Identifier
Created
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Origin
09UNROME58
2009-10-05 10:41:00
UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USE ONLY
UN Rome
Cable title:  

WORLD FOOD SUMMIT "ZERO DRAFT" DECLARATION: IMPROVED, BUT

Tags:  EAGR EAID PREL FAO UN 
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VZCZCXRO1610
OO RUEHRN
DE RUEHRN #0058/01 2781041
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O R 051041Z OCT 09
FM USMISSION UN ROME
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 1151
INFO RUEHKH/AMEMBASSY USAID
RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0365
RUEHRN/USMISSION UN ROME 1225
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 UN ROME 000058 

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAGR EAID PREL FAO UN
SUBJECT: WORLD FOOD SUMMIT "ZERO DRAFT" DECLARATION: IMPROVED, BUT
IN NEED OF WORK

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 UN ROME 000058

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAGR EAID PREL FAO UN
SUBJECT: WORLD FOOD SUMMIT "ZERO DRAFT" DECLARATION: IMPROVED, BUT
IN NEED OF WORK


1. This message is sensitive but unclassified. Please handle
accordingly.



Summary and Action Request

--------------




2. (SBU) To prepare for the November 16-18 World Summit on Food
Security, to be co-hosted in Rome by Food and Agriculture
Organization (FAO) Director General Jacques Diouf and UN
Secretary General Ban Ki Moon, member states will negotiate a
"zero draft" declaration circulated recently by a three-person
Executive Committee (ExCom) representing FAO's 193 members. The
Summit represents the first formal opportunity for the entire UN
membership to endorse the vision and actions on food security
agreed earlier this year in L'Aquila. The declaration (see
paragraph 7) will contain a preamble, an "overarching" goal, and
a list of actions and commitments. At the Mission's suggestion,
the latter section is organized around five key "principles"
contained in the L'Aquila Declaration and in USG food security
policy documents. The current draft still needs considerable
work and contains some unacceptable language, but is moving in
the right direction and is far more workable than an earlier
53-paragraph draft proposed by FAO. In addition to changes in
the declaration itself, Mission will continue to promote
stronger coordination and cooperation among the three Rome-based
UN agencies and the High Level Task Force Secretariat, as a way
to showcase better UN system-wide coherence and synergies.
Septel will report on logistical and additional details of
Summit planning, including for three pre-summit and four
round-table events. Action Request: Mission seeks guidance
(see paragraph 4) on parameters for acceptable text in the
Summit declaration. End summary.



Background

--------------




3. (SBU) A "zero draft" Summit declaration was distributed on
October 2 by a three-member Executive Committee (Excom),drafted
by senior staff from FAO, WFP and IFAD. The text will be
debated in the next meeting of the Open-Ended Working Group
(OEWG) on October 6. (The preamble has not yet been debated by
Members, so is not being considered as part of the "zero
draft"). Members will have another two negotiating sessions to
finalize the text (Oct 19 and 29). Working with EU colleagues

and several like-minded delegations, Mission has sought to
ensure the declaration tracks as closely as possible with the
spirit and letter of the L'Aquila Declaration as well as U.S.
policy objectives. We believe we are in a strong position to
lead the discussion and thereby avoid problematic text that FAO
and others wish to include.



The "Zero Draft"

--------------




4. (SBU) The current declaration text in paragraph 7, as agreed
by Members, will contain a preamble, an overarching goal and
four "strategic objectives," and a list of commitments and
actions (presently organized, per Mission insistence, around the
five L'Aquila principles). Mission highlights a number of
problematic areas of the text where policy guidance is sought:



-Para 8: "All necessary actions required:" Mission recommends
deletion of this phrase as too broad.



-Para 8: Goal of "eradicating hunger and malnutrition by 2025;"
As specific target date is unacceptable, Mission is working to
remove 2025 date.

-Paras 3, 19: Climate change; Mission recommends language that

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covers all countries and all agricultural activities.



-Paras 11, 12: "Right to Food"; "fundamental right of everyone
to be free of hunger." Mission recommends language consistent
with the "Voluntary Guidelines."



-Para 17: Consideration of "international mechanisms to prevent
sudden food price rises~"; "encourage development of insurance
mechanisms," and "promote innovative financing mechanisms;"
Mission recommends maintaining "consideration" of these items
and other non-binding language, consistent with Treviso
agriculture ministerial.



-Principle 4: How do we define a "strong role" for multilateral
institutions; Mission will promote inclusion of language
consistent with the CFA and L'Aquila Declaration.



-Para 26: A specific target of "17 percent in five years" for
developed country assistance to agriculture; Mission working to
remove specific target level, but notes HLTF's (Comprehensive
Framework for Action, para 13) language re 10 percent target in
5 years ("and beyond if needed"). Mission recommends removal of
specific target, or wording consistent with CFA.



-Para 26: Call for developed countries to fulfill commitments
to bring overall development assistance to "point seven percent
of GDP": Mission recommends deletion of specific target level,
consistent with USG policy statements in other fora.



