Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO)

The United Nations’ (UN) Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is the international organization responsible for improving food security and forest management through the collective efforts of its member states. For geographers it is an important source of international land use statistics.

History and Constitution

The FAO was founded in 1945 at the first session of the FAO Conference, held in Quebec City, Canada. Its Forestry and Forest Products Division was established in 1946. The conference is FAO's supreme governing body, and all member states, which currently number 191, attend its biennial meetings. It elects FAO's director-general, who manages the secretariat, and the council, a body of 49 member states that meets at least four times between conference sessions and is FAO's executive organ.

FAO's activities are undertaken ...

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