Early career
After completing his studies at the ''École Nationale d'Agriculture de Montpellier'' (1949–1952), Saouma served as Director of the Agriculture Experimental Center of theCamberley Group
The nations that wanted to replace Saouma in the 1987 elections concerted their strategy in secret meetings of what is known as the Camberley Group, after the town in England where the first meeting was held. The original members of the group were Australia, Britain, Canada, Denmark, Finland, West Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and Switzerland. The U.S. was at first excluded because of the strong support given to Saouma by its ambassadorLegacy
Saouma's tenure at FAO was marked by dedication to (and support from) third world countries, his independence from major donor countries, US, Canada, Australia, and his numerous initiatives.. Yet many food experts believe that Saouma was more successful than he might have been otherwise in identifying the F.A.O. with the fight against global hunger. Saouma's controversial leadership was assessed by an unclassified State Department message to American diplomatic posts which stated of Saouma: ''He has done an excellent job managing the organization and keeping internal program discipline. He has increased F.A.O.'s capacity to deliver technical assistance and strengthened its early warning system. Under his leadership, F.A.O. has steadily decreased the proportion of its budget which is devoted to administrative expenditures.'' However, under Saouma's leadership FAO lost a substantial share of support from the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and from several industrial nations. This was caused by Saouma's withdrawing FAO Country Representatives from UNDP offices the world over and establishing separate FAO offices; UNDP reacted by executing its own agriculture projects, instead of financing their execution by FAO. Saouma also allowed FAO Fisheries Department to focus efforts and publicity on promoting and supporting the 200-mile " exclusive economic zones" of coastal nations. This led to exclusion or increasing the operational costs of major distant-waters fishing fleets that as a rule belonged to industrial nations and major FAO donors. The consequence was substantial reduction of donor-financed FAO fisheries projects. Finally, Saouma considerably increased the number of professional staff from developing countries at the expense of professionals from developed ones, which resulted in certain decline in FAO's general level of experience and expertise. In recognition of his decisive role, the FAO Conference established in November 1993 the Edouard Saouma AwardHonors
* ''Grande Croix de l'ordre National du Cedre'' (Lebanon) * ''Prix Said Akl'' (Lebanon) * ''ChevalierHonorary Doctorates
* University of Gembloux (Belgium) * University of Agriculture Sciences of Godolla (Hungary) * University of Keszphely (Hungary) * Punjab Agricultural University (India) * University of Jakarta (Indonesia) * University of Bologna (Italy) * University of Florence (Italy) * University of Seoul (Republic of Korea) * Universidad - Nacional Autonoma (Nicaragua) * Faisalabad Agricultural University (Pakistan) * Universidad Nacional Agraria La Molina (Peru) * University of Los Baiios (Philippines) * University of Warsaw (Poland) * University of Uruguay * Agricultural University of Prague (Czechoslovakia) * Institut Tropical et sous Tropical (Czechoslovakia) * Catholic University of America, Washington D.C. (USA) * University of Montpellier (France) * Instituto Superior Cienciads Agropecuarias de la Habana (Cuba) * University of MongoliaReferences
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saouma, Edouard 1926 births 2012 deaths Food and Agriculture Organization officials People from Beirut Recipients of the Order of Merit (Egypt) Lebanese officials of the United Nations