MOTION FOR A RESOLUTION on the FAO World Summit on Food Security – Eradicate hunger from the face of the earth
23.11.2009
pursuant to Rule 110(2) of the Rules of Procedure
Patrick Le Hyaric, João Ferreira on behalf of the GUE/NGL Group
B7‑0173/2009
European Parliament resolution on the FAO World Summit on Food Security – Eradicate hunger from the face of the earth
The European Parliament,
– having regard to the declaration of the World Summit on Food Security, held in Rome from 16 to 18 November 2009 by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) ,
– having regard to the United Nations International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), which was initiated by the FAO and the World Bank and carried by the UNDP, UNEP, WHO and UNESCO, which has recently made detailed recommendations to governments on how to strengthen sustainable agricultural systems and to end hunger and poverty,
– having regard to Rule 110(2) of its Rules of Procedure,
A. whereas the right to food is a human right,
B. whereas the international community must respond to an unprecedented increase in the number of people suffering from hunger, which is now over one billion,
C. whereas one of the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) is to reduce the number of people suffering from hunger in the world by half by 2015,
D. whereas the 2025 proposed deadline for eradicating hunger from the world was not approved at the FAO Summit,
E. whereas the scale of the present food crisis is the result of 20 years of inadequate policies, insufficient investment in agriculture and neglect of the agricultural sector at the expense of small and medium-sized farms, while 70% of the planet's poor populations are directly dependent on the sector for their subsistence;
F. whereas the policy of liberalisation, privatisation and free trade has resulted in the abandonment of land by small and medium-sized farmers, land concentration and the domination of production by large agrifood companies,
G. whereas, in poorer countries that are not net importers of food, food prices remain stubbornly high in spite of good world cereal production levels in 2009 owing to the volatility of prices, and whereas there is a serious food insecurity problem in 31 countries which need emergency assistance,
H. whereas the subsidies granted by Member States to agrifuels encourage intensive large-scale farming on land privatised in order to meet export market demand; whereas this has contributed to increasing cereal and oilseed prices on international markets,
I. whereas the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organisation have imposed trade liberalisation in developing countries, which has intensified competition in agriculture at the expense of local crops and farmers,
J. whereas agricultural trade and unfair trade conditions on the world market are giving rise to hunger,
K. whereas foreign companies and states are taking over millions of hectares of farmland in developing countries with the aim of securing long-term food supplies; whereas the huge number of farmland transactions is a new form of neocolonialism, with poor countries producing food for rich countries at the expense of their own populations,
L. whereas climate change would reduce water availability and lead to an increase in weed, animal pests and diseases and whereas in 2050 food and agricultural production will decrease by up to 30% in parts of developing countries,
M. whereas developing countries have contributed least to climate change, but are facing its most severe consequences, and whereas climate change is placing 40 % of international poverty reduction investment at risk,
1. Reaffirms the need to establish a strategy to combat hunger, based on the principle of the right to food, and focusing on a fair sharing of resources, security of income for the poorest populations and access to food;
2. Takes the view that the world food system is in need of urgent and far-reaching reform, and calls for the adoption of the necessary policies, strategies and programmes to guarantee the principles of food sovereignty, security and self-sufficiency;
3. Regrets the lack of interest shown by rich countries, and more particularly G8 countries and the other heads of state and of government who were absent from the FAO Summit;
4. Regrets that the final declaration of the FAO Summit held in Rome does not include any timeframe or figures in relation to combating hunger in the world, and also regrets the absence of any financial commitment to the investments required in sustainable family farming;
5. Stresses that combating hunger requires investment in sustainable family farming, in particular in developing countries, and that an effort is required to increase agriculture's share in such funds;
6. Regrets that the FAO's Rome Summit did not take specific measures to strengthen the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) and bring about a reform of the FAO, which is urgently needed;
7. Calls on the Council, the Commission and the Member States to secure the necessary agricultural aid for developing countries in order to achieve the MDGs, in particular that of halving of the number of people suffering from hunger around the world by 2015;
8. Is concerned at the risk that the increasingly widespread non-food uses of agricultural products, first and foremost biofuels, may supplant agricultural production of foodstuffs and that the use of GMOs, through the pressure exerted by the agri-foodstuffs industry, may pose a threat to food security and sovereignty;
9. Takes the view that the CAP reforms, dictated by the liberalisation of agricultural markets in the context of the WTO negotiations and aimed at meeting the sole interests of large agri-food companies, have contributed to impoverishing the agricultural sector at world level;
10. Takes the view that the main purpose of agricultural production should be to feed populations and not to give priority to single export crops, and that public grants for oilseed growing should be restricted to creating self-sufficiency capacity and the conditions required for compliance with environmental and social standards;
11. Considers that enabling countries to develop their production in order to meet their national or regional food needs should become a priority and implies that all countries should be given the possibility of achieving food self-sufficiency;
12. Calls for more investment in agriculture and food production in developing countries, particularly in infrastructure such as irrigation, transport and storage of agricultural products;
13. Affirms that sustainable family farming and cooperatives, coupled with the political will to relocate production and give priority to local and regional trade, can also help to cool down the planet, and protect soil fertility and biodiversity;
14. Rejects the imposition of trade agreements and blind liberalisation, and supports, by contrast, fair trade and a culture grounded in rights, specifically the rights to education, water, food and healthcare;
15. Calls on the international community to increase substantially its financial support to developing countries to help them adapt to climate change and lessen its impact, and to explore innovative financial mechanisms for achieving this;
16. Calls on the Commission and the Member States to build the necessary links between climate change and the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by incorporating adaptation to and mitigation of climate change into projects and programmes aimed at achieving the MDGs and into all poverty reduction strategies;
17. Instructs its President to forward this resolution to the Council, the Commission, the governments and parliaments of the Member States and the UN Secretary-General.