A/RES/66/158 Stressing the importance of reversing the continuing decline of official development assistance devoted to agriculture, both in real terms and as a share of total official development assistance, Recognizing the importance of the protection and preservation agrobiodiversity in guaranteeing food security and the right to food for all, of Recognizing also the role of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations as the key United Nations agency for rural and agricultural development and its work in supporting the efforts of Member States to achieve the full realization of the right to food, including through its provision of technical assistance to developing countries in support of the implementation of national priority frameworks, Taking note of the final Declaration adopted at the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Porto Alegre, Brazil, on 10 March 2006, 9 Acknowledging the High-level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis established by the Secretary-General, and supporting the Secretary-General in his continuing efforts in this regard, including continued engagement with Member States and the Special Rapporteur of the Human Rights Council on the right to food, Reaffirms that hunger constitutes an outrage and a violation of human 1. dignity and therefore requires the adoption of urgent measures at the national, regional and international levels for its elimination; Also reaffirms the right of everyone to have access to safe, sufficient and 2. nutritious food, consistent with the right to adequate food and the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger, so as to be able to fully develop and maintain his or her physical and mental capacities; Considers it intolerable that, as estimated by the United Nations 3. Children’s Fund, more than one third of the children who die every year before the age of 5 do so from hunger-related illness, that, as estimated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the number of people who are undernourished is about 925 million worldwide, and that an additional 1 billion people are suffering from serious malnutrition, including as a result of the global food crisis, while, according to the latter organization, the planet could produce enough food to feed everyone around the world; Expresses its concern at the fact that the effects of the world food crisis 4. continue to have serious consequences for the poorest and most vulnerable people, particularly in developing countries, which have been further aggravated by the world financial and economic crisis, and at the particular effects of this crisis on many net food-importing countries, especially on least developed countries; Also expresses its concern that women and girls are disproportionately 5. affected by hunger, food insecurity and poverty, in part as a result of gender inequality and discrimination, that in many countries, girls are twice as likely as boys to die from malnutrition and preventable childhood diseases and that it is estimated that almost twice as many women as men suffer from malnutrition; _______________ 9 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Report of the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development, Porto Alegre, Brazil, 7–10 March 2006 (C 2006/REP), appendix G. 3