Глобальный форум по продовольственной безопасности и питанию (Форум FSN)

Hello,

Attached please find comments from ACTION on the Rome Declaration draft up for consultation through 28 May 2014.

Many thanks for your consideration!

Kate Goertzen

Kate Goertzen

Senior Associate - Nutrition, Child Health

ACTION Secretariat

c/o RESULTS Educational Fund

1101 15th Street NW, Suite 1200, Washington, DC 20005

Dear FAO/WHO,

The ABIA (Brazilian Association of Food Industries) welcome the opportunity to comment on the Draft of the Rome Declaration on Nutrition. Attached is the template with our comments.

Kindest regards.

GISA is strongly committed to an inclusive participation of all stakeholders in the preparation of ICN2 as well as during the conference. Thus, we would like to thank the secretariat for organizing this second electronic consultation on the draft V0+2 of the political statement.

We recognize that there has been positive progress made in this new version of the “Draft of the Rome Declaration on Nutrition”. However other drivers of nutrition as health, care and education should be strengthened in the declaration in order to ensure that malnutrition is addressed in a more holistic and multisectoral manner.

GISA's general comments on the draft V0+2 of the Rome Declaration on nutrition are the following:

• The text should reaffirm more broadly respect for human rights in all fields when it comes to tackling food and nutrition insecurity.
• Food people's preferences should also be added right from the introductory section, as this principle is part of the food security definition (world food summit, 1996).
• Access to quality health services, care practices, hygiene and prevention should be better included in the text, both in the section on “multiple threats of malnutrition”, and in the section on “vision for global action”. A commitment should be added to encourage country health system strengthening strategies (such as national IHP compacts) while ensuring the full integration of nutrition within basic health care to ensure the sustainable delivery of direct interventions.
• The nutrition goal of agriculture should be recognized and the importance of nutrition sensitive approaches through the diversification of crops/livestock within production system should be underlined.
•  Smallholders and family farming are the primary victims of hunger (75% of those suffering from hunger are smallholders) while they are the main producers of food. They play an important role in reducing malnutrition and contributing to a balanced diet, and need to be supported by public policies to this effect. It should be added in the section on “vision for global action”.
• Women play a central role in nutrition. Specific efforts to protect and empower women should be added in the section on “vision for global action”.
• In order to promote healthy dietary patterns in food systems, nutrition and taste education is a key issue in order to develop varied food habits as well as take pleasure in eating.
• Consistency between the various global frameworks on nutrition and food security should be ensured. This should be specified in the Declaration.
• In its role as the most inclusive international and intergovernmental platform for all stakeholders to work together to ensure food security and nutrition globally, the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) should be mentioned in the section “a vision for global action”.
• Finally, GISA stands in favor of the adoption of an inclusive framework for action which should serve to monitor progress towards fulfilling the commitments agreed in the Rome Declaration on nutrition, in order to ensure accountability.

En verdad las expectativas son muchas y los compromisos serán elusivos en muchos casos. Aparte de los nobles y enaltecedores deseos, el asunto radica mucho en cuestiones éticas y económicas, siguo insistiendo que la OMC, debería jugar un papel importante en el arbitrio para metodologías que contemplen este paradigma y su atención entre las naciones y los bloques ricos y pobres, Asimismo el desperdicio y la inequidad, son factores que distancian tan solo la posibilidad de alimentarse, aunque no sea de la manera más saludable. La asignación de recursos para casos de hambrunas y conflictos debería contar con mecanismos más expeditos. asegurados por la ONU con un poder real de intervención; la retórica no llena estómagos y muchos menos en casos de exilios masivos o pestes, o inmigraciones por conflictos sean estos los que fueren.

Las condiciones de salubridad también incluyen cambios profundos en prácticas culturales de alimentación, son necesarias campañas " constantes " para informar y formar a las personas, los estados despifarran recursos por no tener un buen contenido.

