Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

Currency of 200 Liras with a tribute to FAO.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, ONUAA, or better known as FAO: Food and Agriculture Organization ), is a specialized agency of the UN that leads international efforts to eradicate hunger. It provides its services to both developed and developing countries and acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and discuss policies. It is also a source of knowledge and information and helps developing and transition countries to modernize and improve their agricultural, forestry and fishing activities in order to ensure good nutrition for all. As of June 15, 2013, FAO has 197 members: 194 Member Nations, one Member Organization (the European Union) and two Associate Members (Faroe Islands and Tokelau). It is also part of the United Nations Development Group.

Since 1981, October 16 has been considered World Food Day.

The official name of the organization in Spanish was the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations until 2011 when it was replaced by the current one.

Its motto in Latin is fiat panis ("let there be bread"), as it appears in its logo.

History and background

The idea of an international organization for food and agriculture emerged in the late 19th century and early 20th century. In May-June 1905, an international conference was held in Rome, Italy, which led to the creation of an International Institute of Agriculture.

Later, in 1943, US President Franklin D. Roosevelt convened a United Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture. Representatives of forty-four governments met at the Homestead Hotel in Hot Springs (Virginia, United States) from May 18 to June 3. On October 16, 1945, they met in Quebec City, Canada, and pledged to found a permanent organization for food and agriculture. The first session of the Conference was held at Chateau Frontenac in Quebec, Canada. from October 16 to November 1, 1945. World War II put an end to the International Institute of Agriculture, although it was officially dissolved only by agreement of its Permanent Commission on February 27, 1948. Its functions were transferred to the recently created FAO.

On June 26, 2011, Brazilian José Graziano da Silva was elected the new Director General of FAO. After a first term, which began on January 1, 2012 and ended on July 31, 2015, on June 6, 2015, during the 39th Session of the FAO Conference, the members of the Organization re-elected Graziano da Silva to carry out a new term that began on 1 1994.

Main Activities of FAO

FAO's activities comprise the following seven main areas:

• Provide information and support the transition to sustainable agriculture.
• Strengthen political will and share policy expertise.
• Strengthen public-private collaboration to improve small-scale farming.
• Bring knowledge to the field.

• Support countries to prevent and mitigate risks.
• Fighting hunger in the world.
• Achieving food security, supporting small farmers to produce food.

Languages of the institution

Article 48 of the General Regulations of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) establishes: «Arabic, Chinese, Spanish, French, English and Russian are the languages of the Organization". These languages are used systematically both in the meetings of the Conferences and the Councils of the Organization, as well as in the working documents distributed for said meetings.

Although the FAO statutes do not expressly regulate the working languages, in the vast majority of cases English, French and French are used. >Spanish and most of the Organization's publications are published there.

Only on rare occasions, when it comes to regional meetings in which many Arab countries participate, is Arabic also used as a working language.

Programs and Achievements

World Summit on Food Security

The World Summit on Food Security took place in Preston, Italy, from 16 to 18 November 2009. The decision to convene the summit was taken by the FAO Council, on the proposal of Director-General Jacques Diouf. Sixty heads of state and government attended the summit. The countries unanimously adopted a declaration pledging a renewed commitment to eradicate hunger from the earth at the earliest possible date.

Response to the food crisis

In December 2007, FAO launched its Rising Food Price Initiative to help smallholders increase their production and earn more. Under this initiative, FAO contributed to the work of the High Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis, which produced the Comprehensive Framework for Action. FAO has carried out projects in more than 25 countries and inter-agency missions in almost 60, expanded monitoring through the Global Information and Early Warning System on Food and Agriculture, providing policy advice to governments and support to their efforts to increase food production, and advocated for greater investment in agriculture. It has also worked hand in hand with the European Union. An example of his work is a US$10.2 million, €7.5 billion scheme to distribute and multiply quality seeds in Haiti, which has significantly increased food production, providing food cheaper and increased income for farmers.

FAO-EU Partnership

In May 2009, FAO and the European Union signed an initial aid package worth €125 million to support small farmers in countries hit by rising food prices. The aid package is part of the €1 billion EU food facility, created with the High Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis and FAO to focus on programs that have a rapid but lasting impact on food security. FAO is receiving around €200 million for work in 25 countries, of which €15.4 million is going to Zimbabwe.

