Technical background documents prepared for the World Food
Summit
1. Food, agriculture and food security: developments since the World Food
Conference and prospects
2. Success stories in food security
3. Socio-political and economic environment for food security
4. Food requirements and population growth
5. Food security and nutrition
6. Lessons from the green revolution: towards a new green revolution
7. Food production: the critical role of water
8. Food for consumers: marketing, processing and distribution
9. Role of research in global food security and agricultural development
10. Investment in agriculture: evolution and prospects
11. Food production and environmental impact
12. Food and international trade
13. Food security and food assistance
14. Assessment of feasible progress in food security
15. Technical atlas
OUTCOME OF THE SUMMIT
9. One hundred and eighty-five countries and the European Community were
accredited to the Summit. Heads of delegations included 41 Heads of State,
15 Vice-Presidents, 41 Prime Ministers, 15 Vice-Prime Ministers, and 74 other
Heads of delegations. Some 450 Non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and
80 United Nations System (UN) and inter-governmental organizations (IGOs)
were represented.
10. The documents (the Rome Declaration on World Food Security and World
Food Summit Plan of Action) were adopted by the 186 Heads of delegation attending
the Summit at the opening of its proceedings, following a welcome address
by His Holiness Pope John Paul II and the Inaugural Ceremony, during which
statements were made by the President of the Italian Republic, the
Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Director-General. Fifteen
countries filed "reservations or interpretative statements" on specific aspects
of the Rome Declaration and Plan of Action. (The full texts of the Declaration
and Plan of Action are contained as an Appendix to the Report of the World
Food Summit, Part One. The statements by delegations to the Summit are reproduced
in Part Two of the Summit report.).
11. An NGO Forum, an International Youth Forum and a Parliamentarians' Day
were held in parallel to the Summit proper, along with additional events
such as a seminar by private sector associations and a series of panel
discussions on the themes treated in the technical background documents.
12. The resonance of the event and the intense media attention, ensured that
the World Food Summit was successful in increasing public awareness of the
extent of hunger and malnutrition worldwide, of their causes and of prospects
for the future. Most importantly, it resulted in a strong political commitment
necessary to promote effective strategies and activities to reach its targets
of reducing the number of undernourished people to half the present level
by no later than the year 2015 and eventually achieving food security for
all.
13. Heads of State and Government at the Summit took a common stand that
the prevalence of hunger and malnutrition on its present scale in our world
is intolerable and unacceptable. They pledged their political will and their
common and national commitment to an on-going effort to eradicate hunger
in all countries.
14. These collective and individual commitments by world leaders no doubt
represent a major step forward for advancing world food security. The challenge
now is to see that the strategies and measures set out by the Summit in the
Plan of Action are translated into practical actions, so that the number
of hungry and undernourished is progressively reduced in line with, or faster
than, the goal agreed at the Summit.
FOLLOW-UP TO THE WORLD FOOD SUMMIT
15. Conference Resolution 2/95 requested that the Committee on World Food
Security report, through the Council, to the Twenty-ninth Session of the
Conference in 1997, on all aspects of the World Food Summit and its follow-up.
The report prepared by the CFS in April 1997, together with the comments
of the Council, was submitted to the Conference in November 1997. In endorsing
the report, the Conference expressed appreciation for the contribution of
all concerned, to making the Summit a success and stressing the importance
of maintaining the momentum generated in order to permit achievement of the
Summit's goals and welcomed the information provided on action already undertaken
to ensure follow-up at country, regional and international levels.
16. A summary is given below of the major headings under which the CFS, Council
and Conference considered specific aspects of Summit follow-up.
INTER-GOVERNMENTAL MONITORING OF IMPLEMENTATION OF THE PLAN
OF ACTION
17. The Rome Declaration sets forth seven commitments which lay the basis
for achieving sustainable food security for all and the Plan of Action spells
out the objectives and actions relevant for practical implementation of these
seven commitments.
18. Commitment Seven of the Plan of Action stresses that the main focus of
action lies at country level, where governments have the primary responsibility
for creating an economic and political environment that assures the food
security of their citizens, involving for this purpose all elements of civil
society. The importance of strong international cooperation in the effective
implementation of the World Food Summit Plan of Action is also underlined.
It is emphasised that this will require effective coordination and cooperation
within the UN System, including the Bretton Woods institutions, taking into
account the mandate of FAO and other relevant organizations. The active
monitoring of implementation of the Plan of Action is to be assured by
governments through the CFS.