El aspecto nutricional depende de condiciones para que los agricultores puedan producir alimentos más sanos, con menos químicos, así como, incentivar mejores prácticas, que sean rentables, pues la producción orgánica, no ha llegado a ser barata y accesible comparativamente con la producción industrial.

El reto es inmenso, el liderazgo de las agencias implica poder establecer balances entre los actores tan diversos, esa es la fe, mucha suerte !

Thank you very much for the opportunity to comment on the revised draft of the ICN2 political outcome document. We would like to comment on the issue of food loss and waste. Food loss and waste is acknowledged in the document as one of the challenges that reduce the ability of food systems to provide safe and nutritious food, while post-harvest loss and waste is one of the intervention areas identified under the vision for global action. Yet, the section on commitment to action makes no mention of food loss and waste, which would have made a logical progression from the identified threats and the vision. This risks reducing attention and interest to address this crucial factor impacting on food and nutrition security, especially in the developing countries.

The attached template contains comments to sections of the document.

Thank you

Divine Njie and Camelia Bucatariu

Agro-food Industries Group, FAO

1. General comments on the Draft of the Rome Declaration on Nutrition.

Welthungerhilfe welcomes the opportunity to comment on the second draft of the ICN2 Declaration on Nutrition.

We acknowledge that the second draft of the Rome Declaration is more concise and better structured and makes reference to some of the aspects we have indicated as missing in the first draft.

We appreciate the reference made to the Right to Food in the introductory paragraph of the document. However, we recommend that the document as a whole should make stronger reference to the existing human rights framework as part of binding international law and the deriving obligation of states to respect, protect and fulfil the Human Right to adequate Food.

Reference to gender based discrimination and the violation of women´s rights as key drivers of malnutrition and the crucial role of women in food and nutrition security is still lacking.

More attention should also be paid to the role of education as another key aspect to end malnutrition in all its forms.

The document makes only little reference to rural areas and does not mention at all the role of small scale food producers although they represent the majority of the nutrition insecure population and play a significant role as the main producers of food.

Finally, a commitment to clear targets and timeframes to end malnutrition in all its forms and for accountability mechanisms to monitor this process is still missing.

We would like to reiterate that the participation of civil society should go further than an invitation to participate in the e-consultation on the political outcome document. We deem of vital importance that the civil society constituencies, the people who are directly affected by malnutrition and global nutrition policies, are given the opportunity of meaningful participation in the preparation of the ICN2 conference, the conference itself and the follow-up process.

1. Specific comments on the paragraphs related to the multiple threats that malnutrition poses to sustainable development (paragraphs 4-10).

Para 5.

With regard to the “root causes of malnutrition” the analysis should also mention the lack of access and control over resources, gender based discrimination and poor education as causes.

1. Specific comments on the vision for global action to end all forms of malnutrition (paragraphs 11-12).

Para 11 a)

It should be mentioned, that the elimination of malnutrition in all its forms is not only an imperative for ethical, political, social and economic reasons, but a binding obligation of national governments as set out in the legal frameworks on the Human Right to Food and the Human Right to Health.

Para 11 b)

The empowerment of women is crucial to end malnutrition and should be included here.

Para 11 c)

The list of relevant sectors to ensure political coherence should include climate policies, too. Delaying international agreements and preventing stronger commitments to stop climate change leads to increasing nutrition insecurity and therefore implies a violation of the Right to Food.

Para 11 e)

We recommend referring more explicitly to the strengthening of the legislative and regulatory framework in terms of preventing the marketing of unhealthy non nutritious food (HFSS foods) as well as implementing the WHO recommendation on the marketing of breast-milk substitutes.

Para 12 h)

With regard to sustainability reference should be made not only to its ecological but also to its social dimension addressing the need to ensure social equity within food systems.

