Latest news with #InternationalFederation
Agriland
4 days ago
- General
- Agriland
World could ‘fall far short' of meeting food needs by 2050
Former US special envoy for global food security and leading advocate for global seed conservation and crop diversity, Dr. Cary Fowler has expressed concerns about how global food systems are positioned to feed the world population going forward. At the World Seed Congress (WSC) organised by the International Federation (ISF), which recently took place in Istanbul, Turkey, Agriland asked Dr. Fowler how he believes the world is currently positioned to feed its growing population. Dr. Fowler won the 2024 World Food Prize and was also a key architect in the development of the World Seed Vault in Svalbard. In his keynote address to the WSC, he said: 'Back in October [2024], my office at the US Department of State brought together a small group of Nobel laureates and World Food Prize laureates. 'We drafted a statement saying that we were going to fall far short of meeting food need and food demand by 2050 and we really need to now make a long-term commitment to make transformative, bold moonshot research and development in order to have the kind of transformative developments in food production that will be necessary to feed people by 2050. 'So yes, I'm worried about how we're positioned to feed the world at this point,' he told Agriland. Dr. Cary Fowler delivering the keynote address at the World Seed Congress Dr. Fowler said: 'Today, there at least 750 million people on earth who are food insecure. We define that as not having access to sufficient food for basic human needs. 'There are three billion people on earth than can not afford an adequate diet and, I think most tragically, there are 60 million children under the age of five who are physically and cognitively stunted – and are so because of inadequate food intake and more importantly, inadequate nutrition. 'I urge you to think about what our world is going to look like and what governments in countries are going to look like if we have a third of the children in many countries – in Africa for instance – who are growing up physically and cognitively stunted. That's not a world we want to live in in the future. 'We don't just have a problem with food insecurity, we have a problem with nutrition insecurity and we aren't really thinking about those in the same way,' Dr. Fowler added. The American agriculturalist listed six headwinds he believes are facing food security in the future: Climate; Soil; Water; Conflict; Trade; Research and development. Dr. Fowler also noted that said that April was the second-hottest April ever recorded on earth. However, he added: 'More interestingly, it was the 555th consecutive month in which the global average temperature for the month exceeded the 20th century average. '555 consecutive months of what some people would call 'above average' temperatures.' He highlighted that there will also be a negative hit to food productivity in the future because of climate. Soil and water On soil, Dr. Fowler noted that the African Union has said as much as 50% of its current cropland may be unusable by the year 2050, while more than 75% of their land is already degraded'. He referred to a recent study showing that 14-17% of existing global cropland is affected by toxic metal pollution. 'That means 900 million to 1.4 billion people are living in regions of what they call heightened public health and ecological risk,' Dr. Fowler explained. On water, the agriculturalist said that 'agriculture globally takes about 70% of freshwater supplies', but also noted that this percentage is higher in his home country of the US. '21 of 37 major aquafers in the world are in a position of being depleted faster than they are replenishing,' Commenting on the ties between conflict and food security, he said: 'Food insecurity is a cause of conflict. It has been a cause of conflict for thousands of years. 'But on the other hand, conflict is a driver of food insecurity and if you look at where the hungry people are in the world today, 60% of them are living in countries that are experiencing conflict. 'So without solving the problem of food insecurity, we're not going to solve the problem of conflict in our world.' Future of agriculture On research and development, he highlighted that budgets for agricultural research and development – as well as basic scientific research – have been in decline for decades. Dr. Fowler said: 'It's really interesting to me because, if you look at the return on investment, it's 10-1, sometimes 30-1, and yet we've starved those budgets.' The agriculturalist also quoted Norman Borlaug – who won the Nobel prize in 1970 – who famously said during his laureate lecture: 'The Green Revolution has bought us 30 years of time'. The Green Revolution refers to the development of high-yielding plant varieties in the 1940s to the 1960s. It is widely acknowledged that these developments – especially in wheat and rice crops – increased food supplies and staved off widespread starvation in developing countries. Dr. Fowler said: 'That was in 1970. We've passed the 30-year mark. What we haven't done is to commit to any type of long-term initiative similar to Norman Borlaug's. 'So, if we want to meet food need by 2050, we can't wait until 2049, we need to be making these investments now.' In summarising the main points of his keynote presentation, Dr. Fowler said: 'Agriculture faces a historic culmination of challenges. 'I've never seen anything like the culmination of challenges that agriculture faces now. Any one of those challenges would be really serious but the culmination of them is something that we collectively are not taking seriously enough.' The World Seed Congress took place from Monday, May 19, to Wednesday, May 21 in Istanbul, Turkey. The event was organised by the International Seed Federation (ISF) and saw over 1,500 delegates from 70 countries attend. Agriland attended the event in association with a group of 11 journalists from nine countries, facilitated by the International Federation of Agricultural Journalists.
