Food security representatives from around the world are gathering here at the Department of State today to finish a two-day meeting of the signatories of the L'Aquila Food Security Initiative (AFSI). In 2009 at the G-8 Summit, global leaders, including President Obama, endorsed the L'Aquila Joint Statement on Global Food Security, agreeing to "to act with the scale and urgency needed to achieve sustainable global food security."
This marked a turning point for international efforts to achieve food security worldwide. Leaders committed to a take a comprehensive approach to ensure food security, coordinate effectively, support country-owned processes and plans, engage multilateral… more »
On February 3-5, 2012, Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is on travel to Germany and Bulgaria. In Germany, Secretary Clinton will participate in the 48th Munich Security Conference. This annual event brings together global leaders to discuss common security challenges. In her address to the Conference, the Secretary will reaffirm the fundamental importance of the transatlantic relationship and Europe's role as an essential partner in addressing global security challenges. While in Munich… more »
About the Author: Hannah Rosenthal serves as U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism.
The weather in Paris today reflected the mood in UNESCO's conference room -- gloomy with a chance of sunshine. For just as the clouds were heavy, so too was the discussion of Holocaust education and how genocide and hatred still exist despite the global effort to teach the lessons of the Holocaust. And just as the sun poked through at the end of the day, so did the optimism that great minds can come together and tackle this problem.
Just last week, on January 27, the world remembered the victims of the Holocaust on the International Holocaust Remembrance Day. This week, while still remembering the victims, we sat down to discuss how to make "Never Again" a reality.
The morning started with a welcoming address from Irina Bokova, Director General of UNESCO. She highlighted the point that as the world becomes more interconnected and a new global history begins… more »
About the Author: Barbara De Rosa-Joynt serves as Division Chief for BioDiversity in the Office of Ecology and Conservation.
World Wetlands Day is here! Join us in congratulating our Wetlands Photo Celebration fan favorites -- with images and photographers from around the globe. We have four categories of favorites within our wetlands and tourism theme: plants, landscape, tourists, and wildlife. In the slideshow, you'll see a silt village in Ghana, a gorgeous river in West Virginia, a diver in the coastal wetlands of Mexico, and a beautiful damselfly in Cambodia. Also, many thanks to all of our wetlands tourists and photographers for the hundreds of photo submissions. You can learn more about our World Wetlands Day Photo celebration on our Flickr page. We salute the world's wetlands for their beauty and many critical benefits to humankind. Happy World Wetlands Day 2012! more »
About the Author: Alec Ross serves as the Secretary of State's Senior Advisor for Innovation.
Technology and new innovations are changing the world in which we live. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton is responding to these challenges by adapting our foreign policy agenda to leverage new innovations in service of our diplomatic and development goals. This is 21st Century Statecraft -- complementing traditional foreign policy tools with newly innovated and adapted instruments of statecraft that fully leverage the networks, technologies, and demographics of our interconnected world.
Today marks the end of "21st Century Statecraft Month" at that State Department -- an entire month dedicated to using new tools and engaging new networks in pursuit of addressing today's challenges. During the month, I had the privilege to speak with a group of journalists and bloggers… more »
DipNote is the official blog of the U.S. Department of State —a place to share stories, discuss experiences, and inspire new ideas on the important foreign policy issues of the day. more »
Across the eastern Horn of Africa, more than 11 million people -- a number greater than the populations of Houston and New York City combined -- are now in need of emergency assistance to survive. Learn more about the current crisis, including how you can help.
Mr. Ford, I do not find your arguments persuasive. The putative rebel forces are reported to have armored personnel carriers and the Israeli DEBKAfile…
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Well, perhaps one can appreciate why we Americans reject federal militarization of our local police and joint task forces involving federal troops, Fusion…
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Feb. 13, 2012: Senior officials delivered remarks on the FY 2013 Department of State - USAID budget request. Watch for a replay at video.state.gov. More on Budget more »
Spokesperson Nuland (Feb. 10): "We will have more of this declassified U.S. national imagery available both on site in coming days but also on our new site www.stateondemand.com, where news organizations can find all of our content to pull down around the world. more »
![A woman dries crop at a paddy field in Burha Mayong, east of Gauhati, India, May 26, 2011. [AP File Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0203_woman_agriculture_m.jpg)
![Secretary Clinton boards plane in Beirut, Lebanon, April 26, 2009. [State Department Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2009_0716_clinton_departs_m.jpg)
![Samuel Pisar, right, a Polish-born Holocaust survivor and international lawyer, author and human rights activist, is made UNESCO Honorary Ambassador and Special Envoy for Holocaust Education by UNESCO Director General Irina Bokova, in Paris, Jan. 27, 2012. [AP Photo]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0202_holocaust_unesco_education_m.jpg)
![Acting Assistant Secretary of State for Public Affairs Mike Hammer, center; responds to #AskMike questions from the Department’s official Spanish Twitter feed, @USAenEspanol, on January 24, 2012. Also pictured: Director of the Office of International Media Engagement Abigail Dressel, left; Specialist Assistant Mireille Zieseniss, third from right; Public Affairs Specialist Sarah Goldfarb, second from right; and Acting Director of Digital Communications Center Ed Dunn, right. [State Department photo by Ben Chang/ Public Domain]](http://blogs.state.gov/images/Dipnote/behind_the_scenes/2012_0201_twitter_qa_m.jpg)
