Food Security - Collective Race Against Crisis

Rome, Italy | November 19, 2009 by D-8 Secretariat

D-8 Secretary General, H.E Dipo Alam, in his statement stated that the “Kuala Lumpur Initiative” provides a pragmatic approach to determine the scope of cooperation amongst the D-8 Countries

The United Nations hosted a World Food Summit between November 16 and 18 in Rome, Italy, with the fact that more than one billion people are hungry echoing in the minds of concerned participants. Following the opening ceremony, Heads of Delegations adopted the Declaration of the World Summit on Food Security. Heads of delegations from 44 countries and UN Organizations made statements in a plenary session. Also, delegates convened in paralel roundtables on - Minimizing the negative Impact of the Food, Economic and Financial Crisi on World Food Security, - Implementation of the Reform of Global Governance of Food Security, - Climate Change Adaptation and Mİtigation: Challanges for Agriculture and Food Security, - Measures to Enhance Global Food Security.

At a press conference following the summit on Wednesday, FAO Director General Jacques Diouf expressed concern over global food security, saying the hungry cannot wait any longer. He called for the joint efforts of the international community to tackle the critical situation, adding that he was disappointed with the lack of real progress at the summit.

Speaking to the assembled leaders at the Rome summit opening, the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said, “Today, more than one billion people are hungry”, calling for immediate action on long-term remedies, a day after he himself fasted for 24 hours in solidarity with all those billion. “It was not easy. But, for too many people, it is a daily reality.”

The leaders unanimously adopted a declaration pledging renewed commitment to eradicate hunger from the face of the earth sustainably and at the earliest date.

They agreed to work to reverse the decline in domestic and international funding for agriculture, promote new investment, and proactively face the challenges of climate change to food security.

The Summit adopted Five Rome Principles for Sustainable Global Food Security including: 1) invest in country-owned plans channeling resources to well-designed and results-based programmes and partnerships; 2) foster strategic coordination at all levels to improve governance, promote better allocation of resources and avoid duplication; 3) strive for a twin-track approach to food security including both short-term emergency and long-term development measures; 4) work to improve the efficiency, coordination and effectiveness of multilateral institutions; and 5) ensure sustained and substantial commitment by all partners to investment in agriculture and food security and nutrition.

The Summit also agreed to “proactively face the challenges of climate change to food security and the need for adaptation of, and mitigation in agriculture… with particular attention to small agricultural producers and vulnerable populations.”

In addition to Member Nations and representatives of international and regional organizations, who all addressed the Plenary, meetings were held in the days preceding the Summit to ensure that all voices were heard. A Private-Sector Meeting was held on 12 and 13 November in Milan, a Parliamentary Day was organized on 13 November in Rome and a Civil Society Forum took place in Rome from 14 to 16 November. Statements from all three events were read to the Summit Plenary.

Representatives of D-8 Member Countries were all present in the summit. Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia, the Hon. Tan Sri Muhyiddin Yassin, in his country statement stressed the need to assure farmers of access to quality input in order to increase agriculture production. He said that his country, through the D-8 Organization under the chairmanship of Malaysia had held its first Ministerial Meeting on Food Security in January 2009 which resulted in the adoption of the KL Initiative, which seeks to “strengthen collaboration in production and distribution of quality agriculture inputs in particular seed, animal feed and fertilizers to boost food production and productivity.”

D-8 Secretary General, H.E Dipo Alam, in his statement during the 4th Roundtable stated that the “Kuala Lumpur Initiative” provides a pragmatic approach to determine the scope of cooperation amongst the D-8 Countries in partnership with the private sector to ensure availability of quality seeds, animal feeds, fisheries and fertilizers. He said that since then, working groups and committees established by D-8 prime mover countries in all strategic issues of food security have started their studies on D-8 joint-investment projects and programs.

He also said that D-8 is about to finalize the procedures to establish the D-8 Joint Investment Fund which will be put into practice in 2010. By the help of this Fund, not only the D-8 Countries’ public and private sector but also all international organizations and NGOs will be invited for joint projects in agriculture sector especially to face food security challenges.

In his closing statement, he stressed that the goals and challenges are common, which are “to eradicate hunger from the face of earth, to make sure that developing countries have a fair chance of competing in world markets, to ensure that farmers can earn sufficient incomes for their basic living conditions and to render support to farmers in order to facilitate their access to modern inputs.”

FAO says the global food output should increase by 70 percent in order to feed a projected population of 9.1 billion in 2050.

*Photos of the Summit can be viewed in gallery, or simply by clicking here.

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