Regions food summit

Among the participants, let us cite in particular Mr Abdoulaye Wade, President of the Republic of Senegal,Mr Stefano Manservisi, Director General to the European Commission (DG Development), Mr Claudio Martini, President of the CPMR (Conference of Peripheral Maritime Regions, FOGAR (Forum of Global Associations of Regions) and of Tuscany region, Mr David Nabarro, Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General, Mr Ban Ki-moon, on Food Security and Nutrition, Mr Yannick Glemarec, Executive Coordinator of the Global Environment Facility at UNDP (United Nations Development Programme, representating Mrs Helen Clark, Mr Hafez Ghanem, Assistant Director-General of FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations), representating Mr Jacques Diouf, Mr Soumaïla Cissé, President of the WAEMU Commission (West African Economic and Monetary Union), Mr Olivier De Schutter, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, Mr Jean-Michel Debrat, Deputy Director General of AFD, Mrs Fatou Gaye Sarr, Minister of Agriculture-Senegal and Mrs Ana-Regina Segura Martinez, Spanish Agency for international development cooperation. At the end of the Summit, these high-ranking personalities will be expressing their expectations regarding the development a multiannual action framework involving the Regions.

Over 12 years have passed since the commitment made at the World Food Summit to reduce by half the number of undernourished people by 2015. Progress in this area is disappointing and the world food situation is now critical. Today more than one billion people suffering from famine and two billion people affected by malnutrition, the recent food riots have brought to the fore the urgency of the situation.

Under the influence of the economic crisis, climate change, population growth and dwindling natural and energy resources, forecasts are that the situation is going to get worse and affect as much in the short-term Regions in the South as Regions from the North, albeit in terms of migration pressures and security issues arising from the impact of food insecurity on world peace, democracy and solidarity. In the medium term, global production will need to be doubled to combat food shortages which will affect all the world’s regions, to varying degrees but without exception.

With current food policies failing at both national and international levels, there is reason to believe that that things need to be done to improve the coordination and involvement of local governments in the debates on food security. The Regions are in effect able to act quickly to give coherence to the multitude of actions and projects that exist at different levels in this field by targeting coordinated action that responds to immediate needs and triggers the implementation of long-term solutions.

In order to come together to tackle hunger, local and regional authorities are actively involved in international cooperation projects in various fields of action through education, training, stepping up meetings between actors and the transfer of technical and institutional skills in different areas, e.g. improving agricultural production techniques, developing suburban farming, improving access to the market and distribution of products, providing greater access to credit, improving infrastructures, developing a type of agriculture in coherence with the territory and available natural resources, adapting to climate change, introducing nutrition education programmes and preventing wastage and loss from farming production, etc.

The reason behind the success is that by working together with actors on the ground, the Regions have the political and technical capacity to lead concrete actions that respond to the actual needs expressed by their fellow citizens. Unfortunately, this emerging strength lacks visibility at present owing to the fact that information on these practices is not widely disseminated.

Faced with these facts and in the context of its considerations on the future of the CAP and illegal migration affecting its member Regions, the CPMR proposed to FOGAR’s member Networks to take action in an attempt to help tackle world hunger alongside and complementary to efforts led by national governments and international organisations. This commitment is being materialised through the organisation of a major event that will mark 2010, the “Summit of the World’s Regions on Food Security”. The event, which has received support from the FAO, UNDP, the Directorates-General for Development and Agriculture of the European Commission, the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs and Ministry for Agriculture and Fisheries, will take place in Dakar on 18 and 19 January 2010 at the invitation of Mr Wade, President of the Senegalese Republic.

The Summit will provide the chance to work on a priority issue for the Regions and establish dialogue on food security between local authorities, national governments and international organisations. It aims to reflect on this issue with the world’s Regions and propose together innovative solutions to tackle food insecurity.

Organised on the basis of a questionnaire sent to Regions the world over which aims to collect information on food-related issues in the Regions, this Summit will help to identify specific areas in which cooperation between Regions can provide a genuine added value to national and international initiatives in progress.

The Dakar Summit will act as a forum to develop partnerships between financial backers and Regions on the one hand and between Regions themselves on the other hand, in order to effectively reduce world hunger.