1. Specific comments in the appropriate fields relating to these commitments (paragraph 13):

Commitment a): eradicate hunger and all forms of malnutrition, particularly to eliminate stunting, wasting and overweight in children under 5 and anemia in women; eliminating undernourishment and reversing rising trends in obesity;

Commitment b): reshape food systems through coherent implementation of public policies and investment plans throughout food value chains to serve the health and nutrition needs of the growing world population by providing access to safe, nutritious and healthy foods in a sustainable and resilient way;

Public policies and investment should particularly provide support for small-scale food producers allowing them for a sustainable production, processing and marketing of diversified nutritious food.

Commitment c): take leadership to shape and manage food systems and improve nutrition by strengthening institutional capacity, ensuring adequate resourcing and coordinating effectively across sectors;

Commitment d): encourage and facilitate contributions by all stakeholders in society and promote collaboration within and across countries, including North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation;

Commitment e): enhance people’s nutrition, including people with special needs, through policies and initiatives for healthy diets throughout the life course, starting from the early stages of life, before and during pregnancy, promoting and supporting adequate breast feeding and appropriate complementary feeding, healthy eating by families, and at school during childhood;

Commitment f): adopt and implement a Framework for Action that should be used to monitor progress in achieving targets and fulfilling commitments;

The Framework for Action should include clear targets, timeframes as well as commitments on financial resources and define accountability mechanisms allowing for meaningful participation of civil society actors, particularly of the segments of the populations most affected by malnutrition.

Commitment g): integrate the objectives of the Framework for Action into the post-2015 development agenda including a possible global goal on food security and nutrition.

Invitation to an open discussion

on the political outcome document of the ICN2

Comment Form

Personal information            

Name: Xaviera Cabada

Organization: El Poder del Consumidor- NGO

Location: México

Email: [email protected], [email protected]

1.     General comments on the Draft of the Rome Declaration on Nutrition.

     ·      The importance of sovereignty and sustainability regarding agricultural practices is needed to be more emphasised as well as the emergency need for the protection of biodiversity.

·      As part of the right of everyone to have access to sufficient, safe, healthy, and nutritious foods, there needs to be the reaffirming of the importance of traditional diets from the world.

·      There needs to be more emphasis on human rights approach and the urgent need for the protection of breastfeeding as the first way to guarantee the right to adequate food among population.

·      As part of the root causes of malnutrition, the intake of ultraprocessed foods high on sugar, fat, saturated fat, trans-fats, and salt/sodium has become one element that is directly linked to malnutrition as a cause, it would be proper to integrate it as such.

·      Regarding trade practices, there needs to be recognized the need for fair trade practices.

·      Importance of participation of civil society organizations for the public interest needs to be integrated in the document.

·      Among agricultural practices there needs to be the exclusion of genetically modified organisms, especially in those countries where they represent a severe threat to their sovereignty.  

·      In commitment to action, conflict of interest needs to be approached.

2.     Specific comments on the paragraphs related to the multiple threats that malnutrition poses to sustainable development (paragraphs 4-10).

·      Paragraph 4, instead of unbalanced diets- unhealthy diets.

·      Paragraph 5, as part of the root causes, point one would need to integrate in line 3, where … “vicious cycle, by lack of breastfeeding, non-potable water, poor sanitation, food borne and parasitic infection, and ingestion of ultraprocessed foods high on sugar, fat, especially saturated and trans-fats, and salt/sodium.

·      Paragraph 7. “Recognize that environmental, societal changes, and marketing practices of unhealthy foods, especially those directed to children often have an impact on dietary and physical activity patterns….

3.     Specific comments on the vision for global action to end all forms of malnutrition (paragraphs 11-12).

·      Paragraph 11, subsection a)… “paying particular attention to the special needs of children, women, elderly and disabled people; emphasizing the human rights approach.

·      Paragraph 11, subsection b)… “a coordinated action of different actors, where civil society is a key actor, at international…. as well as health, breastfeeding, ….

