37th CFS Plenary Session, 17-22 October 2011, Rome
The CFS is the United Nations' forum for reviewing policies concerning world food. It is the most inclusive international and intergovernmental platform for all relevant stakeholders to work together to ensure food security and nutrition.
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31 January 2012 –The United Nations World Food Programme announced today that it will scale up its assistance to reach 80,000 people affected by the recent escalation of ethnic violence in South Sudan’s Jonglei state.
WASHINGTON, January 31, 2012—Global food prices declined 8 percent between September and December of 2011 due to increasing supplies and uncertainty about the global economy, but still remain volatile and high with the 2011 annual index 24 percent higher than its average in 2010, according to the World Bank Group’s latest Food Price Watch.
While the first quarter of 2011 witnessed sharp increases, five consecutive months of decreases at the end of the year drove the World Bank Food Price Index 7 percent below the December 2010 levels, and 14 percent lower than its February peak. Nevertheless, global prices remain high with the 2011 annual index averaging at 210 points against 169 points average in 2010.
26 January 2012 – The United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) today is honouring Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and activist Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu for his efforts in the battle against hunger and his advocacy on behalf of the world’s most vulnerable people.
“I can think of no more worthy individual as a recipient of this honour, than a man who has confronted tyranny and defended the weak and the hungry, armed with nothing but the strength of his faith and the unwavering belief in upholding the rights of the oppressed,” said WFP Executive Director Josette Sheeran.
25 January 2012 – The United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) has warned that half a million children in Yemen could die or suffer physical and mental damage as a result of malnutrition, unless sufficient resources are made available to alleviate the effects of conflict, chronic poverty and drought.
24 January 2012 – Cooperatives and producer organizations will be increasingly important in efforts to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty, the head of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) said today.
No, despite what you might think, the truth is that those who go to Davos go with a purpose. (..) This year, I'll be there to listen, to share what we've learned as Kraft Foods and to urge action to tackle three of the greatest challenges facing the world today: food security, environmental degradation and economic development. (..) There are also lots of ways you can get directly involved in fighting hunger and supporting sustainable agriculture -- from buying certified cocoa and coffee products to supporting the World Food Program.
ROME – The Executive Director of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP), Josette Sheeran, will attend the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2012 in Davos, Switzerland, beginning on Wednesday, 25 January.
The World Economic Forum is an opportunity for WFP to engage with the world’s political, economic and business leaders to discuss their role in supporting efforts to alleviate global hunger - the world’s greatest solvable problem.
GENEVA – “Drought, poor harvests and rising food prices have left the Sahel region of West-Central Africa on the brink of a humanitarian crisis,” warned Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food.
“We must not wait until people are starving in order to act. The world must respond immediately to avert a full-scale food and nutrition crisis,” the Special Rapporteur said. “This crisis may look like a natural calamity, but it is in fact a symptom of our failure to be better prepared and to react more swiftly to early warning signs. The failure of the international community to act, now and in the future, would result in major violations of the right to food.”
12 January 2012, Rome - Food prices fell in December 2011 with the FAO Food Price Index dropping 2.4 percent, or five points from November, FAO said today.
At its new level of 211 points, the Index was 11.3 percent (27 points) below its peak in February 2011.
The decline was driven by sharp falls in international prices of cereals, sugar and oils due to bumper 2011 crops coupled with slowing demand and a stronger US dollar. Most commodities were affected.
The government declared Jonglei state a "humanitarian disaster area" and called on international aid agencies to help provide urgently needed assistance.
It is not yet clear how many people have been killed or injured in the violence.
The United Nations said Thursday it was mounting a "massive emergency support programme" to help those displaced by fighting.
Above all, that means connecting the dots between challenges such as climate change and water scarcity, energy shortages, global health issues, food insecurity and the empowerment of the world’s women 
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Many different groups are moving forward on an effort to scale up nutrition (SUN). We are witnessing the emergence of a movement.
For more information visit www.scalingupnutrition.org
To read more about the structure and functions of the High Level Task Force, please visit our page on Structure
We have compiled a list of useful links from a variety of sources, including governments, international agencies, NGOs and scientific organizations. Please feel free to inform us of additional web sites for consideration.
The spike in food prices of last year (2008) underscored what experts have been telling us for many years: the world's food systems are in crisis