DOCSLIB.ORG

Grow, Nourish, Sustain. Together

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Grow, Nourish, Sustain. Together FAO at 75 Grow, nourish, sustain. Together Required citation: FAO. 2020. FAO at 75 – Grow, nourish, sustain. Together. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/cb1182en This publication was prepared by the Publications Branch of the FAO Office of Communications. Writer: André Vornic (introduction, chapters 1–4) Technical consultant: Karel Callens Research assistant: Daniela De Pascalis Illustrations: Del Hambre Graphic designer: Fabrizio Puzzilli The designations employed and the presentation of material in this information product do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concerning the legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities, or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed or recommended by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. ISBN 978-92-5-133359-4 © FAO, 2020 Some rights reserved. This work is made available under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 IGO licence (CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 IGO; https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/igo/legalcode). Under the terms of this licence, this work may be copied, redistributed and adapted for non-commercial purposes, provided that the work is appropriately cited. In any use of this work, there should be no suggestion that FAO endorses any specific organization, products or services. The use of the FAO logo is not permitted. If the work is adapted, then it must be licensed under the same or equivalent Creative Commons licence. If a translation of this work is created, it must include the following disclaimer along with the required citation: “This translation was not created by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). FAO is not responsible for the content or accuracy of this translation. The original English edition shall be the authoritative edition.” Disputes arising under the licence that cannot be settled amicably will be resolved by mediation and arbitration as described in Article 8 of the licence except as otherwise provided herein. The applicable mediation rules will be the mediation rules of the World Intellectual Property Organization http://www.wipo.int/amc/en/mediation/rules and any arbitration will be conducted in accordance with the Arbitration Rules of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL). Third-party materials. Users wishing to reuse material from this work that is attributed to a third party, such as tables, figures or images, are responsible for determining whether permission is needed for that reuse and for obtaining permission from the copyright holder. The risk of claims resulting from infringement of any third-party-owned component in the work rests solely with the user. Sales, rights and licensing. FAO information products are available on the FAO website (www.fao.org/publications) and can be purchased through [email protected]. Requests for commercial use should be submitted via: www.fao.org/contact-us/licence-request. Queries regarding rights and licensing should be submitted to: [email protected]. FAO at 75 Grow, nourish, sustain. Together FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS ROME, 2020 FOREWORD page 2 Introduction page 4 The first quarter-century 1 GROW 1945-1970 page 12 The second quarter-century 2 NOURISH 1970-1995 page 24 The third quarter-century 3 SUSTAIN 1995-2020 page 38 The next quarter-century 4 TOGETHER 2020-2045 page 54 THE DIRECTORS-GENERAL page 68 SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY page 70 FOREWORD Dear friends, It is a long way from the rice fields of Hunan, where I was born, to the fields of the Circus Maximus in Rome, where FAO is headquartered. No day passes that I don’t feel honoured and humbled to be leading this Organization – still, after all these years, the foremost global authority on two fundamental aspects of human civilization: food and agriculture. These pages chronicle FAO’s record to date – and celebrate it too, though the perspective is never less than lucid. They offer a succinct overview of the ideals and principles which have inspired our work. But they also measure the road still to cover. In the year or so I have been at the helm of the Organization, much has changed in our everyday lives. Even before the COVID-19 crisis, I liked to say that problems could be a source of progress – that adversity can catalyse a pragmatic creativity that eludes us in less testing times. The current pandemic is possibly the greatest social cataclysm many of us have seen. Still, we must recognize that it has also accelerated a societal reset – including in the way we operate as international organizations. An institution like FAO, with its venerable culture of expertise-sharing and institutional procedure, has proved capable, at short notice, of embracing an innovative attitude and largely shifting online. But if innovation means going digital – and this publication contains examples of our aggressive push in that direction – it also means transforming a whole business model, starting with mindsets. 