World Soil Day

  This is the fourth version of the International Code of Conduct on Pesticide Management that FAO’s governing bodies have approved since 1985. It provides a framework that guides government regulators, the private sector, civil society and other stakeholders on best practice in managing pesticides throughout their lifecycle. Its overall structure remains unchanged and covers every aspect of pesticide management from production to disposal. This version, approved by the 38th FAO Conference in June 2013, incorporates public health pesticides and vector control to broaden the scope of the Code of Conduct beyond agricultural pesticides. It gives greater attention to health and environmental aspects of pesticides, updates a number of definitions and terms and aligns guidance in several technical areas with developments in international chemicals management. The new Code comes at a time when greater attention is being focused on increasing food production while conserving and enhancing ...

   KEY ROLE OF SOIL Help to combat and adapt to climate change by storing carbon and decreasing greenhouse gas emissions in the atmosphere.

Healthy soils are the foundation for food, fuel, fibre and even medicine, said the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) as it kicked off the 2015 International Year of Soils today on the first-ever World Soil Day . Healthy soils are the foundation for food, fuel, fibre and even medicine said the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) today as it kicked off 2015 the International Year of Soils on the first-ever World Soil Day. Soils are also essential to our ecosystems, playing a key role in the carbon cycle, storing and filtering water, and improving resilience to floods and droughts, and yet we are not paying enough attention to this important “silent ally,” the UN agency explained. The International Year of Soils kicks off today at events in Rome, New York and Santiago de Chile, in an effort to raise awareness and promote more sustainable use of this critical resource. “Today, we have more than 805 million people facing hunger and malnutrition. P...