The Food and Agriculture Organisation’s (FAO) World Food Summit took place in Rome from 16-18 November. While participants included many heads of state from the developing world, attention from industrial countries has been significantly smaller. Attending leaders and ministers reiterated their commitment to eradicate hunger and agreed on the necessity to further develop economic and policy tools to boost agricultural production and productivity. However, in times where the number of hungry people exceeds one billion, this renewed appeal is not enough to create significant momentum toward global food security.



Food security is however, all the more important as climate change and biofuel production pose additional threats to long-term food supplies, while population growth and rising meat consumption in emerging economies are further increasing demand. Solutions to tackling food insecurity include ensuring access to seeds for small-scale farmers, adopting non-distortionary trade policies, and establishing more effective food crisis response mechanisms. Their actual implementation and adequate funding however, notoriously fall behind the promises made.



In an effort to keep food security on the international agenda, the FAO is now stressing the synergies between food security and climate change mitigation: 14% of global CO2 emissions come from agriculture. Sustainable agricultural practices that capture carbon and store it in soils – such as low tillage and agroforestry – could make significant and cost-effective contributions to reducing emissions. What is needed is the political will to implement such measures. Past approaches to ending hunger have failed due to the "absence of accountability and follow-up on solemn commitments made summit after summit” noted Olivier De Schutter, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food at the summit. As things are now, he will have to repeat himself at the next summit. (Stephan Wolters)



Further information on the World Summit is available at

http://www.fao.org/wsfs/world-summit/en/



The FAO Press Release on climate change and food security can be viewed at

http://www.fao.org/news/story/en/item/37840/icode/

Published in: ECC-Newsletter, December 2009