Thoughts on the World Food Summit 2009

The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) World Summit on Food Security (WSFS) ended today, after three days of meetings on the best way to tackle hunger. The summit comes at a time when more than 1 billion people around the world are going hungry, but it offers little hope for new solutions to the problem.

The summit was crippled from the beginning by the refusal of leaders from the G8 countries to attend. The only G8 leader in attendance was Italian Premier Silvio Berlusconi.

The rhetoric of the summit also offers little cause for optimism. The Declaration of the World Summit on Food Security continues to emphasize increased production, commodity crop production, and technological fixes. Indeed, the endorsement of genetically modified food crops has been made even more explicit than in the past: “We will seek to mobilize the resources needed to increase productivity, including the review, approval and adoption of biotechnology and other new technologies and innovations that are safe, effective, and environmentally sustainable.” The wording of this statement not only confers FAO approval on GMOs but also implies they are “safe, effective, and environmentally sustainable.”

In addition, the Declaration clearly aligns the FAO with World Trade Organization (WTO) priorities: “We agree to refrain from taking measures that are inconsistent with the WTO rules, with adverse impacts on global, regional and national food security.” This means that, while developed countries will surely continue to subsidize and protect their own crop production, small producers in developing countries must compete without protections in an open market. Coupled with the emphasis on commodity crop exports, this approach to food security has proven disastrous in the past. As the Civil Society Organizations (CSO) Forum Parallel to the World Summit on Food Security emphasized, producing crops for export must not displace local food production.

The World Summit on Food Security also continues to use watered-down, almost meaningless language about the right to food: “We affirm the right of everyone to have access to safe, sufficient and nutritious food, consistent with the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security.” It urges countries to adopt the “Voluntary guidelines for the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security.” This language is used specifically to absolve rich countries from an obligation to aid poorer countries in keeping people from starving.

Despite these continued disappointments, there are a few positive signs in the rhetoric of the WSFS: recognition of the need for continued review of the impacts of biofuels, a few mentions of implementing “sustainable practices,” and a nod to the importance of smallholders and women farmers. However, farmers and other stakeholders continue to be marginalized in the decision-making process. The parallel conference, People’s Food Sovereignty Now!, achieved little attention from or dialogue with the WSFS.

Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the FAO, ended the summit with his closing statements today. He said that in order to feed a projected 9 billion people in 2050, the developed world would need to increase production by 70% and developing countries by 100%. These projections ignore the massive waste in the current industrial agricultural system. For example, an increasing focus on commodity crops for export has allowed food to rot in warehouses while people nearby starve. We must start thinking of the problem of hunger as systematic and requiring comprehensive social and economic solutions, rather than continuing to focus only on increasing yields.

Image from http://peoplesforum2009.foodsovereignty.org/

Give a man a heifer... feed him for a lifetime!

I recently received Heifer International’s holiday gift catalog in the mail, which got me thinking again about the creative way this organization is addressing world hunger. Heifer International is a nonprofit dedicated to providing livestock to impoverished families all over the world. It works with people in poverty-stricken areas to develop goals and action plans based on community-identified needs. It then provides resources and training, preparing people to receive a gift of live animals. The animals can be anything from water buffalos to chicks to honeybees, depending on the location and particular need. Heifer International calls these animals “living loans” because each family that receives aid promises to give one of the animals’ offspring to others in need. In addition to providing fresh milk and eggs for consumption or wool or offspring for sale, these animals become part of a sustainable land management plan by contributing natural fertilizer for the fields and biogas for cooking and heating. Families are taught agroecological techniques for caring for the land, which help conserve the natural environment and renew soil productivity, increasing crop yields. Heifer International also provides veterinary training and teaches families how to care for the animals’ well being. By integrating charitable giving, sustainable practices, and animal welfare in a solution to hunger, Heifer International exemplifies “ethivorous” thinking!

Consider asking for or giving a donation as a holiday gift this year. Browse the online gift catalog here.

World Food Day

Today is World Food Day!  World Food Day is celebrated every year on October 16 to draw attention to the problem of hunger and encourage action.  This year’s theme is “achieving food security in times of crisis.”

In its recently released The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2009, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that “1.02 billion people are undernourished worldwide in 2009.”  Hunger is more widespread than at any time in nearly 40 years.

World hunger is not a product of insufficient production.  The world produces more than enough food to feed everyone (see Reducing Poverty and Hunger, FAO 1992).  Too often, the proposed solutions to hunger focus on increasing food production, so I was heartened to read the following statement in The State of Food Insecurity in the World 2009:

The fact that hunger was increasing even before the food

and economic crises suggests that present solutions are

insufficient and that a right-to-food approach has an

important role to play in eradicating food insecurity. To

lift themselves out of hunger, the food-insecure need control

over resources, access to opportunities, and improved

governance at the international, national and local levels.

By focusing on social rather than purely technical solutions, we can address the true roots of hunger.  It doesn’t matter that the world as a whole produces enough food for everyone if those who are hungry don’t have access to the resources or opportunities to grow or buy what they need to maintain active, healthy lives.

This world food day, reframe the issue of world hunger from a question of charity to one of justice!

World Food Day USA has a list of 2009 events in which you can participate on or around World Food Day.  Check the website to find lectures, food drives, festivals, and more.