PRESS CONFERENCE BY DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL ORGANIZATION

PRESS CONFERENCE BY DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF FOOD AND AGRICULTURAL ORGANIZATION

The Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) was on the front line in addressing the implications of climate change, because its mandate covered crops, animals, fisheries and aquaculture, as well as forestry, Jacques Diouf, the organization’s Director-General, said this afternoon.

At a Headquarters press conference in the margins of the General Assembly’s informal thematic debate on “Climate change as a global challenge”, Mr. Diouf said the FAO had clearly indicated its support for the Secretary-General’s initiative to organize a high-level event on the issue of climate change at the outset of the sixty-second General Assembly session and was participating in its preparation.

Elaborating on the role of the FAO, he said it also addressed issues related to the production of food stuffs, such soil and water.  In the case of water, the FAO was chairing “UN Water” for 2007-2008, which was a consortium of the United Nations and international organizations and institutions seeking to coordinate actions on water issues. 

At its November conference, the FAO would consider an initiative on world food security, as well as the challenges of both climate change and bio-energy.  The conference would be an opportunity, not only to analyse technical issues and make projections, but also to provide a basis for policies and strategies to be adopted to deal with the problems and opportunities regarding world food security.

Responding to a question about rising food costs as a result of more land being used for the production of bio-energy, he said the impact of demand for bio-energy on food security would depend on the natural resource base of specific countries.  In areas where land and water were limited, the choice between producing food or energy was a difficult one.  However, in areas with potential for expanding land use, there was the potential for doing both and raising the income of the farmer.

The FAO’s next report on the state of agriculture would be on the issue of bio-energy, he said, adding that there would be a proposal during the November conference for addressing the issue at a policy level.

Asked why there were three different agencies addressing issues of agriculture and food, namely the FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programme (WFP), and whether they should be combined, Mr. Diouf said the agencies had not been created by the United Nations, but by the Member States.  The FAO was the first organization, created in 1945.  Later, the WFP had been created to focus on food aid and food emergency assistance.  The IFAD was created to finance small agricultural development. 

He said there was some form of coordination because the Head and Deputy Head of the WFP were jointly appointed by the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Director-General of the FAO.  In addition, projects beyond $4 million were jointly approved by the FAO and the WFP.  There were also jointly organized missions in the field.

It was not up to the agencies to decide how to organize themselves in the context of the system-wide coherence exercise, he added.  Again, it was up to the Member States to decide what type of system should be put in place.  The report of the Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel had not made any suggestion in that regard.  There were certainly areas for improvement regarding overlap and inefficiencies, but those were being addressed in monthly meetings of heads and deputies of agencies.  An argument could be made, however, that a specialized agency, and not a combined one, might lead to more efficiency in action.

To questions about the FAO’s activities in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea and a possible audit of them, he said there were regular audits by the FAO’s Inspector General, as well as by an external auditor who reported directly to the Member States.  The FAO’s activities in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea were entirely in line with the legal framework under which the organization operated and the rules of operation in that country.  The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea was a legal member of the FAO and, as such, must benefit from the normal activities as approved in the FAO’s programme of work and budget.  There was a Programme and Finance Committee that looked at all financial dealings.

The rules were the same, whether in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or anywhere else, he added.  To his knowledge, the agency did not use staff sent by a Government, whether in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea or elsewhere.

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