General Assembly Session 62 meeting 112

The President

In connection with agenda item 48, members will recall that, in a letter dated 16 July 2008, I forwarded the revised comprehensive framework for action of the High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis, presented by the Secretary-General.

The President

The international community is confronted by an alarming and interconnected increase in food and oil prices. Those conditions have been compounded by the unpredictable effects of climate change and a depressed world economy. The potential social consequences are extremely grave.

The United Nations Development Programme's Human Development Report identifies food insecurity, together with water stress, rising sea levels, exposure to climate disasters and environmental degradation as the key transmission mechanisms through which climate change could reverse human development.

According to the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the rise in food and oil prices could severely weaken the economies of up to 75 developing countries, so that the prospect of stagflation -- slowing growth and rising inflation and unemployment -- is real for many. The World Bank estimates that rising food and fuel costs could reduce the gross domestic products of 40 to 50 countries by 3 to 10 per cent, pushing at least 100 million people into poverty.

The global food and energy crisis therefore requires an immediate, coherent and coordinated response, with the United Nations system playing a central role. When the Secretary-General briefed Member States in June, he pleaded for the continued support of the General Assembly in dealing with those pressing issues.

On various occasions, Member States have underlined the need for the General Assembly to take concrete steps to tackle the food and energy crisis. Furthermore, the Economic and Social Council's 2008 Ministerial Declaration calls for urgent individual and collective action to stem the impact of the crisis and put the global economy on a more sustainable footing.

The comprehensive framework for action before us today provides a coherent and coordinated strategy for doing so. I would therefore like to commend the Secretary-General for taking the initiative and recognizing the need for prompt and coordinated global action.

Just as we have dealt with climate change at this session, we must now apply the full, continuous and high-level commitment of all Member States to the food and energy crisis. While dealing with the dramatic effects of these crises, we must use this opportunity to inject new life -- a new deal -- into the multilateral system.

Since the beginning of the year, commodity prices have surged by more than 30 per cent as a result of record food and oil costs. That growing tension between the supply of and demand for agricultural products is a result of a complex cycle of factors, such as skyrocketing energy costs, increasing demand from emerging economies, the unfolding of the credit crisis in the real economy and commodity speculation.

Climate changes, intensifying drought, floods and cyclones, and the increasing popularity of ethanol-based biofuel have taken food off the world's table. As a result of all those complex factors, for more than 2 billion people today higher food prices are a matter of daily struggle, sacrifice and survival. All economies regardless of size and strength, but particularly the least developed, have been affected. That is why it is an emergency. That is why prompt action and global coordination are necessary.

A comprehensive multilateral approach based on the framework is necessary to address the crises, minimize the negative spillovers and lay the foundations for improved supply over the medium term. The framework for action has two key objectives: first, to meet the immediate needs of vulnerable populations, and secondly, to build long-term global food security. To achieve that, the Secretary-General has called for the international community to provide $25 billion per annum to support those goals. Overall, the multilateral system -- including the World Food Programme, the World Bank, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the IMF, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations -- has already amassed around $2.3 billion, and the G8 countries around $10 billion, to support food aid, nutrition interventions, social protection activities and measures to increase agricultural output in affected countries.

That is still well short of what is needed annually. I would therefore like to call on donors and the multilateral system to do more, not only because development aid for agriculture has fallen from a high of 17 per cent in the 1970s to just 3 per cent today, but also because the real impact of each dollar spent on food aid is almost half of what it was last year.

The General Assembly must now provide the political commitment necessary so that the measures before us today receive widespread international support. The General Assembly should also play an active and crucial role by facilitating global partnerships on food and agriculture involving all relevant actors -- national Governments, the private sector, civil society, donors and international institutions. The United Nations must facilitate and coordinate all those actors, while the General Assembly should set the overall policy direction.

We should carefully listen to those voices that are calling for more sustainable patterns of consumption and production as the pillars of a new economic model. We must now begin to take the tough initial steps so that, over the long term, we can inject new life into multilateralism and move to a new economic paradigm for the twenty-first century.

