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Organization : Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
Acronym: : FAO
Nationality of the organisation of establishment : International Year of establishment : 1945
college to which your organisation belongs to :
College 1:Inter-governmental organisations
Scope of your organisation : International
 Are you organiation's activities focused primarily on water and sanitation ? : Yes No
Please indicate your organisation's field(s) of expertise and activities :
  • Water resources management
  • Basic Human needs or health
  • Development or infrastructure
  • Climate or natural hazards
  • Environment or ecosystems
  • Water supply or sanitation
  • Agriculture or food production
  • Human rights or social issues
  • Education or capacity building
  • Human settlements or habitats
  • Regulation and governance
  • Economics or finance
  • Research or development
  • Energy or industry
  • Media awareness
  • International cooperation or humanitarian relief
You may specify your activities by providing a list of more precise keywords:
Description of your Organisation's activities : The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) is specialized agency of the United Nations that leads international efforts to defeat hunger. Our goal is to achieve food security for all and make sure that people have regular access to enough high-quality food to lead active, healthy lives. The world’s population is predicted to increase to 9 billion people by 2050. Some of the world’s highest rates of population growth are predicted to occur in areas that are highly dependent on the agriculture sector (crops, livestock, forestry and fisheries) and have high rates of food insecurity. Growth in the agriculture sector is one of the most effective means of reducing poverty and achieving food security. FAO works to ensure that increased productivity does not only benefit the few, and that the natural resource base can provide services (pollination, nutrient cycling in soils, quality water, etc.) that enhance sustainability. Water is a major input in the provision of food – from production in the field through all the steps in the value chain. Agriculture holds the key to successfully achieving the objectives and aspirations articulated in the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris Agreement on climate change. It is also crucial to the livelihoods of hundreds of millions of smallholder farmers and rural communities worldwide. Farmers must be at the center of any process of change in agriculture. Through appropriate policies that provide incentives and ensure effective governance, farmers can be empowered to conserve biodiversity, protect ecosystems and minimize environmental impacts. FAO works on the conservation, development and sustainable management of water resources for agriculture and food production, including responses to environmental challenges and climate change affecting food and agriculture.

Governor representative :
First Name : Olcay Last Name : Unver
Title : Dr. Position : Deputy-Director
Nationality : Turkey Gender : Male Female
Email : Olcay.Unver@fao.org
background : Olcay Ünver is the Deputy-Director of the Land and Water Division of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) since September 2013. Between 2007 and 2013, he served as Coordinator of the United Nations World Water Assessment Programme. Prior to that, he was a distinguished professor of water resources at Kent State University, Ohio, USA, and President of the GAP project in Turkey. Mr Ünver holds a Ph.D. in Civil Engineering (water resources planning and management) from the University of Texas, Austin and a Masters (hydraulics) and Bachelor's degree in Civil Engineering, from the Middle East Technical University, Ankara, Turkey.

Alternate representative :
First Name : Marlos Last Name : De Souza
Title : Dr. Postion : Senior Officer
Nationality : Australia Gender :
Email : marlos.desouza@fao.org
background : Marlos holds a Ph.D. in Water Resources Management (water pollution caused by the use of fertilizer in agricultural land) from the University of Melbourne (Australia) and a M.Sc. in Water Quality from the University of Brasília (Brazil). Marlos has more than twenty-five years of experience in dealing with water resources management in rural and urban watersheds in different regions, countries and contexts. In Brazil, Marlos has worked for the State Government Environment Agency in Brasilia, for the Federal Ministry of the Environment and the United Nations Development Program. In Victoria - Australia, Marlos has worked for the Environment Protection Authority (EPA) as the program leader for water resources issues and as a lecturer at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT). He also worked for the Australian Government Murray-Darling Basin Authority as the Director – Murray-Darling Basin Plan Development. Marlos joined FAO in July 2015 as the Secretary of FAO’s Water Platform. Marlos is FAO’s focal person for international fora related to water such as the UN-Water.

Organisation statement:
Please describe the involvement of your organisation within the World Water Council and state how long it has been involved in World Water Council activities : The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has been a very active member of the World Water Council. As a Governor of the WWC, FAO has been actively participating in all relevant Board of Governors (BoG) meetings. During its tenure as a Governor of the WWC (2015 to 2018), FAO has intensively discussed the importance of the theme “water in agriculture” to progress the sustainable management of water globally. In this regard, in the last 3 years FAO has proposed and led (together with UNESCO-IHE, UNESCO-WWAP, IWMI, ICID and DWFI) a members’ driven initiative entitled “Water Accounting for Food Security”. The White Paper was released in March 2018 during the World Water Forum in Brasilia, Brazil and aimed principally at high level policy-makers, to promote and encourage policy support and investment for water accounting. During its tenure at the BoG, FAO was also heavily involved with the 8th World Water Forum in Brasilia – Brazil. FAO led the theme “Development” and organized two High-level Panels during the event bringing themes such as the “Water and Migration” and “Water and Food Security” into the global discussion. FAO is now actively working with the Council and the Senegalese government on the preparatory working of the 9th World Water Forum in Dakar – Senegal 2021.
For what reasons do you wish your organisation to have a seat on the Board of Governors ? FAO and the WWC share the view that water security is essential to food security and human well-being, and acknowledge the possibility that water shortages could lead to increased local and regional tensions. The two organizations have been cooperating to develop a range of activities to put water security higher on the political agenda, to mobilize political will on integrated water resources management, in order to achieve significant advances in economic development and the fight against hunger and poverty. Agriculture today faces complex challenges, in particular that of producing more food while using less water and less land and adapting to changes in climate. Water is key to food security. Much has been done globally to progress the theme "water in agriculture" as an inductor of social change and economic development but much more is still need to be done. As a Governor of the WWC, FAO will be able to keep water security higher on the political agenda, to mobilize political will on integrated water resources management, in order to achieve significant advances in economic development and the fight against hunger and poverty.