Summit draft removes date to end hunger
Javier Blas
Financial Times
Nov 11, 2009
Rich countries have watered down a declaration to be made at next week’s World Food Summit, removing from the final draft both a new hunger reduction target and a commitment to boost agricultural aid to the high levels of 1980.
The two aims were the main points of conflict in behind-the-scenes talks before the summit. The final draft will be approved on Monday in Rome barring a surprise amendment.
Diplomats involved in the talks said the final draft did, however, contain commitments to boost aid to farming and fight hunger. They added that the statement would be the strongest support offered to global food security in years.
But non-governmental organisations said the food summit, the first since 2002, would be a waste of time unless last-minute changes were made to the draft statement.
The summit was prompted by a surge in the price of staples such as rice and wheat which last year sparked food riots in countries from Bangladesh to Haiti.
The final draft of the declaration, circulated to governments on Wednesday, recommits countries to meet the current target of halving the number of chronically hungry by 2015 but drops a proposal to “eradicate hunger” by 2025.
The idea of setting a timeline for the eradication of hunger was presented by the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation and supported by Latin American, Middle Eastern and African nations. It was rejected by the US, the European Union, Canada, Japan, New Zealand and Australia, said diplomats.
The final draft, seen by the Financial Times, states that countries “commit to take action towards sustainably eradicating hunger at the earliest possible date”.
It adds: “We are alarmed that the number of people suffering from hunger and poverty now exceeds 1bn. This is an unacceptable blight on the lives, livelihoods and dignity of one-sixth of the world’s population.”
A European diplomat said, with the world failing to meet the current target, attempting to achieve agreement on a new, more ambitious, target was absurd. “The 2025 target of eradicating hunger is pointless,” he said. “First we need to meet the 2015 target.”
Francisco Sarmento, food co-ordinator for ActionAid, said the declaration was a rehash of old platitudes. “It says hunger will be halved by 2015 but fails to commit any new resources to achieve this,” he said. “ActionAid appreciates Pope Benedict XVI’s attendance at the summit but frankly he needs to pray for a miracle.”
The food crisis has reversed the past quarter-century’s slow but constant decline in the proportion of undernourished people in the developing world. The proportion fell from 25 per cent in 1979 to a low of just below 16 per cent in 2003. But with 1bn people chronically hungry now, the proportion has risen to almost 20 per cent.
Rich and poor countries also failed to agree on a target to increase agriculture’s share of official development aid, which by 2006 had plunged to 3.8 per cent of the total, down from about 17 per cent in 1980.
The FAO’s initial proposal to “achieve in five years the target level of 17 per cent reached in 1980” was rejected by the rich countries. Instead, the final draft commits donors to “substantially increase the share of ODA devoted to agriculture and food security”, without setting a numerical target.
“We commit to a crucial, decisive shift towards increased short-, medium- and long-term national and international investment in agriculture in developing countries,” the final draft says, signalling support for moving away from a reliance on food aid exclusively.
The 10-page final draft supports the Group of Eight rich nations’ L’Aquila Food Security Initiative, which committed $20bn to agricultural development in the next three years. The L’Aquila initiative focused on using agriculture to promote economic growth, investing in country-led plans and strengthening global food co-ordination. It also required accountability from recipient countries.