FAO at 75

Hope out of horror. Vision out of waste. And out of ruins, a vast rolling-up of sleeves.

The year is 1945. The end of the war is spurring renewal across the breadth of thought and human endeavour: in economics and governance; in science and social studies; in industry and engineering; in the humanities and the arts. But also, and not least, in the realm of values and aspirations.

A commitment to peace is the new proclaimed creed. So is a sense of the possible. Despite the emergence of new divisions in the form of the Cold War, and despite simmering colonial tensions, a new internationalism takes root. With it comes a determination to end, once and for all, the ills that have plagued humankind since its inception.

Chief among these are poverty and hunger.