1945 2015 70 YEARS OF FAO (1945-2015) HAS BEEN PREPARED BY FAO OFFICE FOR CORPORATE COMMUNICATION The publication was prepared by a core team led by Pedro Javaloyes. The Art Director was Rubén Bruque and was supported by Monica Umena for the English edition and Fabrizio Puzzilli for the French and Italian editions. Del Hambre is the author of all the illustrations in this book. Sherri Dougherty and the FAO photography team produced, selected and digitized the images. Thomas Canet took most of the photographs of the Portfolio (The FAO Headquarters, a neutral forum). The different chapters were written by (in the following order): Síle O’Broin (FAO in seven decades); Alberto Trillo (A New FAO of the 21st Century, The Greatest Challenges of FAO and Partnerships for a world free from hunger) Patricia Pascau (A global FAO, regional offices); Belén Delgado (The 10 Greatest Achievements of FAO); Eleonora Boni (FAO Headquarters: a neutral forum) and Beatriz Beeckmans (An FAO Open to Everyone). The English edition of the publication was edited by Alison Small and Síle O’Broin. Sophie Ditlecadet edited the French edition. Eleonora Boni edited the Italian edition and coordinated the translation into English, French and Spanish. 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 978-92-5-108970-5 © FAO, 2015 FAO encourages the use, reproduction and dissemination of material in this information product. Except where otherwise indicated, material may be copied, downloaded and printed for private study, research and teaching purposes, or for use in non-commercial products or services, provided that appropriate acknowledgement of FAO as the source and copyright holder is given and that FAO’s endorsement of users’ views, products or services is not implied in any way. All requests for translation and adaptation rights, and for resale and other commercial use rights should be addressed to [email protected]. FAO information products are available on the FAO website (www.fao.org/publications) and can be purchased through [email protected]. Contents CHAPTER 1. paGE 16 ABOVE: Meeting of the United Nations for Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) delegation in Washington D.C. 1950 to commemorate the first FAO Conference in Quebec, Canada in October 1945. LEFT: Chateau Frontenac, Quebec (Canada) where FAO was founded. RIGHT: On 16 October 1945 Quebec, Canada, FAO was born, after its Constitution was signed. ContentS 1 FAO IN SEVen DecaDES 14 FAO is born 17 First decade (1945-1955) 20 Second decade (1956-1965) 26 Third decade (1966 -1975) 30 Fourth decade (1976-1985) 34 Fifth decade (1986-1995) 38 Sixth decade (1996-2005) 42 Seventh decade (2006-2015) 46 FAO member states 48 Portfolio: Those early years CHAPTER 1. paGE 48 A FAO expert photographing an Olive plantation in Assaba, LIBYA ©FAO/J. MoseR 2 A NEW FAO foR THE 21ST CENTURY 82 The 5 Strategic Objectives 90 FAO today 91 Director-General: A life dedicated to the fight against hunger 94 The millennium development goals (MDGS) 95 The sustainable development goals (sdgs) 3 A GLOBAL FAO REGIONAL OFFICES 98 FAO in the world 100 A journey around the globe: Asia and the Pacific 102 Latin America and the Caribbean 104 Near East and North Africa 106 Africa 108 Europe and Central Asia Headquarters of FAO’s five regional offices in the world. BangKOK, THAIland SANTIago, CHIle CAIRO, EGYpt AccRA, Ghana BUdapest, HUngaRY Contents 4 THE 10 GREATEST ACHIEVEMENTS OF FAO 112 The Eradication of Rinderpest 118 The Treaty on Plant Genetic Re- sources for Food and Agriculture 124 Codex Alimentarius 128 The Fight Against Hunger in Latin America and the Caribbean 132 Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries 136 Guidelines on the Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests 140 The Committee on World Food Security 144 The Eradication of River Blindness in West Africa 148 The Green Revolution in Asia 152 Agriculture Market Information System (AMIS) CHAPTER 4. PAGE 112 Kenya. Maasai women herding cows to a watering hole in a village approximately 50 kilometres southwest of the capital Nairobi, which has been free of rinderpest since 2011. 5 the GreateST CHALLENGES OF FAO 161 Eradicating hunger and achieving food security 164 Hunger map 166 Combating rural poverty and inequality 170 Feeding a growing population 174 Food losses 176 Raising levels of nutrition 179 Improving the resilience of the most vulnerable people to CHAPTER 5. paGE 166 threats and crises Philippines. Family scene. Food insecurity is directly 183 Climate change in agriculture related to rural poverty. 