| CFS:2000/1-Rev.1
|
| CFS:2000/1-Rev.1
|
COMMITTEE ON WORLD FOOD SECURITY |
Twenty-sixth Session |
Rome, 18 - 21 September 2000 |
PROVISIONAL AGENDA |
I. ORGANIZATIONAL MATTERS
(a) Election of Chairman and Vice-Chairmen
(b) Adoption of Agenda and Timetable
(c) Statement by the Director-General or his Representative
(d) Membership of the Committee
II. ASSESSMENT OF THE WORLD FOOD SECURITY SITUATION
III. PROGRESS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF THE WORLD FOOD SUMMIT PLAN OF ACTION: COMMITMENTS ONE, TWO, FIVE AND RELEVANT PARTS OF COMMITMENT SEVEN
(a) Report on Progress in the Implementation of the World Food Summit Plan of Action
(b) Conclusions Reached by FAO Regional Conferences Regarding the Implementation at Regional and Sub-regional Levels of the World Food Summit Plan of Action
IV. THEMATIC ISSUE: WHO ARE THE FOOD INSECURE?
(a) Identification and Characterization of Vulnerable and Food Insecure Groups
(b) Report on Development of Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping Systems (FIVIMS)
V. OTHER MATTERS
(a) Arrangements for the Twenty-seventh Session
(b) Any Other Business
(c) Report of the Session
1. The Twenty-sixth Session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) will open at 10:00 hours on Monday 18 September 2000 at FAO Headquarters. Provision has been made for the Session to continue up to 21 September 2000.
2. In accordance with its Rules of Procedure, the Committee at this Session will elect a Chairperson and four Vice-Chairpersons from among the representatives of its members. The officers will remain in office for a biennium. The outgoing Chairperson is H.E. Mohammad Saeed Nouri-Naeeni (Iran) and the outgoing Vice-Chairpersons are Mr. Albano L.T. Asmani (Tanzania), Mr. Etsuo Kitahara (Japan), Mr. Ronald Rose (Canada) and Mr. Khairuddin Md. Tahir (Malaysia).
3. The provisional Agenda for the Twenty-sixth Session has been prepared in consultation with the Chairperson, taking into account the Committee's Terms of Reference and its recommendations at the previous Session.
4. The Session will be addressed by the Director-General or his Representative.
5. The Committee is open to all Member Nations of the Organization and all States which are Members of the United Nations. It is composed of those States which notify the Director-General in writing of their desire to become members of the Committee and of their intention to participate in its work. Membership is for the biennium 2000-2001.
6. Under this item the Committee will consider the current world food security situation, including trends and prospects. In addition to reviewing global food security indicators based on world market performance for basic staples during the current marketing year, the Committee will also consider trends in the performance of indicators in relation to access to food and the proportion of the undernourished.
7. Invitations have been sent to UNDP, UNICEF, ILO, WHO, World Bank, IFAD and WFP requesting them to inform the Committee with regard to the progress towards the objectives of Commitments One, Two and Five and relevant parts of Commitment Seven in the areas of their respective mandates. It is expected that presentations by the representatives of these Agencies will be made immediately after the introduction of Item II of the Agenda by the Secretariat.
8. At its Twenty-fourth Session the Committee recognized that it had to undertake, as established by the Summit, a mid-term review in the year 2006 of the progress in reducing the number of the undernourished to half their 1996 level no later than 2015. It agreed that for the monitoring cycles before the mid-term review, the first cluster of Commitments to be reviewed will consist of those relating to "people-centred" objectives, i.e. Commitments One, Two and Five and the relevant parts of Commitment Seven.
9. At its Twenty-fifth Session, the Committee approved a reporting format as a basis for all future reporting on the Progress in implementing the World Food Summit Plan of Action. The Director-General sent a Circular State Letter to Governments, United Nations agencies, other international institutions, as well as to Regional and sub-regional bodies, requesting them to report, on the basis of the format, on measures taken to implement Commitments One, Two, Five and the relevant parts of Commitment Seven. On the basis of the information to be received from the reporting streams, and using other sources, the Secretariat will prepare a report, analysing progress in the implementation of the above mentioned commitments for the Committee's consideration.
10. The Committee at its Twenty-third Session, discussed arrangements for monitoring and reporting on implementation of the Summit's Plan of Action, and agreed that, in addition to reports from national governments, reports on UN agency follow-up and inter-agency coordination, and reports from other relevant international institutions, arrangements also had to be made for monitoring implementations at the sub-regional and regional levels. It noted that the FAO Regional Conferences would have a standing item on follow-up to the Summit. Conclusions reached by FAO Regional Conferences on the follow-up to the World Food Summit Plan of Action, together with reports of the NGO consultations that had been held parallel to each Regional Conference, will be reviewed by the Committee in the context of the debate on this agenda item.
11. It will be recalled that the Committee at its last Session agreed that the thematic issue for consideration at its Twenty-sixth Session be "Who are the Food Insecure?", linked to a thorough debate on FIVIMS (Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping Systems). It was noted that this subject would provide additional information for monitoring the implementation of the World Food Summit Plan of Action and the progress towards the objectives.
12. On the basis of the document to be prepared by the Secretariat, the Committee will discuss and agree on the general categories of vulnerable and food insecure groups that might be used for comparing developments across countries, recognizing that these categories will need to be adapted to meet specific country circumstances when applying them for use by national FIVIMS. In this connection, the Committee will also consider progress in the development of FIVIMS based on the secretariat's report, and information that member countries may wish to provide about their national FIVIMS, during the course of the debate.
13. Under this item, the Committee will consider any matters that may require decision regarding the date and agenda for its next session. According to its Terms of Reference, the Committee shall normally hold two sessions during each biennium, and if required may hold additional sessions during the biennium on the call of the Direcor-General in consultation with its Chairman, or on request submitted in writing to the Director-General by the majority of the members of the Committee.
14. The Committee has decided to monitor the World Food Summit Plan of Action in even years of each biennium,and will hold its meetings in these years after all Regional Conference Sessions have finished their work, so that contributions from regional debates could be incorporated in the CFS monitoring process. In odd years thematic issues relating to Summit follow-up that require more in-depth review will be debated. The Committee will therefore need to decide on the thematic issues to be considered at CFS/27, based on proposals that will be put before it by the CFS Bureau.
15. The FAO Conference at its Thirtieth Session acknowledged the existing collaboration among the three Rome-based organizations. In that connection, the Conference debated a draft resolution on an "alliance on food security", but concluded that additional study was needed by CFS to develop the concept further with a view to the possible adoption of a resolution on this subject. The Committee may wish to consider and decide on how the issue should be handled. The Committee may also wish to comment on various points raised in the document on "Report on Progress in Involving NGOs/CSOs in the Work of CFS" (CFS/2000/INF.6), which it had requested to be prepared.
16. The Committee, in line with its Terms of Reference, will submit a Report, including its recommendations, to the Council.
At the Twenty-fifth Session of the CFS, the suggestion had been made that the CFS, in monitoring the Plan of Action, could review voluntary country reports. In considering this suggestion, the Bureau has decided that volunteering countries could present their reports at a panel discussion outside the formal agenda, but prior to closure of the Twenty-sixth Session. In view of the time constraints only a few countries could make such presentations. The Chairman of the Bureau will therefore consult with the regional groups, with a view to identifying one volunteering member country from each regional group to participate in the panel. An informal debate will be held after the panel, open to all persons participating in this new experimental Thursday morning session. Experiences of NGOs/CSOs with implementation of the World Food Summit Plan of Action in each region will also be reported on during the course of this debate.