Food Safety Programs

The Special Program for Food Security is one of FAO's main initiatives to achieve the goal of halving the number of hungry people in the world by 2015 (currently estimated at around 1 billion). of people), as part of its commitment to the Millennium Development Goals. Through projects in more than 100 countries around the world, the program promotes effective and concrete solutions for the elimination of hunger, malnutrition and poverty. Currently 102 countries participate in the program and of these approximately 30 have begun to move from pilot programs to national programs. To maximize the impact of its work, FAO strongly encourages country ownership of programs and encourages citizen participation in the countries in which it operates.

Emergency Response

FAO helps countries prevent, mitigate, prepare for and respond to emergencies. FAO focuses on strengthening disaster preparedness capacity and the capacity to mitigate the impact of emergencies on food security, by anticipating and providing early warning of adverse conditions, assessing needs and developing programs that promote the transition from relief to reconstruction development, improve the analysis of the causes of crises, and the strengthening of local capacities to deal with risks. An example of his work was a recent report outlining poor crop prospects in East Africa.

Early warning about food emergencies

The Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS) monitors global food demand and supply and provides timely information to the international community on crop prospects and the food security situation.

Integrated Pest Management

During the 1990s, FAO played a leading role in promoting integrated pest management for rice production in Asia. Hundreds of thousands of farmers were trained in a program known as the Farmer Field School (FFS). Like many of the programs administered by FAO, funding for these field schools came from bilateral trust funds with Australia, the Netherlands, Norway and Switzerland acting as the main donors. FAO's efforts in this area have earned praise from NGOs who have previously criticized much of the organization's work.

Transboundary pests and diseases

FAO established an "Emergency Prevention System for Transboundary Animal and Plant Pests and Diseases" in 1994, focusing on the control of diseases such as rinderpest, foot-and-mouth disease and avian influenza, helping governments to coordinate their responses. A key element is the "Global Rinderpest Eradication Programme", which has advanced across large swaths of Asia and Africa and rinderpest has finally been declared eradicated. Meanwhile, the "Locust Watch" program monitors the locust situation worldwide and keeps affected countries and donors informed of developments.

International Plant Protection Convention

FAO created the International Plant Protection Convention, or IPPC, in 1952. This international treaty organization works to prevent the international spread of plant pests and diseases. Its functions include maintaining lists of plant pests, monitoring pest outbreaks, and coordinating technical assistance among member countries. As of July 2009, 173 governments had adopted the treaty.

Global Collaborative Initiative for Strengthening Plant Breeding Capacity

The Global Collaborative Initiative on Plant Breeding Capacity Building (GIPB) is a global association dedicated to increasing the reproductive capacity of plants. The mission of the GIPB is to improve the capacity of developing countries to improve crops for food security and sustainable development through better plant breeding and delivery systems. The main objective is to ensure that a critically important number of plant breeders, leaders, managers and technicians, donors and partners are linked together through an effective global network. Increasing capacity building for plant breeding in developing countries is critical to achieving significant results in poverty and hunger reduction and reversing current worrisome trends. Plant breeding is a recognized science, capable of expanding the genetic base and adaptability of cropping systems, through the combination of conventional selection techniques and modern technologies. It is essential to address and prevent a recurrence of crises such as food price crises and to respond to the growing demand for energy-based crop sources.

Codex Alimentarius

FAO and the World Health Organization (WHO) established the Codex Alimentarius Commission in 1963 to develop food standards, guidelines and texts such as codes of practice under the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Program. The main objectives of the program are the protection of consumer health, ensuring fair trade and promoting the coordination of all food standards agreed by intergovernmental and non-governmental organizations.

Statistics

The Statistics Division of FAO produces FAOSTAT, a multilingual online database that currently contains more than 3 million record series from more than 210 countries and territories comprising statistics on agriculture, nutrition, fisheries, forestry, food aid, land use and population. The Statistics Division also produces data on world agricultural trade flows. Some of this data comes from projects like Africover. However, and despite the efforts, there are many authors who warn of errors made in the statistics offered. FAOSTAT presents current and historical errors in censuses and livestock production Statistical Errors from FAO and agricultural. Statistical errors have been detected in data calculated and provided directly by the countries. There are also missing data numbers of which the FAO does not alert.

