Agriculture & Food Security

Great Bustard MoU Meeting Adopts New Action Plan [viewed]

CMS12 April 2013: The 3rd Meeting of Signatories to the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the Conservation and Management of the Middle-European Population of the Great Bustard (Otis tarda), held in Szarvas, Hungary, adopted a new Action Plan for the period 2012-2016.

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CGIAR Reports Success from CRP-FTA First Year of Implementation [viewed]

CIFORApril 2013: The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Research Program on Forests, Trees and Agroforestry (CRP-FTA) has released its 2012 CRP Performance Monitoring Report.

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PROFOR Newsletter Features SFM Certification [viewed]

9 April 2013: The April issue of the World Bank Program on Forests' (PROFOR) newsletter features sections on the benefits of sustainable forest management (SFM) certification, upcoming events, new activities and stories from around PROFOR.

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IPPC-CPM 8 Approves Two ISPMs; Discusses Sea Containers, Grain [viewed]

IPPC12 April 2013: At its eighth session, the Committee on Phytosanitary Measures (CPM 8) approved two revised International Standards for Phytosanitary Measures (ISPMs) on pest risk analysis for quarantine pests and on the regulation of wood packaging material. The Committee also considered the way forward on developing ISPMs on sea containers and on international shipments of grain.

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UNCCD 2nd Scientific Conference, CST S-3 Transmit Proceedings to CRIC 11 [viewed]

12 April 2013: In a keynote address by Tarja Halonen, former President of Finland and Chair of the High-level Panel on Global Sustainability, participants at the third Special Session of the Committee on Science and Technology (CST S-3) of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the UNCCD 2nd Scientific Conference were reminded that sustainable land management (SLM) can be one of the most important tools for poverty eradication, and they were challenged to send a strong message that a land degradation neutral world is possible, with concrete targets and a monitoring system to follow progress.

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Montenegro Designates Special Flora and Fauna Reserve as Ramsar Site [viewed]

10 April 2013: The Secretariat of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands (Ramsar Convention) has reported that the Government of Montenegro has designated Tivat Saline, a Special Flora and Fauna Reserve located in the coastal strip of Tivat Bay, as its second Wetland of International Importance.

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ITPGR Circulates Report of Committee on Sustainable Use [viewed]

March 2013: The Secretariat of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGR) has circulated the report of the first meeting of the Ad Hoc Technical Committee on Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (PGRFA), held from 8-9 November 2012, in Rome, Italy.

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ITPGR Circulates Report of Seventh Meeting of the Advisory Committee on the Funding Strategy [viewed]

March 2013: The Secretariat of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGR) has circulated the report of the seventh meeting of the Ad Hoc Advisory Committee on the Funding Strategy, held from 18-20 September 2012, in Geneva, Switzerland.

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Event: CGIAR Science Forum: Nutrition and Health Outcomes: Targets for Agricultural Research [viewed]

In September 2013, the biennial Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR) Science Forum will bring together scientists, practitioners, experts and leading thinkers to examine emerging challenges and recent scientific advances in the areas of nutrition, health and agriculture. The Forum seeks to identify key research areas where there is potential to deliver impacts and, critically, it aims to facilitate the formation of new partnerships to address them. The event will reach out to scientists and scientific communities who may not be part of CGIAR, but who have potentially important contributions to make to the CGIAR research portfolio, and therefore to the global agriculture research agenda for a food secure future.  

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World Bank Improves Water Management in the Senegal River Region [viewed]

World Bank3 April 2013: The World Bank has reported on the implementation of a multi-country project, titled Senegal River Basin Multi-Purpose Water Resources Development Project (MWRD), which aims to assist Guinea, Mali, Mauritania and Senegal in jointly managing shared water resources, as well as reduce poverty, diseases and hunger.

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