The CFS is the United Nations' forum for reviewing policies concerning world food. It is the most inclusive international and intergovernmental platform for all relevant stakeholders to work together to ensure food security and nutrition.
About the Committee on World Food Security
Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests
Outline UCFA
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Updated CFA (UCFA)
The UCFA is offered as a tool to inspire and inform Member States as they engage in discussions around matters related to food and nutrition security in different intergovernmental bodies.
56th Commission on the Status of Women (New York, 27 February-9 March 2012)
19th Human Rights Council (Geneva, 27 February - 23 March 2012)
2012 Spring Meetings, World Bank and International Monetary Fund (Washington, 20-22 April 2012)
UNCTAD XIII (Doha, 21-26 April 2012)
65th World Health Assembly (Geneva, 21-26 May 2012)
UNICEF Executive Board (New York, 5-8 June 2012)
101st Session of the International Labour Conference (Geneva, May 30 - June 15 2012)
WTO Geneva Week for Non-Resident Members and Observers (Geneva, July 9-13 2012)
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5 July 2011 – Emergency delivery of aid to people facing drought-related hunger in the Horn of Africa must be accompanied by longer-term efforts to boost food security in the region, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said today, calling for an agricultural transformation that improves the livelihoods of rural communities in the region.
25 July 2011, Rome - The international community rallied today to the aid of drought- and famine-affected populations in the Horn of Africa with an immediate, twin-track programme designed to avert an imminent humanitarian catastrophe and build long-term food security in the region.
The meeting was organized by FAO at the urgent request of the French Presidency of the Group of 20 and was attended by Ministers and senior representatives from FAO's 191 Member Countries, other UN agencies and international and non-governmental organizations.
WASHINGTON, July 25, 2011 – On the eve of the international emergency summit on the unfolding tragedy in the Horn of Africa, the World Bank today announced it is providing more than $500 million to assist drought victims, in addition to $12 million in immediate assistance to help those worst hit by the crisis.
More than 11 million people in the region have been hit by one of the worst droughts in 60 years, resulting in widespread hunger, deaths, and the loss of subsistence crops and livestock. Rising food prices and deteriorating livestock prices have exacerbated the situation, and the UN is warning of worsening conditions in the coming months.
24 July 2011 – The United Nations humanitarian chief today voiced concern at the dwindling stocks of aid for people caught up in the recent fighting engulfing Sudan's region of Southern Kordofan, warning the consequences will be grave unless aid workers are allowed in to replenish supplies.
“Children, elderly people and mothers risk hunger,” said Valerie Amos, Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and UN Emergency Relief Coordinator, in a statement.
23 July 2011 – The United Nations-managed humanitarian fund has allocated more than $51 million to deliver food aid to thousands of needy people across the Horn of Africa, which has been ravaged by a drought so severe that parts of southern Somalia are now experiencing famine.
The Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF) gave $20 million to aid agencies and projects in Somalia, $14.6 million to Ethiopia, $13.6 million to Kenya and a separate $3.1 million to support refugees on the move as a result of the current crisis.
22 July 2011 – An independent United Nations expert said today it is time to reconsider the economic sanctions imposed on Madagascar following the 2009 political crisis, warning that they are aggravating an already dire situation in which one in two inhabitants of the country is food insecure.
“All food security indicators are in the red,” Olivier De Schutter, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, said at a press conference in the capital, Antananarivo, as he concluded his official mission to the Indian Ocean island nation.
22 July 2011 – Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today made an impassioned plea to the international community to mobilize resources to avert a humanitarian catastrophe in Somalia, where severe drought has plunged communities in the southern region of the country into famine.
21 July 2011 – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) said today it will start airlifts within days to get vital supplies into Somalia, which is bearing the brunt of the humanitarian crisis in the Horn of Africa, and is preparing to open up a number of new land and air routes to bring urgent relief to millions in need.
The announcement comes a day after the UN declared a famine in two regions of southern Somalia owing to the worst drought in decades, and appealed for urgent resources to provide assistance. It is the first time since 1991-92 that the UN has declared famine in a part of Somalia.
21 July 2011 – For many months United Nations aid agencies have warned of an impending crisis in the Horn of Africa as drought, failed harvests and fighting in some areas led to increasing food insecurity. Now conditions are so grim that the UN has turned to a word it uses sparingly and specifically – famine.
Yesterday the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) declared that a famine exists in two regions of southern Somalia, and warned that the famine could soon spread to the rest of southern Somalia.
20 July 2011, Nairobi/Rome - Famine in Somalia has killed tens of thousands of people in recent months and could grow even worse unless urgent action is taken, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warned on Wednesday. FAO has appealed for $120 million for response to the drought in the Horn of Africa to provide agricultural emergency assistance.
Hundreds of people are dying every day and if we do not act now many more will perish," said FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf.
The Independent External Evaluation (IEE) of the HLTF Coordination Team was issued in May 2013
IEE Final Report Volume I
IEE Final Report Volume II
Management Response of HLTF Coordination Team to IEE Report
Many different groups are moving forward on an effort to scale up nutrition (SUN). We are witnessing the emergence of a movement.
For more information visit www.scalingupnutrition.org
UN Conference on Sustainable Development - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, June 20-22, 2012
Rio+20 Outcome document The Future We Want
Position Paper from the UN System High Level Task Force on Global Food Security
To read more about the structure and functions of the High Level Task Force, please visit our page on Structure
We have compiled a list of useful links from a variety of sources, including governments, international agencies, NGOs and scientific organizations. Please feel free to inform us of additional web sites for consideration.
The spike in food prices of last year (2008) underscored what experts have been telling us for many years: the world's food systems are in crisis