·      Paragraph 11, subsection c)… “including in fair trade and investment agreements…”

·      Paragraph 12, subsection a)… “support and complement nutritional effective initiatives and measures”

·      Paragraph 12, subsection c)… at the end of the subsection, after consumed add the following; “assuring local agricultural practices, promoting sustainable practices, and the exclusion of genetically modified organisms, especially in those countries where they represent a severe threat to their sovereignty.  

·      Paragraph 12, subsection d)… “appropriate market and price regulations in food”…

·      Paragraph 12, subsection f)… “while limiting the consumption of processed foods that negatively affect nutrition and health, including breastmilk substitutes for infants”

·      Paragraph 12, subsection h)… “food systems should be self-sustainable…”

4.     Specific comments in the appropriate fields relating to these commitments (paragraph 13):

Commitment a): eradicate hunger and all forms of malnutrition, particularly to eliminate stunting, wasting and overweight in children under 5 and anemia in women; eliminating undernourishment and reversing rising trends in obesity

Add “and diabetes and other chronic diseases”

Commitment b): reshape food systems through coherent implementation of public policies and investment plans throughout food value chains to serve the health and nutrition needs of the growing world population by providing access to safe, nutritious and healthy foods in a sustainable and resilient way;

Add after public policies “free from conflict of interest”         

Commitment c): take leadership to shape and manage food systems and improve nutrition by strengthening institutional capacity, ensuring adequate resourcing and coordinating effectively across sectors;

Add “with the full support to small and medium local producers”

Commitment d): encourage and facilitate contributions by all stakeholders in society and promote collaboration within and across countries, including North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation;

Add “adequate collaboration”

Commitment e): enhance people’s nutrition, including people with special needs, through policies and initiatives for healthy diets throughout the life course, starting from the early stages of life, before and during pregnancy, promoting and supporting adequate breast feeding and appropriate complementary feeding, healthy eating by families, and at school during childhood;

Commitment f): adopt and implement a Framework for Action that should be used to monitor progress in achieving targets and fulfilling commitments;

Commitment g): integrate the objectives of the Framework for Action into the post-2015 development agenda including a possible global goal on food security and nutrition.

5.     We would also appreciate your vision on policies, programmes and investment that might help translate such commitments into action.

Policies and investment must be implemented entirely for the public interest, without conflict of interest.

It is crucial agricultural systems to be exempt from genetically modified organisms, especially in those countries where their presence implies a severe threat to the sovereignty of the country. Countries need FAO support.

Small and medium local producers need full support from governments and international entities like FAO and WHO.

  Documentation that may be of support: WHO Recommendations on the marketing of foods and non-alcoholic beverages to children and the marketing of feeding products for infants and young children,

International Code of Marketing of Breastmilk Substitutes and subsequent relevant WHA resolutions,

Convention on the Rights of the Child from the Committee on the Rights of the Child, General Comment No. 16 (2013) on State obligations regarding the impact of the business sector on children´s rights. 

To whom it may concern,

Please find attached Abbott Nutritions submission on foot of the public consultation on the Draft Rome Declaration on Nutrition.  We welcome this opportunity to comment on the draft and look forward to contributing to the discussions over the coming months and to hearing the outcome of the meeting in June.

With kind regards,

Pamela Byrne

Dear ICN2 Organisers and Friends,

I like to commnet on behalve of Action Against Hunger on the Draft of the Zero plus one Draft Rome Declaration on Nutrition.

ACF International recognises that the ’Draft of the Rome Declaration on Nutrition’ has made advances in broadening the scope of the ICN2. In particular, we acknowledge the inclusion of a wider definition of food systems, the commitment to under-five malnutrition and the commitment to linking the ICN2 to the Post‐2015 Development Agenda.

However, there is significant space and need for further promoting a balance between food systems approaches, nutrition sensitive interventions, and nutrition specific interventions.  The Rome Declaration of ICN2 should include commitments on the strengthening of health systems, in order to ensure the full integration of direct nutritional interventions within basic health care. The ICN2 will be in danger of failing its aims if it does not acknowledge the importance of health, care practices, and education. The final declaration should more generally reaffirm agreed and ratified human rights language, including explicit reference of the right to adequate food and health.

