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The new external environment |
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FAO's reform is grounded in the trends and changes that are sweeping the global political and economic scene. While the trend towards more open and market-oriented economies continues, many countries, together with the international community, are also confronted with issues that cannot be fully addressed by market forces. These include:
These developments have a direct bearing on FAO, a worldwide intergovernmental organization and part of the United Nations (UN) system which is, itself, redefining its role and undergoing reform following the collapse of a bipolarized and confrontational international system.
Successfully reforming FAO has demanded a clear understanding of this new environment, which will affect the Organization's operations in the years ahead as well as its capacity to contribute to the overarching aims of achieving food security for all. With regard to the changing global context, several salient factors are worth noting:
Transformation of the international economic system. Since the establishment of the World Trade Organization (WTO), trade and financial markets have become increasingly integrated and, concomitantly, regional and subregional trading arrangements have multiplied. International agreements are burgeoning as countries recognize the need for greater discipline and cooperation in addressing common issues. Such developments reduce the range of domestic policy options, and many developing countries are having to make difficult choices without the capacity to assess fully the possible options and their consequences. The application of internationally defined rules and mechanisms - of an increasing scope and technical sophistication - now requires countries to have more knowledge and analytical capacity in the legal, technical and economic aspects of diverse and complex matters.
Changes in international finance. International financial flows to development have undergone dramatic transformations and their erratic performance has occasionally led to severe economic shocks. Private financial flows have become the main source of development finance, but market forces have tended to concentrate these flows on a handful of countries and sectors with higher prospects for returns. In turn, official development assistance (ODA), which represents the critical source of finance for the remaining countries and sectors, has been on a steady decline, raising the risk of divergence between the world's wealthier and poorer economies. Agricultural development and support to food security in the low-income food-deficit countries (LIFDCs) are among the areas to have been most severely affected by reductions in ODA.
Non-economic concerns. Over the past two decades, many governments have pursued market-oriented policy reform and structural adjustment. Economic policy reform has often been accompanied by negative effects and high levels of risk, particularly for the poorer population groups, and this has stressed the social fabric beyond reasonable limits. Increasing recognition is given to the fact that market forces are not adequate for tackling some areas of concern, such as food security, environmental and safety issues and, more important, poverty.
Changing consumer demands and urbanization. While world food supplies are growing overall, there have been shifts in demand. In many developing countries, cities account for a rapidly increasing share of the population, which has major implications for food and agriculture both in rural and peri-urban areas. Consumer demand is diversifying more towards processed, convenient and safe products, while access to food is becoming more complicated as an increasing proportion of supplies is acquired through market exchange. The rapid urbanization under way calls for a reappraisal of urban-rural linkages, food security and social stability.
Growing pressure on natural resources. The sustainability of development activities is being challenged on many fronts. Both population and economic growth can have adverse environmental and ecological consequences, resulting in even greater pressure on the world's natural resource base. The main challenge is to increase food production to meet the needs of a growing population without threatening the world's climate or biological diversity or the availability and quality of its forest, fisheries, land and water resources.
Technology and information gap. Rapid scientific and technological advances, particularly in biotechnology and electronics, may widen the prevailing gap between developed and developing countries. The international implications of such developments are compounded by the issue of intellectual property rights. The information gap between producers and consumers also widens as food chains become more complex at the processing and trading stages, thereby raising concerns about food safety and human health and prompting calls for greater transparency and precaution.
Persistence of poverty and food insecurity. Despite increasing global food supplies, too many people continue to suffer from food insecurity, particularly in LIFDCs. While the number of undernourished people has decreased by 40 million since 1990-1992, a closer look reveals that this improvement has resulted from reductions in only 37 countries, totalling almost 100 million people. In another 59 countries across the developing world, the number of hungry people has actually increased by almost 60 million. In addition to the hundreds of millions suffering from undernourishment, various other forms of malnutrition affect an unacceptable proportion of the population. In a world where the population is growing by about 80 million each year and is likely to reach 7.3 billion by 2015, widespread food insecurity remains a major obstacle to development and a top priority for action.
Decline in official development assistance for agriculture |
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Relationship between security and food insecurity. The World Food Summit Plan of Action explicitly recognized that a peaceful environment is a fundamental condition for the attainment of sustainable food security. More recently, a report by the International Peace Research Institute, entitled To cultivate peace - agriculture in a world of conflict, identified the strengthening of agriculture in developing countries where it is the predominant economic activity as a prerequisite for development and, ultimately, for the reduction and/or prevention of conflicts that lead to warfare. The same message is evoked in an article by the former United States President Jimmy Carter (The International Herald Tribune, 17 June 1999), stressing the fact that agricultural development and access to food are not only technical, economic and ethical issues but are also at the root of peace and security.
Increasing number of food emergencies. Food and agricultural emergencies have multiplied over time as a result of natural disasters, such as droughts, fires, floods and pests and diseases, and disasters caused by human action such as war and internal conflict. Unforeseen disruptions to economic systems can also result in emergencies that have similar adverse impacts on local populations. The people most severely affected by disasters are often those living in rural areas, but the disruption of agricultural and food systems can have serious consequences for both rural and urban populations, and it is generally the resource-poor who are most vulnerable.
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In the wake of war or civil strife, FAO helps |
