Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

I would like to add the next sentences to draft : 

For the paragraph 5.  

Порожденная  выходящей за рамки  поддержания конкуренции неадекватным распределением национальных богатств  нищета  в значительной степени  обусловливает  ...... ( далее по тексту)   .  

For the paragraph 12.

d/  + признавая  право каждого  на доступ  к продовольствию, в рамках надлежащего  управления следует определить  минимальную долю в %  к ВВП  государственных  ассигнований  на обеспечение  продовольсвенной  безопасности. 

e /  + Глобализация  сопровождается  огромными  миграционными  потоками. Адекватное  продовольственное обеспечение  миграционных потоков  является  составным компонентом  безопасности того или иного сообщества. 

Many projects related to food productions had gone in vein due to Combination among projects & Lack of right focus. For example, many of our roads are constructed to the parallel of rivers and canals without plan. If we use the soil of rivers and canals for road constructions then it will safe cost of soil arrangement for roads and dredging cost for rivers and canals. Again embankment can safe our rivers and canals from land grabbers. But embankment roads are unsafe and later on needed to reshape. So, I think we need strict "Right program & Right Patronization" policy. For Environment friendly Regional Balanced development; UNESCAP can develop multiple bi-pass highways with involving funds from banks & other financial institutions. By this I think, UNESCAP can play an important role by minimizing food price by reducing transportation cost and food scarcity in remote areas.  

There are huge cultivable lands in world are in a barren stage as well as huge people are unemployed. If we can develop ourselves with global personality & skill and able to turn these barren lands under production with proper local & international management, I think food and nutrition problem will be eliminated. I think IOM can also play a significant role for international agri-employees security & food production management.

If we cultivate suitable plants on Slope of Highway & Railway, Barren-lands, Indoor & Coastal (SHARBIC) areas, then rain water flow will be maximum used as a part of Securing Water for Food and roads & highway will be save from mudslide. We can use GIS and other IT service for enhance (SHARBIC) gardening. It will increase beautification to there as well as enhance total national tea production. Please note ‘Sharbic’ means Total.

Social farming/ care farming is an important source of food & nutrition. I think to enhance social farming/ care farming, there should be compulsory free of cost or very low cost bank account against each social farmer. This account should be used for maintaining all sorts of expenditure relevant to care farming. From local to international donation -everything might be operating through this account. In remote areas where branches of any bank are unavailable, there might be engaged agent of Bank.  There also should be Green environmental Loan disbursement target for each branch of each bank. Agent of Banks also needed to be involved in here. Its transparency & regular monitoring could be possible using latest low cost IT products & services.

Veranda gardening, Rooftop gardening, indoor aquaculture etc should be considered as urban social farming for bank loan sanctioning. I think this will enhance economy specially women economy. Social farming should focus more on food & nutrition production rather than armature farming because water, time, money etc are involved in here. As for social farming, 100% pure is not necessary, water reuse policy could be applied there. Domestic Bio fertilizer, warm fertilizer etc could be used there. Using renewable energy for care farming should be influenced. 

Agri-telemedicine could be a significant tool for nutrition / malnutrition relevant advice sharing for all specially for the people of remote areas. To operate Agri-telemedicine agriculturists and other specialists are needed to be trained up in local language. Online based diplomas in home economics, care farming, or any relevant short courses are necessary in this regard.

14th April- Pohela Boishakh (Beginning day of Bengali new year)- is a heritage of South & southeast Asian countries including Bangladesh (ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pohela_Boishakh). This calendar was formed as a crop calendar. Now at the time of Global warming, water and food insecurity; we can globally observe this day that is 14th April as "Global Crop Calendars Day”. By this we can estimate crop production delaying or any hazards form 1556 to till now. All the same, other regional calendars of the world could be influenced for enhancing crop production.

Thank you

Muhammad Ariful Haque

Estimados coordinadores del Foro FSN,

agradezco la oprtunidad de participar de este interesante intercambio,

en archivo adjunto remito mis comentarios,

saludos atentos,

Mag. Nut. Ximena Moratorio

Responsable Programa Nacional de Nutrición

Minsiterio de Salud Pública - Uruguay

I would like to comment on Point 7 of the Draft Rome Declaration on Nutrition, which should be addressing unbalanced diets, rather than individual foods. First of all because individual foods are not necessarily a problem in themselves, if consumed in the right amount and with the right frequency within the overal diet. And secondly because a focus on balanced diets, rather than on individual products, would be coherent with the UN Political Declaration on NCDs of 16 September 2011, as well as with Point 12 e) of this Draft Rome Declaration itself, which states that: "nutrition improvements require the provision of balanced and diversified diets".

