{"id":1014,"date":"2012-03-29T13:38:49","date_gmt":"2012-03-29T13:38:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/earthsummit2012.stakeholderforum.org\/2012\/03\/29\/global-food-security-forum\/"},"modified":"2012-03-29T13:38:49","modified_gmt":"2012-03-29T13:38:49","slug":"global-food-security-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/earthsummit2012.stakeholderforum.org\/index.php\/global-food-security-forum\/","title":{"rendered":"Global Food Security Forum"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Global Food Security Forum Summary Conclusions <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">The  Inaugural Meeting of the Global Food Security Forum (GFSF) brought  together in Rabat, Morocco, almost 300 experts, officials, practitioners  and stakeholders from over 50 countries for action -oriented discussion  and collaboration on the challenge of feeding, in a sustainable  fashion, a growing world population.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"> <\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>Through  a rich mixture of plenary debates and interactive workshops, the Forum  explored the key challenges, and key opportunities that shape the food  security debate. The Forum placed a strong emphasis on: <\/span> <\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Understanding the food security challenge in all its complexity;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Identifying key opportunities and priorities for joint action;<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Leveraging innovation and investment as key drivers of a sustainable solution to the food security challenge.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">The  Forum produced a call for action across several dimensions of the food  security challenge. It also underlined the importance of such meetings  to share best practices and exchange ideas. Therefore, the Forum will  now operate as a community platform for dialogue and action, and will  organize a range of future activities and meetings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>1. Understanding the complexity of the food security challenge:<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">There  was a strong consensus that the &#8220;blame game&#8221; all too common to recent  debates on food security is counter -productive and simplistic. The food  security challenges of recent years are the result of a potent mix of  long -term drivers and short -term triggers. Efforts to pinpoint one  single driver of the food security challenge (speculation, changing  diets, input prices, government policies, trade distortions, etc.)  distract from the difficult work of untangling, and addressing, the  complex mix of factors that drive food insecurity. The Forum&#8217;s  participants called for more in -depth, fact based and nuanced analysis  of the drivers of, and solutions to, food security challenges, with a  particular emphasis on regional and local particularities.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>2. Improving the image of agriculture as a profitable and sustainable industry<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">One  of the main conclusions of the Forum was that agriculture, as a sector,  suffers from a perception gap which leads to a lack of interest from  investors, entrepreneurs and young talents. It appeared clearly to the  participants that agriculture needs a proactive policy, from the family  farm level to the international business community, to improve its  overall image as a decisive way to attract investment, innovation and,  most important, young and talented individuals. That will shape the  sector&#8217;s future and thus, contribute to food security.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">The  GFSF highlighted that agriculture shouldn&#8217;t be &#8220;taken for granted&#8221; and,  on the contrary, should be perceived as an attractive, profitable and  sustainable sector.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">As  short term actions, participants proposed to formulate a &#8220;global re  -branding strategy for agriculture&#8221; to make it more attractive at all  levels and to launch a &#8220;young agricultural leaders program&#8221; to identify  top young contributors to the sector, give them grants and recognition  and invite them to report at the next GFSF meeting.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>3. Strengthening the voices of, and cooperation across, the Global South as partners in solving the challenge of food security. <\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Developing  countries are often portrayed as the locus of the problem of food  security. The Forum called for more of a focus on how developing  countries, working together and sharing experience, can be a key driver  of solutions to the challenge. In particular, the Forum focused on how  Africa could not only feed its own people sustainably but contribute  more fully to feeding the world, and how Africa, India and South America  (particularly Brazil) could innovate and collaborate to drive  sustainable solutions to food security. Collaboration and mutual  learning between southern countries could cover subjects such as the  effective targeting of public finance, the promotion of farmers&#8217;  organizations and the enabling mechanisms to support agriculture  (financing, insurance, infrastructure, etc.).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">In  the south\/south cooperation field, it has been proposed to use the GFSF  as a &#8220;platform for exchange of information, experience and know -how&#8221;  among governments and other stakeholders on various topics. For example,  participants have suggested to use this platform to help the countries  in need of &#8220;capacity building&#8221; in negotiating and implementing bilateral  and multilateral trade agreements in the agriculture sector.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>4. Clarifying and strengthening the role of government in food security<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">While  the private sector has a key role to play in food security, the vital  role of government also needs proper emphasis. Governments not only  create the enabling conditions for private sector investment and  innovation and set the rules of the game for international agricultural  trade. They also play a central role in setting national agricultural  strategies, investing in infrastructure and human capital, managing risk  at the national and local level, and fostering regional cooperation to  manage food security shocks. Forum participants called for governments,  particularly in developing countries, to adopt a multidimensional  approach by developing tools and analysis to enhancing farmers&#8217;  capabilities. The GFSF also called for governments to meet their  standing commitments to invest more substantially in the agriculture  sector and put in place the policy frameworks, with a particular focus  on international trade policies that will encourage private sector  innovation and investment in the agriculture sector.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>5. Promoting public and private sector investment and innovation<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">There  was a broad consensus during the GFSF meeting that the dramatic decline  in investment in the agriculture sector in the past 30 years, and the  resultant lack of innovation in the sector, were a major underlying  driver of the food security challenge. Forum participants called for a  major effort to promote private sector -driven, and public &#8211; sector  supported, innovation and investment in agriculture at all levels, from  the farm and the local community to the national and regional level.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Particular  emphasis was placed on the need for greater support for agricultural  and agronomic research, especially in the fields of water and soil  management, and the adaptation of that research to the specific market  needs and growing conditions of different countries and regions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">In  that perspective and with a special focus on African agriculture,  training on soil health and maintenance and optimal crop selection as  well as research programs on lesser -known crop varieties were  identified among actions that could be taken in the short term.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>6. Empowering farmers as innovators<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">The  Forum placed particular emphasis on helping farmers, especially in  Africa and South Asia, access the information, knowledge, resources,  partnerships and new technologies to become much more innovative,  productive and adaptive in their agronomical techniques, business models  and ways of organizing at the local level.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">Particular  emphasis was placed on the lessons learned from farmers&#8217; cooperatives  and related successes in linking farmers and strengthening both their  market power and their linkages to agricultural value chains.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">The  role of women as the most important factor in promoting food security  and developing agriculture was also underlined during the Forum. In  southern countries, empowering farmers starts with women. Considering  their role in children&#8217;s health and nutrition issues, and the fact that  they are the main player inside the farm gate, women should be at the  center of any holistic food security strategy.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\"><strong>7.  Rationalizing, and increasing the effectiveness of international  organizations and programs focused on agriculture and food security<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-size: 10pt;\">The  Forum called for a greater effort to rationalize and increase both the  amount and the effectiveness of international programs and institutions  devoted to agriculture, food security and hunger alleviation. It also  called on Governments and international institutions to ensure the  effective implementation of their commitments towards the issue of food  security, especially those taken by the G20 in the aftermath of the  2007\/2008 food crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Global Food Security Forum Summary Conclusions The Inaugural Meeting of the Global Food Security Forum (GFSF) brought together in Rabat, Morocco, almost 300 experts, officials, practitioners and stakeholders from over 50 countries for action&#46;&#46;&#46;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1014","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/earthsummit2012.stakeholderforum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1014","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/earthsummit2012.stakeholderforum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/earthsummit2012.stakeholderforum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earthsummit2012.stakeholderforum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earthsummit2012.stakeholderforum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1014"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/earthsummit2012.stakeholderforum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1014\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/earthsummit2012.stakeholderforum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1014"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earthsummit2012.stakeholderforum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1014"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/earthsummit2012.stakeholderforum.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1014"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}