Author Archive for: FAO-Newsroom

An ambitious commitment adopted today by 22 countries plus the European Union aims to secure a sustainable future for fisheries and aquaculture in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea.

"Family farmers are agents of change on the ground," Qu said. "They are key to end hunger and poverty and to boost sustainable agri-food systems." Therefore, their voices must be heard and respected, the Director-General further pointed out.

The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), QU Dongyu, today told a gathering of experts, diplomats and senior officials that the agricultural world and the environmental world needed to “listen to each other and collaborate.”

Although progress towards the SDGs is expected to be made in the coming decade - assuming a fast recovery from the global COVID-19 pandemic, and stable weather conditions and policy environments - the past year of disruptions from COVID-19 has moved the world further away from achieving the SDGs. This calls for urgent attention to the factors and forces driving performance in agri-food systems.

The United Nations International Year of Plant Health (IYPH) 2020 ended officially today with a virtual closing ceremony highlighting the many successes achieved - despite the challenges posed by COVID-19, which extended the Year's activities for an extra six months.