Posted 29 January 1999
Documentation from the World Food Summit is available at FAO HQs and the remaining copies will be distributed to those who can make good use of them as reference material. The documentation includes the three-volume set of the Technical Background Documents and the related Synthesis; the Report of the World Food Summit, Part One, and the Declaration and Plan of Action, printed separately from the Report. If interested, please provide names and addresses of specific libraries, government or civil society organizations and agricultural and educational institutions to which copies could be sent.
Please indicate for each case the language, number of copies required and the full postal address and send this information to the Office of the Special Adviser for follow-up to the World Food Summit, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Caracalla, 00100, Rome, Italy or send an e-mail to: RDFS-Net@fao.org
A recently published IMF paper on Policy Analysis and Assessment presents a preliminary analysis of the likely social impact of the economic crisis and the reform programmes in three Asian countries - Indonesia, Korea and Thailand. The focus is on likely changes in real consumption expenditures arising from the higher inflation and increases in unemployment. The current social policy measures adopted in the reform programmes should provide significant social safety nets for the poor. However, if the social impact turns out to be larger than projected, it would be worthwhile to assess cost-effective and efficient alternatives for expanding social safety nets. This paper attempts to examine the range of existing social policy instruments currently in place in these countries as well as present policy options that could be considered.
In commemoration of the 50th Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (10 December 1998), FAO published a book entitled "The Right to Food in Theory and Practice" and a leaflet on "What is the Right to Food". The FAO Legal Office has also set up a specific web site, devoted to the subject of the Right to Food. The publications and much other material are available on this site.
FAO co-hosted with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights the Second Expert Consultation on the Right to Adequate Food as a Human Right (18-19 November 1998). The Consultation, which focused on the role of international organizations, adopted a working definition of the right to food, and made a series of concrete recommendations for the implementation of this right.
UNHCR provides a Newswire Service with instant access on its web site to the latest news worldwide on stories related to refugees, asylum and/or UNHCR. Listed on the web site are logos for newswire services and search boxes where topics can be explored. The Newswire is updated throughout the day and provides information from all around the world.
The World Development Report 1998/99, the twenty-first in this annual series, examines the role of knowledge in advancing economic and social well-being. Because knowledge is at the heart of economic growth and sustainable development, understanding how people and societies acquire and use it-and why they sometimes fail to do so-is essential to improving people's lives, especially the lives of the poor. The Report suggests three lessons that are particularly important to the welfare of the billions of people in developing countries. First, developing countries must institute policies that enable them to narrow the knowledge gaps separating poor countries from rich countries. Second, developing country governments, multilateral institutions, non-governmental organizations, and the private sector must work together-to strengthen the institutions needed to address the information problems that cause markets and governments to fail. Third, no matter how effective these endeavours are, problems with knowledge will persist. But recognizing that knowledge is at the core of all our development efforts will allow us to discover unexpected solutions to seemingly intractable problems.
To obtain a copy of the World Bank Development Report, contact The World Bank P.O. Box 960, Herndon, VA 20172-0960, USA.