Глобальный форум по продовольственной безопасности и питанию (Форум FSN)

Dear all,

Thank you again to everyone who has contributed to the conversation. We have covered a lot of territory; however, let me try to summarize some of the issues that have been addressed.

It’s been emphasized that - for the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition to achieve longstanding results - we need to be forward thinking and adaptive to the constantly evolving nutrition landscape. Emerging issues include modifications in dietary patterns, urbanisation and the effects of climate change on food availability. We have also heard that these pressures cause the greatest stress to those who are most vulnerable, and that this needs to be considered when designing and implementing policies. Attention has also been drawn to the potential to make significant gains in malnutrition by addressing food waste and post-harvest losses.

A reccurring theme has been the complexity of malnutrition, as well as the need to involve multiple stakeholders. The UNSCN will do its part to support the UN “delivering as one” by helping to strengthen policy coherence, enhancing dialogue and identifying linkages to foster joint nutrition action, partnership, mutual accountability and advocacy on nutrition.

Isaac Bayor from Ghana suggested government departments and institutions be supported in order to build capacity to jointly plan, budget, implement, and monitor nutrition related goals. This would help avoid duplications and would ensure that policies are translated into actions that are routinely monitored, evaluated, reassessed and improved.

Wilma Freire Zaldumbide from Ecuador reminded us of the need to learn from nutrition success stories, such as from Brazil, Peru and Columbia. While solutions need to be context specific, peer-to-peer exchanges are one way to assess how the right policies implemented in the right countries can successfully reduce under nutrition in less than a decade.

On a similar theme, we have heard that nutrition programs must also be designed with and able to inform a wide range of actors. By building the capacities of front-line workers, food vendors and local practitioners, we ensure that individuals are equipped to regulate against unsafe practices, uncover bottlenecks and create a demand for improved nutritional services. Building the knowledge amongst journalists is important in this respect, as the media has an important role to play in amplifying key messages and promoting healthy eating.

Contributors have also reminded us of the need for stronger collaboration between the nutrition and agriculture stakeholders to reshape the global food system for better nutritional outcomes. The Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2) called for “strengthening sustainable food systems”. The Decade takes that one step further by placing its support for the improvement of diet quality through sustainable food systems at the center of global action.

As our online conversation continues, it would be good to hear more about the roles and responsibilities of the various actors, as you see them. We know the longstanding issues so tell us what commitments you expect from whom to go beyond business as usual. How best, for example, can the Decade support women and girls’ nutrition?

We very much look forward to the next round of comments in the coming few days.

Greetings-

Please find below my answers to your questions

1. Expectations

1.1 I expect the un decade of action on nutrition to consider all the components of the food system because nutrition is a discipline that is affected or that affects all the components/ different steps in the food system i.e. food production, food purchasing power, food marketing, food selection, food education, food consumption, food absorption and utilization and food discharge.

1.2 Addressing all the current and futuristic challenges encountered in all the different steps of the food system will significantly improve nutrition and food security of the people within the next ten (10) years.

1.3 These challenges are: land and water scarcity / conflicts, natural disasters, lack of will to work the land, lack of will to consume healthy food products, health conditions, manpower shortages, motivators/drivers, wars, unemployment, youth unemployment, drought, lack of knowledge of consequences of poor diets, etc...

2 Critical activities among others but not limited to:

2.1. A clear definition of healthy diets, which includes cultural and traditional attributes, should be set and discussed with mothers, during before and after pregnancy by paid health workers.

2.2. A revision of the school curriculum to include food and nutrition as a class should be done.

2.3. Awareness campaigns can be led and policy-makers informed on a regular basis.

2.4. Nutrition strategies and plans of action should be drafted, implemented and monitored.

2.5. Funding of those critical activities can be done through the voluntary contributions of citizens, which will in return be paid back five (05) years later. Records of the contributions should be kept.

3. Commitments

To accelerate and improve the quality of commitments from the various actors, there should be monitoring and rewarding of the actors, done by the United Nations different relevant organs.

4. Relevance of forums in the decade

Forums and other relevant movements should continue consultations such as this one, meetings, seminar, workshops, and remain informed.  If knowledge and time allow they can also train relevant stakeholders.

Thank you.

Regards.

R. M. Ntula

[A] Suggestions – critical activities that needs to be included in the work programme for the implementation of UN Decade Action on nutrition to reach the 2025 global nutrition targets:

Food and Nutrient security Bill was passed in 2013 by Indian Government  by integrating all activities that come under food and nutrition security.  This bill caries several components of food and nutrient supplements to needy.  However, with the change of governance at centre and state level, these are not moving as speculated in the bill.  This needs implementation in true spirit.  Under PDS [public distribution] system the government though introduced minor millets, the state governments are not coming forward to implement this in terms of production, procurement and supply under PDS.  This must be implemented.  The minor millets are considered as pollution free foods. 

UN agencies must put pressure on India Government to discourage in supplying polluted food such as wheat and rice under PDS system.  Also, put pressure on controlling adulterated food supplies, which are common all over India.

Food production in quantity alone is not the parameter to achieve food security but there are several other factors involved, namely food wastage – FAO reported it is around 30% but my calculation it is around 40 to 50% in India --, better storage facilities, minimum transport losses.  To achieve this governments must encourage locally produced foods under food and nutrient security schemes. 

