Food security summit's declaration "empty of concrete measures" to combat hunger
Food security summit's declaration "empty of concrete measures" to combat hunger
09:31, November 17, 2009 
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Non-governmental organizations (NGOs)gathering in Rome on Monday criticized the declaration issued at the opening day of the World Summit on Food Security, saying it was "empty of concrete measures to tackle global famine."
The three-day summit on food security is being held here at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) headquarters. More than 60heads of state are gathering at the event to discuss measures to eradicate famine and solve the ongoing food crisis.
At the same time, 600 delegates from international NGOs are meeting at a parallel forum to the FAO summit.
"There is no commitment to handle with adequate policies and resources the scandal of the 1 billion people suffering from chronic hunger in the world," said Sergio Marelli, president of the Italian NGO association and chairman of the forum's advisory group.
The NGOs criticized the fact that crucial commitments to eradicate famine and ensure food security were missing in the declaration.
The NGOs said the summit participants played down the goal of totally eliminating the number of people who suffer from hunger and malnutrition by 2025, stating instead that this number will be merely reduced by half by 2015.
The 44 billion U.S. dollars needed each year to fund the agricultural sector and boost food production, which was repeatedly pledged by the FAO and other UN food agencies, was also not mentioned in the declaration, they said.
Besides, the NGOs attacked the absence of many leaders from the Group of Eight, a sign "that rich countries are trying once more to impose their policy on the poor and transfer food issue competences to the World Bank," Marelli said.
Marelli also said the "development model and food policies so far implemented have led to an increase in the last two years of 200 million hungry people around the world."
The ecological pressure group Greenpeace urged world leaders to jointly address the double challenge of ensuring simultaneously food and climate security.
"At a time when the world faces the twin crises of climate and food, we need a new vision for agriculture that addresses both," the organization said in a press release, adding that governments should promote ecological farming technologies.
"Merely reiterating the empty rhetoric of the UN Millennium Development goal will not solve the food crisis," Greenpeace warned. "World leaders are dangerously ill informed if they think the same polluting technologies and trade liberalization will do anything other than perpetuate the ongoing emergencies."
The declaration issued at the summit was limited in commitments, it said.
It stressed the necessity to promote stronger global food governance among interested bodies, increase sustainable agricultural production and foster strategic coordination to promote better allocation of resources and projects implementation.
Source: Xinhua
The three-day summit on food security is being held here at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) headquarters. More than 60heads of state are gathering at the event to discuss measures to eradicate famine and solve the ongoing food crisis.
At the same time, 600 delegates from international NGOs are meeting at a parallel forum to the FAO summit.
"There is no commitment to handle with adequate policies and resources the scandal of the 1 billion people suffering from chronic hunger in the world," said Sergio Marelli, president of the Italian NGO association and chairman of the forum's advisory group.
The NGOs criticized the fact that crucial commitments to eradicate famine and ensure food security were missing in the declaration.
The NGOs said the summit participants played down the goal of totally eliminating the number of people who suffer from hunger and malnutrition by 2025, stating instead that this number will be merely reduced by half by 2015.
The 44 billion U.S. dollars needed each year to fund the agricultural sector and boost food production, which was repeatedly pledged by the FAO and other UN food agencies, was also not mentioned in the declaration, they said.
Besides, the NGOs attacked the absence of many leaders from the Group of Eight, a sign "that rich countries are trying once more to impose their policy on the poor and transfer food issue competences to the World Bank," Marelli said.
Marelli also said the "development model and food policies so far implemented have led to an increase in the last two years of 200 million hungry people around the world."
The ecological pressure group Greenpeace urged world leaders to jointly address the double challenge of ensuring simultaneously food and climate security.
"At a time when the world faces the twin crises of climate and food, we need a new vision for agriculture that addresses both," the organization said in a press release, adding that governments should promote ecological farming technologies.
"Merely reiterating the empty rhetoric of the UN Millennium Development goal will not solve the food crisis," Greenpeace warned. "World leaders are dangerously ill informed if they think the same polluting technologies and trade liberalization will do anything other than perpetuate the ongoing emergencies."
The declaration issued at the summit was limited in commitments, it said.
It stressed the necessity to promote stronger global food governance among interested bodies, increase sustainable agricultural production and foster strategic coordination to promote better allocation of resources and projects implementation.
Source: Xinhua
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