35/711. World Food Day
The General Assembly;
Considering that food is a requisite for human survival and well-being and a fundamental human necessity,
1. Welcomes the observance of World Food Day, to be held for the first time on 16 October 1981 and annually thereafter, as unanimously decided by the Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization ofthe United Nations at its twentieth session:
2. Urges Governments and national, regional and international organizations to contribute to the effective cornrnernoration of World Food Day to the greatest possible extent.
83rd plenary meeting
5 December 1980
Achieving Food Security in Times of Crisis At a time when the global economic crisis dominates the news, the world needs to be reminded that not everyone works in offices and factories. The crisis is stalking the small-scale farms and rural areas of the world, where 70 percent of the world's hungry live and work.
With an estimated increase of 105 million hungry people in 2009, there are now 1.02 billion malnourished people in the world, meaning that almost one sixth of all humanity is suffering from hunger.
Both public and private investments are needed, more specifically through targeted public investment to encourage and facilitate private investment, especially by farmers themselves.
On the occasion of World Food Week and World Food Day 2009, let us reflect on those numbers and the human suffering behind them. Crisis or no crisis, we have the know-how to do something about hunger. We also have the ability to find money to solve problems when we consider them important. Let us work together to make sure hunger is recognized as a critical problem, and solve it. The World Summit on Food Security proposed by FAO for November 2009 could be fundamental for eradicating hunger.
Director-General's message FAO Director-General’s Message on
the World Food Day/TeleFood 2009 theme:
"Achieving food security in times of crisis"
The events of the last three years have been particularly tragic as they have demonstrated the fragility of our global food system. For the first time in history, more than one billion people are undernourished worldwide. This is about 100 million more than last year and it means that one in every six persons suffers from hunger every day. This recent increase in hunger has not been the consequence of a poor global harvest, far from it, but was caused by the world economic crisis, which has reduced incomes and employment opportunities of the poor and significantly reduced their access to food.
It is for this reason that the theme chosen for World Food Day and TeleFood this year is: Achieving food security in times of crisis. At a time when the fallout from the global economic crisis still dominates the news, it is important to remind the international community that the crisis is stalking the small-scale farms and rural areas of the world, where 70 percent of the world’s hungry live and work.
The current crisis is historically unprecedented in several ways. First, it follows a global rapid and sharp increase in staple food prices, during 2006-2008. The recent downward adjustment should not be interpreted as the end of the food crisis. In sub-Saharan Africa, 80 to 90 percent of all cereal prices monitored by FAO in 27 countries remain more than 25 percent higher than before the food price crisis began two years ago. In Asia and Latin America and the Caribbean, prices are monitored in a total of 31 countries, and between 40 and 80 percent of cereal prices remain more than 25 percent higher than in the pre-food-crisis period. And at a local level, in certain countries, prices for basic food products have not decreased at all. Furthermore, production is still hampered by the increase in the cost of inputs - 176 percent for fertilizers, 70 percent for seeds, 75 percent for animal feed, making agricultural investment extremely difficult. Such increases put these vital inputs far beyond the reach of millions of farmers.
Second, from a financial and commercial point of view, developing countries are now more financially and commercially integrated in the world economy, which implies that a drop in global demand or supply and in credit availability has immediate repercussions on developing countries.
Third, because of the global nature of the crisis, the normal mechanisms used by households to cope with economic shocks are stretched thin. Foreign Direct Investment, including in agriculture, is forecast to decline by more than 30 per cent in 2009. Reduced employment in urban areas may force job-seekers to return to rural areas. Migrants’ remittances, which had previously seen annual growth rates up to 20 per cent, totalling US$ 300 billion in 2008, might experience a decline of around 5 to 8 percent in 2009. Foreign Aid to the poorest 71 countries is expected by the International Monetary Fund to decline by about 25 percent. Credit on financial markets might not be available due to tighter risk assessment and it will carry increased risk premium.
The stark fact is that unless substantial and sustained remedial actions are taken immediately, the World Food Summit target of reducing the number of hungry people by half to no more than 420 million by 2015 will not be reached.
Fortunately, there are encouraging signals of a shift in policy. The Joint Statement on Global Food Security at the L’Aquila meeting of the G8 in July this year approved a radical change in strategy with the priority of increasing the production of smallholder farmers in food-deficient developing countries. For this reason, the mobilization of US$ 20 billion over three years is foreseen for the financing of such a programme. Now this pledge needs to be translated into concrete action. It is a step encouraging the international donor community to devote an increased percentage of Official Development Assistance to agriculture, and hopefully to reach the 1980 level of 17 percent. It is important to recall that this was the level of investment which saved Asia and Latin America from looming famine in the 1970s. A similar level of resources is now needed to feed the more than one billion people suffering from hunger and to ensure that the world’s population, set to grow to more than nine billion in 2050, will have enough to eat then.