Environmental groups must play a role in eradicating polluted food production and consumption as well adulterated food production and distribution in which they create awareness among people. Government must discourage mono-crop system of agriculture under high chemical inputs and under intensive irrigation systems as this will hamper linking of animal husbandry under farming systems that will be a major input to nutrient security aspect.

Some of the background information is presented in brief in [B] and supporting references are given under [C].

[B] Background in brief

The following article of mine Titled “2nd Green Revolution must be a sustainable system” was published on 11 August 2016 edition of newly started Hindi Daily News paper from Meerut “NEWS FIRST TODAY” in page 8 under “Editorial & Opinion”. 

2nd Green Revolution must be a sustainable system

Dr. S. Jeevananda Reddy Agricultural Scientist

The traditional agriculture was soil and climate driven farming system that encompasses the animal husbandry. It provided socio-economic, food and nutrient security with the healthy food. Those were the “Golden Days” in the history of farming. It was an environment-friendly system and was highly successful & sustainable. No pollution, no worry about seeds and fertilizer adulteration as they used good grain as seed and compost of farmyard manure and green manure as fertilizer.

Following growth in population the food production balance got disrupted and in order to find a solution to evergrowing problem, 60s saw the chemical inputs technology and genetically modified seed technology entering India in the form of much eulogised Green Revolution Technology. With the help of those technologies, food security was achieved up to an extent. But, it came at huge costs with disastrous impact on environment. The Green Revolution increased the production substantially in terms of quantity but failed to achieve the quality of traditional agriculture in terms of food and fodder. The technology includes high yielding seeds, chemical inputs (fertilizers & pesticides, insecticides, herbicides, etc) and irrigation. However, newly developed high yielding seeds used in ‘Green Revolution’ created new problems hitherto unknown to farmers. Use of chemicals in the crop management caused the cost of production jump several folds. Here entered government’s input subsidy, a huge component.

Studies on paddy/rice production figure of 70s & 80s in Andhra Pradesh revealed that the traditional paddy under irrigation yielded 1300 kg/ha; by adding high yielding seed this increased by 500 kg/ha; and by adding chemical fertilizers the yield level rose further by 2000 kg/ha. That means total yield achieved was 3800 kg/ha under farmers’ fields. This was far less than research station yields of 5000 to 6000 kg/ha. The present average yields of farmers’ field are 2600 – 2800 kg/ha as the yield curve flattened since 1984-85. Only increase in area under irrigation contributed to additional increase in production after 1984-85.

Studies clearly reflect that high yielding seeds introduced during and after the Green Revolution were tailored to chemical fertilizers under irrigation. This severely affected dry-land agriculture that constituted around 60% of the cultivated land. This lead dry-land farmers migrating to urban areas as the dry-land agriculture with high input costs became unsustainable and non-remunerative.

Forty years later, genetically modified (GM) seed entered into Indian agriculture system. Most innovations in this have been profit-driven rather than need-driven. Global seed industry is controlled by four western MNCs hands and at the same time GM seed industry is in one MNC’s hands. The GM technology responds to the need of GM companies to intensify farmers’ dependence upon seeds protected by the so-called intellectual property rights, which conflicts directly with the age-old rights of farmers to reproduce, share or store seeds. In fact, to get overnight profits, the Indian seed companies changed their high yielding seed into GM seed and ensured that nonGM seed is “not sold in the market”. This has resulted markets flooding with spurious/ adulterated GM seed varieties under different names.

One such GM Seed, Bt-cotton, is in use since 2002-03. Use of chemical fertilizers and irrigation increased the area under cotton under GM seed and reduced the area under non-GM seed without much yield advantage. The Bt-cotton area during 2002-03 to 2010-11 increased from 0.04 Lha to 17.95 Lha in Andhra Pradesh and at the same time area under non-Bt-cotton reduced from 8.03 Lha to 0.22 Lha. At all India level area under cotton increased from 7.667 Mha to 11.161 Mha. During the same period the yields increased from 212.5 to 545.7 kg/ha in Bt- and 229.1 to 919.5 kg/ ha in non-Bt at Andhra Pradesh level. At all India level cotton yields increased from 302 in 2002-03 to 554 in 2007-08 and there onwards declined to 475 kg/ha in 2010-11. That is, the productivity has been stagnant for the past five years. The yield increase is associated with the high yielding cotton seed, both GM & non-GM, to chemical inputs and irrigation.

Newer technologies were portrayed as a solution to all human problems, especially the problem of hunger and poverty forgetting their impact on the environment. However, the use of chemical inputs reduced the quality of food and created bad impact on environment. This “western profit driven” chemical input technology was found to be more dangerous on longterm, over the short-term gains. It has destroyed the environment drastically- soil degradation & salinization, health hazards to human, animal & plant life with air, water, soil & food pollution. The pollution related health hazards necessitated the introduction of drug manufacturing industry and establishment of hospitals who in turn cause air and water pollution, turning this into a vicious circle. Even with all these ill effects, the yield growth curve has flattened after 1980-85.

In fact, the chemical input technology is like “scratching the head with fire”. When this technology was introduced nobody knew that this technology is going to create such environmental catastrophe. Even the Nobel Prize awarding organization was not aware of this while awarding Nobel Prize to Norman Borlaug.