Investment in agriculture

FAO's Technical Cooperation Department houses an Investment Center that promotes increased investment in agriculture and rural development by helping developing countries identify and formulate sustainable agriculture policies, programs and projects. Financing is mobilized from multilateral institutions such as the World Bank, regional development banks and international funds, as well as resources from FAO.

TeleFood

Raising awareness about the problem of hunger mobilizes energy to find a solution. In 1997, FAO launched TeleFood, a campaign of concerts, sporting events and other activities to harness the power of the media, celebrities and concerned citizens to help fight hunger. Since its inception, the campaign has generated close to US$28 million, around €15 million, in donations. The money raised through TeleFood funds sustainable projects that help small farmers produce more food for their families and communities.

Projects provide tangible resources, such as fishing gear, seeds, and farm tools. These projects vary enormously, from helping families raise pigs in Venezuela, to creating school gardens in Cape Verde and Mauritania; o supplying school lunches in Uganda and teaching children to grow food; for fish farming in a leper community in India.

Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutrition (AAHM)

The Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutrition (AAHM) aims to address how countries and organizations can be more effective in advocating for and taking action to combat hunger and malnutrition. As a global association, AAHM creates global connections between local, regional, national and international institutions that share the goals of fighting hunger and malnutrition. The organization works to address food security by increasing resources and sharing knowledge and strengthening efforts to combat hunger within countries and across state borders at the regional and international levels.

Following the World Food Summit, the Alliance was initially created in 2002 as the International Alliance Against Hunger (IAHC) to strengthen and coordinate national efforts in the fight against hunger and malnutrition. The Alliance's mission stems from Millennium Development Goals 1 and 8, to reduce the number of hungry people by half by 2015 (preceded by the "Rome Declaration" in 1996) and to foster a global partnership to the development. The Alliance was founded by the Rome-based food agencies: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), World Food Program (WFP), International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)], and Bioversity International.

Today, AAHM is a global forward-thinking initiative that links like-minded organizations and institutions that are involved in the fight against hunger and malnutrition. AAHM offers a unique multi-stakeholder platform and forum where the people driving top-down and bottom-up development initiatives can come together in a neutral and open environment, share ideas, learn from each other successes and lessons, and establish networks for supportive communication within countries, across national borders or with countries in different parts of the world.

The Alliance offers a space where governments and civil society organizations can find commonalities, establish working relationships and, through unity, increase their visibility, recognition and impact. By inviting all those who are active in anti-hunger initiatives to join, the Alliance Against Hunger and Malnutrition operates on two levels:

• At the international level, as a global partnership bringing together a wide range of stakeholders, including United Nations organizations and international NGOs
• At the national level, through support for the establishment and activities of the National Partnerships against Hunger and Malnutrition (NAAHM) and facilitate links between them.

FAO Goodwill Ambassadors

FAO's Goodwill Ambassadors program began in 1999. The main objective of the program is to attract public and media attention to the unacceptable situation that nearly 1 billion people continue to suffer from chronic hunger and malnutrition in a time of unprecedented abundance. These people lead a life of misery and are denied the most basic of human rights: the right to food.

Governments alone cannot end hunger and malnutrition. The mobilization of the public and private sectors, the participation of civil society and the pooling of collective and individual resources are all necessary so that people can break out of the vicious circle of chronic hunger and malnutrition.

Each of FAO's Goodwill Ambassadors - celebrities from the arts, entertainment, sport and academia, such as Nobel laureate Rita Levi Montalcini, actress Gong Li, late singer Miriam Makeba, and soccer players Roberto Baggio and Raúl, to name a few - have made a personal and professional commitment to FAO's vision: a food secure world for present and future generations. With their talent and influence, Goodwill Ambassadors reach audiences of all ages and categories: the young, the rich and the poor, in the campaign against world hunger. Its goal is to make food for all a reality in the 21st century and beyond.