In order to do so, we must use every available process and mechanism at our disposal to address the food crisis. That includes financing for development, climate change, upcoming meetings on Africa's development needs and the Millennium Development Goals, as well as the United Nations overall reform agenda. We must also systematically address longer-term structural issues to create economic security for all.

An urgent and mandatory step at the global level is to reach an agreement to rationalize agricultural policies by ensuring a swift and successful outcome to the Doha Trade Round. As long as agriculture continues to experience more market-distorting policies than any other sector, we cannot count on sustainable global food security. It has been estimated that reducing subsidies and lifting tariffs and other trade barriers would stimulate food production and offer a route to development for 180 million small farmers in Africa.

The food crisis therefore offers a win-win opportunity for the international community to collectively agree to policies that promote trade efficiency while also boosting agricultural production and reducing the vulnerability of the poorest around the world. Spiralling oil prices in the context of a warming global climate also offer the opportunity to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by embracing new cleaner and sustainable energy, such as wind, solar and -- why not? -- nuclear.

Most importantly, we must have the courage to actively engage those issues and to take decisions. I would therefore support the calls made by several Member States for food security and development to be one of the main priorities of the sixty-third session. However, given the urgency of dealing with the food and energy crisis, the General Assembly should adopt a resolution calling for immediate concerted global action at this session. Unless we collectively develop a joint solution to deal with the food and energy crisis, all of our efforts to address climate change and achieve our Millennium Development Goals will be fatally undermined.

I now call on the Secretary-General, His Excellency Mr. Ban Ki-moon.

The Secretary-General

I thank you, Sir, for this opportunity to review progress in addressing the global food and energy crisis. As you will recall from my previous briefings, I have established, at the request of the Chief Executives Board for Coordination, a High-Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis bringing together the United Nations system, including the Bretton Woods institutions and other relevant international organizations, to respond to the crisis in a coherent and coordinated way.

Even before prices started rising dramatically, nearly 10,000 children were dying from causes related to malnutrition every day. At least 800 million people were going to sleep hungry every night. That is a moral outrage.

At the same time, the effects of climate change -- such as increased exposure to drought, rising temperatures, more erratic rainfall and extreme weather events -- are threatening water and agricultural systems, potentially condemning millions more to face malnutrition and water shortages. And now, with energy costs soaring and the price of food having increased by more than 50 per cent in the past year alone, the problem is certain to worsen, potentially pushing an additional 100 million people into hunger and poverty.

The double jeopardy of high food and fuel prices threatens to undermine much of the progress made in achieving the Millennium Development Goals. As I stated at the G8 summit in Hokkaido, the three critical challenges to our shared humanity and, in fact, to our way of life -- realizing the Millennium Development Goals, addressing climate change, and responding to the global food and energy crisis -- are interrelated and global in nature. They therefore require a global response through global partnerships. We cannot afford to fail or betray the hopes of those tens of millions of vulnerable. The crisis is not a short-term issue; it will require the sustained attention of Governments, donors, international and regional organizations, civil society and the private sector for years to come.

The world community is already moving in that direction. At the G8 summit, leaders of the world's richest countries made important commitments to tackling the triple challenge of climate change, the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and the food and energy crises. In early July, the Economic and Social Council, in its Ministerial Declaration, recognized the seriousness and complexity of the global food crisis and reiterated that its consequences require a comprehensive and coordinated response by national Governments and the international community. That action is under way.

United Nations agencies and their partners are shifting resources and mobilizing new funds to ensure that food assistance and nutritional care reach those most in need. We are supplying small farmers in developing countries with seeds, fertilizers and other inputs to grow more crops. That is a start, but with so many millions of people threatened by the crisis, all of us, including Member States, need to do much more, immediately. Those efforts need to be stepped up further and sustained over the next three to five years.

Allow me to applaud today's proposal by the European Commission for a special facility, worth more than $1.5 billion, that would provide a rapid response to the food crisis. Crucially, the money would be in addition to existing development funds and would be provided to the developing countries most in need. The funds would be disbursed in coordination with the United Nations Task Force and other international organizations.