We must not forget the fact that GM technologies also work under chemical inputs -irrigation only and thus the above discussed impacts apply to GM seed technology also. In addition, GM seed technology presents several other impacts on biodiversity, contamination, re-generation, herbicide-tolerant weeds, new pests-diseases etc. Because of some of these, in USA & China GM crops were not permitted to grow in some zones. In India GM crops are grown everywhere including prohibited zones. There are several other aspects like food safety and ethics. India has no mechanism to study such aspects. Thus, with the GM seed technology, the cure has become more dangerous than the disease

To achieve sustainable agriculture, therefore, the governments must change the policy on agriculture. The policy must include low input costs, pollution free quality food technology such as organic inputs under cooperative farming setup. This not only brings down the cost of production but also reduces drastically man hours spent on procuring basic inputs by individual farmers, improves the utilization of natural resources and thus helps to reach sustainable agriculture.

In fact progressive farmers with traditional wisdom have developed technologies and achieved far higher yields than the research station yields and received national and international awards/rewards and recognition but neither the government nor the scientists showed any interest, though there is a mechanism in government departments, to stabilize that technology and provide packages to farmers to achieve environmental friendly progress in agriculture. The states and central governments must allocate sufficient funds to collect traditional inventions of progressive farmers and integrate these in traditional technology to achieve the 2nd Green Revolution that safeguards the environment and provide food safety, biosafety, food & nutrient security; and protect the farmers from committing suicides and provide socio-economic security.

Also, as proposed in new Food Security Bill, distribution of locally produced foods can be given under PDS by which the food subsidy component will come down substantially. This shall also reduce wastage and loss in FCI storage facilities and transportation.

Dr. S. Jeevananda Reddy

Watts up with that [27the August 2016]:

“Climate Change” is not “Global Warming”

Dr. S. Jeevananda Reddy, Agrometeorologist

Weather & Climate: Climate is what you expect, weather is what you get. Weather & climate respectively refer to short-term & long-term events in the atmosphere.  Averages and extremes in climate in terms of meteorological parameters such as temperature, precipitation, wind, relative humidity, etc for individual stations can be seen in normal books published by meteorological departments using 30 year period. Thus, temperature is only one parameter of weather and climate. Meteorological parameters do not act independently but they interact with each other in the atmosphere. Change in one parameter has an impact on the other parameters. They vary with climate system. The major components of climate system are the atmosphere, the hydrosphere, the crystosphere, the land surface and the biosphere. General circulation patterns relating to wind systems are superposed on the climate system. These play vital role on local and regional weather and climate. Thus, weather and climate vary with space and time.

Climate Change: Changes in climate are not new. They were there in the past and will be there in the future. These are inbuilt variations in nature. However, with the increased interference of humans on nature, the natural variations are being modified at local and regional scales. The combination of these is known as climate change. However, climate change has turned in to political satire of “global warming and carbon credits”, which carry billions of dollars to share that is evident even from the 2015 Paris Agreement.

(A) Natural variability consists of (a) irregular variations that include intra-seasonal & intra-annual variations and (b) systematic variations expressed by fluctuations or cyclic variations of different durations. These are beyond human control and thus needs to adapt to them. That is exactly what our forefathers did in the case of water resources and agriculture.

(B) The man-induced variations have two parts. They are changes through (a) greenhouse effect and (b) non-greenhouse effect. The former has two components, namely (i) global warming since 1951 through anthropogenic greenhouse gases -- Carbon Dioxide from fossil fuel use, and (ii) impact of aerosols from volcanic eruptions.  The later is ecological changes associated with the changes in land & water use and cover, which are defined by (i) “urban-heat-island effect” and (ii) “rural-cold-island effect”. 

Global Warming: The global average annual temperature is derived from the data series over land and ocean but they present non-uniform distribution with both space and time. Same is also the case with the Carbon Dioxide. Systematic measurements over oceans started only since 1990 and prior to that the ships used to take observations enroute. Contamination and covering with filth of the ocean waters steadily increasing. From 1973 onwards though satellites started measuring the data but officially the data is available since 1979. For the same period balloon data series are also available. As this data series showed lower annual average temperature over that of ground based measured data, this data was withdrawn from the internet. To show there is significant increase in global temperature due to global warming, some organizations that are maintaining the ground based data lowered the past data and raised the current data. With all these the past 20 years the trend showed a hiatus-pause.

In the global [land & ocean] temperature anomaly data series of 1880 to 2010, the trend component presented an increase of 0.6 oC per century. Over this trend superposed a 60-year cycle wherein the sine curve varied between - 0.3 oC to and 0.3 oC. According to IPCC from 1951 more than half of the global average temperature anomaly is associated with anthropogenic greenhouse gases effect (B/a).  Global warming is part of this (B/a/i). Even if we assume global warming component as 50%, the trend associated with it is only 0.3 oC per century. Even this is basically because of lowering the past data and rising current data. Also, the data is corrupted by having met network concentrated in urban areas and thus overemphasizing urban-heat-island effect and by having sparse met network in rural areas [which is more than twice that of urban areas] and thus underemphasizing rural-cold-island effect. This is not the case with satellite data. Thus, so far the Global warming component is less than 0.15 oC only. It is insignificant when compared to intra-annual and intra-seasonal changes in temperature and thus has little impact on nature. The global warming component was attributed to cause sea level rise, ice melts, glaciers retreat, impact crop production, cause extreme weather events, rainfall-monsoon changes, etc, etc. There is no way we can we expect these with that meager change in temperature.

Destruction of Nature: Nature is being destroyed by both natural disasters such as cyclonic activity, earthquakes, volcanic activity, tsunamis, etc; and activities to meet human greed such as wars, oil-gas-water extraction, physical destruction of ecologically sensitive zones & destruction of natural water flow systems, etc. Many a times such destruction and their associated changes in nature are attributed to global warming. The reality is quite different. Let me present few cases in this direction.

