5
June 2008: Olivier de Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food,
reminded participants at the High-Level Conference on World Food Security,
which convened from 3-5 June 2008 in Rome, Italy, that the right to food
imposes obligations on countries vis-à-vis populations outside of their
territory. Noting the need to protect the most vulnerable segments of
populations, he called for an institutional framework to: identify emerging
threats at the earliest possible stage; improve coordination among ministries
and levels of government; and ensure participation, particularly of the most
food insecure segments of population.
18 May 2008: The Fifth European Union (EU) / Latin America and Caribbean (LAC) Summit took place in Lima, Peru, from 16-17 May 2008. The Summit developed the “Lima Declaration on Addressing our Peoples’ Priorities Together,” which addresses, among others, poverty, inequality, inclusion, climate change, environment and energy. 
20 May 2008: In her address to the ECOSOC special session on the global food crisis, UN Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro (right) urged policymakers to carefully examine the cause of crisis, including the increasing use of grain-based biofuels. 
20 May: At a side event held during the ninth Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, in Bonn, Germany, the European Commission presented its Natura 2000 network of conservation areas established to protect natural habitats. 
21 May 2008: Speaking at the UN Economic and Social Council’s (ECOSOC) special session on the global food crisis, Léo Mérorès, President of ECOSOC, emphasized the “need to concentrate efforts on minimizing greenhouse emissions, deforestation and global warming, while finding ways to promote investments in agriculture [and] maximize the use of agro-science and technology.” 
13 May 2008: Japan will host the G8 Environment Ministers Meeting from 24-26 May 2008, in Kobe, Japan. 
The UN Development Programme’s Adaptation Team has launched “Country Adaptation Profiles,” which are available for over 140 countries and provide two key services: linking climate change risks to national development priorities; and sharing up-to-date information on climate change adaptation, including ongoing efforts, science and assessments. 