Despite various reasonable and pragmatic proposals from Civil Society Organisation coalitions on ways forward, there remains a lack of adequate interaction between the Secretariat, Member States and CSOs. The ICN2 process must be made more inclusive, accountable and transparent. We acknowledge the electronic consultation on the various stages of the outcome document, at the same time we do not believe these intermittent points to be sufficient in the run up to the November high-level conference and would like to see a more interactive discussion as this will improve the quality of the event and its outcomes. ACF, together with over a dozen CSOs, hosted a successful roundtable event during the WHA on 22 May in Geneva, bringing together informally the Secretariat, Member States and CSOs to help create clarity, shared understanding and promote constructive dialogue. We welcomed the open and productive interaction during the event with the Joint Working Group (JWG) and the Secretariat and hope all stakeholders seize the opportunity presented by the demonstrated commitment and fully adopt the principle discussion. We suggest that the JWG and the Secretariat consider similar public meetings in Rome and Geneva later in July following the expected publication of the first draft of the Framework for Action, to inform and collect input in a timely and transparent way.

We also urge the ICN2 Secretariat and the JWG to work with the WHO and FAO and propose an inclusive discussion before, during and beyond the November Meeting on opportunities to further mobilise multi-stakeholder interaction.

Lastly, we restate the need to include accountable commitments and the setting up of a Framework for Action. This framework must be a legacy of the ICN2 after November 2014 that rallies governments and international platforms to take accountable collective and individual actions to end malnutrition. It must also be a place that enables progress on the country level.

With only six months to go, ACF believes the ICN2 should reaffirm its commitments of coherence and consistency between the various global frameworks on nutrition and food security by adopting the widely agreed and achievable WHO nutrition targets as part of the Rome Declaration and a foundation for the subsequent discussion on the Framework for Action. The ICN2 must build bridges with global initiatives on food and nutrition security such as the SUN Movement, Nutrition for Growth initiative, REACH and the CFS to ensure to maximise its impact. The declaration should call for more coherence among the sectors, including in regard to land rights, health supply, gender, social protection and education.

Enclosed ACF submission of detailed recommendations to improve the Draft Rome Declaration paragraph by paragraph.

ACF considers the ICN2 to be a unique opportunity and we remain fully committed to bringing about change for better nutrition and to share our expertise with the organisers. We would especially like to offer the ICN2 the knowledge, expertise and perspectives that our day to day contact with the most affected people and communities – those that ultimately are at the centre of a successful ICN for whom ‘better nutrition for all’ is not a slogan but a desperate need.

Thanks Samuel Hauenstein Swan

Senior Reserch and Policy Advisor

ACF International

World Public Health Nutrition Association comments

on the revised draft of the political outcome document of the ICN2.

1. General comments on the Draft of the Rome Declaration on Nutrition.

We, the World Public Health Nutrition Association (WPHNA), welcome the opportunity to comment on the revised draft of the political outcome Rome Declaration on Nutrition of ICN2. We thank the convenors of ICN2 for their inclusive approach and therefore regard ourselves as partners in the process.

We also thank all those concerned within the UN system who are supporting the necessary moves to make nutrition central in relevant public health policies, throughout high-income as well as lower-income member states. The fact that ICN2 is taking place in the FAO International Year of Family Farming, we regard as auspicious. We also congratulate WHO on the relevant work done so far by its NUGAG initiative. Overall, we thank the UN Food and Agriculture Organization and the World Health Organization for the work being done to make this conference fully collaborative, with the engagement of other UN agencies, and with the other agents whose engagement is essential, including independent health and civil society organisations and social movements.