(i) Flood Disasters: Droughts and floods are common to India for that matter world over. Each year one part or the other in India experiences the floods and droughts. The severity of destruction changes with the time of the year, the terrain, with the population growth, and growth in infrastructure. However, with the violation of existing local, state and national laws the destruction is aggravated. This is the case with flood disasters in Uttarkhand in June 2013 and Jammu & Kashmir in 2014; November-December 2015 floods in Chennai in Tamil Nadu & Nellore in Andhra Pradesh; September 2000 floods in Hyderabad in Telangana. All these disasters are associated with the apathy of government agencies as they were unable to control the illegal construction activities along the river beds and converting rainwater channels, rivers, water bodies in to concrete jungle. Now governments are putting the blame on global warming as it cannot defend against such onslaught by politicians and bureaucrats to protect themselves for wrong doings.

(ii) Heat & Cold waves: Heat & cold waves are also common to certain parts of India in summer & winter in association with the Western Disturbances, part of General Circulation Pattern.  The high pressure belt over Nagpur region defines the impact zones.

(iii) Himalayan Glaciers Melt: IPCC pronounced in its AR4 Report stating that the Himalayan Glaciers will melt by 2035.  Same way Al Gore concluded that Greenland will be ice free in five years. When we questioned UN Secretary General through a letter the veracity on such pronouncements in 2009, these conclusions were withdrawn but only after they received Noble Prize. Government informed to Indian Parliament after Paris meet in 2015 that 86.6% of 2181 of Himalayan Glaciers are not receding. 

Natural Variability: Water is a natural resource, fundamental to life, livelihood, food security and sustainable development; it is also a scarce resource. India has more than 17.11% of the world’s population, but has only 4.6% of world’s water resources with 2.3% of world’s land area. Precipitation and snow melt provide the fresh water; though they are renewable, they are highly variable with space and time; climate change plays vital role in the year to year water availability over different parts of India. 

At national level the variability of southwest monsoon precipitation [June to September] appears to be very low – coefficient of variation is 9.9% -- but as we go smaller areas like state or met sub-division they are higher – Coastal Andhra, Rayalaseema & Telangana sub-divisions, respectively they are 22.2%, 28.8% & 23.5%. The rainfall in July, August & September months over Telangana met sub-division vary highly between 25-50 mm and more than 400-425 mm in a month. This is the type of temporal variability we experience. In the case of special variation, the drought proneness reaches as high as 60% of the years in rain shadow zone of Western Ghats like Anantapur-Bellary-Sangly zone to zero percent in good rainfall zones. Without understanding these, people make statements like “unusually extreme”.

Destruction of Western Ghats and Himalayas, more particularly foot-hills, will have disastrous effect on climate, more particularly on precipitation. For example, with the removal of hillock in the Santacruz Airport for the expansion of runways, reduced the rainfall by about 300 mm; but subsequently with densely built tall structures all around brought the rainfall to more or less to the original condition.

Earth’s climate is dynamic and always changing through the natural cycle.  What we are experiencing now is part of this system.  All India Southwest monsoon precipitation, that constitutes 78% of the annual, since 1871 to date followed a 60-year cycle. By 1987, two cycles have been completed. The third cycle started in 1987 and will continue up to around 2046 in which the first 30 years form part of better rainfall period [this will end by 2016] and the next 30 years form part of poor rainfall period [starting from 2017]. The frequency of occurrence of floods in the northwestern Indian rivers followed this pattern. Hurricanes and Typhoons also follow this cyclic pattern but in opposite direction. Same is the case with ocean temperatures in Atlantic and Pacific oceans.

However, this is not applicable to individual states or regions. For example, Andhra Pradesh a southeastern part of Indian States receives rainfall not only in southwest monsoon season but also in the northeast monsoon season [October to December] and as well cyclonic storms in summer [pre-monsoon season, April-May]. Both the monsoons rainfall presents a 56-year cycle but in opposite pattern. The frequency of occurrence of cyclonic activity in Bay of Bengal followed northeast monsoon 56-year cycle pattern.  The annual rainfall presents 132 year cycle in which in the 66 year below the average cycle part [prior to 1935] present 12 years with excess rainfall [>110% of the average] and in 24 years with deficit rainfall [< 90% of the average]; in the 66-year above the average cycle part [from 1935 to 2000] present 24 years with excess rainfall and in 12 years with deficit rainfall. The current below the average part of 66 years cycle part will be similar to prior to 1935, started in 2001.  Water availability in the Krishna River basin presents similar pattern in terms of surplus & deficit.

Agro-climate studies: Because of these scenarios, there is a need to carryout detailed agro-climate analysis at individual station level and region level to develop adaptive measures and as well development of water resources like interlinking of rivers, construction of dams and application of micro-irrigation, etc. In fact such analysis provides basic information such as drought proneness, sustainable growing period and sustainable period for planting. 

Dr. S. Jeevananda Reddy

Formerly Chief Technical Advisor WMO/UN

The UN Decade of Action on Nutrition is a welcome move. Inviting comments from the global community is a wonderful way of seeking to get everyone involved in a matter that should be of concern to us all.

NCDs are a global problem spread by ignorance and poor communication. Addressing the problem requires an improvement in the way we communicate. Vulnerable populations must be reached and informed of the importance of nutrition in physical and cognitive development and in the prevention of NCD.