To reach the MDG on reducing poverty and hunger, we need a global partnership for food. Governments must be at the centre, but we all -- Member States, donors, United Nations entities, Bretton Woods institutions, the scientific and academic communities, businesses, non-governmental organizations and civil society -- have to work together.

I believe that the global partnership should be guided in its actions by the comprehensive framework for action before us today. The framework has been developed by my High-Level Task Force and represents the agreed-upon and consolidated guidance of all its participating agencies and organizations.

From the outset, it is important to understand what the framework is and what it is not. The framework is not a one-size-fits-all blueprint for a response that will work in every situation, but rather a menu of actions that must tailored to the specific context and needs of each country and inform national Governments' food security strategies. The framework is not a fundraising vehicle and it does not provide detailed costing. Rather, it aims to catalyse country-level action by providing Governments and key partners with the main elements for formulating responses. It recognizes that any response must take into account the specific circumstances of particular countries or regions. While many actions may require external assistance, the framework's suggested policies and actions are intended above all to build countries' own capacities and resilience to future shocks.

The next steps we need to take are clear. First and immediately, we must ensure that vulnerable populations are not left without urgent help in the midst of the emergency. We should do that by scaling up food assistance and other nutrition interventions; increasing predictable financial support for food aid; reducing restrictions on donor contributions; and exempting purchases of humanitarian relief food from export restrictions and added export taxes. We may also need to establish a global reserve system for humanitarian food.

Secondly, we must act immediately to boost agricultural production this year. We should do that by providing urgently needed seeds and fertilizers for the upcoming planting cycles, especially for the world's small-scale farmers. It is high time to reverse the dramatic and deplorable downward trend in agriculture's share in official development assistance (ODA). ODA has dropped from 18 per cent 20 years ago to just around 3 per cent today. I have urged the G8 leaders and international donors to increase the portion of ODA devoted to agriculture from 3 per cent to at least 10 per cent.

Thirdly, we must improve fair trade and the free flow of markets by reducing agricultural subsidies in G8 countries. The rise in agricultural commodity prices in low-income, food-insecure countries offers an opportunity to reallocate savings to agricultural investment.

Fourthly, we must significantly increase investment in agriculture and rural development so as to make them a viable sector of the economy. We should do that by boosting public spending on agriculture and rural infrastructure.

Fifthly, we must strengthen global food commodity markets to meet the needs of all countries and people, particularly the poor, including by minimizing export restrictions and levies on food commodities to help stabilize food prices. I call again for a rapid conclusion of the next World Trade Organization Doha Development Round.

Sixthly, Member States must reassess subsidies and tariff protections for biofuel production. It is true that biofuels will need to remain a part of the equation in our fight against climate change, but we also need to establish an international consensus and agreed policy guidelines on ways to balance the development of biofuels with food production priorities, ensuring complementarity.

As stated earlier, the financial implications related to the crisis will require substantial political and financial commitments -- from national Governments and donors first and foremost, but also from the private sector, civil society and the international system. To achieve the goals of the comprehensive framework for action, estimates suggest that between $25 and $40 billion annually may be needed. Whatever the exact sums, that is the order of magnitude required.

We must reverse years of underinvestment in agriculture and change the policies that have magnified the challenges. I urge members of the Assembly to immediately and substantially scale up public spending to respond effectively to the pressing needs of the world's hungry people.

The promises are there; now is the time to fulfil them -- jointly. The cost of inaction would be unacceptably high. Over 100 million people could slide into hunger. Insecurity and political instability in the most affected countries could grow, increasing not only the immeasurable human costs, but also the inevitable expenses of addressing conflict. Migration would increase further. Global inflation would worsen; economic growth could stagnate. Trade opportunities between regions would be lost. Some of the important gains towards realizing the MDGs would be squandered. Worse, by 2030, world food demand will have risen by 50 per cent, and by 2050 the world's population will have increased by a third. If we do not seek lasting solutions now, more children will die each day, more families will go to bed hungry. The threats left to the next generation will be even greater.