Furthermore, since the issue of "excessive intakes of saturated fat, sugars and salt sodium" is already addressed in Point 12 e), it would be redundant to also include it in Point 7.

I would, therefore, suggest to reword Point 7 of the Draft Rome Declaration as follows:

"7. Recognize that environmental and societal changes often have an impact on dietary and physical activity patterns, leading to higher susceptibility to obesity and noncommunicable diseases through increasingly sedentary lifestyles and unbalanced diets."

Finally, I would also caution against the inclusion in Point 12 f) of the sentence saying "while limiting the consumption of processed foods that negatively affect nutrition and health", as this could imply the introduction of rules which would not be compatible with competion laws applied in many countries.

Thank you for your attention and consideration and best regards.

Mesdames et Messieurs,

c'est avec grand plaisir que je lis vos commentaires et je m'enrichis chaque jour du partage des connaissances. Je tiens aussi à féliciter l'excellent travail des modérateurs du FSN forum pour leur rôle d'aiguilleurs.

S'agissant du projet de la déclaration de Rome, je suis tout à fait d'acord sur le texte global et surtout sur le point suivant : la malnutrition est un obstacle majeur au développement durable par le biais de la baisse de productivité ( article 4  ). En effet, ce point est capital, comment un pays peut-il se développer si les forces vives souffrent de malnutrition ? Aussi, pour arriver à permettre une pleine productivité, cet axe devrait être renforcé et assorti d'indicateurs dans le projet final.

Dear Moderator and participants of the FSN forum

The points in the declarations are still too general and inadequate to attract attention of policy decision makers on critical conditions. Most of the points in the declaration represent mainstream groups. The declaration is silent on the nutritional issues of minority, crises condition and regions with special food production systems. The people in government policy decision making can be lost to interpret the points in the declaration and translate into actions.  My specific points are as follows. 

1.      The third point of the preamble section, for example,has missed the term “Natural rights on food”.  In current development context some ethnic groups have been deprived of using the natural rights on food. It is based on the fact that the human races are naturally different in food bases from evolution perspective. The requirement of nutritional elements are, thus, naturally (genetically) different between the races. Or the groups may genetically adapted to the food sources on which their evolution based. The food bases of the society particularly the tribal communities are encroached, destroyed and criminalised in uses by mainstream societies. The minority groups are disadvantaged position to influence in government policy and markets. Many of them are not aware of effect of their food habit changes in their future generation. The policy and markets are dominated by mainstream groups which have increased the tempting the group on the food of mainstream societies. The interventions might have caused deficiency of the essential nutrition and led to extinction of the groups. The nutritional elements of the people could be increased by increasing their awareness on and access to their natural food bases.

2.      In the section of multiple threats of mal-nutrition, the document has stated the problem of climate change but the policy actions to mitigate the climate change have also increased threats to food security, the main pathway to nutrition, particularly for socially disadvantaged communities. The effects are more pervasive and serious than the global climate change at present context. For example, vulnerable people access to the food of common properties such as forests and alpine grazing areas which provided hedge against extreme misery conditions. Nowadays their accesses are restricted with expansion of national park/ protected area, community forestry and REDD forest policies. If you like to make the declaration fair the threats requires to be acknowledged.

3.      The issues of food security and nutrition problems are more critical in institutionally weak countries where international organizations (e.g. the World Bank, ADB, IPCCC and EPA) can make high influences in national policies decisions by using their material and symbolic powers. These agencies often overlook the issues of food security and nutrition of vulnerable societies in achieving their work progresses in other fields. For example, the World Bank has advised the Nepal government to apply its Carbon fund to managed community used forest resources for carbon storage under REDD policy. Many vulnerable people including tribal groups are based in the forest. The programme, by nature, restricts the vulnerable people’s access to local forest resources and affects food production and nutritional access. It also displaced local employment and increases the numbers of Nepalese women suffering from domestic violence and sexual abuses.  You can read the online EPIN document to evaluate the quality of the programme activities that the World Bank groups agreed to support (https://www.forestcarbonpartnership.org/node/3877). Therefore it is important to include a point about dialoguing with other international organizations to stop the policies and programmes that threatens food security and nutrition in vulnerable communities.

4.      It also requires action oriented commitments representing needs of minority groups, crises conditions and regions with special food production system in all sections.

Reference

Carbon Fund Ninth Meeting (CF9), April 9-11, 2014, Brussels, Belgium. (the EPIN document is attached in the first programme scheduled on Thursday).https://www.forestcarbonpartnership.org/node/3877--

 

Thank you.