One great problem is the assumption that foods available to children must be safe or they would be banned in the same way that cigarettes are. Unfortunately this is not so and so foods that may result in harm to children by causing poor cognitive and physical development or exposure to development of an NCD is as readily available as foods that lead to healthy outcomes. Foods that have been proven to be unhealthy should not be offered for sale to children and should at the very least carry a label warning of the danger they pose.

Many corporations now report a triple bottom line so we can see their impact on people and planet. Their posture with respect to NCD should be included in measuring their impact on people. Of particular interest would be the sale of products harmful to children’s health in places used primarily by children such as schools and amusement places for children.

Good nutrition has several positive impacts on people and countries and so must be promoted by every possible means.

Information, clear, concise and readily available is the chief means of combatting the misinformation and ignorance on which poor nutrition thrives. The UN. FAO and WBG must use the several channels of communications available to them to bring current information on how nutrition impacts national development, physical development, cognitive development and the achievement of the SDG.

The United Nations must seek to reach ordinary citizens in the many countries it serves. It should work with sister agencies such as FAO, WHO and the WBG to show how poor nutrition impacts their areas of operation.

WHO has had the health promoting schools drive for 20 years now without any meaningful impact in many countries. The urgency of the NCD problem has not been communicated to many organizations or to ordinary citizens.  Most parents are unaware of the danger most treats sold in stores and in schools pose to their children. Teachers in many schools practice unsafe eating and so set a poor example for students. If health promotion in schools is to be effective then teachers and parents must become actively involved in teaching children what are good nutritious choices.

Teachers should be required to eat nutritious meals and maintain a BMI within 10% of the recommended normal. Schools should not permit unhealthy foods to be sold within their boundaries. Information on nutrition should be included in student’s instruction from the earliest age and throughout their school life. Given the stated benefit of good nutrition such an approach will be good for people and planet.

The Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of NCDs 2013-2020 states that: Noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) – mainly cardiovascular diseases, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases and diabetes – are the biggest cause of death worldwide. More than 36 million die annually from NCDs (63% of global deaths), including 14 million people who die too young before the age of 70. More than 90% of these premature deaths from NCDs occur in low- and middle-income countries, and could have largely been prevented. Most premature deaths are linked to common risk factors, namely tobacco use, unhealthy diet, physical inactivity and harmful use of alcohol. (http://www.who.int/nmh/events/ncd_action_plan/en/)

Physical exercise has been identified as a risk factor above. The benefits of physical exercise is not taught in schools and no time is set aside for physical exercise in the school day in most schools on the island of Jamaica. If not in schools then where should the value of exercise be taught? Putting exercise into the curriculum is a matter of will rather than cost. What plans exists to make exercise a part of the school day? Music, marching band, games and exercise drills are all ways in which physical exercise may be introduced into student’s daily learning activities. Music has been suggested since it is liked by children and offers other benefits than physical exercise. (see  http://www.nafme.org/20-important-benefits-of-music-in-our-schools/ for other benefits of music in schools)

Unhealthy diets is also a factor in NCDs. Since 1995 the WHO has been promoting Healthy Schools. Why is this initiative not evident in schools in Jamaica. What has prevented it from being implemented?

WHO's Global School Health Initiative, launched in 1995, seeks to mobilise and strengthen health promotion and education activities at the local, national, regional and global levels. The Initiative is designed to improve the health of students, school personnel, families and other members of the community through schools (http://www.who.int/school_youth_health/gshi/en/)

Why has this initiative not worked? What will be done to improve outcomes?

One notable failure is communication beyond the education community. Teachers may know of the initiative and realize its value but they have not been motivated to implement it. Parents, children and communities are unaware of its existence and of its purpose. If the Decade of Action on Nutrition is to be successful then parents, communities and children must be included in the communication loop.

This report includes not only the four major NCDs (the focus of the UN meeting), but also mental illness, which is a major contributor to the burden of disease worldwide. This evaluation takes place in the context of enormous global health spending, serious concerns about already strained public finances and worries about lacklustre economic growth. The report also tries to capture the thinking of the business community about the impact of NCDs on their enterprises.

Five key messages emerge:

• First, NCDs already pose a substantial economic burden and this burden will evolve into a staggering one over the next two decades. For example, with respect to cardiovascular disease, chronic respiratory disease, cancer, diabetes and mental health, the macroeconomic simulations suggest a cumulative output loss of US$ 47 trillion over the next two decades. This loss represents 75% of global GDP in 2010 (US$ 63 trillion). It also represents enough money to eradicate two dollar-a-day poverty among the 2.5 billion people in that state for more than half a century.
• Second, although high-income countries currently bear the biggest economic burden of NCDs, the developing world, especially middle-income countries, is expected to assume an ever larger share as their economies and populations grow.
• Third, cardiovascular disease and mental health conditions are the dominant contributors to the global economic burden of NCDs.
• Fourth, NCDs are front and centre on business leaders’ radar. The World Economic Forum’s annual Executive Opinion Survey (EOS), which feeds into its Global Competitiveness Report, shows that about half of all business leaders surveyed worry that at least one NCD will hurt their company’s bottom line in the next five years, with similarly high levels of concern in low-, middle- and high-income countries – especially in countries where the quality of healthcare or access to healthcare is perceived to be poor. These NCD-driven concerns are markedly higher than those reported for the communicable diseases of HIV/AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis.
• Fifth, the good news is that there appear to be numerous options available to prevent and control NCDs. For example, the WHO has identified a set of interventions they call “Best Buys” There is also considerable scope for the design and implementation of programmes aimed at behaviour change among youth and adolescents, and more cost-effective models of care – models that reduce the care-taking burden that falls on untrained family members. Further research on the benefits of such interventions in relation to their costs is much needed.