-Para 27: "a code of conduct for investment and voluntary
guidelines on good governance in land tenure;" Mission
recommends we strive to include neutral language on an issue
being pressed by Japan, consistent with Treviso and L'Aquila
declarations.



-Para 28: a "global tracking system" for donor commitments and
state investments. Mission recommends language consistent with
G-8 declarations, and which would limit CFS monitoring role to
support for country-led plans.



The declaration will be further amended with language drawn from
outcomes of the upcoming session of the Committee on World Food
Security (CFS),October 14-17, and a FAO-sponsored conference on
"Feeding The World in 2050," October 12-13.



The Way Forward

--------------




5. (SBU) We see the best way forward as a combination of
working in the OEWG with like-minded partners as well as key
G-77 members to clarify our desired language and identify our
red lines, while also working closely behind closed doors with
FAO management, the leadership of WFP, IFAD, and the HLTF
Secretariat, to ensure acceptable outcomes in November. In
particular, key delegations will be Canada, Sweden (representing
the EU),Australia, New Zealand, Russia, China, and several
influential G-77 states such as Brazil, India, South Africa,
Saudi Arabia, and Thailand. In general, we will want to stress
our shared objectives on food security and the need for unity
and sense of purpose. Depending on the outcome at the OEWG
session, demarches in key capitals may well be needed.




6. (SBU) We are in a position to offer draft language on how
the multilateral role is to be strengthened, helping to strike
the right balance on the "center of gravity" - New York or Rome

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- which troubles many delegations among the G-77. We might also
consider proposing additional language on good governance, and
anti-corruption (per President Obama's Ghana speech),to steer
the declaration away from its over-focus on ODA. We can also
provide language to ensure the Preamble section actually
resembles a preamble, rather than the generally wordy text as it
now stands.



Text of the "Zero Draft"

--------------




7. (U) Begin text of "zero draft" food summit declaration:



PART 1.1: Preamble

(This preamble is not part of the co-chairs' zero draft. An
initial discussion on the preamble took place in the OEWG at its
session of 15 September 2009. The language for the preamble
below is a preliminary reflection of that discussion, but this
section will be redrafted when the other sections have been
discussed in more detail and when the results of the Committee
on Food Security and the High Level Expert Forum are available.)



- We, the Heads of State and Government, or our Representatives,
have gathered in Rome, from 16 to 18 November 2009, at the World
Summit on Food Security convened by the Food and Agriculture
Organization of the United Nations (FAO),to secure a broad
consensus on the total eradication of hunger from the world [by
2025]

- We are alarmed by the fact that the number of people suffering
from hunger and poverty now exceeds 1 billion. The combined
effect of longstanding underinvestment in agriculture and food
security, price trends and the recent financial and economic
crisis have led to increased hunger and poverty, thereby
jeopardizing the insufficient progress achieved thus far in
meeting the World Food Summit and Millennium Development Goals.
Immediate action has to be taken, to reverse this trend.
Therefore, coordinated international efforts are required to
work effectively towards the eradication of hunger and
alleviation of malnutrition.

- (Future trend on food security towards 2050 - to be added
following the 2050 Conference).

- A sense of urgency and a clear commitment to reversing the
global food crisis has served as a catalyst for working together
to strengthen international coordination and governance on food
security.(Further REFERENCE TO CFS REFORM; TEXT TO BE PREPARED
AFTER CFS).

- Climate change poses additional, severe risks to the
agriculture sector and food security in both developing and
developed countries. And yet its long-term impact is
particularly serious on small farmers in developing countries
and for already vulnerable population. Agriculture food security
must be positioned firmly within any solution to the climate
change challenge, ensuring that funding for adaptation and
mitigation benefit agriculture and food security.

- Since the creation of FAO in 1945, we are meeting for the
third time in a Summit of Heads of State and Government on food
security, further to those of 1996 and 2002, as we realize that
the objective adopted by the `World Food Summit' of 1996 of
reducing by half, that is to say, to 420 million, the number of
hungry people by 2015 at the latest is unlikely to be reached,
even though current efforts to fight hunger must continue and be
strengthened. While the previous Summits have contributed to
keeping food and agriculture on the international agenda and
making commitments to fight world hunger effectively, the
decisions made were not followed by actions commensurate with
achieving the goals set. As the ranks of the world's hungry
increase, it is more important than ever to ensure that all
individuals have access to sufficient safe and nutritious food
and that the structural causes of hunger are addressed.

- In recent years, major regional and international meetings
addressing agriculture and food security issues have
acknowledged inadequate investment in the agriculture sector,

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particularly in developing countries. Although some commitments
are now being made to increase investment and foreign assistance
in agriculture and rural development at the national and
international levels these remain insufficient and much larger
scale interventions are required. Now it is time for action.

* In this declaration, agriculture includes crop and livestock,
forestry and fisheries.



PART 1.2: OVERARCHING GOAL, STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES AND PRINCIPLES.

Overarching goal

- 8. In adopting this declaration we agree to undertake all
necessary actions required globally and by all States and
Governments to halt immediately the increase in, and to reduce
significantly, the number of people suffering from hunger,
malnutrition and food insecurity and to sustainably eradicate
hunger and malnutrition [by the year 2025].



