By Leslie Pariseau
27 January 2009 [MEDIAGLOBAL]: In the past year, the population of malnourished has increased to over 960 million after fluctuations in food prices and a calamitous global recession. This number comprises nearly one-sixth of the world’s population, having risen some 40 million from 2007 alone. According to the United Nation’s Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) 2008 Food Insecurity report, 65 percent of this demographic live in just seven countries including India, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, and Ethiopia. Realizing the global community’s need for aid leadership, Spain stepped up this week as one of the emerging providers of funds to meet emergency and long-term food aid.
In commitment to preventing another food crisis and solving the hunger crisis at hand, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero co-hosted the High-Level Meeting on Food Security for All this week in Madrid. As a continuation of June 2008’s Rome Summit, this year’s two-day conference (26 and 27 January) evaluated progress, prioritized immediate and long-term action and reaffirmed advancement toward the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), which are targeted for completion in 2015.
As a statement of Spain’s ongoing commitment to ending hunger, the nation generously pledged €200 million per year over the course of five years. In addition, at least 15 other countries have stated intentions to provide monetary and technical assistance as well as political support.
Speaking on behalf of Spain’s commitment to the MDGs, Soraya Rodriguez, Spain’s Secretary of State for International Co-operation, reported, “Spain remains firm in its commitment to reach the 0.7 percent GDP goal for Official Development Assistance (ODA) in 2012. This target level should reach all developed countries by no later than 2015 in fulfillment of the MDGs.”
At the Rome Summit last June, 181 Heads of State and Government pledged to “use all means to alleviate the suffering caused by the current crisis, to stimulate food production and to increase investment in agriculture, to address obstacles to food access, and to use the planet’s resources sustainably, for present and future generations.”
Despite exceptional and unprecedented scale-ups in emergency hunger aid, this year the meeting resumed discussions and resolved to respond with even greater efforts. Representatives from more than 120 countries came together, including 62 ministers, civil society leaders, and delegates from UN agencies.
Timothy Wall, media contact for the UN Department of Public Information, attended the conference and reported to MediaGlobal the priorities set by the Secretary-General’s High-Level Task on the Global Food Security Crisis. “The Task Force came up with a Comprehensive Framework for Action, which was recognized in Rome last year and Madrid this year as a good foundation for the world to address food needs, improve nutrition, and decrease hunger.” Wall also enumerated the three main areas of action. “The immediate attention should be focused on emergency food aid, improving small shareholder agriculture and safety nets and repairing trade patterns and policies that have deteriorated in the last decade.”
Several specific objectives were addressed in terms of policy and social development. Though they agreed that foreign assistance is integral to boosting developing countries’ food security, participants also stressed the importance of affected countries leading their individual initiatives to fight hunger by involving their own parliaments, local governments, and citizenship.
The development of strong social and economic policies in rural areas was underlined as an opportunity to improve agriculture and begin implementing sustainable development from the ground up. This will be enacted with the resolutions from the Task Force’s Framework including measures to ensure secure access to and better management of natural resources, as well as investment in agricultural research on food crops, animal protection, and inland fisheries. It also intends to improve rural infrastructure with new or better roads, irrigation, and access to electricity. Access and distribution to food and agriculture inputs will be expanded with public and private sector-led markets partnerships.
In recognition of the persistence of poverty and hunger where women are marginalized and children are not provided education, the convened representatives supported including and enhancing the participation of excluded women, children, men, and indigenous groups who may not otherwise have a voice in policy-making processes.
Though Spain took center stage as the host and leading donor during the meeting, Saudi Arabia and Korea also came forward with substantial pledges in the fight against hunger.
Following the meeting, the Secretary-General and Prime Minister issued a joint statement emphasizing the urgency to eradicate hunger with multi-modal food security improvements: “The way forward is a comprehensive approach that links nutrition, food security, agriculture, and trade. It depends on inclusive, broad-based partnerships bringing together governments, civil society, farmers’ organizations, businesses, and international organizations.”