It is our hope is that this report informs the resource allocation decisions of the world’s economic leaders – top government officials, including finance ministers and their economic advisors – who control large amounts of spending at the national level and have the power to react to the formidable economic threat posed by NCDs. (http://apps.who.int/medicinedocs/en/d/Js18806en/)

Health Professionals, International Agencies, Educators, Public Officials Businesses and some NGOs all understand the threat that NCDs pose.

It is time that Parents, Communities and Children be included in the communications loop. They are the ones who can make the decade successful by changing their behaviour and to do so they must be given compelling reasons. Ignorance and misinformation are the main reasons why some behaviours still exists and information is the best way to dispel these.

English translation below

خلال العقود الماضية تم إعدادا الكثير من السياسات والإستراتيجيات والخطط , وانقضت الآجال وانصرمت معها أحلام تحقيق الأهداف , أعتقد أن البيروقراطية والمركزية الشديدة من أهم أسباب كل الإخفاقات , فالمشاريع تدار من مكاتب الوزراء والمدراء وليس من الميدان وبعيدا عن المعنيين المباشرين من أصحاب المصلحة (المزارعين والمنتجين ) إن اختلاف هذا العقد يجب أن يكون بالتركيز على المنتجين والإتصال بهم ورسم السياسات والبرامج انطلاقا من الحاجات الحقيقية لهولاء والفرص المتاحة , في بلدي يمكن أن نبلغ الأهداف خلال فترة وجيزة , وحسب رأيي يجب أن نبدأ المعركة ضد الجوع وسوء التغذية من خلال محاور عديدة ومتكاملة , بدء بالزراعة والصيد وانتاج الغذاء بطرق مختلفة , ومرورا بحملات التوعية والتحسيس وانتهاء بخلق فرص عمل مختلفة في قطاعات أخرى , ولا بد من التركيز على الشباب ونشر الوعي بالفرص المختلفة كريادة الأعمال وإدارة المشاريع والشركات الناشئة وفي هذا الإطار أقترح تنظيم مسابقة من طرف المنظمات المعنية ( الفاو وأخواتها ) يمكن أن تنظم مسابقة في كل بلد سنويا ويتقدم الشباب بمشاريع مبتكرة من أجل تحسين إنتاج الغذاء ومحاربة الجوع وسوء التغذية , ويمكن للفائزين تحفيز الشباب على مزيد من الإنخراط في الأنشطة الإنتاجية كما يمكن أن يدعم الفائزون ويساعدون الشباب في ابتكار مزيد من المشاريع وخلق أجواء تنافسية منتجة , ولتمويل مختلف الأنشطة المقترحة يمكن اقتطاع نسب صغيرة من الموارد المرصودة في مستويات عدة ومن المانحين , كما يمكن إشراك المؤسسات المالية والمستثمرين وحثهم على دعم الأعمال الإنتاجية المجتمعية من خلال قروض ميسرة , وفي بعض الأحيان قروض بدون فوائد , إن آلاف الشباب الذين يغرقون في البحار والمحيطات بحثا عن فرص للحياة لن يقدموا على تلك المغامرة المقيتة إذا وجدوا فرصا للحياة على أرضهم وبين ذويهم .  

كما يمكن أن تقوم الفاو والمنظمات الأخرى المعنية بالغذاء بالإشراف على شبكة من المتطوعين تخطط وتشرف على تنفيذ خطط إنتاجية في كل منطقة وبعيدا عن تعقيد الإدارة والبيروقراطية وتقوم هيئات عليا من المنظمات بالبحث عن التمويل وتيسير الحصول عليه , ويمكن أن يكون هذا المنتدى نواة للتفكير في استراتيجية جديدة تنظر إلى آراء الخبراء وتقييماتهم , ولكن تركز على ابتكار طريقة جديدة أعتقد أن سر نجاحها سيكون فقط بانفصالها وابتعادها عن الهيئات الحكومية واقترابها أكثر من الناس والتعبير عنهم وتمثيلهم حقا .

During the previous decades, a lot of policies, strategies and plans were developed. Time has passed and all the dreams to achieve objectives have gone. I think that bureaucracy   and the extreme centralization are the most important reasons behind all the failures.  Projects are managed from the offices of ministers and managers not from the field and away from the direct concerned stakeholders (farmers and producers). The difference in this decade should be to focus on producers, contacting them and developing policies and programs that stem from their real need and from the available opportunities. In my country, we have to reach the target during a short time. In my view I see that we need to start our fight against hunger and malnutrition through many integrated axes starting from agriculture, fishing and food production through different means. This also includes awareness campaigns and then creating different job opportunities in other sectors. We need to focus on youth and on spreading awareness with different opportunities such as entrepreneurship, project management and start-ups . Within this framework, I suggest that we need to organize a competition by the competent organizations (FAO and the similar ones). A competition can be organized every year in a different country and the youth can then submit innovative projects for the purpose of improving food production and fighting hunger and malnutrition. The winners can encourage the youth to be more active in joining the productive activities.  The winners can support and help the youth in being innovative about more projects and they can create productive and competitive atmospheres. In order to provide funding for the different proposed activities, a very small amount of the resources earmarked in different levels and from donors can be deducted.  Financial institutions and investors can also be involved and urged to support productive community actions through soft loans and in some cases they can provide   interest free loans. The thousands of young people who drown in the seas and oceans in search for life opportunities will not resort to this despised adventure if they find life opportunities on their lands and among their relatives.