2 | FAO at 75 We are already streamlining FAO’s management structure, moving from silos to team leadership. Transparency repays itself: open up to the world, and the world will open up to you. Cutting bureaucracy and expanding autonomous decision-making are not only more likely to unleash talent: they are prerequisites for turning FAO into a beacon of excellence. We must be dreamers and doers, think-tank and action-tank rolled into one. Our value lies, after all, in the solutions we provide for our Members to achieve food security and better livelihoods for all. This is why we are now in a position, for example, to advise governments on precisely which policies would dramatically shrink the cost of healthy diets, improving the lives of three billion people and offsetting trillions of dollars a year in health and environmental costs; or to pinpoint – through our Hand-in-Hand initiative – which two of any countries could pair up to deliver palpable food security outcomes, aligned to the Sustainable Development Goals. We have much more in store; the full range of our re-invention will become apparent in the years to come. In the meantime, I hope you enjoy reading this historical excursion: it helps explain how we got here and where we are headed. With my full gratitude for your commitment to a world free of poverty and hunger, Qu Dongyu FAO Director-General 3 | INTRODUCTION Introduction Hope out of horror. Vision out of waste. And out of ruins, a vast rolling-up of sleeves. The year is 1945. The end of the war is spurring renewal across the breadth of thought and human endeavour: in economics and governance; in science and social studies; in industry and engineering; in the humanities and the arts. But also, and not least, in the realm of values and aspirations. A commitment to peace is the new proclaimed creed. So is a sense of the possible. Despite the emergence of new divisions in the form of the Cold War, and despite simmering colonial tensions, a new internationalism takes root. With it comes a determination to end, once and for all, the ills that have plagued humankind since its inception. Chief among these are poverty and hunger. 4 | FAO at 75 5 | INTRODUCTION PLANET OF THE FAMISHED Less well-known than the wilful mass Agriculture was, by and large, ravaged. With the end of World War II killing associated with World War II is Across swathes of the globe, food comes a determination to end, just how much loss of life was linked production had shrunk – by up to a once and for all, the ancestral to food deprivation. Of the 60 million third in Europe, in the countries which ills of poverty and hunger. deaths chalked up to the conflict, at formed the Soviet Union and in North least a third are estimated to have been Africa, and by a tenth in East Asia. caused by malnutrition and associated The world population had meanwhile diseases. In 1943 in Bengal, some three swollen by a tenth. This made for an million perished by famine. In (then overall drop in per capita farm output Soviet) Ukraine, hunger had slain of 15 percent from pre-war years. millions even before the war started. Demographers offered little Millions more died in China. In Western succour: projections Europe, in what had been fairly rich suggested a further, countries, the social and economic imminent surge in the fallout of war was unsparingly grim: number of mouths over the winter of 1944-45 in the to feed. By 1955, Netherlands, people were reduced to the population of eating tulip bulbs; in early post-war Latin America was Belgium, rickets affected 80 percent forecast to be almost of children. half as large again. 6 | FAO at 75 1948, GREECE Schoolchildren having breakfast provided by a joint FAO‒UNICEF project, Greece. 7 | INTRODUCTION ©UN Photo / FAO 1945, CANADA FAO was born on the afternoon of 16 October 1945 when its constitution was signed in Quebec City, Canada, by 34 countries,8 | FAO at 75 soon to be followed by many more. ©FAO DAVID LUBIN AMERICAN ROOTS (1849‒1919) A Polish-born FOR A ROMAN REBIRTH Californian agronomist, Lubin was a tireless Even as much of the world struggled to feed itself, bold new campaigner and words were sketching out new horizons. Already in 1941, in organizer for agriculture a speech that would inspire the foundational principles of and its practitioners.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • World Food Program 1
    MONTREAL UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE BACKGROUND GUIDE World Food Program 1 LETTER FROM THE CHAIR Dear Delegates, Welcome to the World Food Programme! My name is Kareem Faraj and it is my honor to be chairing this committee. I am currently majoring in Political Science at McGill University with a minor in History. By the time MUNC 2020 rolls around, I will have spent 6 years on the Model United Nations circuit and have had the pleasure of occupying positions ranging from that of committee page all the way to that of Secretary General across a variety of conferences around the island of Montreal and beyond. I would also like to take this occasion to welcome you to MUNC 2020, which, to this day, holds a very special place in my heart. Current events may have forced the conference online, but I remain convinced that this year’s conference will continue to grow and improve on its previous iterations. While I am disappointed that I will not be able to meet and interact with you in person during committee, I have no doubt that this new format will offer new opportunities for the entire MUN community. Past MUNCs have provided me with the opportunity to make lasting memories and friendships over the years. I hope your experience at MUNC will be just as educational and enjoyable as mine was. As the chair of a Blue Division committee, it is my wish that this committee be as accessible and inclusive as possible for all delegates, regardless of prior MUN experience. The move to an online platform will a new experience for many, including myself.
