• Growing Greener Cities

This month we have published a new FAO website, “Growing Greener Cities”, in English, French and Spanish.

At present, the website includes information on:
• the contribution of UPH to food security, livelihoods, environmental protection, good governance and community development
• FAO’s five-point strategy for development of the UPH sector
• FAO projects for UPH development in Africa and Latin America
• the “International symposium on Urban and peri-urban horticulture” to be held in Dakar, Senegal (5-9 December 2010)
• FAO’s partners in UPH development
The site will be further developed in the months ahead.

In addition, on the occasion of the sessions of the FAO Committee on Agriculture (COAG) and the Committee on Commodity Problems (CCP) at FAO headquarters, from 14-19 June, we will hold an exhibit on UPH in the FAO Atrium. The display will present the new logo of our “Growing Greener Cities” initiative. It will also feature a display of vegetable micro-garden technology (with 100 plants), a display of photographs from an FAO project for market garden development in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and a video on community gardening in El Alto, Bolivia. (If you are in FAO or visiting, please stop by.)

We will also present at the exhibit our new publication, “Growing Greener Cities”, which reviews the challenge posed by rapid urbanization in low-income developing countries and highlights the contribution of urban and peri-urban horticulture to more resilient and sustainable cities. For copies of the publication, please write to greenercities@fao.org