19. At its 29th Session in November 1997, the FAO Conference underlined the
primary responsibility of national governments for implementing the WFS Plan
of Action and supported arrangements already made by the CFS for monitoring
implementation, drawing mainly on national reports. Noting that the June
1998 session of the CFS would be crucial to establish a benchmark against
which future progress would be measured, the Conference urged all countries
to submit their reports on the first year of implementation of the Plan of
Action by 31 January 1998, and subsequent reports in an equally timely fashion,
to enable the CFS to fulfil the crucial role assigned to it by the Summit.
20. The Conference recalled that reporting on follow-up to the International
Conference on Nutrition (ICN), should be continued as part of the monitoring
of implementation of the WFS Plan of Action. Considering the scope of the
Plan of Action and its coverage of the goals and issues covered by the Programme
of Action of the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development
(WCARRD), the Conference considered that progress reporting could be covered
in the CFS process and therefore decided to discontinue separate progress
reporting on WCARRD. It recommended that the UN Economic and Social Council
(ECOSOC), which would be receiving reports on WFS follow-up, adopt the same
approach.
21. The Conference underlined the importance of coordination and cooperation
within the UN System in the follow-up to the World Food Summit. In view of
the multi-disciplinary nature of food security, the Conference encouraged
other organizations, in particular those of the UN System, to participate
actively in supporting follow-up efforts and to provide information on their
activities to the CFS. Bearing in mind the calendar of meetings in the
forthcoming biennium, the Conference requested the CFS to provide to ECOSOC
in 1999, through the Council, a first report on implementation of the WFS
Plan of Action. It further decided to examine the progress in follow-up to
the World Food Summit at its Thirtieth Session in the same year.
22. During the debate many Member Nations reported on actions taken or underway
at national level to implement the Summit commitments, including the preparation
of national reports and action plans. Several countries also indicated that
in preparing their plans or their reports to the CFS, they were making active
efforts to involve all stakeholders, including civil society organizations.
In this connection, it was recalled that the CFS would be considering ways
of facilitating broader participation by non-governmental observers in its
work. It was also noted that at the 1998 session of the CFS, the original
reports to the CFS from all countries and organizations would be made available
for reference. The Secretariat would provide a synthesis of these reports
to facilitate the work of the Committee.
23. With regard to the regional and sub-regional dimensions of the Plan of
Action, the Conference noted that one full day would be devoted by each FAO
regional conference in 1998, to the question of Summit follow-up, and that
the results of these debates would be reported in due course to the CFS and
to the Council. Mention was also made of the need to give special attention
to the particular problems of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), if possible
by convening a special conference at an early date.
FOOD INSECURITY AND VULNERABILITY INFORMATION AND MAPPING
SYSTEMS (FIVIMS)
24. The Conference appreciated the initiative taken by FAO to play a catalytic
role in elaboration and definition of a Food Insecurity and Vulnerability
Information and Mapping System (FIVIMS) in collaboration with concerned UN
System organizations, competent national institutions and non-governmental
organizations, and supported plans for its further development. It considered
that accurate and timely data were fundamental to national and international
response to the problem of hunger and malnutrition and stressed the need
for full participation by developing countries in the establishment of national
FIVIMS to be linked within the decentralized international system. The Conference
was informed that arrangements envisaged reliance to the maximum extent possible
on existing databases and mechanisms. The suggestion was made that the range
of partners could be broadened to include other large-scale databases covering
themes related to food security.
COOPERATION WITHIN THE UN SYSTEM
25. The priority accorded to stimulating and supporting action at the country
level is one of the fundamental principles underlying the arrangements for
inter-agency cooperation in follow-up to the World Food Summit. After the
Summit, a proposal for inter-agency coordination of Summit follow-up, through
a Network on Rural Development and Food Security, was made to ACC by FAO
and the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) with a view
to ensuring maximum cost-effectiveness, country level focus, flexibility
and efficiency, avoiding institutional expansion at a time of shrinking budgets
within and outside the UN System. ACC approved the proposal, which was
implemented progressively during 1997 by FAO and IFAD, working closely with
the World Food Programme (WFP).