Best Wishes.

Bhubaneswor Dhakal

Dear Sir, Dear Madam,

Here are the my comments on the revised Draft for the second International Conference on Nutrition

General comment: The four sections, Introduction; Multiple threats; a vision; Commitment, clearly encompass the present problems related to nutrition for any specific or general audience.

Specific comments for the development actions:

Point 6. Over/underweights coexists in many countries and even in the same household with a growing trend. When taking into account how difficult obesity prevention has resulted in countries of high income economy, then clear nutritional information to avoid extra energetic intake should be planned and given to low income economy countries.

Point 9. This point should maybe reworded to make it clearer.

Point 12.c. Food and agriculture. Taking into account that cereals, grains and flour are an important nutritional base and also assuming that genetically it is possible to increase essential amino acids in these (i.e. corn), an effort should be made to increase lysine content in sorghum flour.

Point 12 f. To limit processed foods is a primordial governmental aim in the lower income countries.

Point 13.b.  Reshape cattle. Goat’s milk is nutritionally acceptable and goats are more resilient than cows.

Should you require additional information, please let me know.

Yours faithfully

Manuel Moya

Catedrático E Pediatría/E Professor and Head

Chair of Technical Adviser Group on Nutrition.  International Pediatric Association(IPA)

Chief Editor of IPA Newsletter

International Pediatric Association Foundation, Board of Directors

Vice President European Pediatric Association

Academician of the Real Academia de Medicina

Pediatric Dept. Universidad Miguel Hernández

Campus de San Juan. Ctra Valencia s/n

03550 S Juan. Alicante Spain 

1.      General comments on the Draft of the Rome Declaration on Nutrition.      

This global forum is interesting and promising, as it seriously aims to manage the crucial issue of food security and nutrition which represents a global threat. It is comprehensive enough to account for multiple factors and threats for malnutrition, different population and age groups that are affected by the crisis and a multidisciplinary envisioned action plan.

2.     Specific comments on the paragraphs related to the multiple threats that malnutrition poses to sustainable development (paragraphs 4-10).

10 (c):

• Over two billion of people, particularly children, pregnant women and women with childbearing age, suffer from micronutrient deficiencies, such as vitamin A, iodine, iron, zinc, and vitamin D.
• Suboptimal early feeding practices (low breastfeeding rates and early introduction of complementary feeding), particularly in developing countries, that fall below global recommendations.

3.     Specific comments on the vision for global action to end all forms of malnutrition (paragraphs 11-12).

None.

4.     Specific comments in the appropriate fields relating to these commitments (paragraph 13):

Commitment a): eradicate hunger and all forms of malnutrition, particularly to eliminate stunting, wasting and overweight in children under 5 and anemia in women; eliminating undernourishment and reversing rising trends in obesity;

None.

Commitment b): reshape food systems through coherent implementation of public policies and investment plans throughout food value chains to serve the health and nutrition needs of the growing world population by providing access to safe, nutritious and healthy foods in a sustainable and resilient way;

None.

Commitment c): take leadership to shape and manage food systems and improve nutrition by strengthening institutional capacity, ensuring adequate resourcing and coordinating effectively across sectors;

None.

Commitment d): encourage and facilitate contributions by all stakeholders in society and promote collaboration within and across countries, including North-South, South-South and triangular cooperation;

None.

Commitment e): enhance people’s nutrition, including people with special needs, through policies and initiatives for healthy diets throughout the life course, starting from the early stages of life, before and during pregnancy, promoting and supporting adequate breast feeding and appropriate complementary feeding, healthy eating by families, and at school during childhood;

None.

Commitment f): adopt and implement a Framework for Action that should be used to monitor progress in achieving targets and fulfilling commitments;

None.

Commitment g): integrate the objectives of the Framework for Action into the post-2015 development agenda including a possible global goal on food security and nutrition.

None.

5.     We would also appreciate your vision on policies, programmes and investment that might help translate such commitments into action.

• Promote sustainable agriculture and community development: encourage research and education on healthy diets (if adequate, traditional foods- depending on the country and the respective culture).
• Address food companies/industries and social media for nutritionally-sensitive production of foods and for implementation of responsible marketing and advertisement of foods.
• Promote initiatives for water conservation and the efficient use of water to minimize losses, as most of the MENA region is short of arable lands.
• Endorse Baby Friendly Hospitals and adequate complementary feeding in developing countries.
• Incorporate food security in research and education programs of universities that will bridge issues of food, agriculture, and nutrition.