Arab News
22-05-2025
- Health
- Arab News
Gaza ambulance fleet down to a third, Palestinian Red Crescent says
GENEVA: The head of the Palestinian Red Crescent said on Thursday its operations in Gaza may stop within days in the absence of fresh supplies and its ambulance fleet was running at only a third of capacity due to fuel shortages. Flour and other aid began reaching some of Gaza's most vulnerable areas on Thursday after Israel let some trucks through, but nowhere near enough to make up for shortages caused by an 11-week Israeli blockade, Palestinian officials said. Israel said it let in 100 trucks carrying baby food and medical equipment on Wednesday, two days after announcing its first relaxation of the blockade under mounting international pressure amid warnings of starvation in Gaza. Asked how long his organization could continue operating in Gaza, Palestine Red Crescent Society President Younis Al-Khatib told reporters in Geneva: 'It's a matter of time. It could be days. 'We are running out of fuel. The capacity of ambulances we work with now is one third,' he added, saying its gasoline-powered ambulances had already halted but it had some that were running on solar power provided by the United Nations. The PRCS is part of the world's largest humanitarian network, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, and provides medical care in the Gaza Strip and the Israeli-occupied West Bank. Al-Khatib criticized the small amount of aid Israel has allowed into Gaza so far, warning of the risk of mob attacks. 'I think that is an invitation for killing. These people are starving,' he said. Israel, at war with Gaza's dominant militant group Hamas since October 2023, has repeatedly defended its controls on aid in the enclave, saying there is enough food there and denying accusations of causing starvation. He added his voice to criticism of a US-backed organization that aims to start work in Gaza by the end of May overseeing a new model of aid distribution. 'It's not up for discussion. No, no, no,' he said. 'The world should not give up on the system as we know it.' The US-backed Gaza Humanitarian Foundation intends to work with private US security and logistics firms to provide aid to 300,000 people from distribution hubs in Gaza's south. Gaza's total population is 2.3 million, most of it displaced.
New York Times
20-05-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
NFL players can try out for Olympic flag football, owners vote
NFL owners approved a resolution Wednesday allowing players to try out for flag football teams in the 2028 Olympics. The owners' vote came at the spring league meeting in Minneapolis. Only one player on each NFL roster can try out for a given country's Olympic team. That means multiple players on the same team could compete as long as they represent different countries. Since players added via the International Player Pathway program don't count towards a roster spot, they'll also be allowed to try out. Advertisement Six countries will be represented for men's and women's flag football at the 2028 Summer Games. The International Federation of American Football, which is the international governing body of contact and flag football, will determine which nations participate. The games will be played in a five-on-five format. The NFL's resolution to allow its players to participate in flag football at the 2028 Olympics has passed, per source. Who makes your dream team? — Dianna Russini (@DMRussini) May 20, 2025 Scott Hallenbeck, USA Football's CEO and executive director, told The Athletic last week that USA Football has been in 'regular communication' with the league about NFL players potentially being eligible to participate in the Olympics. 'We stand ready to provide opportunities for NFL players to be part of Team USA and compete alongside established flag football stars and talent-transfer athletes from other sports,' Hallenbeck said in a statement. 'We will field the best team possible in pursuit of our ultimate goal of earning two gold medals for the United States in flag football.' The NFL has taken steps to preserve the health and safety of any players who participate in the Olympics. For an Olympic flag football team to be eligible to roster an NFL player, the team will be required to implement 'certain minimum standards' for medical staff and field surfaces.' The NFL and the NFLPA will have future discussions about what those standards will be. 'We fully support our player members participating in the Olympics and taking this opportunity to represent their country on the highest international stage,' an NFLPA spokesperson wrote in a statement to The Athletic last week. 'We look forward to discussing NFL player participation further with the league to ensure players who choose to compete can do so without detrimental impacts to their health, safety and job.' Advertisement Although flag football is a contactless sport, there's still a chance that players could suffer significant injuries. NFL teams will have some protections in the scenario that players suffer injuries while participating in activities related to an Olympic flag football team. They'll be provided with injury protection and salary cap credit through the placement of one or more league-wide insurance policies. From a scheduling standpoint, Olympic flag football teams will have to make sure their practices, games and other events don't conflict with players' commitments to their respective teams. The 2028 Olympics will take place from July 14 to July 30, 2028, in Los Angeles. NFL training camps typically begin in late July. Despite potential concerns about injuries and