World Food Summit
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THE ENVIRONMENTAL DIMENSION - A VITAL
FACTOR IN ACHIEVING GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY
ROME, 13 November 1996 - World leaders are meeting
here today, to renew their commitment to the eradication
of hunger and malnutrition, and the achievement of lasting
food security for all.
The environmental dimension of agriculture
production is fundamental to reducing hunger and
improving food security. The challenge is of staggering
proportions, and the world must act, now. As the World
Food Summit adopts policies and a Plan of Action,
environmental and natural resource considerations must
occupy a central place in the proposed measures.
Feeding another 3 billion people by the year 2030
- a likely scenario - will require rapid gains in agricultural
production. Achieving those gains without damaging
natural resources on which both agriculture and life itself
depend will require a different approach to food production
than has been used in the past - an approach that builds on
ecological principles such as diversity, resilience and
efficient energy use. The knowledge is there. What is
needed is the political will.
"This Summit is a wake-up call the world has long
needed," said Ms. Elizabeth Dowdeswell, Executive
Director, United Nations Environment Programme
(UNEP). "The time has come to transform agriculture. It
is essential that environmental perspectives become a vital
element in our endeavour to increase global food
production. Increasing food production in a sustainable
fashion should be the overriding objective of our new
strategy - a strategy to transform agriculture into a
powerful vehicle for both poverty alleviation and
environmental conservation."
Environmental considerations are reflected widely
in the draft Action Plan. Environmental and natural
resource degradation as a constraint to achieving food
security; sound management of natural resources; urgent
action to combat land degradation; control of overfishing;
conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity; the
promise of, and cautions entailed by, biotechnology
development; actions to implement global environmental
conventions and agreements; management of water
resources; reducing deforestation and so on, are all
reflected in the draft text.
The challenge is to achieve and sustain food
security within nature's limits. Both the supply and
demand side of the issue have to be sensitive to the
environmental dimension.
Today, more than 800 million people in developing
countries face chronic undernutrition. Moreover, rapid
population growth heightens the need to intensify and
expand agricultural production. However, the
environmental price can be high. Pushing against
resources limits to increase food production can damage or
degrade the environment in many ways.
Expansion of agriculture onto less suitable land
(often through deforestation) exposes fragile soils to the
dangers of erosion and nutrient depletion. Felling and
drainage of mangrove forests and other coastal wetlands
destroys spawning and feeding grounds for fisheries. The
conversion of forests and other natural habitats to food
production has been the primary reason for the loss of
biological diversity. Almost 70 percent of those stocks of
marine fisheries for which assessments are available are
being fished at levels close to or beyond the maximum
sustainable yield.
Applying intensive production techniques to
increase output from lands already under cultivation could
both provide enough food to meet the needs of expanding
populations and relieve pressure on marginal lands and
vulnerable ecosystems. But, intensive food production can
also take a heavy toll on the environment; poorly managed
irrigation can lead to salinization and waterlogging;
reliance on a few high-yielding varieties of plants and
livestock has eroded biodiversity; intensive aquaculture
systems can cause degradation of wetlands.
However, there is hope. Scientists are confident
that technical options are available, and can be developed
further, to provide enough food for future populations
without harming the environment. The draft Action Plan
agrees - based on the premise that the world has the
technology, resources and skills required to produce
adequate food to eliminate starvation.
One key element to achieve this in practice will be
regular natural resource and environmental assessment and
monitoring of the impacts of current practices, and feeding
this information back to policy-makers and producers.
Here, UNEP, as a leader, catalyst and coordinator, as a
bridge between science and policy, will play a vital role.
Environmental management is another key area.
Effective ways of reconciling global and regional
management objectives with national policies and
programmes for food security can be demonstrated,
particularly taking into account the needs of people in
marginal and fragile areas. UNEP could help put together
and disseminate case study analyses, (best practices), of
improving food security through better natural resource and
environmental management practices.
In partnership with CGIAR and others, the avenue
of guiding agricultural technology research in a direction
that is responsive to the needs of vulnerable areas is also
promising.
But, food production is only one part of the
solution. The right public policies, quality of governance,
social and economic development are critical to ensuring
that people are able to buy the food they need.
The draft Plan of Action does not envisage special
mobilization of new or additional international resources,
to help implement its recommendations. It places
implementation responsibility squarely on the shoulders of
individual countries, while recognizing that international
cooperation can and should play a supportive role. It asks
for an optimal allocation and use of available resources,
and greater inter-ministerial and inter-agency coordination.
Moreover, it emphasizes the role of the private sector,
trade and markets.
"Integrating the development dimension of incomes
and employment with the environment dimension will be
a major challenge for individual countries", said Ms
Dowdeswell. "Working with governments and our
partners to ensure that the environmental dimension of
achieving food security is addressed will be a major
challenge for UNEP."
The World Food Summit will meet at the level of
Heads of State or Government, in Rome, Italy, from 13 to
17 November 1996.
For more information:
In Rome: Mr Uttam Dabholkar, Director of Policy,
UNEP, c/o World Food Summit Secretariat
In Nairobi: Mr. Robert Bisset, Media and Information
Officer, UNEP, Nairobi, Kenya Tel: (254-2) 62 3084,
Fax: 62 3692, Email: robert.bisset@unep.org
UNEP News Release 1996/62
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Robert G. Bisset
Media/Information Officer
Information and Public Affairs
United Nations Environment Programme
PO Box 30552, Nairobi, Kenya
Tel: +254-2-623084
Fax: +254-2-623692
Email: Robert.Bisset@unep.org
Personal Mail: PO Box 47074
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