In a news release, the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the National Geographic Society on Fridayconfirmed that they will be teaming up to form a partnership envisaging “cooperation, a regular dialogue and access to FAO expertise, knowledge exchange, content-sharing, cross promotion, joint activities and participation at events and on publishing platfor”

Moreover, when reporting on food and agriculture issues, National Geographic will utilize food and agricultural statistics as well as trends and data sets from the FAO’s statistical service, FAOStat.

Speaking at the agreement’s signing ceremony, FAO Director-General, José Graziano da Silva, lauded the new partnership and the possibilities it presented, adding that both organizations shared the view that “wide access to reliable information is a key tool in the fight for human rights, and specifically when it comes to the right to food.”

Today’s agreement comes on the heels of the announcement of another similar partnership between the FAO and the Thomson Reuters Foundation which launched a comprehensive global news platform dedicated to food issues on 15 October.

The platform, to be hosted on trust.org, the Thomson Reuters Foundation’s news portal, will feature news coverage combining “the knowledge and expertise of FAO with the reach of the Foundation’s global team of journalists, including a dedicated food security reporter based in Rome,” a news release explained.

In a statement celebrating the collaboration, FAO Director-General, José Graziano da Silva, underscored the “critical role” played by global media in the effort “to build more sustainable food systems and eradicate hunger and malnutrition – as observers and watchdogs, as explainers, as sharers of ideas and information.”

“Good governance, an engaged citizenry, knowledge-transfer – all will benefit from the reliable, rigorous, and focused reporting that will take place via this new initiative,” affirmed  Graziano da Silva.

FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva (right) and Chris Johns, Chief Content Officer, National Geographic Society, sign partnership agreement. Photo: FAO/Giuseppe Carotenuto