The FAO and the other organizations concerned with food can supervise a network of volunteers that plans and supervises the implementation of productive plans in each area and away from the complications of management and bureaucracy. Higher authorities in such organizations can search for funding and make it easily accessible. This forum could be a nucleus for thinking about new strategies that build on the views and assessments of experts, but focuses on creating a new methods and I guess the secret of its success will be to have it separate and away from the government organizations and make it close to people in order to really reflect their cases and represent them.

English translation below

أرى أن هذا العقد سيمر كغيره من العقود إن لم تبادر الجهات المعنية إلى تبني خيارات جديدة واستراتيجيات مختلفة.

لقد أخفقت سياسات وبرامج عديدة , و إن كان العمل الدولي المشترك قد حقق بعض الإنجازات خاصة في مجال الأمن الغذائي , إلا أن المنظمات المعنية بالغذاء تشير إلى تراجع هذا الإنجاز المحرز.

لا يمكن لعقد الأمم المتحدة للعمل من أجل التغذية أن يحدث فرقا ملحوظا في تحسين التغذية والأمن الغذائي لسكان بلدي , إلا إذا تغيرت المقاربات , وتم انتهاج سياسات مختلفة في هذا المجال , صحيح أن بلدي يتمتع بموارد معتبرة إذا أحسن استغلالها أشرت إلى بعضها سابقا , لكن الوضع خطير , حيث أشار برنامج الغذاء العالمي إلى أنه تدخل ( سنة 2015 ) لصالح 638 ألف شخص يعانون من انعدام الأمن الغذائي ( عدد السكان لا يتجاوز 3 ملايين نسمة ) , وتعاني 15 % من السكان من انعدام الأمن الغذائي باستمرار , ويعاني 10% من الأطفال دون سن الخامسة من سوء التغذية الحاد , ونصف السكان لا يحصلون على مياه نظيفة صالحة للشرب , حسب برنامج الغذاء العالمي .

تلك هي الوضعية على الرغم من الموارد المختلفة التي ذكرت سابقا, ورغم وجود قطاع للأمن الغذائي , وقطاعات أخرى معنية بالزراعة وتنمية الماشية والصيد البحري وغير ذلك...

أرى أن استراتيجية مختلفة تركز على المزارعين في الميدان ودعمهم وارشادهم وتوجيههم كفيلة بتحقيق الآمال , هم لا يطلبون الكثير مجرد الإرشاد والتوجيه وتحسين الأداء , فالإمكانيات كافية وجيش من الشباب العاطلين عن العمل يمكن أن يحدث فرقا عندما نبتكر طريقة جديدة للتعاطي مع كل ما ذكر , في المرة القادمة سأدلي باقتراحي في هذا المجال.

I can see that this decade will pass just like the other ones if the concerned entities did not take the lead to adopt new options and different strategies.

Many programs and policies have failed even if the joint international efforts have realized some achievements  specially in the field of food security, but the organizations concerned with  food point to the decline of such realized achievement.

The UN decade for action for nutrition can never achieve a remarkable difference  in improving nutrition and food security for the people in my country unless things change and new policies are followed in this field. It is true that my country has good resources if they are well utilized as mentioned before, but the situations is serious. The World Food Programme  indicated that the year 2015 has witnessed 638,000  persons suffering from food insecurity (the number of population do not exceed thee million inhabitants). In addition 15% of the population suffers from continuous food insecurity and 10% of the children below five years old suffer from severe food insecurity. Half of the population does not have access for clean potable water, according to the WFP.

 This is the situation in spite of the previously mentioned resources and in spite of the existence of a food security sector and other sectors  that are concerned with agriculture, cattle breeding, marine fishing  and others.

I can see that having a different strategy that focuses on farmers in the field and that supports them and provides them with guidance is sufficient to achieve the aims. They are not asking for many things, just guidance and performance improvements. The potentials are sufficient and the army of unemployed youth can make a difference  when we invent new ways of dealing with the aforementioned.  Next time, I will provide you with my suggestion in this field.

According to USAID 2011, malnutrition is an underlying cause of more than one out of three child deaths in poor countries each year and major contributor to the burden of diseases worldwide and as such should attract emergency responses and intervention in takkling the problem. The programme should priortize the production of foods that are eaten by the vulnerable population especially in the North east of Nigeria, promote agricultural activities that support employment generation and not the ones that displace labour, encourage small scale agricultural processes that promote women participation and access to innovative technologies while incorporating micro-nutrient rich crop varieties that will improve on the nutritional wellbing of the vulnerable ones.

