FERN talks COP28 and food-system reform with World Wildlife Fund
The next UN Climate Change Conference, COP28, opens on Thursday in Dubai. This year, food systems issues will play a more central role in the negotiations than ever before, with a day of the conference devoted to food, for the first time. Food and agriculture account for roughly one-third of …
A pause in world hunger, but elimination is unlikely
After steep increases due to the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, the global hunger total of as many as 783 million people is relatively stable and the goal of ending hunger by the end of the decade will be increasingly difficult to reach, said the annual United Nations report on world hunger.
As seaweed farming expands, UN report urges more research, ‘cautious optimism’
In a comprehensive assessment of the potential risks and benefits of expanding seaweed farming, the United Nations Environment Programme called this week for “cautious optimism” and a lot more scientific research. Seaweed aquaculture is growing quickly amid enthusiasm about macroalgae’s potential to do everything from mitigating climate change to feeding the world to replacing petroleum-based fuels and plastics. But the potential risks to the environment and to vulnerable communities are still poorly understood, the report found. (No paywall)
As UN Biodiversity Conference opens, a plea for ‘a peace pact’ with nature
With one million species at risk of extinction, policymakers, scientists and activists gathered for the UN Biodiversity Conference in Montreal to hammer out a plan to end and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. Agriculture — considered the driver of 70 percent of all biodiversity loss — is key to the negotiations, which will center on conserving land and water, reducing pollution, redirecting subsidies that enable environmental harm, and curtailing unsustainable production and consumption. No paywall
Global assembly called on cutting food waste
The Champions 12.3 coalition, dedicated to the UN goal of halving food loss and waste by 2030, said on Tuesday it would begin a series of assemblies in October to encourage countries and companies to step up their efforts to reach that goal. More than one-third of food produced in the world is lost or wasted each year.
U.S. pledges $10 billion at food summit, half for domestic programs
The United States joined dozens of countries at a UN-sponsored food summit in pledging on Thursday to reduce world hunger. The Biden administration said it would put $10 billion into the effort, half of it to be spent domestically and half abroad.
International contest of ideas: Farm to Fork vs. productivity coalition
The United States will launch a "coalition for productivity growth" to promote the use of high-tech tools such as gene editing and precision agriculture to build a more sustainable food system, said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack on Thursday. The coalition would stand in contrast to the EU's Farm to Fork Strategy of greatly reducing the use of fertilizers and pesticides and putting 25 percent of European farmland into organic production.
Pandemic brings highest global hunger rate in 12 years
Nearly one of every 10 people on earth is undernourished, a huge increase in global hunger in a world wracked by the pandemic, said the United Nations on Monday. In an annual report on world nutrition, the UN said around 768 million people — more than population of Europe — were hungry in 2020, …
To save humanity, save biodiversity: Q&A with Enric Sala
Dr. Enric Sala, founder of the ocean conservation initiative Pristine Seas, constructs an enlightened defense for biological diversity in his first book, The Nature of Nature: Why We Need the Wild, in which he describes Covid-19 as "the most powerful wake-up call to the world about the enormous risks to human health posed by our broken relationship with nature.” (No paywall)
In ‘final report card,’ world fails to meet biodiversity goals, says UN
In 2010, global leaders set 20 goals for preserving biodiversity worldwide in the decade ahead. Today, none of the targets has been met fully and only six are even partially achieved, said the United Nations in "a final report card" on the effort. "Biodiversity is declining at an unprecedented rate,” said the Global Biodiversity Outlook 5 report, “and the pressures driving the decline are intensifying." Still, the UN said, "it is not too late to slow, halt, and reverse current trends." (No paywall)
Pandemic could increase world hunger by one fifth — UN report
The coronavirus pandemic will accelerate the five-year-old rise in world hunger and could add as many as 132 million people this year to the global tally of the hungry, an increase of 19 percent, said five UN agencies in a report on Monday. The pandemic is disrupting the food supply chain while sweeping lockdowns to control the virus are cutting off people from work, said the annual State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World.
Oceans could provide far more food in the future, reports say
Oceans could provide far more protein for the world’s food supply than they do now, especially from aquaculture, but aggressive action is needed to better manage fisheries and mitigate the impact of climate change, according to two reports released Thursday.
Hog epidemic in Asia means less meat worldwide, says UN food group
World meat production will decline for the first time in two decades because of the devastating epidemic of African swine fever in China, the world’s largest pork producer, said the UN Food and Agriculture Organization on Thursday.
Cars slow progress on U.S.-Japan trade ‘mini-deal’
An accord expected to boost U.S. farm exports to Japan may not be complete in time for signature by President Trump and Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the UN General Assembly this week. The so-called mini-deal would cover agriculture and digital trade but is being held up by Tokyo's request that the United States promise not to impose tariffs on cars imported from Japan.
Farming plays key role in UN climate push on land restoration
When the UN Climate Summit gets underway next week, it will be the focal point of mass protests and media coverage, but another global climate initiative is revving up that focuses on large-scale land restoration as a way to counter the advent and impact of climate change.(No paywall)
Report maps ways to cut food waste by 50 percent globally
The World Resources Institute released a report Thursday that shows how the world could cut food waste by 50 percent by 2030, offering findings that are in line with the sustainable development goals of the United Nations. Achieving that goal would save money, feed people more sustainably, and fight climate change.
IPCC report warns that climate change threatens food supply
A United Nations climate report on Thursday warned that the world’s unsustainable use of land is boosting greenhouse gas emissions, contributing to climate change, and threatening future food production. But the report also said that land use, farming, and food consumption can shift in important ways that could help mitigate climate change. (No paywall) (No paywall)
World hunger up, afflicts 820 million people
One in nine of the earth's population is undernourished and the global hunger rate is creeping up from the low set in 2015, said five UN agencies in a report on Monday. Hunger is most prevalent in Africa, at nearly double the global level, but on every continent, women are more likely than men to go hungry.