Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

FAO is a UN specialized agency that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. FAO’s goal is to achieve food security for all and to ensure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. With over 194 member states, FAO works in more than 130 countries worldwide, including many experiencing recurring high levels of acute food insecurity driven by crises. Over the last four years, the Global Report on Food Crises – an output of the Global Network Against Food Crises of which FAO is a founding member – has demonstrated that consistently more than 100 million people per year are experiencing crisis or worse levels of acute food insecurity. Approximately 60-80 percent of these rely on agriculture-based livelihoods, including fishing, crop production, livestock rearing, and forestry. Livelihoods are rural people’s greatest defence against hunger and malnutrition.  Through its humanitarian/resilience activities, FAO is implementing humanitarian interventions in more than 70 countries, including leading or participating in needs assessments in the immediate aftermath of a disaster; engaging in anticipatory action to safeguard livelihoods against the impacts of impending disasters; providing critical livelihoods support; or undertaking rapid missions to assess and support national authorities in responding to and averting pest and disease outbreaks.