What new initiatives will FAO bring to Johannesburg?
FAO is proposing an Anti-Hunger Programme with actions that reduce hunger through agriculture and rural development and providing wider access to food. The programme would require an additional public investment of an estimated US$24 billion annually, which we estimate would yield benefits worth at least US$120 billion per year as a result of longer, healthier and more productive lives for all those who gain from such improvements. This initiativeis in addition to the Organizations continuing work on the chapters of Agenda 21, the plan of action from the 1992 Rio Earth Summit, for which we have been given responsibility. FAO held its own summit in June, the World Food Summit: five years later, in order to renew the political will to reduce hunger by half by 2015. Is the goal of ending hunger relevant to the Johannesburg Summit? We believe the Plan of Action from the 1996 World Food Summit provides an appropriate framework for many Johannesburg Summit initiatives by linking increased pr
