18 November 2009: The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) convened a World Summit on Food Security from 16-18 November 2009, at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy. The Summit included a high-level segment and round tables on: challenges imposed by climate change on agriculture and food security; measures to enhance global food security; and global governance reforms for food security. The Summit was attended by 60 Heads of State and government, as well as the Heads of many UN organizations. World leaders adopted a declaration that includes a strategic objective to “proactively face the challenges of climate change to food security and the need for adaptation of, and mitigation in, agriculture.”
In their statements, many Heads of State and government stressed the role of agriculture in climate change mitigation and the potential impact of climate change on production. In the round table on climate change, participants discussed the challenge of making agriculture contribute to mitigation while meeting global food demands and highlighted the need for early action in vulnerable regions.
In addition to the objective to face the challenges posed by climate change, the Summit declaration includes additional objectives to: renew efforts to halve hunger by 2015; improve international coordination and governance for food security; and reverse the downward trend in funding for agriculture, food security and rural development in developing countries. In order to achieve these strategic objectives, world leaders adopted Five Rome Principles for Sustainable Global Food Security. [IISD RS Coverage of the Summit]
[Summit Homepage][The Declaration][FAO Press Release]