Governance of Tenure

The Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security were endorsed by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) and the FAO Council in June 2012. They are to:

- serve as a reference and set out principles and internationally accepted standards for practices for the responsible governance of tenure;

- provide a framework that States can use when developing their own strategies, policies, legislation, programmes and activities;

- allow governments, civil society, the private sector and citizens to judge whether their proposed actions and the actions of others constitute acceptable practices.

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World Water Forum Declaration

The 6th World Water Forum concluded with adoption of the Marseille Ministerial Declaration. Among reiterating commitment to the UN/MDGs and recognizing the need to build resilience to climate change and variability through integrated land and water resources management, the Declaration calls for the following priorities to be addressed, in particular at UNCSD,(Rio+20): - accelerating the implementation of "human right obligations" relating to access to safe drinking water and sanitation;
- interlinking water, energy, and food security to ensure policy coherence to avoid adverse consequences; and
- incorporating water in all its economic, social and environmental dimensions in a framework of governance, financing and cooperation.

UN Personnel Update

The UN World Food Program has named Ertharin Cousin (USA) to assume the post of Executive Director when Josette Sheeran’s five-year term ends in April.

Margaret Chan (China), Director General of the WHO has been nominated for a second five-year term by the agency’s Executive Board. 

The UN Population Fund announced that Anne-Birgitte Albrectsen (Denmark), will be working at the Assistant Secretary-General level as the new Deputy Executive Director.

It is reported that by mid-2012, at least eight under secretaries-general will be replaced, including Kiyotaka Akasaka (Japan), Head of Communications and Public Information; B. Lynn Pascoe (USA) running the Department of Political Affairs; Sha Zukang (China), Chief of the Department of Economic and Social Affairs; and Sergio Duarte (Brazil), High Representative for Disarmament Affairs.

FAO: Renewed efforts for Plant Genetic Resources

The 2nd Global Plan of Action for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA) has been adopted by the Council of the Food and Agriculture Organization, to accelerate the implementation of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGR); and strengthen conservation and sustainable use of plants and seed systems through:
-  better management of crop diversity in farmers’ fields;
-  developing strategies to protect, collect and conserve crop wild relatives and wild food plants that are under threat,
- support use of a wider range of traits for plant breeding, and
- strengthen seed systems especially of locally adapted varieties.

Publication: Second Global Plan of Action for Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture

FAO Report: Land and Water

"The State of the World’s Land and Water Resources for Food and Agriculture" calls for improved efficiency of water use, better knowledge development and training, the integration of climate-smart production models, increased investment in agricultural development and harmonization of national policies and actions. It also includes examples of successful actions that may be scaled, as well as a broad typology of land systems at risk, including to climate impacts.

Agrobiodiversity and Law: Regulating Genetic Resources, Food Security and Cultural Diversity

This new book analyzes the impact of the legal system on agrobiodiversity and the emergence of the concept and its relationship with food security, nutrition, health, environmental sustainability and climate change. It assesses the impacts of key legal instruments, discussing the interface between the free software movement, the 'commons' movement and seeds, and the role of protected areas.

Food Security and Climate Change

The Commission on Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Change, an independent commission of scientists, has released a summary for policy makers, including a set of seven recommendations calling, inter alia, for significantly raising global investments in sustainable agriculture, intensifying agricultural production on existing land base while reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, and reducing losses and waste in the food system.

UN and ASEAN: Joint Declaration

On occassion of the 4th ASEAN-UN Summit, the organizations concluded a Joint Declaration on a Comprehensive Partnership including sections on: food and energy security; climate change; disaster risk reduction; and economy and development.

New Water Initiative

The Bonn2011: Water Energy Food Nexus Conference, brought together high-level stakeholders from the water, energy and food sectors in an effort to improve understanding of the interdependencies among these sectors and to develop a joint "Nexus perspective" to common and interlinked challenges. Among a number of commitments, the “International Water Stewardship Initiative” is a collaboration between the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), WWF, and SAB Miller. It aims to encourage companies to take responsibility for tackling water problems, has €6 million in initial funding and is planned to run for six years.

APEC Ministerial Statement

In their Statement, Ministers attending the 2011 Asia-Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) pledged, inter alia, to strengthen food security, promote green growth and advance sustainable development of oceans.

2011 Human Development Report

Titled "Sustainability and Equity: A Better Future for All,” the new report from the UN Development Programme (UNDP) highlights that equity and sustainability are inextricably linked and that if bold actions are not taken, environmental damage, including climate change effects, can slow or reverse development progress made in recent years. Among the findings, it also forecasts that inaction to curb environmental degradation could impact food prices and reverse development efforts, whil noting that half of all malnutrition in the word is due to environmental factors, such as water pollution.

AFED: 4th Annual Conference

Meeting from 27-28 October, participants at the 4th Annual Conference of the Arab Forum for Environment and Development (AFED) agreed on recommendations calling on Arab governments to, inter alia:
- give higher priority to environmentally-sustainable agriculture and rural development as a strategic policy objective to achieve food security;
- introduce a policy shift towards water demand management;
- adopt national and regional strategies for energy efficiency;
- promote the development of private sector-led locally-based competitive green technology through economic incentives; and
- promote public awareness campaigns on green economy.