26. The Conference welcomed the establishment of the ACC Network on Rural
Development and Food Security as an important means of ensuring a
multi-disciplinary input by the UN System to support national efforts to
implement the Plan of Action. It was noted that the Network was conceived
as a two-tiered mechanism, with a focus on action at the country level undertaken
by inter-agency thematic groups on rural development and food security operating
within the UN Resident Coordinator System. At headquarters level, the Network
was to provide support for country level action and obtain feedback on experience
which could be shared, as well as to facilitate dialogue between participating
organizations mainly through electronic means. It would also serve as a channel
to mobilise reporting on follow-up to the WFS by UN System organizations,
as required by the CFS, to monitor progress on the Plan of Action.
COOPERATION WITH THE UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR HUMAN
RIGHTS
27. A Memorandum of Understanding was formally concluded between the UN High
Commissioner for Human Rights and the FAO Director-General on 29 May 1997.
This provides for a framework of cooperation between the two offices on issues
related to the right to food as contained in Article 11 of the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in line with Objective
7.4 of the Plan of Action.
28. In welcoming the conclusion of the Memorandum of Understanding, the
Conference adopted Resolution 2/97, in which, inter alia, it
recalled that the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human
Rights would be celebrated on 10 December 1998, welcomed the work already
undertaken by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights regarding
the right to food and cooperation in this respect with FAO and urged the
High Commissioner to give priority in her on-going work to a better definition
of the rights related to food in Article 11 of the Covenant and to propose
ways to implement and realize these rights as a means of achieving the
commitments and objectives of the World Food Summit, taking into account
the possibility of formulating voluntary guidelines for food security for
all. In the Resolution, the Conference also urged all governments, in partnership
with all actors of civil society and relevant organizations and appropriate
specialized agencies of the UN, including FAO, to cooperate actively with
the UN High Commissioner.
FAO PROGRAMMES
29. The commitments made by the Summit continue to influence substantive
priorities and activities across the entire spectrum of FAO's programmes,
as already evidenced by the approved Programme of Work and Budget for 1998-99
and by progress in implementation of the Special Programme for Food Security
(SPFS) on which a detailed report on the status of the Programme in the six
low-income food-deficit countries (LIFDCs) in the Region is given below,
as well as in other field activities. During the Conference debate, several
Member Nations made particular reference to the FAO initiative to prepare
draft documents on national strategies for agriculture and food security
towards the year 2010. A number of Member Nations supported the SPFS, some
mentioning its positive roles such as the replicability of the modules and
its role as a catalyst for mobilising investment resources and triggering
policy reforms. A number also welcomed the South-South Cooperation Scheme.
30. The Summit documents and the series of technical background papers, have
constituted a major output for information/documentation dissemination efforts,
using both traditional and electronic means. The cooperation established
with partner organizations (inter-governmental and non-governmental) during
the preparations for the Summit, continues on its follow-up and implementation
of the Plan of Action also serves as a major focus for FAO's advocacy work
through public information programmes, World Food Day and TeleFood.
31. The Conference welcomed the information provided on the first TeleFood
(TeleFood 1997) which took place on 19 October 1997, in connection with World
Food Day, with the main aim of raising awareness and mobilising support around
the globe for the fight against hunger and malnutrition. By adopting Resolution
3/97, it endorsed the Director-General's decision to allocate in their entirety,
the proceeds collected through the TeleFood appeal to the financing of concrete
grassroot-level projects, none of these proceeds being diverted to administrative
or other costs and to rely on sponsorship and other private and public voluntary
contributions to meet the costs of promoting and coordinating the operation.
The Resolution also endorsed the Director-General's decision to establish
under Financial Regulation 6.7, a Trust Fund to receive sponsorship and other
private and public voluntary contributions for financing the costs relating
to the promotion and coordination of the TeleFood operation worldwide. Finally,
the Conference invited FAO Member Nations to take all measures deemed appropriate
to promote the TeleFood initiative.
32. Servicing and supporting inter-governmental discussions constitutes an
important contribution by the Organization to follow-up. In addition to the
CFS and Council debates, aspects of Summit follow-up have been discussed
in 1997 by all of FAO's technical committees, and may be expected to be the
subject of further debate in those bodies during the coming biennium.
33. Regional committees and commissions have also addressed aspects of follow-up
falling within their mandates and the relevant regional conferences may take
their conclusions into account in addressing the regional and sub-regional
dimensions of implementation of the Plan of Action.
