World Food Summit On Food Security-Starts-Ends-No Targets

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With more than one billion people now suffering hunger the international community meets to reverse the situation and set the world on a path to achieving the realization of the right to adequate food. The Webcast of important events are available on the FAO website.
Click Here to have a look at the various webcasts of the Summit

We too often hear of summits and conferences on global problems and many times sceptical of their outcome.. so what is FAO's intentions behind this summit. First of all -

Why a World Food Summit in 2009?

The global food insecurity situation has worsened and continues to represent a serious threat for humanity. With food prices remaining stubbornly high in developing countries, the number of people suffering from hunger has been growing relentlessly in recent years.

The global economic crisis is aggravating the situation by affecting jobs and deepening poverty. FAO estimates that the number of hungry people could increase by a further 100 million in 2009 and pass the one billion mark.

What is the Situation of Hunger in Various Countries/Regions ?

Rising hunger is a global phenomenon. In fact, all world regions have been affected by the increase in food insecurity:

• Asia and the Pacific, the world’s most populous region, is home to the largest number of hungry people (642 million).
• Sub‐Saharan Africa has the largest prevalence of undernourishment relative to its population size (32 percent).
• The largest percentage increase in the number of hungry people in the developing world occurred in the Near East and North Africa (+13.5 percent).
• Latin America and the Caribbean, which was the only region in recent years with signs of improvement, also saw a marked increase (+12.8 percent).
• Even in developed countries, undernourishment has become a growing concern.

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The closing ceremony of the World Summit on Food Security, 16-18 November 2009 -Photo credit: ©FAO/Alessandra Benedetti

The three-day United Nations summit on world food security wrapped up in Rome today with its host lamenting that it produced neither measurable targets nor specific deadlines for ending a scourge that afflicts more than 1 billion people around the planet.

On its first day, the summit unanimously adopted a declaration renewing a commitment to eradicate hunger sustainably and at the earliest date. Yet during the three days of talks 51,000 more children are estimated to have died of hunger – one every five seconds, 6 million a year – even though, in the words of Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, the world has more than enough food for all.

UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Director-General and summit host Jacques Diouf declared, “to my regret the official declaration adopted by the Summit this past Monday contains neither measurable targets nor specific deadlines which would have made it easier to monitor implementation.”

FAO had proposed setting a target of 2025 for total eradication of hunger from the face of the earth and increasing official development assistance (ODA) to agriculture to $44 billion per year for investment in developing-country agriculture and rural infrastructure.

At the same time, however, the summit produced four important commitments, Mr. Diouf said. These were: renewed efforts to achieve the first Millennium Development Goal of halving hunger by 2015; improved international coordination through broadened participation by the public and private sector; international funding for agriculture in developing countries; and new investments in agricultural production there.

“I am convinced that together we can eradicate hunger from our planet,” he added. “But we must move from words to actions. Let us do it for a more prosperous, more just, more equitable and more peaceful world. But above all, let us do it quickly because the poor and the hungry cannot wait.”

Sixty heads of State and government and 191 ministers from 182 countries and the European Community attended the gathering, including Pope Benedict XVI who called for the rules governing international trade to be separated from “the logic of profit viewed as an end in itself.”