their policy briefs.

http://www.ifpri.org/2020/focus/focus10/focus10.pdf

(Added: Fri May 13 2005   Modified: Thu Jun 02 2005   Hits: 70)

Iraqi seed-saving under attack

GiantExperiment, 23 Mar 2005. New American rules are being seen as a major attack on the traditional practice of seed-saving and seed-sharing by Iraqi farmers. Iraq was the birthplace of wheat farming, but agriculture has crashed there in the last decade. Order 81, put in place by US official Paul Bremer, refers to seed-saving and patents. It is legally binding unless repealed by a future Iraqi Government.

http://www.giantexperiment.co.nz/news/item.aspx?id=56798d86-41a0-4e21-b1de-5dd4279ba205

(Added: Thu Mar 24 2005   Modified: Wed Apr 19 2006   Hits: 89)

Action For Solidarity, Equality, Environment And Diversity (ASEED)

Action for Solidarity, Equality, Environment and Diversity (ASEED) is a network that initiates actions and campaigns on environmental and social justice issues. Our current campaigns are centred on issues surrounding the production, distribution and consumption of food (small, local organic farms instead of agribusiness, biotechnology and supermarkets selling genetically modified food); and the coordination of the World Bank Boycott in Europe. Our main activities are promoting discussion, encouraging positive action, distributing publications and coordinating meetings. We hope we can help you to organise your campaign, contact other useful groups, and find out useful information.

http://www.aseed.net/

(Added: Wed Mar 16 2005   Modified: Thu Jul 13 2006   Hits: 232)

The Field Alliance

An alliance of independent organisations dedicated to the empowerment of Asian farmers, the Field Alliance supports ecological learning, action research, advocacy and networking.

http://www.thefieldalliance.org

(Added: Mon Mar 07 2005   Modified: Thu Jun 02 2005   Hits: 71)

Power hungry : six reasons to regulate global food corporations (PDF)

ActionAid, January 2005. This report, highlights the growing power of many global food companies. Multinationals such as Nestlé, Unilever, Monsanto, Parmalat, Cargill and Wal-Mart have gained control of the global food chain - all the way from seed to supermarket shelf and are threatening the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of poor farmers and undermining their basic rights. ActionAid calls for national and international legal obligations on companies to promote, secure and protect human rights and the environment. Immediate action is also needed to reform global food markets in order to stop multinationals abusing their power, so that farmers and producers get a fair deal.

http://www.actionaid.org.uk/wps/content/documents/power_hungry.pdf

(Added: Thu Feb 24 2005   Modified: Thu Jun 02 2005   Hits: 108)

Highlights of the FAO/Netherlands International Conference on Water for Food and Ecosystems

The FAO/Netherlands International Conference on Water for Food and Ecosystems met from 31 January to 4 February 2005 at the Netherlands Congress Centre, in The Hague, The Netherlands. The Conference, organized by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality of the Netherlands, was attended by over 400 participants representing governments, inter-governmental organizations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs), as well as academia and the private sector. The Conference was convened to identify successful processes that lead to best practices for achieving land and water development through integrated water resources management (IWRM) with an ecosystem approach. It also sought to make recommendations to governments and organizations in implementing actions on water for food and ecosystems.

http://www.iisd.ca/sd/wfe/sdvol102num5e.html

(Added: Fri Feb 11 2005   Modified: Tue May 30 2006   Hits: 139)

Iraq's new patent law: A declaration of war against farmers

by Focus on the Global South and GRAIN. October 2004. For generations, small farmers in Iraq operated in an essentially unregulated, informal seed supply system. Farm-saved seed and the free innovation with and exchange of planting materials among farming communities has long been the basis of agricultural practice. This has been made illegal under the new law. The seeds farmers are now allowed to plant - "protected" crop varieties brought into Iraq by transnational corporations in the name of agricultural reconstruction - will be the property of the corporations. While historically the Iraqi constitution prohibited private ownership of biological resources, the new US-imposed patent law introduces a system of monopoly rights over seeds.

http://www.grain.org/articles/?id=6

(Added: Wed Jan 12 2005   Modified: Tue Dec 06 2005   Hits: 156)

Agriculture in Crisis

Oxfam New Zealand, Media Briefing, 28 November 2004. Agriculture is in crisis across most of the world. Oxfam accuses rich countries of making the crisis worse by rigging international trade rules for their own corporate gain and national privilege.