We urge FAO, WHO, and other members of the UN family, to come together with a will, to give ICN2 all possible and feasible support, so that its outcome and the international and national policies and programmes that follow, address all the main nutrition-related determinants of well-being, health, and disease.

The document as now drafted has some omissions which we suggest can be readily addressed, and as partners we will be pleased to support the drafters in the process of adjustment and revision. We see four omissions perhaps above all.

One is that it is framed in general terms including in places where greater specificity would be helpful. Documents designed to give global guidance need to guard against overlooking and neglecting the diversity which is a glory of human achievement and a wonder of the living and physical world. We should approach our work in a spirit of respect and even humility and be careful not to think or act as if we have all the answers.

Two is that it makes little reference to the political and economic as distinct from the social and environmental determinants of food systems and thus food supplies and dietary patterns. There is an extensive literature on this fundamental aspect of food systems and many member states are now addressing salient issues.

Three is that it does not make much reference to broader aspects of nutrition. These include long established appropriate sustainable agriculture and food systems, native foods that are exceptionally nutritious in the context both of nutritional deficiencies and of overweight, obesity and diabetes, or to meals, cooking, food culture and tradition, commensality, and the impact of food as acquired, prepared and consumed on family, community and social life, as well as on relationships with the living and physical world. FAO has already done much good work here.

Four is that the whole document should, we suggest, be examined to ensure that in its totality, explicitly and implicitly, it does indeed support the human right to adequate nourishing food; and also it recognises, valorises and supports the wisdom and knowledge of all those ‘on the ground’ within countries, municipalities and rural and urban communities whose knowledge and wisdom upholds and develops long-established and traditional food systems that have evolved rationally in response to climate, terrain and resources. In this respect we believe that special recognition and value should be given to regions and countries whose food systems and dietary cultures are of continuous long duration. Of these the classic ‘Mediterranean diet’ or diets throughout the Mediterranean littoral is an example. Well-known other examples are within China, India and Thailand, Mexico and Peru. Others survive elsewhere in Asia, and the Americas, and in Africa, the Arab world, and the Pacific region.

1. Specific comments on the paragraphs related to the multiple threats that malnutrition poses to sustainable development (paragraphs 4-10).

We suggest that reference to malnutrition could be rebalanced to give equal weight to under-nutrition and over-nutrition.

On over-nutrition, leading to overweight and obesity, and related diseases and diabetes in particular, we suggest that the document should make explicit reference to the corporate actors whose activities are driving food systems towards greater supply of fatty, sugary or salty processed products. Evidence that the policies of international food manufacturers, caterers and associated actors in effect displace long-established sustainable food systems is we suggest not seriously disputed, and indeed is even acknowledged by these actors.

1. Specific comments on the vision for global action to end all forms of malnutrition (paragraphs 11-12).

Some of our concerns here are mentioned in point (3) in response to the request for general comments.

We also suggest that the document as now drafted gives rather too much emphasis to development that involves highly capitalised and intensive methods. For example, one passage refers to ‘investments and incentives for agricultural production, food processing and distribution’. Misunderstood, this could imply greater intensification, concentration of land and resource ownership and control, loss of land ownership and rights, unjust use and privatisation of common goods such as water, and continued and even accelerated loss of agricultural, horticultural and species and variants biodiversity.

We suggest that passages like these need to be rephrased in order to support investments and incentives that are controlled and driven nationally and locally, with affirmative action in favour of small and family farmers whose livelihoods continue to be threatened by inequitable and unjust events and circumstances beyond their control, whose produce amounts to most of the world’s food supplies.

When referring to legislative and regulatory framework the document as now drafted focuses on food safety and quality control. These are essential. It is now we believe agreed beyond serious dispute that what is also needed are effective statutory regulation of supply of and demand for unhealthy products, and of their advertising and marketing, most of all but not only to children up to the age of 18.