It is not only financial resources that are needed. Beyond the factors that exacerbate the current crisis, there is a whole series of fundamental problems that need to be resolved, in particular how aid is channeled and how to make it reach smallholder farmers effectively, as well as reform of the world food security governance system for more coherence in the action of governments and development partners, the share of national budgets dedicated to agriculture and private sector investment.
It is vital, particularly in times of crisis, that support to agriculture not be reduced. Only a healthy agricultural sector, combined with a growing non-farm economy and effective safety nets and social protection programmes will be sufficient to face the global recession as well as eradicate food insecurity and poverty. The World Summit on Food Security to be held in Rome from 16 to 18 November aims to keep the challenge of food insecurity on top of the international agenda so that the right to food, the most basic of human rights, be respected.
On this World Food Day, let us resolve once and for all that achieving food security, in times of crisis or not, is indeed a global priority.
Jacques Diouf
Director-General Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
UN Secretary-General's message UN Secretary-General's message
on the World Food Day/TeleFood 2009 theme:
“Achieving food security in times of crisis”
Food and nutritional security are the foundations of a decent life, a sound education and, indeed, the achievement of all the Millennium Development Goals. Over the past two years, volatile food prices, the economic crisis, climate change and conflict have led to a dramatic and unacceptable rise in the number of people who cannot rely on getting the food they need to live, work and thrive. For the first time in history, more than one billion people are hungry.
Throughout the developing world, food prices remain stubbornly high. We must respond to the needs of the hungry, first by ensuring adequate political and financial support for emergency food assistance. “Achieving food security in times of crisis” is the theme for this year's World Food Day and for the TeleFood campaign of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. It emphasizes the need for even greater efforts to respect the dignity of those affected by poverty and hunger, and to support the committed women and men who often risk their lives to deliver help.
Second, we must invest in food production and distribution. Last year, I set up a High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Crisis. Its Comprehensive Framework for Action outlines a strategy to provide safety nets and assistance for smallholder farmers and to support longer-term agricultural productivity and resilience, social protection schemes, market access and fair trade.
Nations are mobilizing for action. In July, 26 countries and 14 multilateral organizations agreed to work together under the umbrella of the L'Aquila initiative on food security. Next month's World Summit on Food Security in Rome is a further opportunity to focus on country-led and regional strategies, country-level partnerships and increased levels of assistance.
The challenges of food security demand multilateral commitment, creativity and leadership. At this time of crisis, I encourage all nations to pursue coordinated and comprehensive strategies for agricultural development and effective social protection so that vulnerable people – women and children in particular – can get the food they need for nutritional security and well-being.
Ban Ki-moon
Secretary-General United Nations
Run for Food Race
against Hunger 4th Edition in Rome
Saturday, 24 October 2009 – 18.00 hours Stadium delle Terme di Caracalla
The 4th Edition of the Run for Food race, in the framework of the World Food Day 2009 whose theme is “Achieving Food Security in Times of Crisis”, is being organized by the Athletic Association Bancari Romani in partnership with FAO, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), the World Food Programme (WFP), and Bioversity International and with the support of the Comune di Roma, will take place on Saturday, 24 October, and will consist of a five kilometre fun run (walk) as well as a ten-kilometre competitive race through the historic centre of Rome starting and ending at the stadium just outside FAO headquarters at the Stadium Terme di Caracalla.
There are now 1.02 billion malnourished people in the world with an estimated increase of 105 million hungry people in 2009, meaning that almost one sixth of all humanity is suffering from hunger. Both public and private investments are needed, more specifically through targeted public investment to encourage and facilitate private investment, especially by farmers themselves.
On the occasion of World Food Week/World Food Day 2009, let us all reflect on those numbers and the human suffering behind them. Crisis or no crisis, the world has the know-how to ensure food security for all and eradicate hunger. We have seen that the world has the ability to provide financial solutions when they are considered important to solve a crisis. Let us work together so that the current hunger crisis is recognized as a critical problem, so that a global solution will lead to the end of hunger and malnutrition, once and for all.
Aims of the Run for Food
The registration/inscription fees of the race will be donated to TeleFood community projects in the Horn of Africa (Djibouti, Eretria, Ethiopia, and Somalia).
FAO launched the TeleFood Programme in 1997 after the first World Food Summit as an annual campaign of awareness-raising events (broadcasts, concerts, sports) and other activities to harness the power of media, celebrities and concerned citizens to help fight hunger. Donations to TeleFood finance small, self-contained agriculture, livestock and fisheries projects that help poor families produce more food; not a penny is spent on administrative costs. Although small in scale and cost, TeleFood projects make a significant impact.
Fuentes:
http://daccessdds.un.org/doc/RESOLUTION/GEN/NR0/390/89/IMG/NR039089.pdf?OpenElement
http://www.fao.org/getinvolved/worldfoodday/en/
http://www.fao.org/getinvolved/worldfoodday/worldfoodday-dgsmessage/en/
http://www.fao.org/getinvolved/worldfoodday/worldfoodday-unsgmessage/en/
http://www.fao.org/getinvolved/worldfoodday/runforfood0/en/