Uniting Nations

The Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is based in Rome. Its mission is to eliminate hunger for everyone. Naturally enough, a lot of the work focuses on the Developing Nations.  In an increasingly globalised food and fibre market, countries are more connected to each other than ever before and face shared threats (like climate change). Collaboration, knowledge sharing and especially power sharing is crucial for all sorts of practical and ethical reasons.
Just a few of the 193 flags of the United Nation member states are pictured here from outside the FAO headquarters building in Rome.

I took these photographs because I found the line-up of flags to be very moving. Partly that’s because of the dream for a collaborative and equitable global food system. But also it’s because I’m proud that my son and daughter-in-law work for FAO in that building.  Their presence here in Rome is why I have been Blipping about that amazing city over the past months.  The photos are taken just 200 meters from the famous Circus Maximus, where gladiators raced chariots against each other. That's Rome for you - the past and future, shoulder to shoulder.

The member nation’s flags here are arranged in alphabetical order – a reflection of equity and mutual support of each other.  Lasting sustainability solutions can only emerge from just and equitable decision-making. Certainly, the veto powers of the permanent members of the Security Council greatly hamper the ability of the UN to act as an independent broker of international conflicts (how sad are the events in Ukraine at the moment), but organisations like FAO, WHO and UNESCO are doing a power of good in more low-key and often unnoticed places.

If not the United Nations, who then will attempt to eliminate hunger?