Look Who it Was Random video

Rome: Ban lays out steps to save billions from hunger at the World Food Security Summit

499 views · Published 16 November 2009 · 2:25 · Indexed 20 September 2026

Channel: United Nations · 2009 · News & Politics

Watch on YouTube

United Nations, New York, 16 November 2009  - The Secretary-General opened the World Food Security Summit in Rome today, telling delegates, "This day, more than 17 thousand children will die of hunger. One every five seconds. "
The Secretary-General stressed the heavy human costs of the food crisis, the need for a comprehensive approach and the deep interconnection between food security and climate change.  "There can be no food security without climate security," he said. He said that we will need to grow 70 per cent more food by 2050, at a time when weather is becoming more extreme and unpredictable. 
The Secretary-General added that he had joined FAO Executive Director Jacques Dioufs call for a day-long fast, by fasting yesterday. "It was not easy," he acknowledged. And he asserted, "Our job is not just to feed the hungry, but to empower the hungry to feed themselves. To do this, we need a comprehensive approach." 
Later, during a press encounter at the Headquarters of the Food and Agriculture Organization, the Secretary-General said that he remains positive about next months climate change conference in Copenhagen said. There is much convergence, he added, on a shared vision and in the areas of adaptation, technology and capacity building. He asserted, "I am fighting for a real deal in Copenhagen.  A deal that paves the way for a binding global climate treaty." 
This evening, the Secretary-General and Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini will host an informal meeting for Heads of State and Government and Senior Ministers in the margins of the Summit. They will have in-depth discussions on the link between food security and climate change and the necessity of forging a meaningful deal in Copenhagen.   
Earlier today, the Secretary-General visited World Food Programme headquarters in Rome to pay tribute to the five WFP colleagues recently killed in Pakistan.  He thanked the staff for their "extraordinary dedication to the worlds people". He said that the World Food Programme does more than feed people; it gives them hope. 
In the margins of the Summit, the Secretary-General held bilateral meetings with a number of leaders. He met with the Egyptian, Libyan and Tanzanian Presidents yesterday, and today he met with the Presidents of Brazil, Italy and Chile and the Vice Premier of the State Council of China. The Secretary-General also held separate meetings with the heads of the three UN Rome-based agencies (WFP, FAO and IFAD), at their respective headquarters.

For more information:
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=32959&Cr=hunger&Cr1=

More from this channel