2. SEMINAR DECLARATION

We, the mayors, city managers, planners and representatives of city and local authorities, participating in the regional seminar on “Feeding Asian Cities” organized by the Regional Network of Local Authorities for the Management of Human Settlements (CityNet), the Association of Food Marketing Agencies in Asia and the Pacific (AFMA) and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), held on 27 to 30 November 2000 in Bangkok, Thailand

recognise that:

• access to healthy and nutritious food will be an increasingly important issue in Asian cities as they continue to rapidly urbanize and increase in population, especially to address the needs of the urban poor;
• City and local authorities (CLAs) can play a key role in enhancing access to food especially in the context of continuing urbanization and decentralization;
• cities need sound food supply and distribution (FSD) policies, strategies and programmes, spanning urban, periurban and rural areas, formulated in collaboration with all concerned stakeholders;
• the traditional focus of CLAs on ensuring safe food and provision of market infrastructure is too narrow and often ad-hoc;
• there is a lack of awareness at the municipal level of food security issues for formulating appropriate municipal policies and programmes;
• FSD involves many actors but responsibilities are fragmented and uncoordinated among the various national, state/provincial and local public and private organizations concerned;
• many Asian CLAs lack the necessary autonomy, mandates, legal frameworks and competence to effectively address FSD issues including their interface with other priority urban concerns; and
• the value of partnerships and networking with and among stakeholders at the national, regional and international levels offer significant potential to improve information flow and technology transfer.

We further acknowledge the need to:

• develop better awareness, understanding and appreciation among municipal, state, provincial and national decision makers to integrate urban food security with sustainable social, economic and environmental development;
• take advantage of forthcoming international conferences such as Istanbul +5 and Rio +10[3] to promote integration of FSD issues into national and local plans of action;
• expand the mandates, functions and responsibilities of CLAs to more effectively perform their role in enhancing food security;
• establish and strengthen information sharing, exchange and dissemination mechanisms on urban food security, using information technology where possible and ensuring that such information reaches Asian CLAs;
• rationalize institutional arrangements between levels as well as sectors in local governments in order to achieve more effective coordination of food-related policies and programmes;
• foster partnerships between government, the business sector and civil society organizations to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of FSD;
• seek access for Asian CLAs to technical assistance and financial support in order to enhance their ability to effectively address the issues of urban food insecurity;
• develop, intensify and broaden the exchange and dissemination of information, knowledge and experience among CLAs, regional and international networks and external support agencies, academic and research institutes and other partners;
• promote stronger and more meaningful North-South and South-South cooperation for accessing knowledge, capacity building services, technology and financing based on equality and mutual benefit; and
• prepare an action plan to achieve the goals and objectives of this declaration.