Addressing the global food and fuel crisis swiftly and responsibly, with the necessary sense of urgency and lasting commitment, will be one of the generational challenges that impact our collective future. Let us all live up to that responsibility.

The President

I thank the Secretary-General for his statement. I now give the floor to His Excellency Mr. Angel Edmundo Orellana Mercado, Minister for Foreign Affairs of Honduras.

Mr. Orellana Mercado (Honduras)

Allow me first of all to commend you, Mr. President, and the Secretary-General on your excellent work in your respective posts. Allow me to thank you, Mr. President, for this opportunity to address this Assembly, on behalf of the countries of the Central American Integration System (SICA).

I am here to appeal to the conscience of the world concerning the negative impact of the high prices of fuel, denying several million people in our region access to the most basic products for human consumption. We are being victimized by the inequities in international markets, and this global crisis obliges the most vulnerable population groups in our countries to struggle simply to survive and to do battle every day in order to find sufficient food.

In my recent statement at the High-level session of the Economic and Social Council, as current Chair of SICA, I urged, in fulfilment of the mandate of the System and together with the Federative Republic of Brazil, that a special session of the General Assembly be convened on an emergency basis to find solutions to those problems.

The exorbitant prices of food have now turned basic foodstuffs into luxury and inaccessible goods, and some are even being used to produce biofuels, thus adding to a crisis of unforeseeable magnitude and effect.

The crisis demands immediate responses. We cannot consign it to oblivion and indifference to the neediest in our societies. It is therefore essential that the General Assembly should play a more active and dynamic role in formulating short- and medium-term strategies that will provide viable solutions.

We greatly appreciate the initiative of the Secretary-General to establish the High-Level Task Force that has presented proposals for action in combating the world food crisis. We also applaud the progress achieved in various forums that are today tackling the problems associated with food security, climate change and bioenergy.

Moreover, the countries of SICA, despite our limited resources, are continuing to strive to combat hunger and poverty. We are exchanging experiences that will allow us to develop and execute a regional policy in the social, environmental and energy sectors, which are seriously threatened by the current world crisis.

At the same time, this is a great opportunity for us to reaffirm the content of the statement of the summit held on 7 May in Managua, Nicaragua, which addressed the questions of sovereignty and food security and took an inclusive approach that will enable us to protect our environment and, at the same time, preserve the traditions of production and consumption that are inherent to our populations.

We cannot ignore the fact that speculative behaviour on the stock market is shunting the whole world towards a catastrophe and stripping millions of people around the world of their dignity. We should note the recent statement of the Group of Eight to the effect that the record prices of oil and food are a serious challenge to the stability of world growth. At the same time, the Group called for countries that have food stocks to release them to those countries in greatest need.

We in Central America, along with other regions and countries, have been able to work together to agree on policies to address the problems of climate change and food security. At the same time, we are fully aware of the fact that we need the support of other countries or groups of countries that are better endowed than we are. When we say that we need the support of others, we are referring to specific situations that, in the ideal vision of a fair and equitable world, would be easily achieved goals.

Just by way of example, I would note that, if trade barriers did not exist, our exportable production would come to the market in more competitive circumstances and generate more income for our productive sectors; if production subsidies did not increasingly distort agricultural trade, then our economies, which are sustained by the commodities sector, would probably be strengthened and enjoy greater opportunities for job creation; and if migration were not regarded as a crime and migrants were treated not as international offenders but as human beings, then very probably development, progress and harmony among nations would make it possible to close the gulf between the wealthiest and the poorest countries.

Those examples may be part of an unattainable aspiration, but our region will never renounce its dreams of a fair world in which there are opportunities for everyone and in which solidarity is the basic rule governing relations among all members of the international community.

The President

I now give the floor to His Excellency Mr. Carlos Morales Troncoso, Minister for Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic.

Mr. Morales Troncoso (Dominican Republic)

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