Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO

About FAO

• Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger.

Objectives of FAO

• Help eliminate hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition.
• Make agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable.
• Reduce rural poverty.
• Enable inclusive and efficient agricultural and food systems.
• Increase the resilience of livelihoods to threats and crises.

Important initiatives by FAO

Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS):-

• (GIAHS) Partnership Initiative was conceptualized and presented in 2002 during World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa.
• Initiative aims to identify, support and safeguard Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems and their livelihoods, agricultural and associated biodiversity, landscapes, knowledge systems and cultures around the world.

Global Partnership Initiative for Plant Breeding Capacity Building

• (GIPB) is a global partnership dedicated to increasing plant breeding capacity building.
• The mission is to enhance the capacity of developing countries to improve crops for food security and sustainable development through better plant breeding and delivery systems.

International Plant Protection Convention

• To prevent the international spread of pests and plant diseases in both cultivated and wild plants.

Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutrition

• It aims to address how countries and organizations can be more effective in advocating and carrying out actions to address hunger and malnutrition.
• The Alliance was founded by the Rome-based food agencies – the Food and Agriculture Organization, UN World Food Programme (WFP), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Bioversity International.

World Food Summit

• In 1996, FAO organized the World Food Summit, which concluded with the signing of the Rome Declaration, which established the goal of halving the number of people who suffer from hunger by the year 2015.

Codex Alimentarius

• FAO and the World Health Organization created the Codex Alimentarius Commission in 1961 to develop food standards, guidelines and texts such as codes of practice etc.

Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA)

• FRA reports the extent of the world’s forest area as well as other variables, including land tenure and access rights, sustainable forest management (SFM), legal and institutional frameworks for forest conservation, and sustainable use.

Prelims Question

Consider the following statements regarding Food and Agricultural organisation:
1.It was responsible for creation of  Codex Alimentarius standards.
2.It organised the World Food Summit.
Which among the above statements is/are correct?
(a)1 only 
(b)2 only 
(c)Both 1 and 2
(d)Neither 1 nor 2

Answer to prelims question