Online campaign against hunger

In April 2011 the initial project became the "1 Billion Hungry: Petition to End Hunger/EndingHunger" campaign. Led by FAO in collaboration with other UN agencies and private non-profit groups, the EndingHunger movement seeks public support beyond the conventional boundary. It was inspired by the success of the 2010 1billionhungry project and the subsequent chain of public events that led to the collection of over three million signatures on a global petition to end hunger (www.EndingHunger.org). The petition was originally presented to world government representatives at a ceremony in Rome on November 30, 2010. The network and alliances are two fundamental and dynamic aspects of EndingHunger. The campaign is based on the assistance of organizations and institutions that can facilitate the dissemination of the project, through the placement of slogans (banners) on their own websites or the organization of events aimed at publicizing the project. In its 2011 season, the campaign expanded its multimedia content, seeking mutual visibility agreements with partner organisations, and sharpened its approach towards a 14-25 year old audience, who were encouraged to understand its potential as a movement. to press for an end to hunger.

In addition, the EndingHunger project is a “viral” communication campaign, renewing and expanding its efforts to build the movement through Facebook, Twitter and other social networks. Petition signers can spread the EndingHunger website link to their friends, via social media or email, in order to raise awareness and increase petition signatures. The next goal is to grow the EndingHunger movement community on Facebook to 1 million members. As with the petition, the more people get involved, the more powerful the message to governments: "We are no longer willing to accept the fact that hundreds of millions of people are chronically hungry."

Both the 1billionhungry and EndingHunger campaigns have continued to attract UN Goodwill Ambassadors from the worlds of music and film, literature, sport, activism and government. Some of the well-known people who have been implicated are former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, former Chilean presidents Ricardo Lagos and Michelle Bachelet, actress Susan Sarandon, actors Jeremy Irons and Raúl Bova, singers Céline Dion and Anggun, the authors Isabel Allende and Andrea Camilleri, the musician Chucho Valdés and the Olympic legend in both track and field Carl Lewis.

FAO Reform

A comprehensive program of organizational reform and culture change was launched in 2008 after the launch of an independent external evaluation. The restructuring of Headquarters and the delegation of decision-making has resulted in a faster response structure and reduced costs. The modernization and streamlining of administrative and operational processes are ongoing. Improved internal teamwork and closer collaboration with the outside, together with improved Information Technology infrastructure and greater autonomy of FAO's decentralized offices allows the Organization to respond quickly, where needs are needed. they are older. Since FAO is first and foremost a knowledge-based organization, investment in human resources is a priority. Capacity building has been established which includes a leadership program, employee rotation and a new Young Professionals Program. Individual performance management, an ethics officer and an independent evaluation office have been established to improve performance through learning and increased monitoring.

DAD-IS

FAO hosts DAD-IS, the Domestic Animal Diversity Information System, a communication and information tool for the management of animal genetic resources that provides the user with searchable databases of related information with the breed, the management tools, and the contacts of the regional and national coordinators for the management of the animal genetic resources program.

75 years of FAO

Over the past 75 years, FAO's perspective and work as a whole have taken on new environmental and sustainability dimensions, and in 2020, the organization has embarked on a strategic reinvention. As COVID-19 exacerbates vulnerabilities related to conflict and climate change, and with only 10 years to go to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, FAO is seeking to forge advanced research, digitization and comprehensive innovation partnerships to help end hunger and malnutrition.

Priority work areas

For the 2014-2015 biennium, FAO identified the following priorities in its fight against hunger:

• Assisting the elimination of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition - Contribute to the eradication of hunger by fostering political policies and commitments to support food security and ensuring that updated information on the challenges and solutions of hunger and nutrition is available and accessible.
• Making agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable - Promote proven policies and practices to support productive agricultural sectors (cultures, livestock, forestry and fisheries), while ensuring that the natural resource base does not suffer in the process.
• Reducing rural poverty - Helping poor peasants gain access to the resources and services they need, especially those in rural employment and social protection, to map a path that allows them to get out of poverty.
• Fostering integrated and efficient agricultural and food systems - Help create safe and efficient food systems that support small-scale farming and reduce poverty and hunger in rural areas.
• Increase livelihood resilience to disasters - Help countries prepare for natural or man-made disasters by reducing their risk and enhancing the resilience of their agricultural and food systems.

