THE THIRD LATIN AMERICAN AND CARIBBEAN NGO CONSULTATION CULMINATES WITH PROPOSALS IN FAVOR OF FOOD SECURITY FOR THE REGION

Recommendations will be submitted to Ministers of Agriculture attending the FAO Regional Conference.

Guatemala City, 25 April.- "The solution to the problem of hunger and undernourishment in the Latin American Region requires the acknowledgement of the human right to adequate food and the construction of food sovereignty for all people", states the Final Declaration of the Third Regional Consultation of Non-Governmental and Civil Society Organizations for Latin America and the Caribbean held in Guatemala over the weekend.

Some 70 representatives of indigenous, peasant, artisanal fishermen, family farming and youth movements from 22 Latin American and Caribbean countries met for three days in the capital of Guatemala to evaluate the state of Food Security in the Region and formulate action proposals on matters relative to social and economic development.

Recommendations will be submitted to Ministers of Agriculture attending the FAO Regional Conference next Wednesday 28 April.

"This Consultation represents an important step forward in the articulation of civil society in the Latin American Region" stated Mario Ahumada, spokesperson for the International Planning Committee for Food Sovereignty in Latin America and the Caribbean (CIP), the Consultation's organizing group.

In turn, Gustavo Gordillo, Assistant Director-General and FAO Representative for Latin America and Caribbean highlighted the importance of collaboration between FAO and an organized civil society in fostering sustainable development for the Region.

"In recent years, Latin America and the Caribbean have made progress in their fight against hunger and poverty. However, it continues to be the Region with the greatest inequalities in the planet. Thus, joint efforts are a requirement to revert this trend", stated Gordillo.

The CIP is the main representative of global civil society before FAO on issues relative to follow up of the agreements adopted at the World Food Summit: five years later.

"The challenge, from now onwards, will be to obtain that the groups participating in the Regional Consultation establish channels of collaboration with their national Governments in the design of concrete policies to guarantee Food Security and follow up to the commitments made at the 2002 Summit", said Ahumada.

Concrete results

For Luis Fernando Pichilla, Guatemalan artisanal fisherman, the Consultation has already achieved concrete results for the Food Security of his own community.

For several weeks, the locality of Champerico in the Guatemalan Pacific coast has been undergoing a food emergency situation due to the sinking of its old fishing pier. Following the catastrophe local authorities suspended access of ships to the sea, an action that left the 7.000 inhabitants of the Municipality without their daily subsistence. "Each day that goes by is a day without food on the table", explains Luis.

"During the Consultation I presented the problem to the participants and we sent a petition, signed by representatives of the 22 countries attending the event, to the Municipal authorities requesting their urgent attention to this food emergency. The petition was successful and the authorities promised today to immediately reconstruct the fishing pier."