English translation below

في بلدي كل التناقضات : موارد ضخمة وعدد قليل من السكان , نقص التغذية وسوء التغذية , والحكومات المتعاقبة تتحدث  دائما عن برامج طموحة ليس أقلها تحقيق الإكتفاء الذاتي في مجال الغذاء , وحقيقة أن ذلك ممكن , ويجب ان يتحقق , كيف نصدق أن بلدا يتمتع ب500 ألف هكتار صالحة للزراعة , ونهر جاري, ومياه جوفية وسطحية مختلفة , ولا يتجاوز عدد سكانه 3 مليون نسمة لا يمكن أن ينتج حاجاته الغذائية؟

كيف يمكن أن نصدق أن بلدا صغيرا يمتلك أكثر من 20 مليون رأس من الماشية والحيوانات الأخرى يعتمد في استهلاكه للألبان على واردات من كل أصقاع الدنيا , ولا يستفيد من ثرواته الحيوانية التي تهدر منتجاتها باستمرار في الوقت الذي يسجل فيه انعدام الأمن الخذائي لأكثر من 638 ألف شخص حسب برنامج الغذاء العالمي 

كيف لنا أن نصدق أن بلدا يطل على واحد من بين أغنى الشواطئ البحرية في العالم , وينتج سنويا مليون طن من المنتجات السمكية , يصدر معظمها إلى الخارج , يمكن أن يوجد فيه مواطنون بؤساء يعانون انعدام الأمن الغذائي ويحتاجون إلى تدخل المنظمات الدولية؟

In my country you can find all the contradictions; ample resources, a few number of people, food insecurity and malnutrition. The different governments talk always about ambitious programs that a least achieve self sufficiency in food and actually this is true and should be achieved.  How can we believe that a country that has 500,000 hectares of arable lands , a river, different underground and surface water, its population don't exceed  three million  and cannot produce its food needs.

How can we believe that such a small country  that own more than 20 million of livestock  and other animals  depend in its milk consumption on imports that come from all parts of the world and do not benefit from its animal wealth that squanders its production  while there are more than 638,000 persons suffering from food insecurity according to the WFP.

How can we believe that a country that overlooks one of the richest marine shores in the world and produces one million ton of fish products annually most of which is exported to other countries can have miserable citizens who are suffering from food insecurity and need the intervention of international organizations.  

English translation will be available soon

1. En Venezuela, la evolución de las políticas agropecuarias ha sido determinada por un fuerte sesgo antiagrícola con el control de tipo de cambio, control de precio, baja provisión de infraestructura rural y servicios agropecuarios de calidad enmarcadas en una economía de capitalismo rentístico que se ha acentuado en los últimos años. Lo que ha redundado en que haya una dependencia del 97 % de la renta petrolera en nuestra economía, que en el contexto mundial con la caída de los precios del petróleo ha afectado la disponibilidad de alimentos, debido a la falta de divisas para importar los alimentos necesarios para satisfacer a la población. Sin embargo, no es únicamente un problema de disponibilidad de alimentos, sino de acceso, estabilidad y utilización que son las otras dimensiones de la seguridad alimentaria y nutricional.El entorno de la crisis alimentaria incluye; altos niveles de escasez de alimentos (promedio de 80 %, datos del BCV), una inflación acumulada de alimentos de 2430 % (BCV,2015), tensión social con más de 350 saqueos registrados (Observatorio de conflictividad social, 2016), crisis institucional y finalmente el hambre. A pesar de las circunstancias desfavorables, tenemos altas expectativas sobre las acciones nutricionales concretas en el próximo decenio 2016-2025, considerando que al establecer este programa en el país se dará un salto importante al desarrollo agroalimentario, donde los pilares fundamentales serán: la equidad social, sostenibilidad ambiental y viabilidad económica considerando la planificación estratégica, la investigación e integración de los actores políticos y sociales. En el programa deben estar contempladas las actividades de educación alimentaria, formación de personal que sean agentes multiplicadores de la información en las zonas más vulnerables en cuanto a seguridad alimentaria se refiere, promover leyes que protejan a los consumidores y mejorar la calidad e inocuidad de los alimentos.

2. Los sectores privados deben involucrarse en las acciones nutricionales para tener una población más sana y se puede realizar planteando a las empresas de alimentos disminuir algunos impuestos, o garantizar adquirir cierta cantidad de mercancía para los comedores escolares,  si mejoran la composición nutricional de los alimentos. Finalmente es importante sumar a otras organizaciones, fundaciones, observatorios, entre otros, que realicen un trabajo académico y social de relevancia en los distintos países para que puedan ser apoyados y formados por la UNSCN. En Venezuela el gobierno no está permitiendo la apertura del canal humanitario, ni acciones de organismo internacionales como WFP o Hunger Free que ayuden a mejorar las condciones de inseguridad alimentaria y nutricional que es muy grave. Acá es donde los contactos con las ONG y Fundaciones son claves en la prosecución de los programas y acciones. 

I consider necessary the formation of a global network of nutrition protection in order to articulate civil society, researchers and experts to foster debate on the regulation of food and water market. Industry and supermarkets are managed by global companies, but the civil society network is not as organized and not focused on regulatory aspects. You can no longer rely solely on the participation of civil society in the CODEX Alimentarius, where their positions are limited by the interests of countries and companies that act there in an associated way.
You need to expand your network and build a global agenda protection nutrition, the environment and life. Decisions and resolutions of this forum should be the subject of worldwide publicity and guidance to nutrition policies of countries in the aspects of food produced according to health and environmental justice.Reactions and possible agreements resulting from this process should be monitored with a view to social progress resulting from improved nutrition of people and environmental recovery of the planet. You need to expand your network and build a global agenda protection nutrition, the environment and life.

Decisions and resolutions of this forum should be the subject of worldwide publicity and guidance to nutrition policies of countries in the aspects of food produced according to health and environmental justice.
Reactions and possible agreements resulting from this process should be monitored with a view to social progress resulting from improved nutrition of people and environmental recovery of the planet.