16 October 2012: The UN celebrated World Food Day on 16 October under the theme of “Agricultural Cooperatives: Key to Feeding the World,” drawing inspiration from the observance of the 2012 International Year of Cooperatives.

According to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, agricultural cooperatives are vital for improving food and nutrition security, and able to “generate employment, alleviate poverty, and empower poor and marginalized groups in rural areas, especially women, to drive their own destinies.” He recalled the Zero Hunger Challenge launched in June 2012 at the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20), and stressed the importance of cooperatives in contributing to this goal.

World Food Day also marked the release of a report titled “Avoiding Future Famines: Strengthening the Ecological Basis of Food Security through Sustainable Food Systems,” produced by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), in collaboration with the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), the World Bank, the World Food Programme (WFP) and the World Resources Institute (WRI). The report analyzes food consumption patterns, agricultural production, marine fisheries and inland fisheries, and underscores the need to safeguard the underlying ecological foundations that support food production, including biodiversity.

The report also finds that agriculture and fisheries face many threats, which are exacerbated by population growth, income growth, and changing lifestyles and diets linked to urbanization. [FAO Press Release] [UNEP Press Release] [Publication: Avoiding Future Famines: Strengthening the Ecological Basis of Food Security through Sustainable Food Systems] [UN Secretary-General Statement]