STATUS OF SPFS IN THE SIX LIFDCS IN THE EUROPEAN REGION
34. By the end of 1997, the Pilot Phase of the SPFS was operational in two
LIFDCs in the Region, i.e. Albania and Bosnia and Herzegovina. The programme's
objective in Albania is to support the establishment of Farmers' Interest
Groups, with particular gender focus, in three or more districts to promote
improved marketing of output, water management and access to improved seeds.
The project will also support the establishment of an information management
system at regional level, based on the experiences of on-going efforts made
so far, and at farm level. Assistance will include reform of the seed sector.
35. With regard to Bosnia and Herzegovina, facing a challenging transition
period for its economy and its agriculture in particular, agricultural sectoral
priorities will have to be formulated and small-scale farmers organizations
set up and input and market services organized. In this context, during its
pilot phase, the SPFS will provide an opportunity to rapidly test new approaches
and organizations in addition to improved technologies in support of long-term
agricultural development and food security and at the same time, it will
provide an opportunity to test new approaches and services to farmers, assess
their performances, analyse the social, economical and policy constraints
to their adoption or full efficiency before they can be expanded in connection
with policy reforms.
36. The Pilot Phase of the SPFS is under formulation in Armenia, Azerbaijan,
Georgia and the FYR of Macedonia. The programme in all four countries will
focus on irrigation and drainage with a view to halting the sub-sectors'
decline due to lack of institutional capacity to operate and maintain
infrastructure and to create Water Users' Associations capable of taking
over investment management and operation and maintenance of infrastructure.
EMERGENCY PREVENTION SYSTEM FOR TRANSBOUNDARY ANIMAL AND
PLANT PESTS AND DISEASES (EMPRES)
37. FAO, through the EMPRES Livestock component, has been active in promoting
improvements in the standards of veterinary services and emergency disease
preparedness in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, by the provision
of the services of experts and making possible visits to other countries
for training and gaining experience. During 1996-97 through TCP/RER/4551,
FAO organized and mounted five workshops for the benefit of veterinary workers
in CEECs covering the most important transmissible diseases of cattle, pigs
and poultry, the application of the latest developments in molecular biology
to diagnosis and vaccine production and management of appropriate scientific
projects. Study tours to the most advanced Western European Research Centres
were arranged and preparation of the first multimedia manual on modern methods
at laboratory diagnosis (molecular techniques, ELISA, monoclonal antibodies)
initiated. The computerised Veterinary Biotechnology Network for Central
and Eastern Europe (CENTAUR), which includes some 160 scientists, connected
through e-mail, was established. Furthermore, the Animal Production and Health
Division (AGA)/EMPRES co-sponsored the EUFMD/FAO/EC Workshop on Emergency
Preparedness and Contingency Planning for Foot-and-Mouth Disease (FMD), Classical
Swine Fever (CSF) and other exotic diseases (March 1998 in Pulawy, Poland)
the purpose of which was to train key veterinary, disease control specialists
and epidemiologists involved in livestock disease control and prevention.
38. Through the EMPRES Desert Locust component, emergency assistance has
been provided to two countries in the Central and Eastern European Sub-region
to control grasshopper infestations, provide training in pesticides application
techniques and assist government authorities in the preparation and formulation
of control plans.
POSSIBLE ACTION BY THE REGIONAL CONFERENCE
39. On the basis of experience during the first year after the World Food
Summit, Member Nations may wish to:
-
report on progress made and constraints encountered in implementing the World
Food Summit Plan of Action, and
-
highlight those priority activities of the Organization which contribute
directly to the achievement of the Summit's objectives, in particular, the
Special Programme for Food Security (SPFS), the Emergency Prevention System
for Transboundary Animal and Plant Pests and Diseases (EMPRES) and the
finalization of national strategies for agricultural development. In this
connection, only three countries of the Central and Eastern European Sub-region
have so far reacted to these strategy papers prepared by FAO and others may
be encouraged to do so, in such a manner that these documents, once approved
by the highest national authorities, become the basis for future national
and international action for agricultural development.
40. Bearing in mind the strong emphasis placed in the Plan of Action, on
inter-country cooperation at the regional and sub-regional levels, the Regional
Conference may wish to:
-
advise on ways of promoting and strengthening such cooperation in the areas
of FAO's mandate, and
-
call on regional and sub-regional organizations to contribute actively to
the implementation of the Plan of Action and to report thereon in time for
the meeting of the Committee on World Food Security in 1999.
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