CTI-CFF/3rd Ministerial

The 3rd Ministerial Meeting of the Coral Triangle* Initiative on Coral Reefs Fisheries and Food Security concluded its meeting on October 28 with ministers from the six Coral Triangle states  – Indonesia, Malaysia, Papua New Guinea, Philippines, Solomon Islands and Timor-Leste - officially adopting agreements on the establishment of a permanent Regional Secretariat. Furthermore, ministers endorsed other decisions such as the CTI-CFF Secretariat Transition Roadmap that includes among others: recruitment of Secretariat staff and initiation of collection of country contributions within the 12-month period.

CTI-CFF Website


*The Coral Triangle is known as the "Amazon of the Seas" for being one of the world's most diverse and threatened marine ecosystems. It encompasses ocean areas of six states in Southeast Asia and the Pacific.

EFSA Regarding GM-Maize Pollen

The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA), following a request for scientific support, has issued a statement declaring that there are no scientifically grounded concerns regarding the safety of pollen derived from the genetically modified maize variety MON810.
EFSA Press Release

New Publication from ICIMOD

As the outcome of deliberations during the International conference on Green Economy and Sustainable Mountain Development, the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) has released  ‘Green Economy for Sustainable Mountain Development: A Concept Paper for Rio+20 and Beyond’. This publication was prepared to strengthen arguments for discussing mountain issues at Rio+20 and in other global discourses and aims to ensure renewed efforts and commitment by the global community to prioritise mountain issues in development agendas and processes dealing with poverty reduction, food security, climate change, and other issues that are critical to sustainable development in mountain areas.

European Commission: Biodiversity and Health

The European Commission has produced a policy brief that summarizes scientific information on the benefits biodiversity provides for human health and offers policy recommendations. In particular, the brief discusses medicines from natural products, food security, infectious diseases, green spaces and urban biodiversity, and uncertainties and complexity.

World Mountain Conference 2011

The Lucerne World Mountain Conference brought over 100 international experts and policy-makers together from 11-12 October to highlight the importance of mountains and feed into Rio+20. Lastly, participants adopted a Call for Action to adapt and develop mountain governance to avoid poverty, food insecurity and social exclusion.

Global Soil Partnership

The Global Soil Partnership (GSP) for Food Security and Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation seeks to build capacities and forums for exchanging knowledge and technologies of sustainable management of soil resources. It plans to propose national and international quality-soil health best practices, standards, guidelines and monitoring systems and will address the following five pillars of action:
- harmonizing guidelines and standards for measurement;
- strengthening soil data and information;
- promoting targeted soil research focusing on gaps and priorities;
- promoting sustainable management of soil research and improved global governance; and
- encouraging investment and technical cooperation in soils.

GSP Website
GSP Brochure

UN-SG: Report on the Work of the Organization

The UN/GA has circulated the Report of the Secretary-General on the work of the Organization (A/66/1). Coverage includes:
-  responses to disasters and the fact that the UN has begun to place a higher premium on disaster risk reduction and to forge new types of partnerships with the business community and civil society;
- responses to development needs underlining the outcome of LDC-IV, by which States committed to address the structural challenges faced by LDCs;
- a call for UNCSD (Rio+20) to agree on “an ambitious and actionable framework that complements the Millennium Development Goals” (MDGs), to follow the 2015 target date for meeting the eight MDGs;
- the needs of Africa and the worsening problems (extreme poverty, unemployment, armed conflicts, sexual and gender-based violence) masked by the region’s overall economic growth. In response, the UN is working to advance implementation of the Declaration on Enhancing UN-African Union (AU) Cooperation: Framework for the 10-Year Capacity-Building Programme for the AU, and partnering with governments to boost financing in sustainable forest management and other areas;
- climate change and its importance to global peace and prosperity; calling for “sustained global cooperation coupled with accelerated national actions to reduce emissions and strengthen climate resilience.” It praises the results of the Cancun Climate Change Conference as having provided an important set of tools that now must be put into practice;
- the Secretary-General’s High-level Panel on Global Sustainability (GSP), which aims to provide a practical road map for sustainable, climate-resilient development that addresses poverty eradication, energy, food, water and other key issues, the recommendations of which are expected to provide input to UNCSD (Rio+20);
- participation of the business community and the successful integration through the “private sector track” at LDC-IV providing a model for closer engagement around UNCSD (Rio+20) and other high-level events.

Lastly, the report notes that “achieving sustainable development is imperative" and in the view of the UN-SG, a crucial part of this agenda will be forging a sustainable global energy strategy.

New Report Related to Water and Food

UNEP and the International Water Management Institute (IWMI) have released a report titled “An Ecosystems Approach to Water and Food Security," which recommend that policymakers consider farmland, fisheries and other agricultural areas as "agroecosystems." UNEP and IWMI recommend closer collaboration between government authorities in agriculture, environment, forestry, fisheries and other sectors and hightlight the potential role for incentives, including paying farmers to plant and maintain trees on their land, to bolster ecosystem services and thus their contribution to water and food security.