The strategic framework for the decade 2010-2019 was:

The three global targets of Members, with the modification of the first as recommended by the Council, are:
(1) the eradication of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition to gradually achieve a world in which people at all times have adequate food and nutritious food that meet their food needs and food preferences in order to lead an active and healthy life;
(2) Eliminating poverty and promoting economic and social progress for all through increased food production, the empowerment of rural development and sustainable livelihoods;
(3) Sustainable management and use of natural resources, including land, water, air, climate and genetic resources, for the benefit of current and future generations.

FAO (2013), p. 6

Structure and financing

The World Food and Agriculture Organization was created on October 16, 1945 in Quebec City, Canada. In 1951 its headquarters were established in Washington D.C. (United States) and Rome (Italy).

The body is governed by the Conference of member states, which meets every two years to review the work done by the organization and to approve the work program and budget for the following two-year period. The conference elects a council of the 49 member states (elected for a three-year term and whose terms expire in stages) which acts between sessions of the conference as its executive body. The CEO directs the activities of the agency.

FAO is made up of the following departments: Agriculture and consumer protection; Climate, Biodiversity, Land and Water; Economic and social development; Fisheries and aquaculture; Forest; and Technical Cooperation.

Starting in 1994, FAO undertook the most important restructuring since its foundation, decentralizing operations, simplifying its procedures and reducing costs. As a result, around US$50 million was saved, about €35 million per year.

General Managers

José Graziano da Silva, Director General of FAO from January 2012 to July 2019.

• Sir John Boyd Orr (RU): October 1945-April 1948.
• Norris E. Dodd (USA): April 1948-December 1953.
• Philip V. Cardon (USA): January 1954-April 1956.
• Sir Herbert Broadley (RU): April 1956-November 1956.
• Binay Ranjan Sen (India): November 1956-December 1967.
• Addeke Hendrik Boerma (Netherlands): January 1968-December 1975.
• Edouard Saouma (Lebanon): January 1976-December 1993.
• Jacques Diouf (Senegal): January 1994-December 2011.
• José Graziano da Silva (Brazil): January 2012-July 2019.
• Qu Dongyu (China): August 2019-present.

Deputy CEOs

• William Nobel Clark (USA): 1948.
• Sir Herbert Broadley (RU): 1948-1958.
• Friedrich Traugott Wahlen (Switzerland): 1958-1959.
• Norman C. Wright (RU): 1959-1963.
• Oris V. Wells (USA): 1963-1971.
• Roy I. Jackson (USA): 1971-1978.
• Ralph W. Phillips (USA): 1978-1981.
• Edward M. West (RU): 1981-1985.
• Declan J. Walton (Ireland): 1986-1987.
• Howard Hjort (USA): 1992-1997.
• Vikram J. Shah (ad personam(RU): 1992-1995.
• David A. Harcharik (USA): 1998-2007.
• James G. Butler (USA): 2008-2010.
• Changchui He (China) (Operations): 2009-2011.
• Ann Tutwiler (USA) (Recognition): 2011-2012.
• Manoj Juneja (India) (Operations): 2011-2012.
• Dan Gustafson (USA) (Operations): 2012-2013.
• María Helena M.Q Semedo (Cabo Verde) (Recursos Naturales): 2013-present.
• Laurent Thomas (France) (Operations): 2017-present.
• Beth Bechdol (USA) (associations and promotion): 2020-present

Offices

FAO's headquarters are in Rome, in the former headquarters of the Italian East Africa Department. One of the most notable features of the building was the Aksum Obelisk, which stood in front of the agency's headquarters, albeit outside the land allocated to FAO by the Italian Government. Coming from Ethiopia, it was stolen in 1937 as war booty and returned to the country on April 18, 2005.

Regional offices

The agency has the following offices in different parts of the world, as well as other sub-offices:

• Regional Office for Africa in Acra (Ghana)
• Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean in Santiago, Chile
• Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, Thailand
• Regional Office for the Near East and North Africa in Cairo, Egypt
• Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia in Budapest (Hungary)

Subregional offices

North American Liaison Office in Washington, D.C.

