During the sixtieth session of the United Nations General Assembly (Second Committee, Agenda item 52), IIMSAM initiated a revised draft resolution on the “Use of Spirulina to combat hunger and malnutrition and help achieve sustainable development” which was submitted by: Burundi, Cameroon, Dominican Republic, Nicaragua and Paraguay. As a follow-up on this resolution, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) was requested to prepare a draft position on Spirulina. FAO’s report was presented in 2008 and includes the following recommendations:
•To improve technical and economic solutions to Spirulina production in environmentally impoverished conditions, as well as to prepare tested production packages for rapid deployment in emergency situations.
•To develop a practical guide to small-scale Spirulina production that could be used for development mythologies, oriented towards:
i)Providing nutritional supplements for use in rural and urban communities where the diet is inadequate;
ii)Allowing diversification from traditional crops in cases where land or water resources are limited;
iii)An integrated system for waste water treatment, small-scale aquaculture production and other livestock feed supplication;
iV)As a short- and medium-term solution to emergency situations where a sustainable supply of high protein/high vitamin foodstuff is required. This implies the ability to rapidly install systems in a variety of environments that can be sustained by local communities to cover both the short-term food needs and to supplement longer-term nutritional requirements especially once other forms of food relief cease to be delivered.
•To establish a better monitoring of global Spirulina production and product flows.
•To develop some form of web-based resource that allows the compilation of scientifically robust information and statistics for public access.
•To develop clear guidelines on food safety aspects of Spirulina so that human health risks can be managed.
Source: FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Circular No. 1034. A review on culture, production and use of Spirulina as food for humans and feeds for domestic animals and fish.
•To develop a practical guide to small-scale Spirulina production that could be used for development mythologies, oriented towards:
i)Providing nutritional supplements for use in rural and urban communities where the diet is inadequate;
ii)Allowing diversification from traditional crops in cases where land or water resources are limited;
iii)An integrated system for waste water treatment, small-scale aquaculture production and other livestock feed supplication;
iV)As a short- and medium-term solution to emergency situations where a sustainable supply of high protein/high vitamin foodstuff is required. This implies the ability to rapidly install systems in a variety of environments that can be sustained by local communities to cover both the short-term food needs and to supplement longer-term nutritional requirements especially once other forms of food relief cease to be delivered.
•To establish a better monitoring of global Spirulina production and product flows.
•To develop some form of web-based resource that allows the compilation of scientifically robust information and statistics for public access.
•To develop clear guidelines on food safety aspects of Spirulina so that human health risks can be managed.
Source: FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Circular No. 1034. A review on culture, production and use of Spirulina as food for humans and feeds for domestic animals and fish.