scheduling conflicts, the league office sold owners on the hope that NFL participation in Olympic flag football could lead to the growth of the sport both domestically and internationally. Flag football is played in over 100 countries. From 2014 to 2023, the number of children who played flag football in America increased by 38 percent to over 1.6 million, according to USA Football. During that same time frame, the number of girls participating in flag football increased by 44 percent to upwards of 230,800. The NFL is optimistic that growth will lead to more men and women who go on to play and work in football later in life. The league started NFL Flag 50, a campaign pushing for girls' flag football to become a sanctioned varsity high school sport in all 50 states. It's currently sanctioned in 15 states, but that number is expected to grow in the years to come. Flag football has become a collegiate sport at the NAIA and NJCAA levels, and the NCAA Division I, II and III levels. Earlier this month, the sport got a recommendation to join the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program, which would allow schools in all three NCAA divisions to make a deeper commitment to the sport and one day potentially submit it for consideration for championship status. The NFL has explored creating professional men's and women's flag football leagues, which would give those college athletes another way of continuing their careers. Advertisement If the NFL can use flag football as a vehicle to increase the popularity of football globally, that means more money in the pockets of team owners. Ultimately, that made giving NFL players a green light to participate in the Olympics a risk they viewed as worth taking. (Photo of flag football at 2024 NFL Pro Bowl Games: Megan Briggs / Getty Images)
Reuters
17-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Reuters
Chess-Carlsen rules out world championship return, still 'better than the kids'
PARIS, March 17 (Reuters) - Magnus Carlsen feels he's still better than the young generation of chess players, but the Norwegian great is ruling out a comeback at the classical world championship. World number one Carlsen cited lack of motivation when he announced in 2022 he would not defend his title the following year and since then the 34-year-old was succeeded by Chinese Ding Liren and Indian teenager Gukesh Dommaraju, opens new tab. Five of the Top 10 players were born in the 2000s, but Carlsen, who has embarked on a journey to spice chess up with the creation of the Freestyle Grand Slam and his involvement in the Esports World Cup, opens new tab, feels he has nothing to prove. Asked if he would aim for the title again, Carlsen told Reuters on Monday: "I don't see that at the moment. I think it's very, very unlikely." In 2021, Carlsen said if Iranian-born prodigy Alireza Firouzja of France would win the qualifying Candidates tournament, he would consider defending his title, but no active player would now entice him to return. "At the moment, no (other player would convince me to give it a go)," he added. Five-time classical chess world champion Carlsen is hunting on other grounds to show he is still the player to beat before maybe one day turning to coaching - just like he was mentored by Garry Kasparov, the only player who can be mentioned with him in the greatest of all time debate. "I mainly enjoy playing, but I don't rule that (mentoring) out for the future. I already enjoy it when younger players ask me for advice and so on," he said. "But I feel like for the moment I really enjoy playing and I'm really good at it still. So that may be something for the future, but at the moment I'm trying to certainly prove that I'm still better than the kids." Last year, Carlsen won the Speed Chess Championship and shared the Blitz world championship title with Russia's Ian Nepomniachtchi amid a dispute with the International Federation (FIDE), opens new tab following a dress code violation, opens new tab. It was one of several incidents involving Carlsen v FIDE and the Norwegian called on the president, Arkady Dvorkovich, to resign over a row with the Freestyle Chess Players Association. OLD GUARD Carlsen, however, appeared to have moved on from the controversies. "I'm not really very interested in what FIDE are doing. I'm sort of trying to do my things, being with the Esports World Cup, Freestyle," he said, hinting the dispute over the 'world champion' tag between FIDE and the Freestyle Chess Players Club was settled for good. "FIDE's crown jewel is the classical world championship, right? That's what gives FIDE legacy and legitimacy, and none of us are going after that," Carlsen added. "So I think we'll sort of coexist, I'm happy not playing the classical world championship. I'm kind of done with that and now I'm following it as a fan." Carlsen will next play the Freestyle Grand Slam Paris leg next month and will be with Team Liquid at the Esports World Cup, where he will be eager to show in a rapid format that the old guard is still in charge, although he singled out Firouzja as one of the top three favourites with himself and Hikaru Nakamura of the United States. "It takes a little bit more time (for the youngsters) to build strength in faster formats than it does in classical chess," he said. "So I think the old guys, like Maxime (Vachier-Lagrave of France) and I, will stick around for a bit still. "When it comes to motivation, it's very hard to say, but I find it hard to believe that my level is just going to drop off a cliff. I think there's certainly going to be some steady decline, but I think I can keep going for at least a few years."
