Change the future of Migration: Invest in Food Security and Rural Development, on the occasion of World Food Day
16/10/2017
Your Excellency
Miroslav Lajčák,
President of the General Assembly
Excellencies
Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and gentlemen,
On behalf of the co-organizers of the World Food Day, FAO, IFAD, WFP and IOM, together with the Permanent Missions of Mexico, the Philippines and Italy, I welcome you all to this celebration. My name is Carla Mucavi, I am the Director of the FAO Liaison Office to the United Nations and I have the honour to be your moderator today.
Let me start by expressing our appreciation to the President of the General Assembly and their Excellencies the Permanent Representatives of Mexico, the Philippines, and the Deputy Permanent Representative of Italy for joining us and for accepting to share their thoughts on this occasion We are also pleased to welcome Mr. Lee Sorensen, an independent international development consultant on global issues including migration
Ladies and gentlemen,
The theme of this year’s World Food Day is: “Change the future of migration. Invest in food security and rural development.”
As you walked in the room, you certainly saw on the screen stories of people with different migration experiences. You can learn more about them visiting the World Food Day page at www.fao.org.
Their stories translate the strong linkages existing between food security, rural development and migration. I invite you to watch a video on this theme.
[World Food Day Video]
Human mobility is part of our common history. Throughout time, migration has driven development and brought cultures together. In 2015, there were 244 million international migrants, 40% more than in 2000. Like the musicians you just saw in the video, many of us in this room today are migrants ourselves. But, unfortunately, for many people, migration is a necessity rather than a choice.
The focus on migration in this year’s World Food Day is a timely one. It comes at a time when Member States are preparing to negotiate the Global Compact on Safe, Orderly, and Regular Migration. We welcome this new framework which we hope will promote a migration architecture which can better benefit individuals, and countries of origin, transit and destination.
Today’s discussion is therefore an opportunity to look at some of the drivers of migration with a focus on food security and rural development. By responding to the root causes such as poverty, lack of jobs, food insecurity, natural resources degradation, and political instability and conflict, we can create conditions for people to choose. And migration should always be a choice and not a last resort.
For today’s conversation we have invited highly distinguished speakers who will offer different perspectives on the interlinkages between food security, rural development and migration; on how to address theroot causes of migration, support communities of origin, build resilience of host communities and harness the potential of migration for sustainable development.