184 Management of sea and ocean resources 188 Coping with water scarcity 191 Healthy soil for healthy living 194 Promoting conservation and sustainable use of land ecosystems 6 FAO HEADQUARTERS A NEUTRAL FORUM CHAPTER 6. PAGE 200 200 Virtual tour through the most FAO Experts photographed representative rooms of FAO in the King Faisal Room. CHAPTER 7. PAGE 240 7 Enrique Yeves, FAO Director of Communication interviewing Samuel Santos Lopez, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Nicaragua. FAO OPEN TO EVERYONE 234 Partnerships 240 Communications 248 FAO Ambassadors and friends 252 World Food Day 254 The UN at Milan Expo 2015 foRewoRD ERADICATING HUNGER IS POSSIBLE those early years; like the seven Directors-General With this publication that have preceded me, who have all left their we want to mark the 70th anniversary of the founding legacy; and like the many thousands of FAO of FAO as a United Nations Agency for Food and professionals who, in these 70 years, have devoted Agriculture. But, in all honesty, what I would really their lives and work to the mission for which FAO have liked to celebrate today with an announcement to was created. But the book also had to be a record of declare to the world that: “We have eradicated hunger the Organization’s actions, which is why we share from the world”. That will be the time when we truly some of the success stories in which FAO has played can celebrate. Because this generation – mine, ours a part. Let’s not forget that in these decades we have – has a real chance to achieve this: all we need is the managed to eradicate animal epidemics like political will, social awareness and a universal effort. rinderpest. Only once before had humans been able Today, we are in a much better situation than we to wipe out a disease, when smallpox was were 70 years ago. There is no doubt about that. eliminated in 1980. Important agreements have When FAO was founded, the world was emerging been reached, such as the Treaty on Plant Genetic from a cruel war. Most European countries were Resources, vital to ensuring the planet’s biodiversity, suffering from the devastating effects of hunger. On and the Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, 16 October 1945, the FAO Constitution set out the which is essential for the conservation of the marine Organization’s vision: “A world free of hunger and ecosystem. FAO also coordinates or is actively malnutrition where food and agriculture contribute to involved in important committees like the one on improving the living standards of all, especially the Food Security, the Codex Alimentarius – protecting poorest”. We had to fight against an enemy, hunger, consumer health around the world – or the whose effects we knew all too well, but about the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS), causes of which, we knew far too little. We had to created to prevent food price crises. start virtually from scratch. The first World Food We have now left behind the Millennium Survey coordinated by FAO was published in 1946 Development Goals, adopted in 2000, which helped to and made it very clear: “It is well known that there is lift 700 million people out of poverty in the last 15 much starvation and malnutrition in the world [yet] years. The new Sustainable Development Goals vague knowledge that this situation exists is not enough; (SDGs) recently adopted at the United Nations facts and figures are needed if the nations are to attempt Summit in New York in September 2015, which I to do away with famine and malnutrition”. attended as Director-General of FAO, will set the This book tells the story of these seven decades political agenda for the next 15 years. The main of the history of FAO, its protagonists and their objective of these goals will be to eradicate – I repeat, endeavours. Protagonists like the visionary David eradicate, not reduce – poverty and hunger, as well as Lubin; like Frank L. McDougall, an inspiration in to improve nutrition. 10 FAO 70 YEARS In these 70 years, the world has grown more We wanted to mark this anniversary with a book complex, more global, more interactive, and the that could reach everyone, written in simple language major problems that we have decided in this book to and with an attractive design that the whole world could call challenges are all interconnected. For instance: understand, because we believe that issues relating to the problem of hunger cannot be tackled without hunger and nutrition affect us all, and it is our duty to taking into account the fact that, very soon, by 2050, communicate our message in the clearest, most there will be nine billion inhabitants of this comprehensive and most rigorous way possible.