The World Food Council: The Rise and Fall of a United Nations Body

At the recommendation of the 1974 World Food Conference, the UN World Food Council (WFC) was established by the UN General Assembly at the ministerial or plenipotentiary level following the worst world food crisis in modern history at the beginning of the 1970s. The WFC was charged with overseeing the follow-up of the conference's resolutions and coordinating the work of the concerned UN agencies relating to food production, nutrition, food security, food trade, and food aid. This is the first summarized and selective account of the work of the WFC until its demise in 1993. The reasons for the fall of this UN body are given as well as proposals for another body to fulfil its roles.