Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2009-11-25-Speech-3-429"
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"en.20091125.27.3-429"2
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"Madam President, the World Food Summit last week in Rome is the latest in a series of high-level events organised this year where food security and agriculture have featured prominently: in January in Madrid, in July in L’Aquila, in September in New York and Pittsburgh, as well as at the meeting of the Committee on World Food Security last month.
To conclude, the FAO Summit has underscored that if we want to keep to our objective of halving hunger by 2015, then we should step up ODA and increase ODA and private investments in agriculture and we should improve global governance of the agricultural sector.
The underlying premise of all these events has been the realisation that we are failing in the fight against world hunger. Over one billion people in the world presently do not meet their daily basic nutritional needs, and the situation is threatening to get worse in many developing countries, owing also to the effects of climate change, which is posing additional challenges to these countries’ capacity to become food secure.
The World Summit on Food Security represented an opportunity to sustain the political momentum that has been building up in past months. Once more, world food security has been in the spotlight. However, the time for discussion is over; now it is time to deliver.
For the European Commission, the summit was a useful event for three reasons. First, there was the pledge to renew our efforts to achieve the first Millennium Development Goal of halving hunger by 2015. In my view, that target is still valid, and we should strive to reach it – particularly in those countries and regions where progress towards its achievement has been very limited, for example, in Africa.
Second, the promise to improve international coordination and the governance of food security through a reformed Committee on World Food Security, which would become a central component of the global partnership for agriculture, food security and nutrition. The European Commission has actively encouraged this reform and is assisting in providing core funding for it. This is, in my view, a very important step, which will pave the way for a global governance system of food security based on sound scientific advice but one also more open to key actors in the public and private sector and non-governmental organisations. These actors are crucial to making the new system more effective than the current one.
Third, the promise to reverse the downward trend in domestic and international funding for agriculture, food security and rural development. If we want to meet the first Millennium Development Goal of halving hunger by 2015, the commitments taken to increase ODA must be fulfilled – in particular by those countries which have committed themselves to reaching the target of 0.7% of gross national income.
Some have criticised the final declaration for not setting more precise official development assistance targets for agriculture and food security, but we must recall that significant financial pledges had already been made at the G8 Summit in L’Aquila. The priority now is to honour them. With strong support from the European Parliament, the Commission has successfully mobilised the EUR 1 billion food facility, of which 85% is already committed for the period 2009-2011. However, we need more and sustained assistance over time. In order to be accountable for our pledges, we need a global pecking system of commitments, but we also have to develop monitoring mechanisms, specific indicators and benchmarks which can be used to report on the outcomes and impacts of investments. However – and let me say this loud and clear – even the most substantial commitment by donors will be worthless if governments in developing countries fail to translate their own commitments into better agricultural policies, strategies and investments.
In discussing food security, we should also be careful about terminology, and distinguish food security from food sovereignty and food self-sufficiency. Efforts to achieve production around the world are not enough in their own right. What counts is that people should have sustained access to food, which is basically a poverty question. Food trade – regional as well as global – plays an important part in enhancing access to food by providing farmers with an income and by allowing consumers access to cheaper food. Self-sufficiency in food or autarchy could be a very costly strategy and will not be necessary when markets and trade work well.
Therefore, concluding the Doha Round with a balanced and comprehensive outcome would be a major step ahead. We should also not forget that global food security is a very complex and multifaceted problem which requires a holistic approach. In this area, the European Union has made enormous progress in the past decade and progress will continue to be ensured through the Policy Coherence for Development (PCD) process. The various reforms of the EU common agricultural policy have strongly reduced export refunds and the vast majority of support for farmers in the EU is recognised as being ‘non-trade distorting’ by the WTO. Moreover, with the Everything But Arms arrangement, market access to the EU is free for the least developed countries, and the provisions of the economic partnership agreements (EPAs) show an understanding of problems faced by many of the ACP countries in guaranteeing food security to their citizens. We have therefore come a very long way in the EU, in enhancing policy coherence for development and thereby creating improved food security conditions for developing countries. Other countries and regions should do the same."@en1
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