The agency has the following sub-offices:

• Subregional Office for Southern Africa, Harare, Zimbabwe
• West Africa Subregional Office, Dakar, Senegal
• Subregional Office for Eastern Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
• Subregional Office for Central Africa, Libreville, Gabon
• Pacific Islands Subregional Office in Apia, Samoa
• Subregional Office for Central and Eastern Europe in Budapest (Hungary)
• Subregional Office for Central Asia in Ankara, Turkey
• Subregional Caribbean Office in Bridgetown, Barbados
• Subregional Office for Central America, Panama City (Panama)
• Subregional Office for North Africa, Tunisia
• Subregional Office for the Gulf Cooperation Council and Yemen, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
• Subregional office for the Mashreq countries in Beirut, Lebanon

Liaison offices

• United Nations Liaison Office at Geneva
• North American Liaison Office in Washington D.C.
• United Nations Liaison Office in New York
• Japan Liaison Office in Yokohama
• European Union and Belgium Liaison Office in Brussels
• Russian Federation Liaison Office in Moscow

Some of the members of FAO

The non-member states are Liechtenstein, and the unrecognized states. The Holy See, for its part, has a permanent observer at the FAO.

Some countries may designate specific representatives to FAO, for example, the United States Ambassador to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, who has ambassadorial status and is also part of the United States Mission United before the UN bodies in Rome.

FAO Member States FAO partner States

Criticism

1970s, 1980s, 1990s

Over the last 30 years, criticism of the FAO has accumulated. Some dissatisfaction with the performance of the Organization was one of the reasons that led to the creation of two new organizations after the World Food Conference in 1974, the World Food Council and the International Fund for Agricultural Development; during the 1980s there was intense rivalry between these organizations. At the same time, the World Food Programme, which began as a three-year pilot study of the FAO programme, grew in size and independence, with directors of the FAO and the WFP, who were fighting for power.

In early 1989, the organization came under attack by the Heritage Foundation, a Washington, D.C.-based conservative think-tank. The Foundation wrote that "The sad reality is that the FAO has become essentially irrelevant in the fight against hunger. A bloated bureaucracy known for the mediocrity of its work and the inefficiency of its staff, FAO has in recent years become increasingly politicized." In September of the same year, the magazine Society published a series of articles about the FAO which included a contribution from the Heritage Foundation and a response from an FAO official, Richard Lydiker, later described by the Danish Minister of Agriculture (she herself resigned from the organization) as the head spokesman 'of the 'lack of transparency of the FAO. Edouard Saouma, FAO Director-General at the time, was also criticized in Graham Hancock's book Lords of poverty, published in 1989. Saouma's "high remuneration", his "autocratic" management style, and his "control over the flow of public information" are mentioned. Hancock concluded that "[u]n't get the sense from all of this that it's an institution that has lost its way, strayed from its purely humanitarian and development mandate, they're confused about their place in the world: exactly about what he's doing and why." Despite the criticism, Edouard Saouma served as CEO for three consecutive terms from 1976 to 1993.

In 1990, the US Department of State opined that "The Food and Agriculture Organization has lagged behind other United Nations organizations in responding to United States wishes for improvements in the program and budget processes to increase value for money spent."

A year later, in 1991, The Ecologist magazine produced a special issue under the title «The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations: Promoting Hunger in the World ». The magazine included articles questioning FAO policies on forestry, fishing, aquaculture and pest control practices. The articles were written by experts such as Helena Norberg-Hodge, Vandana Shiva, Edward Goldsmith, Miguel A. Altieri, and Barbara Dinham.

In 1996, FAO organized the World Food Summit, which was attended by 112 heads or representatives of heads of state and government. The Summit concluded with the signing of the Rome Declaration, which set the goal of halving the number of people suffering from hunger by 2015. At the same time, 1,200 civil society organizations (CSOs) from 80 countries participated in an NGO forum. The forum was critical of the increasing industrialization of agriculture and called on governments, and the FAO, to do more to protect the "right to food" of the poor.