http://www.oxfam.org.nz/MakeTradeFair/AgricultureinCrisisBriefing.htm

(Added: Thu Dec 16 2004   Modified: Thu Jun 02 2005   Hits: 206)

Vitamin and Mineral Deficiency: A Partnership Drive to End Hidden Hunger in Sub-Saharan Africa (pdf)

INICEF, 2004. For a number of economic, social, geographic and cultural reasons, millions of people in Sub-Saharan Africa are affected by vitamin and mineral deficiency. This report has been prepared for political leaders and major media in the belief that controlling vitamin and mineral deficiency is an affordable opportunity to improve the lives of millions in Sub-Saharan Africa and to strengthen the pulse of its economic development.

http://www.unicef.org/media/files/Africa_DAR.pdf

(Added: Mon Oct 11 2004   Modified: Fri Jun 03 2005   Hits: 277)

Committee on World Food Security adopts Right to Food Guidelines

FAO, 24 September 2004, Rome -- The FAO Committee on World Food Security (CFS) yesterday evening adopted Voluntary Guidelines to "support the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security." Seen by many as a breakthrough, the adoption of the Right to Food Guidelines comes after two years of often difficult, but constructive negotiations. The objective of the Guidelines, says FAO, is "to provide practical guidance" to states in implementing their obligations relating to the right to adequate food. This should improve the chances of reaching the hunger reduction target of the World Food Summit.

http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2004/50821/index.html

(Added: Tue Sep 28 2004   Modified: Thu Jun 02 2005   Hits: 103)

World Food Program Hunger Map

In an effort to highlight major global hunger emergencies in real-time, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) has developed a colour-coded Internet map guiding visitors to the agency's worldwide fight against the scourge. The "Hunger Map" charts the geography of hunger hotspots around the world with red indicating high levels of undernourishment, orange moderate levels and green extremely low levels.

http://www.wfp.org/country_brief/hunger_map/map/hungermap_popup/map_popup.html

(Added: Fri Aug 06 2004   Modified: Thu Jun 02 2005   Hits: 194)

Primal Seeds

Primal Seeds exists as a network to actively engage in protecting biodiversity and creating local food security. It is a response to ndustrial biopiracy, control of the global seed supply and of our food. This evolving tool is designed to empower individuals to participate in the creation of tomorrow.

http://www.primalseeds.org/

(Added: Tue Aug 03 2004   Modified: Thu Jun 02 2005   Hits: 126)

Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping Systems (FIVIMS)

An Inter-agency initiative to promote information and mapping systems on food insecurity and vulnerability. Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping Systems (FIVIMS) are any systems that assemble, analyse and disseminate information on who the food insecure are, where they are located, and why they are food insecure, nutritionally vulnerable or at risk.

http://www.fivims.net/

(Added: Thu Jul 22 2004   Modified: Thu Jun 02 2005   Hits: 190)

International Year of Rice 2004

Mission Statement: The International Year of Rice promotes improved production and access to this vital food crop, which feeds more than half the world's population while providing income for millions of rice producers, processors and traders. Development of sustainable rice-based systems will reduce hunger and poverty, and contribute to environmental conservation and a better life for present and future generations. Devoting a year to a commodity is an unprecedented step in United Nations history. Compelling factors lie under this decision: the spectre of increased hunger, malnutrition, poverty and conflict in the coming decades. In 2002, these factors moved the government of the Philippines, along with 43 other countries, to formally request that the UN General Assembly declare 2004 the International Year of Rice. But the idea had been circulating among major agricultural organisations since 1999 due to growing concern that fundamental issues needed to be tackled on a global level. Today, a number of international institutions have come together to steer this vital project alongside the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation. This section provides information on the activities they are holding in the course of the Year, detailed reasons why the UN has launched a Year of Rice. It will be up-dated as the year progresses.

http://www.fao.org/rice2004/

(Added: Mon Jun 28 2004   Modified: Thu Jun 02 2005   Hits: 110)

Friends of The World Food Program Student Campaign

Contain an information centre, activity ideas, advocacy material, and ways to start up a WFP student group.

http://www.waronhunger.org

(Added: Thu Apr 22 2004   Modified: Mon Nov 28 2005   Hits: 189)

World Food Programme Publications

WFP's policy unit is frequently contacted by academics, students or food aid experts requesting information on its specific publications. This section opens some of the contents of the department's library to the general public for online reading or downloading.

http://www.wfp.org/policies/Introduction/other/index.asp?section=6&sub_section=1

(Added: Tue Mar 23 2004   Modified: Thu Jun 02 2005   Hits: 112)

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