United Nations
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) <strong>(No paywall)</strong>
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.
Corn, wheat, rice yields at risk as global temperature rises
Report finds companies faring well, governments less so, in meeting food waste targets
Private companies are stepping up to tackle food waste, a new report finds, but governments lag behind in the race to meet a United Nations goal of cutting wasted food in half by 2030. The report was compiled by a coalition of executives and leaders of private companies, non-profits, and government agencies, called Champions 12.3, that work to reduce food waste internationally.
Indiana mega-farmer to represent U.S. at UN food agencies
President Trump has selected Indiana mega-farmer Kip Tom, long rumored to be in the running for an administration appointment, to become the U.S. representative to the UN agencies for food and agriculture, the White House said on Wednesday.
Child labor on the rise in world’s rural areas
While the UN’s sustainable development goals call for an end to child labor by 2025, an official at the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization says “child labor is mostly concentrated in agriculture and is growing,” reports Inter Press Service.
War and weather end decade-long decline in world hunger
The report on global hunger was the first since the UN set a goal of eradicating hunger by 2030. UN agencies, such as the Food and Agriculture Organization, have cited the role of warfare in hunger. According to the new UN report, 60 percent of the world's hungry people "live in countries affected by conflict," some 489 million people. But even in regions that are more peaceful, droughts or floods linked in part to the El Niño weather phenomenon, as well as the global economic slowdown, have also seen food security and nutrition deteriorate, said the report.
In population leapfrog, India to top China, Nigeria to hurdle U.S.
The most populous nation in Africa, Nigeria, with 191 million people today, will easily pass the United States to become the world’s third most populous nation by mid-century, says the UN Population Division in a biennial global population forecast. In a much shorter time span—just seven years—India will become the most populous nation on Earth, displacing China.
Former South Carolina governor to head World Food Program
David Beasley, governor of South Carolina from 1995-99, will become executive director of the UN World Food Program on April 4, succeeding fellow American Ertharin Cousin for a five-year term, announced UN Secretary General António Guterres. The WFP describes itself as the world's largest antihunger agency, assisting 80 million people annually.
Kansas governor to become U.S. ambassador for food and ag
Second-term Kansas Gov. Sam Brownback will be named U.S. ambassador to UN agencies on food and agriculture in Rome, says Kansas Public Radio, based on information from "a former high-ranking government official." There was no immediate comment from the governor's office and KPR quoted an unnamed source as saying the appointment was "a done deal."
FAO tries to push agriculture into spotlight at climate talks
Agriculture produces nearly 20 percent of greenhouse gases, which is why the industry should play a fundamental role in mitigating the impact of climate change, said the head of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization at climate talks in Morocco.
France and UN pressure Trump to respect climate treaty
At climate talks in Marrakesh, Morocco, leaders from France and the United Nations urged President-elect Donald Trump to rethink his promise to back out of the Paris Agreement, reports Reuters. Trump has said he wants to cancel the U.S. commitment to the treaty, which aims to keep global temperatures from rising more than 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.
Food-import costs down 11 percent this year, lowest in six years
The world will spend $1.17 trillion on food imports, including freight costs, this year, the smallest figure since 2010 due to low prices for meat, dairy, and grains, said the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization.
UN makes historic commitment to fight antibiotic resistance
On September 21, the United Nations General Assembly took an historic step: It acted on the danger posed by antibiotic resistance, which is rising around the world, killing an estimated 700,000 people each year. The U.N. action was only the fourth time that the General Assembly, which usually addresses economic and social issues, had ever considered a health problem. Its all-day “high-level meeting,” in which representatives of 70 governments shared their concerns about controlling resistance, resulted in a commitment by all 193 member nations to begin working on the problem. The first step was to create a “coordination group” to bring all the international efforts in line.
A yardstick for measuring food waste
One-third of the food grown in the world goes to waste, from causes that range from spoilage in the field to uneaten food at the dining table, according to a common estimate. A public-private partnership unveiled a standard format for measuring losses, with the dual goal of a more precise measurement of where losses occur and a spur to prevent waste in the future.
World must produce 70 percent more food by 2050 if we don’t cut ‘food gap’
The world is facing a 70-percent “crop gap” between the calories available in 2006 and the expected caloric demand in 2050, says a report out by the World Resources Institute (WRI).
El Niño droughts, floods, fires affect 60 million people
While the El Niño weather pattern is waning, an estimated 60 million people worldwide are suffering from the droughts, floods and forest fires linked to the phenomenon, says the United Nations.
World cuts hunger’s reach by 100 million people in decade
Some 805 million people suffer from hunger around the world, or one in nine of the earth's population, but the total is down by 100 million people in the past decade and by 200 million since 1990-92, says the United Nations. With the reduction, the world is within reach of the goal of cutting in half the hunger rate in developing nations by 2015 "if appropriate and immediate efforts are stepped up," says the UN report State of Food Insecurity in the World.