Welcome Remarks
>> –
Program
By Mr. Kazuyuki Tsurumi, FAO Representative in the Philippines
This consultation is devoted to enhancing FAO’s collaboration in the Asia and the Pacific Region with the wide range of civil society important to food and agriculture; Non-Governmental, famers’, fishers, indigenous people, women’s, youth organizations.
This meeting is being held at an historic, but tragic moment: for the very first time 1 billion people in the world are hungry and malnourished. Sadly, the majority are in Asia, 642 million mostly in rural areas and many the very people that produce most of our food: farmers, fishers, women, indigenous peoples.
It is FAO’s obligation and ethical imperative for humanity to join together to end hunger and ensure dignity to all. Indeed, the Right to Food is the most fundamental of Human Rights. At the same time, some countries in Asia have made remarkable progress, for example China and Indonesia.
The World Food Summit in 1996 made the commitment to half the number of hungry and malnourished, at that time 840 million persons. This goal was reaffirmed with the adoption of Millenium Development Goal 1 in 2000 to half the proportion of hungry and reiterated at the World Food Summit: five years later in 2002. The World Summit on Food Security 2009 once again stated the need to confront the persistence of hunger and its enduring impacts on human welfare in the context of the global economic crisis, the dramatic rise of global food prices in 2007 and 2008, and the continuing volatility of prices and high prices to consumers.
The rise in the price of food has taken place in the context of FAO’s call to the global community to resolutely face a set of major challenges: the need for mitigation and adaptation of farmers to climate change; the perverse consequences of lack of investment in agriculture and rural development for over two decades, and the need to face the challenge of feeding 9 billion people by 2050. The food crisis of 2007-2008 highlighted the inadequacy of current governance of food security, which has now come back onto the “development agenda.” This is why the Committee on World Foosd Security (CFS) has changed and is becoming multi-stakeholder including representatives of civil society.
Civil society is an important partner of FAO to succeed in addressing these global challenges to food and agriculture and to feed the hungry. However, we must work and the national and regional levels, profit from your experience and expertise, and associate you from the beginning in the development of policies and programmes of activity.
This regional consultation is certainly a step in the right direction and – so I understand from colleagues from Bangkok and Rome - only a step in a process of regular consultation leading to the Regional Conferencee in 2010, to 2011 and beyond. Your organizations of farmers, fishers, indigenous peoples, women, youth, and NGOs are indeed more than development partners. You are strategic partners and allies of the FAO. The FAO Director-General has stated that civil society is often able to advocate for solutions to hunger and poverty that the FAO Secretariat cannot say directly to its governments.
At the country level here in the Philippines, the UN system is working closely with Civil Society Advisory Committee (CSAC) composed of national NGO associations to bring their voices, energies and actions to the table.
We hope that the outcome of your regional consultation can be shared with CSAC as an example of dialogue and emerging convergence on some issues between FAO and civil society organizations.
Dear Participants, Dear Colleagues. We wish to thank you for your attendance and we are looking forward to successful results of your meeting.
Also I hope you enjoy the stay in the Philippines, particularly the participants from the regions.
Thank you.
>>
