Committee on World Food Security
Rome 14 - 18 April 1997
Opening Statement of the Director-General
Delivered by the Deputy Director-General
Mr. Chairman.
Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates and Observers
Ladies and Gentlemen,
I have the pleasure to welcome you, on behalf of the Director-General , Mr. Jacques
Diouf, to the Twenty-third Session of the Committee on World Food Security, and to
deliver the following statement on his behalf.
This
Session is the first meeting of the Committee after the World Food Summit. I wish
first to acknowledge the important role played by the Committee in the preparations
for the summit and in making the Summit a success. I also wish to express my gratitude
to H.E. Pedro Medrano Rojas, the current Chairman of the Committee, for his dedication
and diligence in guiding the work of the Committee.
The long hours of hardwork and the arduous negotiations by the Inter-Sessional Working
Group and the Committee were taxing and tiresome. The fruits of such hardwork were
however rewarding.
Your hard work has greatly contributed to laying down the foundation for tackling
one of the pressing problems of mankind - hunger and malnutrition which afflicts
a great number of men and women the world over. This foundation is reflected in the
Rome Declaration and the World Food Summit Plan of Action, which were unanimously
approved by the Heads of State and Governments or their representatives of the 186
countries which participated in the Summit.
The Heads of State and Government have taken a common stand that the prevalence of
hunger and malnutrition in its present scale in our world is intolerable and unacceptable.
They have pledged their political will and their common and national commitment to
achieving food security for all and to an ongoing effort to eradicate hunger in all
countries.
The common and individual commitments by world leaders no doubt represent a major
step forward for tackling the problem of hunger and undernutrition and for advancing
world food security. What is important now is to see that the strategies and measures
set out by the Summit in the Plan of Action are translated into practical actions,
so that the number of the hungry and undernourished are progressively reduced in
line with - or faster than - the goal agreed at the Summit.
This Committee is given the responsibility by the Summit to monitor the implementation
of the Plan of Action. The Committee had worked hard in designing the Rome Declaration
and the Plan of Action. It will now have to work even harder and more resolutely
to fulfill the role assigned to it in the follow-up process. That role is to serve
Governments as the forum through which they will monitor efforts involving their
own actions, those of their partners of civil society, and those of international
institutions, working in a coordinated manner, to achieve the Summit objectives.
Under item II of the Agenda, you will be briefed on the world food security situation,
and discuss a paper on improving nutrition and food security: opportunities and challenges
posed by street foods. In addition you will review a status report on the Special
Programme for Food Security. Although these Items will be introduced later, I wish
to take this opportunity to acknowledge the many expressions of satisfaction from
the countries where the Special Programme is in operation, and to inform that requests
for the Programme have been received from a number of additional countries.
I also wish to express sincere appreciation to the countries and multilateral organizations
who have agreed to support the Special Programme, and to encourage others to become
partners. Support for South-South cooperation in connection with the Special Programme
is also gratifying.
The major item of your Agenda in this Session is item III, Follow-up to the World
Food Summit. This of course is not the time to review progress towards the Summit
goal and objectives; instead, the task before you is to agree on the procedures to
be followed so as to be able to monitor the follow-up to the Summit.
The Summit has set the objective of reducing the number of the undernourished people
to half their present level no later than 2015, and agreed to a mid-term review to
ascertain whether this target can be anticipated. Eight years from now we hope that
each country can look back and say that the number of its citizens affected by hunger
and malnutrition have been reduced substantially from their numbers today, and that
the now distant target of the Summit is within close reach.
As the Plan of Action recognises, the multidimensional nature of food security calls
for action beyond the mission of this Organization. It is in this context that under
Commitment 7, the world leaders present at the Summit have pledged to implement,
monitor, and follow-up the Plan of Action at all levels in co-operation with the
international community. The Summit has stressed that “......the effective implementation
of the World Food Summit Plan of Action requires strong international co-operation
and a monitoring process at the national, regional and global levels, using existing
mechanisms and fora for its operation.” Your role in monitoring implementation of
the Summit Plan of Action, in identifying where efforts are successful and where
results are not sufficient, will be an essential contribution to keeping momentum
in the individual and collective efforts of all partners.
In conformity with the specific lines of action recommended under objective 7.3,
the Committee under item III of the Agenda will consider proposals for the timetable,
reporting procedures and reporting formats for its monitoring of the implementation
of the World Food Summit Plan of Action, taking into account the required coordination
within the UN System.
In this connection, I wish to inform the Committee that World Food Summit follow-up
was on the agenda of the ACC meeting held in Geneva last Thursday and Friday, and
that the ACC has endorsed the proposed arrangements for inter-agency follow-up suggested
jointly by FAO and IFAD which will take place at the country level within the Resident
Coordinator system, as well as through an informal network at the headquarters level.
Under this agenda item the Committee will also consider the workplan for initiating
the process for developing targets and verifiable indicators of national and global
food security and for establishing a Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information
and Mapping System. Such monitorable and verifiable indicators are to be used for
measuring the progress in the achievement of the Summit major objectives.
The commitment of governments to establish a Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information
and Mapping System is mentioned in several places in the Plan of Action. In line
with the objective 7.2 sub-para (b) FAO has initiated a process of consultation on
the further elaboration and definition of a food insecurity and vulnerability information
and mapping system, and organized an initial technical consultation to refine the
methodology for defining targets and indicators of food insecurity and vulnerability.
The report on the technical consultation is contained in document CFS: 97/inf.8.
While the monitoring role assigned to the CFS is consistent with the mandate and
functions already given to it, it should be noted that the Committee’s existing mandate
also assigns it responsibilities for monitoring previous undertakings that are now
superseded by the World Food Summit Plan of Action. In order to update and modernize
the description of the Committee’s functions in the General Rules of Procedure of
the Organization, as well as to take account of the UN General Assembly Resolution
of July 1996, which transferred the functions of the former World Food Council to
FAO and WFP, some adjustments in the mandate of the CFS have been proposed for the
Committee’s consideration as contained in Document CFS 97/5. Sup.1. Finally, as a
basis for the report on the World Food Summit Preparation Process and Outcome to
be presented to the next FAO Conference, a brief note, CFS:97/INF 10, has been prepared
and tabled for the Committee’s information.
I once again wish to thank you all for the untiring and self-less efforts you have
made to make the World Food Summit a success. I have no doubt that you will equally
devote your unreserved efforts to the follow-up and monitoring of the implementation
of the Plan of Action so that the pressing problem of hunger and malnutrition can
be solved in as short time as possible.
I wish you a successful meeting.