    [Show full text]
  • Staff of FAO
    Commemorating 60Y E A R S of the work of the Staff of FAO Former FAO and Other UN Staff Association Table of contents Introduction . 1 The.origins.of .the.idea. 2 The.beginning. 7 Six.Directors-General.1945–1993. 8 Before.the.move.from.Washington. 12 The.transfer.on.the.“Saturnia”. 12 The.arrival.in.Rome. The first years. 15 The.start.of .the.Freedom.from.Hunger.Campaign. 16 Man’s.Right.to.Freedom.from.Hunger. 18 Sixty years of FAO’s Constitution Sixty years of FAO’s Constitution and of FAO’s activities in the legal field . .20 FAO’s Fisheries Department, 1945–2005. 22 Sixty years of FAO’s Forestry Department. 25 A new UN Programme comes into being. 26 The World Food Programme and FAO. The early years. 28 The beginning of ICT in FAO. 31 The Senior Agricultural Adviser/. FAO Country Representative. 34 The.Great.Sahelian.Drought FAO coordinates UN system’s emergency response . .36 Le.problème.du.Sahel. 38 Bio Warfare in the Sky The NWS eradication programme in North Africa 1988–1992 . .40 Seconded to IFAD. 46 Postscript. 47 Introduction Rome, March 2006 his brochure was produced through the World War and during the following period when new combined efforts of the retired staff of FAO, nations were created and others became independent TIFAD and WFP. It took shape thanks to the countries. For many of them it was the best period of generous assistance of the Information Division of FAO their lives which gave meaning and added value to the whose dedicated cooperation and valuable expertise we years they spent serving FAO, IFAD and WFP.
    [Show full text]
  • Octobre 2010
    VOL. 69, NO. 4 Octobre -- October 2010 Table des matières Table of Contents Page Page DÉJEUNER AAFI-AFICS – SAVEURS AAFI-AFICS LUNCH – AUTUMN D’AUTOMNE ................................................... 2 FLAVOURS .................................................... 2 ÉDITORIAL ........................................................... 3 EDITORIAL ........................................................ 20 AAFI-AFICS FÊTE SES 70 ANS .......................... 4 CELEBRATING 70 YEARS OF AAFI- LA FAFICS FÊTE SES 35 ANS ....................... 7 AFICS ........................................................... 21 39ème SESSION DU CONSEIL DE LA FAFICS CELEBRATES 35 YEARS ................... 24 FAAFI ............................................................. 15 REPORT ON THE 39TH SESSION OF THE COMITÉ MIXTE DE LA CAISSE FAFICS COUNCIL, 2010 .............................. 32 COMMUNE DES PENSIONS ....................... 17 REPORT ON THE 2010 SESSION OF THE PETITS RIENS ET GRANDS MOMENTS .......... 18 PENSION BOARD ........................................ 33 HUMOUR ............................................................ 19 OF CABBAGES AND KINGS ............................ 35 NOUVEAUX MEMBRES .................................... 44 ANYONE FOR SHAKESPEARE? ..................... 36 ILS NOUS ONT QUITTÉS .................................. 45 HUMOUR ........................................................... 39 UK CONSULAR SERVICES .............................. 40 LETTERS TO THE EDITOR .............................. 41 NEW MEMBERS ..............................................
