Policy Debate on addressing the links between food security, rural development and migration

On the 20th of November, the FAO Liaison office to the European Union and Belgium (FAOLOB) and the World Food Programme (WFP) co-organized in cooperation with the European Parliamentary Alliance on the Fight Against Hunger, a policy debate on addressing the links between food security, rural development and migration.

In light of the alarming increases of global hunger shown in the recently released State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2017 (SOFA 2017) report, the aim of the event was to discuss long-term solution which are geared towards achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2) on Ending Hunger. MEP Paulo de Castro, Coordinator of the Parliamentary Alliance of the Fight Against Hunger underlined the commitment of the European Parliament (EP) to eradicate hunger as the ‘most prominent of the SDGs.’ He also stated that the ‘adaptation of relevant measures need to be encouraged, including the promotion of a new agro-food model.’ Carolyn Rodrigues Birkett, Director of the FAO Liaison office in Geneva stressed that the European Parliament and global Parliamentarians must continue to work at all levels to “remove the barrier that hamper and prevent investment in agriculture and rural development.” She furtheremphasized that currently three quarters (3/4) of the world’s poor live in rural areas and base their livelihoods on agriculture and that by 2050 over half of the population in least developed countries would still be living in rural areas.

Other panel speakers included, Roberto Ridolfi, Directorate for Planet and Prosperity, European Commission’s Directorate General for International Cooperation and Development (DEVCO), Marot van der Velden, WFP’s Deputy Regional Director for West Africa and Martin Rivero, Coordinator of the Social Cohesion Area Libero-American General Secretariat (SEGIB). A video statement by Neven Mimica, European Commissioner for International Cooperation and Development on tackling the root causes of hunger was also screened at the event.

The event comes a month after the international World Food Day (WFD) which took place on 16 October. The theme of this year’s WFD commemoration was “Change the future of migration. Invest in food security and rural development.”