The
Poor will Suffer Most
Washington/Rome, 10 October 2008 - Climate
change and bioenergy are the focus of this
year's World Food Day activities, expected
to involve over 150 countries. FAO celebrates
World Food Day each year on 16 October,
the day on which the Organization was founded
in 1945.
"Global warming
is already underway and adaptation strategies
are now a matter of urgency, especially
for the most vulnerable poor countries.Hundreds
of millions of small-scale farmers, fishers
and forest-dependent people will be worst
hit by climate change. Adaptation strategies,
especially for the most vulnerable poor
countries, where most of the over 920 million
hungry people live, need to be urgently
developed, reviewing land use plans, food
security programs, fisheries and forestry
policies to protect the poor from climate
change," said Alexander Mueller, FAO
Assistant Director-General for Natural Resources
Management and Environment Department. The
FAO Committee on World Food Security, with
representatives from more than 100 countries
and a number of civil society organizations,
will meet in Rome (14-17 October 2008) to
assess trends in the world food security
and nutrition situation.
The First Lady of Egypt,
Suzanne Mubarak, will be the keynote speaker
at the World Food Day Ceremony in Rome,
16 October.
Former U.S. President
Bill Clinton will participate in a World
Food Day ceremony at the United Nations
in New York on 23 October.
Major World Food Day
events are planned in Albania, Egypt, Morocco,
South Korea and a number of Asian and Latin
American countries during October. For example,
the President of Colombia will participate
in WFD event in Medellin. In Ecuador, roundtable
discussions and seminars on the WFD theme
are scheduled.
A third edition of the
popular Run for Food will take place in
Rome on 19 October involving over 4 000
people with a similar event to be held simultaneously
in Milan.
Together with the European
Professional Football League (EPFL), FAO
will also launch its Professional Football
against Hunger initiative on 15 October
in Rome. This campaign, with a special emphasis
on raising awareness among young people,
will involve 960 clubs that are EPFL members.
Among other activities,
the Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture
and Forestry will hold a WFD seminar in
Stockholm on 16 October.
The same day, in Brussels,
a joint conference on the food crisis will
take place between the EU Agricultural Information
Center and the European Parliament Development
Commission and FAO.
Also on World Food Day,
Ireland's Freedom from Hunger Council will
organize a seminar in Dublin. Similar events
are planned throughout Italy. In Spain,
the annual WFD Telefood gala will take place
on 8 November over a period of seven hours.
In Egypt and in the
Gulf Countries, as well as in Africa, Asia
and Latin America, WFD/TeleFood activities
and events are planned to raise awareness
and funds for TeleFood fighting hunger projects.
Jill Ersner, Media Relations
Nick Nuttall, UNEP Spokesperson/Head of
Media
+ More
Convention on Migratory
Species Declares 2009 Year of the Gorilla
Bonn, 8 October 2008
- The Convention on the Conservation of
Migratory Species of Wild Animals (UNEP/CMS),
also known as the Bonn Convention, will
declare 2009 the Year of the Gorilla (YoG)
on December 1st at its ninth Conference
of Parties in Rome. Partners in this campaign
will be the Great Apes Survival Partnership
(GRASP), in cooperation with UNEP and UNESCO,
and the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums
(WAZA). The Year of the Gorilla is part
of the UN Decade of Education for Sustainable
Development.
Three of the four gorilla
subspecies, which belong to two species,
are listed as 'Critically Endangered' in
the International Union for the Conservation
of Nature (IUCN) Red List. Gorillas are
listed on Appendix I of the IUCN. The legally
binding CMS Gorilla Agreement on the conservation
of gorillas and their habitats in the ten
African range states aims at securing the
survival of gorilla populations in the wild.
The main threats to gorillas
are hunting for food and traditional medicine,
destruction of habitat through logging,
mining and production of charcoal, the effects
of armed conflicts and diseases like Ebola.
The YoG campaign will
work for the implementation of the CMS Gorilla
Agreement by supporting conservation action
in gorilla habitat. Other aspects will be
the funding and training of rangers, support
for scientific research, development of
alternative sources of income, e.g. ecotourism,
as well as education and awareness raising.
Interested parties will be given the possibility
of supporting specific projects presented
on the website www.yog2009.org .
Veronika Lenarz
UNEP/CMS Secretariat