    [Show full text]
  • Congratulating Paris Conference on Its Successful Conclusion "February
    10 March 9, 1973 Congratulating Paris Conference On Its Successful Conclusion "February 28" Uprising in Taiwan Province Marked Talking of Women's Liberation PEKING Vol. 16, No. 10 March 9, 1973 A REVIEW Published in English, French, Spanish~ Japanese and German editions CONTENTS THE WEEK 3 Learn From Comrade Lei Feng Spring Farming Home From Paris Goodwill Delegation From Pyongyang Sung Wei-pin Crosses Over ARTICLES AND DOCUMENTS Congratulations to the Paris International Conference on Its Successful Conclusion-- Renmin Ribao editorial 5 Act of the Interndtionol Conference on Viet Nam 6 Head of Chinese Delegation Chi Peng-fei's Speech u After the signing of the Act of the International Conference on Viet Nam 8 Support Somdech Sihanouk's lust Statement--Renmin Ribao Commentator 9 "February 28" Uprising in Taiwan Province Marked--At meeting sponsored by the National Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference 9 The "February 28" Uprising .... 11 International Working Women's Day: Talking of Women's Liberation -- Ou'r Cor- respondent 12 Asian-African-Latin American Countries: Developing Notional Economies 16 NOTEBOOK 17 ROUND THE WORLD 19 Laos: Vientlane Government Violates Agreement Norway: Workers' Communist Party (M-L) Founded South Korea: "National Assembly Election" Farce Western Europe: Another Dollar Selling Wave Workers Strike F,R.G,: Defence Minister on European Security ON THE HOME FRONT 22 Women Students' Study Group Sanitation Workers in Peking New Wheat and Rice Strains by Pollen Culture Published every' Friday by PEKING REVIEW, Peking (37), China Post Office Registration No. 2-922 Printed in the People's Republic of China ......................................
    [Show full text]
  • FAO: Its Origin, Formation and Evolution 1945-1981
    its origins, formation and evolution 1945-1981 FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS --,''''' ":1,, , FAO: its origins, formation and evolution 1945-1981 by RALPH W. PHILLIPS FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS Rome 1981 First published 1981 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior permission of the copyright owner. Applications for such permission, with a statement of the purpose and extent of the reproduction, should be addressed to the Director, Publications Division, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Via delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100 Rome, Italy. © FAO 1981 foreword In July 1935 my wife and I set out from Amherst, Massachusetts, on our first trek to Europe. We sailed out of Montreal on the S.S. Duchess of York, and late in the afternoon of the first day we passed the city of Quebec, which offered us a striking view of the Chateau Frontenac perched on a bluff high above the St. Lawrence River. We had no premonition that, within just over ten years, World War II would have been fought, or that in the aftermath of that war the representatives of many nations would have gathered in the Chateau Frontenac on 16 October 1945 to found the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations ( FAO ) Neither did we have any way of knowing that this new Organization would have a pervasive influence on much of the remainder of our lives.
    [Show full text]
  • 7578/11 JPS/Lf 1 DG B COUNCIL of the EUROPEAN UNION
    COUNCIL OF Brussels, 10 March 2011 THE EUROPEAN UNION 7578/11 AGRI 203 FAO 6 CONUN 24 NOTE From : Presidency To : Council Subject : FAO - institutional questions - background paper Delegations will find attached in Annex the background paper prepared by the Presidency in view of the discussion over lunch at the Council (Agriculture and Fisheries) on 17 March 2011. _________ 7578/11 JPS/lf 1 DG B EN ANNEX "FAO - institutional questions" Presidency Background paper for the lunch of the Ministers for Agriculture The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Serving both developed and developing countries, FAO acts as a neutral forum where all nations meet as equals to negotiate agreements and debate policy. FAO is also a source of knowledge and information. FAO assists developing countries and countries in transition to modernize and improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices and to ensure good nutrition for all. Since its founding in 1945, FAO has focused special attention on developing rural areas, home to 70 percent of the world's poor and hungry people. At the end of 2005, FAO’s governing bodies commissioned a comprehensive Independent External Evaluation of the Organization, carried out by a team of high-level consultants. The evaluation concluded with a central message of “reform with growth”. It was examined by the November 2007 session of the FAO Conference. Then an extensive process of analysis and intergovernmental discussion of the evaluation’s findings took place during 2008. This culminated in the adoption of Resolution 1/2008 by the 35th (special) session of the Conference in November 2008.
