The crises brought about by the rise in food prices and by the collapse in financial markets and the resulting economic recession have had devastating effects on the poorest people in the world. The impact will continue to be felt for a long time even though we are beginning to see some initial signs of economic recovery. The UN’s Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) recently recalled that it took 24 years to restore the social conditions that existed prior to the crisis of the 1980s, and 12 years for economic performance to recover. Right now, the most encouraging sign is the renewed attention being given to global issues in response to the huge challenges that have to be confronted. The most urgent of these is the hunger issue, that now affects the lives of more than a billion people on our planet, creating unnecessary suffering on a vast scale. FAO has put forward a proposal to address this situation that can be read at http://tinyurl.com/wfsfao It calls for a new global governance for food security; greater public and private sector investment in the agricultural sectors of developing countries; strengthening of the concerned local and international institutions; sustainable approaches to agricultural development; actions to support adaptation to climate change and to mitigate its worst effects; creation of mechanisms that enable a rapid response to food crises; and creating the right balance between biofuels production and food security. FAO also highlights the need for a satisfactory conclusion of the Doha Round of trade talks, with the creation of an international agricultural trading system that does not create price distortions that have a negative impact on production in developing countries. The Organization also calls for measures to reduce the negative impact of speculation and financial market instability on food security. One way of addressing this is through strengthening food stock management systems. This is not a debate that involves only governments. FAO is calling for a broad discussion in the world at large, involving governments, international institutions, consumers, producers, academics and civil society. The proposals that will emerge from these discussions should be taken up in the third World Summit on Food Security that will be held in Rome, Italy, from 16th to 18th November this year. The hope is that, at this meeting leaders will arrive at a consensus and decisions that will make it possible to achieve two very clear objectives – to eradicate hunger by 2025 and set the basis for a global governance structure able to guarantee food security for a global population that continues to grow and is expected to reach 9.2 billion people by 2050. It is not a time, therefore, for “business as usual”, and the commitment to eradicate hunger that will hopefully be reached at the Summit will symbolize this break. It implies a refusal to continue to live with hunger and a recognition that it is no longer possible to ensure the survival of one in every six people on the planet through emergency aid systems that have grown to assume a permanent form. The need to adopt fundamentally different approaches to addressing hunger is gaining ground amongst many countries and international organizations, as was evident in the recent G-8 Summit that took place in June in L’Aquila, Italy. Implicit in this emerging consensus is the recognition that, in spite of all the efforts made over the past decades, the world has fallen short of what is needed to address a dramatic situation that continues to cause suffering on a vast scale in this day and age. We should not forget that the Summit has the potential to be a fundamental step in the battle against hunger, provided that we arrive at agreements and decisions and, above all, that these are, in fact, implemented. But the eradication of hunger, which has plagued mankind from the dawn of history, will not happen overnight. For this reason, 2025 is a realistic horizon for the successful achievement of this ambitious goal. The good news is that we are not starting from scratch and that there are no fundamental obstacles that stand in the way of success. In recent decades, errors and successes have generated a huge store of valuable lessons. Above all, we have learnt that isolated actions, even though they have the attraction of simplicity, seldom lead to expected results in terms of improved food security. Another significant lesson is the importance of putting in place durable institutional arrangements that can sustain a range of activities over a long period, without the risk of interruptions that are bound otherwise to occur – such as changes in government – and that can lead to a loss of all that has been achieved. It is worth recalling Brazil’s experience, in which one has seen the initial commitment to eradicate hunger gradually lose its position as the government’s most important flagship programme. However the right to food has been entrenched in law, thanks to the deep engagement of civil society led by the National Council for Food and Nutrition Security (CONSEA), and is now applied in practice through budget allocations covering many different relevant themes, and with the participation of a wide range of actors. Similar steps have been taken in the Region. During the Summit of Latin America and the Caribbean on Integration and Development that took place in Salvador (Bahia) in December 2008 regional leaders committed themselves to eradicate hunger within this Region. With support from FAO, parliamentarians are also engaging themselves in this compact, forming a regional parliamentary front against hunger that will officially come into being at the beginning of September during the meeting of the Latin American Parliament (Parlatino). At the moment only 5 countries have food security laws in the region, while draft legislation is under discussion in nine other nations. Even though the decision to guarantee food security through laws is a sovereign right of each country, one important consideration is that this implies a need for institutional arrangements and resources that are not always available. To fight hunger and expand investments in agriculture, therefore, many countries now have to depend on international assistance. If the World Summit on Food Security is fully successful, perhaps this will cease to be the case in future. (*) FAO Regional Representative for Latin America and the Caribbean |
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