FAO

7 October 2008: The 2008 edition of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) State of the World's Food and Agriculture Report focuses on the prospects, risks and opportunities for biofuels. The report addresses key questions relating to the benefits and impacts of biofuel production and use, including impacts on food security, land and water resources, as well as contributions to greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction and agricultural development.

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September 2008: The next UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Electronic Forum on Biotechnology in Food and Agriculture, to be held from 10 November to 7 December 2008, will address the potential role that agricultural biotechnologies can play for bioenergy production in

developing countries, in particular liquid biofuels.

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24 September 2008: UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has

announced the launch of the United Nations' Reduced Emissions from

Deforestation and Forest Degradation (REDD) Programme, which aims to combat

climate change through creating incentives to reverse deforestation trends.

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18 September 2008: On the eve of the opening of the 63rd

session of the UN General Assembly, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization

(FAO) released a briefing paper on the impact of high food prices on hunger,

which states that rising food prices pushed 75 million more people into hunger

and threatens efforts to realize the goal of halving the number of those in

hunger by 2015. The paper will inform a high-level event on the Millennium

Development Goals (MDGs), to be held on 25 September.

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15 September 2008: Leaders of the Rome-based UN agencies,

the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), World Food Programme

(WFP) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), together with

the World Bank, presented a common statement to the European Parliament's

Development Committee, urging it to take the lead in providing assistance to

help farmers cope with surging food and commodity prices.

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28 August 2008: A conference on “Adaptation of Forests and Forest Management to Changing Climate with Emphasis on Forest Health: A Review

of Science, Policies and Practices” convened from 25-28 August 2008, in Umeå,

Sweden.

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29 August 2008: The International Symposium on Climate

Change and Food Security in South Asia, which met from 25-30 August 2008, in

Dhaka, Bangladesh, and was co-sponsored by Ohio State University, the World

Meteorological Organization, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the UN

Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific, the University of

Dhaka and the Government of Bangladesh, adopted a Declaration and

recommendations towards minimizing the short- and long-term vulnerability of

the South Asian region to climate change.

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25 August 2008: A UN-sponsored International Symposium on

Climate Change and Food Security in South Asia, taking place from 25-30 August

in Dhaka, Bangladesh, aims to develop an agriculture mitigation and adaptation

framework for climate change implementation in South Asia. Participants are

also expected to recommend policy and financial innovations to enable the

implementation of the framework and its integration into the sustainable

development planning of South Asia countries.

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August 2008: The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

and the UN Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) have announced a workshop on

Harvested Wood Products in the Context of Climate Change, to be held from 9-10

September 2008, in Geneva, Switzerland.

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August 2008: The Global Partnership Initiative for Plant Breeding Capacity Building (GIPB), a platform and partnership of public, private and civil society institutions hosted by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), in collaboration with the FAO Inter-Departmental Working Group on Bioenergy, has called for expanded, up-to-date information on genetic resources and breeding of selected underutilized species, together with detailed analysis of their potential as bioenergy crops adaptable to sustainable smallholder production systems.

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