FAO shows interest in exploring the potential of organic agriculture for food security

The reintroduction of a controversial pesticide to control malaria has drawn sharp reactions from many quarters but there could be more to the issue than meets the eye.

WHO promotes indoor spraying with insecticides as one of three main interventions to fight malaria

Organic farming, the systematic conversion of land to certified practices that ensure food safety and security from the farm to the table, a comprehensive and fully traceable system, is developing rapidly throughout the world.

Rats fed on a diet rich in genetically modified corn developed abnormalities to internal organs and changes to their blood, raising fears that human health could be affected by eating GM food.

The celebration each year of the International Day for Biological Diversity is an occasion to reflect on our responsibility to safeguard this precious heritage for future generations. The 2005 theme is: Life Insurance for our Changing World.

Food Sovereignty is the right of peoples, communities, and countries to define their own agricultural, pastoral, labour, fishing, food and land policies which are ecologically, socially, economically and culturally appropriate to their unique circumstances. It includes the true right to food and to produce food, which means that all people have the right to safe, nutritious and culturally appropriate food and to food-producing resources and the ability to sustain themselves and their societies.

Sixty percent of earth's ecosystems are being degraded or used unsustainably. (The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment Synthesis Report).

On May 17, 2004, the first-ever legally binding international treaty to control toxic chemicals - the Stockholm Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPs) enters into force, providing an unprecedented legal framework to ban or severely restrict the production and use of the some of the worlds most toxic chemicals.

Only a few countries are benefiting so far - food crops of the poor need more attention.

The Koto Protocol became legally binding on its 128 Parties on 16th February 2005.

The Commission April 2003 session marks its first formal meeting since the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development in South Africa. The Commission will focus on its own future work in translating into reality the commitments to economic growth, social development and environmental protection, made at that landmark conference.