Please find my comments below :

·         General:

o   I reiterate my preference for food security and nutrition. If nutrition security is retained, it would have to be more clearly defined

o   The whole declaration is still very heavy on agriculture but not enough on health and health systems

o   There is hardly any mention of local food systems are sustainable ones to be strengthened.

·         Multiple threats:

o   Threats of malnutrition are a major challenge to sustainable development AND QUALITY OF LIFE. Nutrition improvement should also aim at improving individuals’ families’ and societies’ quality of life

o   Food, health and therefore nutrition inequalities should be highlighted as a major concern. Paragraph 6 could be clearer on this. Inequalities which culminate in the double burden of malnutrition affecting the poor and women have to be the focus of this paragraph

o   Environmental and societal changes ASSOCIATED WITH URBANIZATION AS A MAJOR DRIVER OF SUCH CHANGES (paragraph 7): The changes referred to are typical of the nutrition transition propelled by urbanization, globalization and technological ‘progress’

o   The rule of profit is another obstacle to the Big Food contributing to health-promoting foods (paragraph 9)

o   10.b: A link should be made between obesity and the currently growing prevalence of diabetes, CVD and certain cancers

o   10.e: The sentence will have to be reformulated.

·         Vision:

o   What is the difference between ‘reaffirm that’ and ‘recognize that’? All these statements are well known facts...

o   Can’t water, sanitation and hygiene be linked, under health systems?

o   Health measures are also essential for adequate physiological utilization of food energy and nutrients!

o   There is not a word about nutrition as central to prevention and control of chronic diseases such as obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc.

·         Commitment to action:

o   Much like my comments to the previous version, this all sounds like vague, non-compelling, idealistic wishes. Why not make an attempt at giving examples of successful initiatives?

Thank you for giving us the opportunity to react.

Best wishes,

Hélène Delisle, Ph.D.

Professeur titulaire et directeur de TRANSNUT

Centre collaborateur OMS sur la transition nutritionnelle et le développement

(WHO Collaborating Centre on Nutrition Changes and Development),

Département de nutrition, Faculté de Médecine

Pavillon Liliane-Stewart, Université de Montréal

Canada

>> ENGLISH TRANSLATION BELOW <<

Предлагаю  рассмотреть следующие предложения  :  

По пункту  14 . 

Отказаться от практики  монетарного  определения  минимального уровня  

продуктового  обеспечения . В условиях  постоянно растущих цен  и финансовых потрясений 

создается ложная картина  и иллюзия  благополучия . Одновременно , финансовая планка 

позволяет манипулировать значительным объемом "околобарьерной" части населения . 

По пункту 13 . 

b/     + включая  отказ  от распоряжения  водными трансграничными ресурсами  как рычагом  

          давления  или детерминанта  гуманитарного  кризиса .  

с/  + при  однозначно признаваемой  возрастающей  методической и  научной роли структур  ФАО .  

По пункту 12 .

d/   +  логистики  продуктов , подготовки  профильных управленцев и научных  исследователей .  

 По пункту 11.

е/  Учитывая  постоянное удорожание  академического образования  и медицинских услуг ,  

     использовать возможности  ИКТ  для дистанционного  информационного обеспечения  всех

     слоев населения по обсуждаемым вопросам.  

а/  + вопросам сохранения генофонда .

 

 С уважением  Эльчин Р. Атабабаев , к.с/х н. , Инст. Экономики С/Х  МСХ АР .

Баку, Азербайджан.

I propose to consider the following suggestions:

In regard to the paragraph 14

To renounce the practice of monetary measuring of the minimum level of food security in terms of food provision. In the context of an ever-increasing prices and financial turmoil, misconception and illusion of well-being are created. At the same time financial bar allows to manipulate the sufficient quantity of “near-the-barrier” population.

In regard to the paragraph 13

b/ + including refusing to dispose of  transboundary water resources as a lever of pressure or determinant of humanitarian crisis.

c/ + with clearly recognized increasing methodological and scientific role of FAO structures

In regard to the paragraph 12

d/ + food product logistics, management training of specialists and training of scientists

In regard to the paragraph 11

e/ taking into account permanent appreciation of academic education and health services,

            to use all opportunities provided by ICT for the purpose of distant communication for all social groups in regard to the discussed issues

a/ + genetic conservation issues

Best regards, Elchin Atababayev, Master of Agriculture, Institute of Agricultural Economics of the Ministry of Agriculture of Azerbaijan. Baku, Azerbaijan