UN Agencies: Global Hunger Rises for First Time in Decade

Global hunger levels have risen for the first time in more than a decade, now affecting 11 percent of the world’s population, as conflict, climate change and economic woes bite, UN agencies said.

Climate record reveals cruelty of an unusually cold decade in 15th century

What was the climate of the Europe's Low Countries -- modern-day Belgium, northern France, Luxembourg and the Netherlands -- during the 15th century? That's what historian Chantal Camenisch was trying to find out when she happened upon evidence of cruel cold spell.

UN agency concerned about food security in North Korea

The World Food Programme (WFP) said that it is concerned about the food security of families affected by floods in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (DPRK), especially with winter approaching, UN spokesman Stephane Dujarric told reporters.

Brazil launches campaign to combat food waste

Brazil has launched an educational campaign to halve food waste by 2030, local news agency Agencia Brasil (EBC) reported on Tuesday.

UN highlights risk reduction, mitigation to combat El Niño’s impact in Central America’s Dry Corridor

The international community must take urgent action to help build resilience, food security, and restore livelihoods in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, which are impacted by drought and other extreme-weather effects of the El Niño phenomenon, senior United Nations officials today said.

Hunger, power cuts in Zimbabwe, Zambia as lake level hits record low

Lake Kariba on the Zambezi river border between Zimbabwe and Zambia used to be dotted with hundreds of commercial fishing rigs, while local fishermen in small makeshift boats would catch enough bream for their livelihood.

Africa's El Niño drought threatens millions

Nearly 1 million children need treatment for severe malnutrition in eastern and southern Africa due to a drought that is putting millions more at risk of hunger, water shortages and disease, the UN children's agency said yesterday.

In fight against hunger, UN launches initiative targeting threat of desertification

 UN, 22 October 2014 – The growing menace of desertification poses a distinct threat to the world’s agriculture and eco-systems, the United Nations agriculture agency warned today, as it announced a new initiative aimed at curbing the spread of land degradation and building resilience to climate change.

The programme, named Action Against Desertification and launched by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in partnership with the European Union and the African, Caribbean, and Pacific Group of States (ACP), will devote some €41million to bolstering sustainable land management across the world’s most vulnerable areas in an effort to fight hunger and poverty.

FAO hails China's success in achieving anti-hunger goal

Proper agricultural policies and reforms, and impressive increases in domestic food production helped China meet the first Millennium Development Goal (MDG), the chief of the UN's food agency says.

"China has already made outstanding progress to this goal, in part due to policies that support targeted investments in agriculture, reforms in the agricultural system, and impressive increases in domestic food production," Jose Graziano da Silva, director general of the Rome-based Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), told Xinhua in a recent interview.

FAO: 'Revolution' in Agriculture Vital to Meet Food Targets

BANGKOK — The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization [FAO] says the world needs to boost agriculture production by 60 percent to meet its estimated food needs over the coming decades. The FAO says declining amounts of arable land and fresh water resources, however, create challenges.

The FAO says improving food security levels by 2050 may require a second "Green Revolution" to boost agricultural yields and feed the world’s expected nine billion people.

The so-called "Green Revolution" of the 1960s came with the introduction of industrial farming practices and high-yielding plant varieties, which helped farmers stay ahead of fast-growing populations.

Weather, increased demand pushes global food prices to highest level in months

 6 March 2014 – Global food prices in February rose to their highest level since mid-2012 as a result of unfavourable weather and increased demand, the United Nations food agency today reported.

In a news release, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said its most recent Food Price Index, which measures the monthly change in international prices of a basket of 55 food commodities, including meat, dairy, sugar, and cereals, averaged 208.1 points. That is about 5.2 points, or 2.6 per cent, higher than the slightly revised index for January.

Global food prices expected to remain volatile in coming years, warns UN official.

 

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7 October 2013 – Although global food prices have recently stabilized, they are expected to remain volatile over the next few years, the head of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today, as a ministerial meeting on global food prices kicked off in Rome.