In Message to Committee on World Food Security, Secretary-General Calls for More

Formal Global Governance System, Food Trading Systems that Keep Markets Stable

Following is UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s message to the Committee on World Food Security, delivered by David Nabarro, Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Food Security and Nutrition, in Rome, today, 11 October:

It is a great pleasure to convey my warmest greetings to all the participants in this meeting.

Food and nutrition security are among my top priorities.  The High-Level Task Force that I have established to address the global food security crisis takes a comprehensive approach to food and nutrition security in its interactions with national Governments, regional organizations, and partners in civil society and business. I thank the Vice-Chair, the Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), and the 22 members of this Task Force for their commitment to work together and help pursue a comprehensive response, and for helping to advance our understanding of the challenge.  I thank the leaders of the three Rome-based UN agencies — FAO, World Food Programme (WFP) and International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) — for their commitment and intensive coordination around the comprehensive approach at country, as well as at global, levels.  Today there is growing recognition that food security encompasses many aspects, including availability, access, utilization and stability at the household level.

Each stakeholder has a specific role to play:  that is why I welcome the increasing number of inclusive partnerships involving civil society, farmers’ organizations, the private sector, regional bodies, bilateral donors, development banks, foundations and the research community. All of them are contributing to the advancing movement for food and nutrition security.

But there is growing awareness that these partnerships are not enough, and that the world needs a more formal system of global governance in this area.  Today’s first meeting of the revitalized and more inclusive Committee on World Food Security (CFS) is an important step towards this goal.  I welcome your efforts to debate and resolve some of the serious tensions that arise over food security, which often have deep political features.  And I commend your decision to tackle these issues head-on, through negotiation and mediation, despite their difficulty.  You have the full support of the United Nations system for your work.

I was in Rome to attend last year’s Summit on World Food Security when the revitalization of the Committee on Food Security and the Rome principles were agreed.  I look forward to watching the Committee evolve and address many of the issues that challenge our world.  They include the need to support smallholder farmers, land acquisition, the interests of women, improved nutrition (with a focus on the thousand days between a child’s conception and second birthday), food price volatility, access to land and water, climate change and, in particular, the establishment of food trading systems that work without destabilizing markets.  I am especially keen to see the right to food become the basis of all our efforts for food and nutrition security.  This is one of the keys to halving global hunger, the first Millennium Development Goal, which in turn can have a multiplier effect across all our development goals.

I would like to acknowledge the hard work of many to bring the CFS to this point:  the leadership of Noel de Luna, the CFS Chair, the Vice-Chairs and the bureau, the advisory group and the representatives of Member States, and the establishment of the High-Level Panel of Experts with its Steering Committee chaired by the eminent Professor [M.S.] Swaminathan.  I appreciate the hard work of the Inter-agency Secretariat and the CFS Secretary to set up this meeting with its focus on key issues of protracted food and nutritional insecurity, land tenure and international investment in agriculture, managing vulnerability and risk, and — importantly — on learning lessons from country case studies.

I wish you all the best for this vital meeting.  Together, let us break the cycle of hunger and build a more secure and sustainable world for all.

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For information media • not an official record