Bruxelles/Kathmandu 15 novembre 2009 – Dans une récente déclaration l’Observatoire PMA (LDC Watch), une organisation qui défends les intérêts des Pays Moins Avancées au sein des institutions internationales, dénonce que malgré les promesses la situation alimentaire continue à s’aggraver. Surtout dans les PMA. Ceci est grandement dû à la libéralisation des marchés, aux intérêts commerciales des grandes multinationales dans le secteur agricole et à la faible position des PMA pour faire façe aux chocs (naturels, économiques, financiers,…). Retrouvez la déclaration de l’Observatoire PMA en Anglais.
LDC Watch Statement on the occasion of World Food Summit on Food Security (Third World Food Summit) – 16-18 November 2009 – Rome, Italy
15 November 2009
Despite the seven commitments adopted by Rome Declaration on World Food Security and the WFS Plan of Action at the World Food Summit in 1996 and mere reiteration of the same in the ‘World Food Summit: five years later’ in 2002 by the Heads of State and Government, and their representatives to increase food security and reduce hunger, the trend of food insecurity around the world, particularly in the LDCs, is increasing at an alarming rate, hence the right of everyone to have access to safe and nutritious food has still remained a distant dream to realize. Moreover, the recent unprecedented food crisis and sky rocketing food price leading to “food riots” have shaken over thirty nations in the LDCs. According to an estimate by FAO, 1.02 billion people are undernourished worldwide in 2009 compared to 854 million people who were suffering from chronic hunger worldwide in between 2001 and 2003. It suffices that with the current level of efforts, neither the WFS commitments nor the MDGs are going to be achieved by the world, in particular by the LDCs, within a stipulated timeframe of 2015.
The recent global economic and financial crisis, looming impacts of climate change, price hike of the food materials and fuel crisis have further aggravated the situation of food insecurity in the LDCs that are most vulnerable to and least capable of addressing these problems due to historical geo-political reasons.
The LDCs are facing particular difficulties in securing food due to the global economic and financial crisis which have drastically skewed their international job markets, trade of their products and availability of official development assistance (ODA) as a large chunk of this fund is diverted towards bailing out their own financial institutions and agencies to recover from the domestic crisis, thus, this world economic and financial crisis has resulted in lower incomes and increased unemployment leading to reduced access to food by the poor in the LDCs; accelerated phenomena of global warming and climate change, affecting the agricultural productivity.
We have to understand that the violence, conflict, social unrest and political instability that we observe rampant in LDCs are partly the result of the failure to address the development deficit.
Therefore, we urge all the concerned parties to make food insecurity and hunger a history by urgently implementing their commitments and undertaking concrete and coherent measures for tackling emerging challenges such as debt crisis, financial crisis, climate crisis and governance crisis by undertaking an integrated approach to development, which is long overdue.
– We know that the world has adequate food to feed the current level of its population but it is not happening simply because of the profit-oriented market-led approach of neo-liberal policies. We are of the strong belief that food should not be a weapon of gaining political power or strengthening economic supremacy but the responsibility of all to ensure right to food to everyone. Markets without understanding the realities of the LDCs can not be the solutions to hunger.
– Right to food is fundamental human right, so without assuring the right of everyone to safe and nutritious food, the right to life is not ensured. All the parties have to fully respect the UDHR, ICESCR, commitments of the WFS, Millennium Declaration and the BPoA to address the problems of food insecurity and hunger in the LDCs. We urge for the immediate realization of food security and food sovereignty because no human being in this world is born to be entitled to die due to hunger.
– We call on all concerned parties -governments, international organizations, civil society organizations and the private sector- to reinforce their efforts so as to act as an international alliance against hunger to achieve the WFS targets no later than 2015. And set the earliest deadline to eradicate poverty and hunger from the entire world.
– We do not want another ‘false’ re-affirmation from the responsible leaders of the world gathered here in Rome in 16-18 November 2009 but the concrete action points with time bound measurable targets for eradicating poverty and hunger. We hope it will not prove to be just another show for inaction.
– Increase investment in agriculture to boost production of smallholder peasants and just distribution of the food materials. A healthy agriculture sector can provide an economic and employment buffer in times of crisis, especially in poorer countries. As reported by UNCTAD, the LDCs are going through a vicious circle of deficient food production, subsistence agriculture, low levels of productivity, declining investment, increasing scarcity of land and water, and rising rates of urbanization. So, to tackle these problems, there is a need to have concerted policies and programmes for the sustainable development of agricultural sector in the LDCs.
– Suitable safety-net measures and interventions should be in place to address the immediate impact on the vulnerable people while also providing sustainable solutions to the underlying problems of food insecurity and hunger in LDCs.
– Urgently materialize the Monterrey Consensus on FfD and BPoA, particularly effecting the allocation of 0.15%-0.20% of their GNP of the developed countries towards the sustainable development of the LDCs and increase this allocation significantly to address the additional problems induced by global warming, climate change and the recent global economic and financial crisis for which no LDCs are responsible.
– WTO and corporate farming must be out of agriculture in LDCs. Neither the GMOs are any credible solutions to food insecurity, rather they will add further misery to the people of the LDCs as they virtually loose everything (e.g., biodiversity and indigenous knowledge system) to the hands of the multinational corporations and the markets. We firmly believe that food security and food sovereignty is impossible with market-led approaches.
– We also urge the IFIs and other lending agencies including bilateral donors to cancel all the foreign debts of the LDCs as a gesture of initiating genuine support towards their fellow human beings in the LDCs who are forced to starve in absence of food and other livelihood support systems.
– We strongly urge the LDC governments to work collectively for eradicating poverty, food insecurity and hunger from our parts of the world with urgency. We must not forget that “united we win, divided we loose”. The 49 Least Developed Countries (LDCs) of the world, home to more than 750 million people must work collectively to meet the sustainable development challenge being faced by their people.
– We urge FAO to convene the convention on food sovereignty
– We urge to end immediately to export subsidies, agro-fuels and corporate land-grabbing.
– As the LDC ministers have already realized that the current food crisis is a political issue more than a financial issue, so it needs to be addressed politically. Therefore, they must inculcate political will to formulate policies and implement programmes to collectively take responsibility for making globalization work for the LDCs.
Lastly, we the civil society groups from the LDCs and elsewhere commit ourselves to work in partnership with all the relevant stakeholders to ensure food security and eradicate poverty from the LDCs and from the world.
Thank you,
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