The UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Director-General Qu Dongyu has announced the Great Green Wall for Cities initiative that aims to support nature-based solutions to climate change.
Some 41 countries, including 31 in Africa, are in need of external assistance for food, with conflict and adverse weather conditions - particularly rainfall shortages in Africa - acutely affecting food availability and access, according to FAO's latest Crop Prospects and Food Situation report.
Access for all to healthy diets such as the Mediterranean diet is critical for achieving the Agenda 2030, and such diets must be protected and promoted. That was the main message at an event today organized by the Government of Italy with support from FAO aimed at deepening understanding of the Mediterranean diet and raising awareness on how it can help achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.
17-30 September 2019
New York City, US
The 74th session of the UN General Assembly (UNGA 74) will open on 17 September 2019. The first day of the high-level General Debate will be Tuesday, 24 September 2019.
During the week of the debate, several other high-level events also will convene (as of 27 November 2018):
- On Monday, 23 September, the UN Secretary-General will convene a Climate Summit, and the UNGA will hold a one-day high-level meeting on Universal Health Coverage (UHC);
- On Tuesday, 24 September, following the opening of the 74th General Debate, the UNGA will convene a meeting of the UN High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF), which will take place on the afternoon of 24 September and all day on 25 September (SDG Summit);
The United Arab Emirates have agreed to provide $4 million in funding to foster rural development in Liberia in partnership with FAO. The contribution, agreed earlier this week, comes from the UAE’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation, aims to support 1 500 rural women in three counties.
The FAO Food Price Index, which tracks monthly changes in the international prices of commonly traded food commodities, averaged 169.8 points in August 2019, down 1.1 percent from July while still up 1.1 percent from its August 2018 level.
Favourable rains in Syria’s agricultural areas, coupled with improved overall security, have boosted harvests compared to last year, but higher food prices are putting more strain on many Syrians, a new United Nations report has found.
In an effort to present nutrition related news at the global and country level, UNSCN and the UNN Secretariats are teaming up to produce the first comprehensive overview of recent developments supported and/or coordinated by the UN system.
The third issue for 2019 includes:
- UNN analytics anchor discussions on nutrition investment in Mali
- Bringing nutrition beyond Rome
- The Philippines: The land of many islands and nutrition achievements
- Towards Voluntary Guidelines for Food systems and Nutrition
- UN nutrition lobbying starts to pay off in Liberia
- Improving diets for human and planetary health
- Publications and a calendar of nutrition related events
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Agriculture is crucial to Africa’s development but needs increased mechanization to boost economic productivity, reduce harvest and post-harvest losses and meet growing demand for food. This is one of the messages that has emerged during the seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7).
On the sidelines of the seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7), UNIDO, FAO and the African Union launched the Flagship Initiative to Accelerate Youth Employment in Agriculture and Agribusiness in Africa.