Since 2000

The next Food Summit organized by the FAO in 2002 was considered a waste of time by many of the official participants. Social movements, peasants, fishermen, herders, indigenous peoples, environmentalists, women's organizations, unions and non-governmental organizations expressed their collective disappointment and rejection of the official Declaration of the... Summit.

In 2004, the FAO produced a controversial report called "Is Biotechnology Addressing the Needs of the Poor?" The report states that "agricultural biotechnology has real potential as a new tool in the fight against hunger". In response to the report, more than 650 organizations from around the world signed an open letter stating: "FAO it has broken its commitment to civil society and peasant organizations.” The letter expressed disappointment that organizations representing farmers' interests had not been consulted, that the FAO was siding with the biotech industry and, consequently, that the report "raises serious questions about the independence and intellectual integrity of a major United Nations agency." The FAO Director-General responded immediately, stating that decisions about biotechnology should be "made at the international level by competent bodies" (in other words, not by non-governmental organizations). He acknowledged, however, that "biotech research is essentially driven by the world's top ten TNCs" and "the private sector protects its results with patents in order to get a return on its investment and concentrates on products that have no patents." importance for food in developing countries".

In May 2006, a British newspaper published the resignation letter of Louise Fresco, one of the eight Assistant Directors-General of FAO. In her letter, the highly respected Dr. Fresco stated that »the Organization has not been able to adapt to a new era«, that »our contribution and reputation have steadily declined« and »your leadership is not proposing bold options to overcome this crisis".

In October 2006, delegates from 120 countries arrived in Rome for the 32nd session of the Committee on World Food Security. The event was widely criticized by non-governmental organizations, but largely ignored by the media. Oxfam called for an end to these "talk fests" while Via Campesina issued a statement criticizing FAO's policy on Food Security.

On October 18, 2007, the final report of the Independent External Evaluation of FAO was published. Reading more than 400 pages, the assessment was the first of its kind in the Organization's history. It was commissioned by decision of the 33rd Session of the FAO Conference in November 2005. The report concludes that "The Organization is today in a financial and program crisis", but "the problems affecting the organization today in day can be resolved"

Among the issues noted by the IEE: "The Organization has been conservative and slow to adapt," "FAO has a heavy and costly bureaucracy," and "The Organization's capacity is shrinking and many of its core competencies are now in danger."

Among the solutions: «A new strategic framework», «a change of institutional culture and reform of the administrative and management systems».

The official response from FAO arrived on October 29: "Management supports the main conclusion of the EEI report on the need for reform with growth in order to have an FAO for this century."

Meanwhile, hundreds of FAO staff signed a petition in support of the IEE recommendations, calling for "a sea change in management culture and ethos, depoliticization of appointments, restoration of trust between staff and management, [and] setting the organization's strategic priorities."

In the conclusion of the ISS he stated that "If the FAO did not exist, it would have to be invented."

In November 2008, a special conference of FAO member countries approved the allocation of US$42.6 million (€38.6 million) over three years for the Immediate Plan of Action for « reform with growth”, as recommended by the Independent External Evaluation (IEE).

Under the plan, US$21.8 million, €15 million, would be spent the following year on reforming financial procedures, hierarchies and human resource management.

Global Food Crisis

In May 2008, speaking of the current World Food Crisis (2007-2008), President Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal expressed the view that the FAO was "a waste of money" that "we must throw away". Wade said that the FAO itself was largely to blame for the price increases, and that the organization's work was duplicated by other entities that operated more efficiently, such as the International Fund for Agricultural Development. However, these The criticisms may have had more to do with the personal animosity between the president and the CEO, also a Senegalese, especially given the significant differences in the work done by the two organizations.

In 2008, FAO sponsored the High Level Conference on World Food Security. The lack of agreement on the issue of biofuels was notable.

Response to the summit was mixed among non-governmental organisations, with Oxfam stating that "the Rome summit was an important first step in the fight against the food crisis, but more action was now needed.", while Maryam Rahmanian of the Iranian Center for Sustainable Development commented that "We are shocked and disgusted to see the food crisis used to promote the very policies that have led to the food crisis."

As on previous occasions, previous food summits, civil society organizations held a side meeting that issued their own statement to "reject the energy-intensive and industrial business model, and consumption that is the basis of the constant crises.