G8 Agriculture Ministers' Meeting
Cison di Valmarino (Treviso), 18-20 April 2009
Statement of
Dr. Jacques Diouf
Director-General
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Excellencies,
Dear Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is an honour and great pleasure for me to be with you today to share FAO's views on the food insecurity situation in the world and discuss the best possible ways to face it.
I wish to thank the Italian Government for organizing such an important meeting as part of the preparation for the G8 Summit next July. I also wish to express my sincere gratitude to Italy for its hospitality and generosity for being the hub of the UN food and agriculture organizations.
This meeting is happening at a crucial point in time. The financial and economic crisis coming on the heel of last year's high food prices is leading to an alarming increase in food insecurity around the world. While the short-term increase in hunger due to the economic situation raises serious social, political and moral concerns, we must also be aware that this problem is not just transitory. The world is facing an important long-term challenge of how to feed more than 9 billion people in 2050 in the face of limited resources and climate change.
The Financial Crisis and Hunger
World food insecurity has reached unacceptable levels even before the eruption of the financial and economic crisis. Today, almost one billion human beings, or 15% of the world population, suffer from chronic hunger and malnutrition.
The financial crisis is making the world food security situation worse. It affects poor and food insecure people in developing countries in at least four ways - lower commodity export prices; reduced export trade volumes (by 9% in 2009); fall in financial flows (40% drop in FDI); and increased unemployment and poverty.
FAO experts are working with WFP and USDA colleagues to estimate the impact of those changes on hunger. Very preliminary results show that the number of undernourished people could increase by as much as 10%.
Future Food Security
While I don't want to sound alarmist, I believe that without a major and concerted international effort now, the problem of hunger and malnutrition can only worsen. At FAO, we are studying how to feed the world in 2050 when population will reach 9.2 billion, and we see huge challenges to food security caused by several factors, including demographic and dietary changes, natural resource constraints, climate change and bio-energy development.
The challenges are huge and we must start acting today. The lack of progress in fighting hunger to date is shameful. We cannot allow this situation to continue. We need to reiterate our commitment to the Anti-Hunger Programme.
Governance of Global Food Security
While the twin-track approach continues to be our scheme for fighting hunger - by combining the promotion of agricultural growth and investment, especially for smallholders in developing countries, with targeted protection programmes for the most needy and vulnerable, now we need to adopt a 'triple track approach' by adding the governance dimension to it. It has become clear that only by strengthening the governance for food security and agriculture, both at national and global levels, that we will realize our common goal of liberating humanity from the scourge of hunger.
I am pleased to report that, in conformity with the FAO Special Conference decisions of last November, and in collaboration with the UN High-Level Task Force and other partners, FAO has made significant steps in this direction.
With regard to the High-Level Panel of Experts, I have written to all FAO member countries to send a preliminary document of the terms of reference of this Panel and to start identifying personalities who could be part of this network. Subsequently, an open meeting with the membership was held on 30 March under the chairmanship of the CFS Bureau, on the basis of which revised terms of reference were prepared and dispatched to all FAO Permanents Representatives this past week.
The FAO Conference also requested that the CFS be revitalized to fully play its role in the new system of global governance. CFS members, led by their Bureau, have started the reform process. They agreed to embark on a serious and deep-seated renewal of the Committee based on three principles:
- inclusion of relevant stakeholders in CFS debates;
- serving as a true worldwide, United Nations forum; and
- reformed governance and decision making processes.
Proposed World Food Summit in 2009
In view of the challenges facing world food security, I believe we need a World Food Summit of Heads of State and Government in 2009. The food insecurity crisis requires no less attention than the financial crisis. It has economic, political and social ramifications, and also represents a threat to world peace and security.
The objectives of the Summit would be to:
- Reach a large consensus on eradicating hunger from the face of the earth by 2025.
- Put in place a more coherent and efficient system of governance of global food security, with a high-level intergovernmental process of decision making, a solid scientific and technical basis and more inclusive of different actors.
- Provide farmers in both the developed and developing countries with an income comparable to those earned by their fellow citizens in the secondary and tertiary sectors through support to agriculture that does not distort markets.
- Boost development aid and reverse the declining share of agriculture in total ODA to the 1980 level of 17%.
- Adopt a mechanism for early reaction to food crises, on the model of the early warning systems which proved very effective in 2007.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
FAO's Member Nations, management and staff share the vision of a world free from hunger and malnutrition and are all committed to reach that goal.
The Organization has embarked in the most significant reform process to date across the UN system. We are reforming both what we do and how we deliver our services. Our Governing Bodies are also reforming, to become more effective in their provision of oversight and guidance. This represents a unique opportunity to place our mutual efforts in fighting hunger and poverty on the right track.
In closing, I would like to reiterate the need to tackle the root causes of hunger now. And for that, the world needs international political consensus, not only to find and apply technical and economic solutions to the problem of food security but also to renew, strengthen and harmonize structures of reflection and decision, and to equip them with the proper powers and means to act effectively and timely.
I hope this meeting would be an opportunity to initiate the political process for addressing this vital challenge.
I thank you for your kind attention.