1. Specific comments in the appropriate fields relating to these commitments (paragraph 13):

Commitment a): eradicate hunger and all forms of malnutrition, particularly to eliminate stunting, wasting and overweight in children under 5 and anemia in women; eliminating undernourishment and reversing rising trends in obesity;

Commitment b): reshape food systems through coherent implementation of public policies and investment plans throughout food value chains to serve the health and nutrition needs of the growing world population by providing access to safe, nutritious and healthy foods in a sustainable and resilient way;

Commitment c): take leadership to shape and manage food systems and improve nutrition by strengthening institutional capacity, ensuring adequate resourcing and coordinating effectively across sectors;

Commitment d): encourage and facilitate contributions by all stakeholders in society and promote collaboration within and across countries, including North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation;

Commitment e): enhance people’s nutrition, including people with special needs, through policies and initiatives for healthy diets throughout the life course, starting from the early stages of life, before and during pregnancy, promoting and supporting adequate breast feeding and appropriate complementary feeding, healthy eating by families, and at school during childhood;

Commitment f): adopt and implement a Framework for Action that should be used to monitor progress in achieving targets and fulfilling commitments;

Commitment g): integrate the objectives of the Framework for Action into the post-2015 development agenda including a possible global goal on food security and nutrition.

Specific suggestion for Commitments (tracked changes can be find in the pdf attached).

We here suggest some drafting adjustments. We are at your disposal to work on such adjustments and other revisions as may be needed.

Commitment b): reshape food systems through coherent implementation of public policies and investment plans throughout food value chains to serve the health and nutrition needs of the growing world population by providing access to safe, nutritious and healthy foods in a sustainable, equitable and resilient way;

Commitment c): take leadership to shape and manage food systems and improve nutrition by strengthening institutional capacity, ensuring adequate resourcing, preserving and/or recovering agro-biodiversity and culinary traditions, preventing manufacturers and suppliers of unhealthy products from undermining local food systems and supplies, and coordinating effectively across sectors;

Commitment e): enhance people’s nutrition, including people with special needs, through policies, initiatives, and economic and legislative measures that can provide protective, fostering and supportive environments for healthy diets throughout the life course, starting from the early stages of life, before and during pregnancy, promoting and supporting adequate breast feeding and appropriate complementary feeding, managing price policies in order to favour the access of families to healthy eating by families, and at school developing knowledge of food and nutrition and family life, and skills to acquire, prepare and cook food, and statutory regulation and restriction of advertising and marketing of unhealthy food products during childhood up to the age of 18 and throughout life.

1. We would also appreciate your vision on policies, programmes and investment that might help translate such commitments into action.

We see ICN2 as one vital part of the move towards sustainable development that formally begins in 2015, following the 2012 Rio conference. Members and associates of WPHNA are already engaged in initiatives such as those now being undertaken in Mexico and throughout the Americas, and as advisors to FAO, WHO and other relevant UN agencies. We will continue this work.

We place great value in the thinking that has led to the decision to mount ICN2. Malnutrition in all its forms is mostly basically caused by structural failures in food systems and supplies. This has always been so. Conversely, population good health and well-being is vitally enhanced by food systems and supplies that are adequate and equitable. This also has always been so.

We believe that all those most concerned with ICN2 will do well to continue to see this ‘big picture’, which explains why the current interconnected food, finance and fuel crises, manifested among other phenomena by gross economic and social inequity, climate change, fluctuations in availability of food, and continuing food insecurity, all of which are triggering riots and uprisings, are relevant to our considerations.

We admire the work done by colleagues within the UN System, and now also within associated agencies notably the World Bank, to drive towards equitable, sustainable food systems and supplies, and thus adequate and nourishing food and nutrition for a growing world population. These responsibilities are very serious and must be seen as one crucial part of the drive to recover, protect and enhance sustainable systems of world, national municipal and local governance within increasingly participatory democracies. This is the best chance for humanity at this critical time in history. Our policies and actions now will be judged in future. We are at your disposal to support you in your work from now leading to ICN2, at the conference, and thereafter.