    [Show full text]
  • TESI Raffaella IMP.Job
    Alla mia forza di volontà. A questa città, Padova, che sarà per sempre parte della mia essenza. To my willpower. To this city, Padova, that will be forever part of my essence. 2 Contents Introduction ...................................................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter I United Nations World Food Programme. The birth of WFP ........................................................... 8 1.1 Historical background. Antecedents: FAO’s pioneering work ............................................................. 8 1.2 UN World Food Programme’s birth .................................................................................................... 16 1.3 1960s: Initiatives at United Nations .................................................................................................... 20 “We began 2011 with even greater challenges, but with the 1.4 Food aid during the Second UN Development Decade of the 1970s .................................................. 22 confidence that ending hunger is possible. 1.5 Food for Development: institutionalizing project food aid ................................................................. 28 1.6 WFP Emergency and Relief Operations .............................................................................................. 31 We will continue to adapt and transform the way we work to meet the immediate needs of the hungry today Chapter II Fighting Hunger Worldwide ........................................................................................................
    [Show full text]
  • Statistical Appendices
    Statistical Appendices Statistical Appendix 1 Regional WFP cumulative commitments for development projects and relief and emergency operations by category and type approved up to 31 December 1995 (values in US$ million) Category/type Sub-Saharan Asia Latin America Africa and Pacific and Caribbean No. Value No. Value No. Value Human resource development Mothers and infants 58 303 36 715 50 352 Primary schools 103 957 16 61 44 461 Secondary schools 34 191 1 9 1 3 Training programmes 26 51 4 23 11 23 Higher education 9 10 7 3 5 2 Literacy programmes 3 1 4 135 4 9 Hospitals 24 73 3 1 13 34 Public health 2 8 1 1 – – Economic and social infrastructure Housing/public utilities 12 28 15 71 5 15 Transport/communications 22 143 21 53 4 33 Community development 49 211 15 63 57 301 Directly productive projects Land development 48 299 137 1,442 15 61 Land settlement 49 221 35 173 19 34 Refugee assistance 57 132 6 9 4 7 Crop production 37 166 2 16 21 75 Animal production 33 155 19 272 17 165 Forestry 51 490 48 488 18 46 Fisheries – – 11 116 2 3 Industries/mining 3 33 2 1 – – Food reserves 22 77 1 1 – – Relief and emergency operations Sudden natural disasters 382 688 183 414 101 95 Drought/crop failure 96 1,038 10 37 5 11 Man-made disasters 12 166 1 — – – PRO 218 1,709 31 106 24 39 PDPO 68 1,625 8 24 8 20 Total 1,418 8,775 617 4,234 428 1,789 253 254 Statistical Appendix 1 Contd.
    [Show full text]
  • The History of International Food Safety Standards and the Codex Alimentarius (1955-1995)
    The History of International Food Safety Standards and the Codex Alimentarius (1955-1995) by Brigit Lee Naida Ramsingh A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Institute for the History & Philosophy of Science & Technology University of Toronto © Copyright by Brigit Ramsingh 2011 ii The History of International Food Safety Standards and the Codex Alimentarius (1955-1995) Brigit Ramsingh Doctor of Philosophy Institute for the History and Philosophy of Science and Technology University of Toronto 2011 Abstract Following the Second World War, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) teamed up to construct an international Codex Alimentarius (or “food code”) in 1962. Inspired by the work of its European predecessor, the Codex Europaeus, these two UN agencies assembled teams of health professionals, government civil servants, medical and scientific experts to draft food standards. Once ratified, the standards were distributed to governments for voluntary adoption and implementation. By the mid-1990s, the World Trade Organization (WTO) identified the Codex as a key reference point for scientific food standards. The role of science within this highly political and economic organization poses interesting questions about the process of knowledge production and the scientific expertise underpinning the food standards. Standards were constructed and contested according to the Codex twin goals of: (1) protecting public health, and (2) facilitating trade. One recent criticism of Codex is that these two aims are opposed, or that one is given primacy over the other, which results in protectionism. Bearing these themes in mind, in this dissertation I examine the relationship between the scientific and the ‘social’ elements embodied by the Codex food standards since its iii inception after the Second World War.
    [Show full text]