STRATEGIC OBJECTIVES

- 9. To achieve this overarching goal, we decided to:

- Ensure urgent global and national action to fully realize the
target of Millennium Development Goal 1 and the 1996 World Food
Summit goal, namely to reduce respectively the number and the
proportion of people who suffer from hunger and malnutrition by
half in 2015.

- Reverse the decline in domestic and international funding in
agriculture, food security and rural development and promote new
investment to increase sustainable agricultural production and
productivity, reduce poverty and ensure food security and access
to food by all.

- Proactively face the challenges of climate change to food
security and the need for adaptation of and mitigation in
agriculture and increase resilience of agricultural producers to
climate change, with particular attention to small farmers.

- (text to be introduced when results of CFS will be available
in October 2009)



- 10. To achieve these strategic objectives, we shall base our
commitments and actions on the following principles:

- Create a strategic coordination of assistance at global,
regional and country level to optimize the allocation of
resources.

- Invest in country-owned plans, aimed at channeling resources
to credible, well-designed plans and partnerships.

- Strive for a comprehensive approach to food security that
consists of: 1) direct action to immediately alleviate hunger
for the most vulnerable and 2) longer-term agricultural, food
security, nutrition and rural development programs to eliminate
the root causes of hunger and poverty.

- Ensure a strong role for multilateral institutions by
sustained improvements in efficiency, coordination and
effectiveness.

- Ensure sustained and substantial commitment by all partners of
investment in agriculture and food security and nutrition, with
provision of necessary resources in a timely and reliable
fashion, aimed at multi-year plans and programs.

Part 2: COMMITMENTS AND ACTIONS

Principle 1: Invest in country-owned plans, aimed at channeling
resources to credible, well-designed plans and partnerships

- 11. We reaffirm that food security is a national
responsibility and any plans for addressing food security
challenges must be nationally owned.

- 12. We reaffirm the right of everyone to have access to safe
and nutritious food, consistent with the right to adequate food
and the fundamental right of everyone to be free of hunger. We
will strive for a world free from hunger where countries

UN ROME 00000058 005 OF 007


implement the "Voluntary Guidelines for the Progressive
Realization of the Right to Adequate Food in the Context of
National Food Security" and we will support the practical
application of the Guidelines based on the principles of
participation, transparency and accountability.



Principle 2: Create a strategic coordination of assistance at
global, regional and country level to optimize the allocation of
resources.

- 13. NATIONAL AND GLOBAL GOVERNANCE: Waiting for the text of
CFS reform, to include reference to HLTF and co-ordination among
Rome based agencies.



Principle 3: Strive for a comprehensive approach to food
security that consists of: 1) direct action to immediately
alleviate hunger for the most vulnerable and 2) longer-term
agricultural, food security, nutrition and rural development
programmes to eliminate the root causes of hunger and poverty.

- 14. We support rural development to reduce poverty, increase
access to food and create the conditions for production
increases and adaptation of agriculture to climate change.

- 15. We support developing countries in their efforts ensuring
that their population, in particular vulnerable groups, have
access to an adequate nutritious and affordable supply of food
for domestic consumers that is available year-round at local
level. We will take social protection measures, to enable
communities and households to access economic and social
benefits and contribute to social stability. We will also take
measures to mitigate the impact of today's crises, including
through safety nets. We continue to be committed to the
provision of emergency food supplies, humanitarian assistance,
and support for the most vulnerable populations. We recognize
the value of local purchase of food assistance, which supports
local markets. We call on Governments to remove food export
restrictions or extra-ordinary taxes for food purchased for
humanitarian purposes, and to consult and notify in advance
before imposing any new restrictions.

- 16. We pursue policies that ensure increased access of
developing, and especially least developed countries to all
markets. We promote strategies improving the functioning of
domestic, regional and international markets and ensuring
equitable access for all, especially smallholders and women. We
support non-distorting special measures for developing
countries' small farmers enabling them to compete on an equal
footing on world markets. We call upon governments to refrain
from taking restrictive market related measures with adverse
impacts on global food security and from using unjustified
measures to restrict imports. We reiterate support to a
successful conclusion of the Doha Round of trade negotiations.
We also support the Aid for Trade Initiative to enable
developing countries to overcome their supply side constraints
in agriculture and improve their capacity to produce and trade.

- 17. We will consider international mechanisms to prevent
sudden food price rises and to manage undue food market
instability. We encourage the development of insurance
mechanisms to manage the effects of sudden price increases and
climatic volatility. We will promote innovative financing
mechanisms to assure food defecit developing countries adequate
imports under sudden adverse movements in food import
expenditure. We encourage policies that promote better market
information, transparency and competition. We request relevant
international organizations to analyze the causal links between
speculation and agricultural prices with a view to fostering a
coherent and effective policy response. We also request relevant
international organizations to examine whether a system of
stockholding can be effective in dealing with humanitarian
emergencies or as a means to limit price volatility; and to
consider the feasibility and the administrative modalities of
such a system.

-18. We strive to increase crop production and productivity,
founded on sustainable practices, improved resource use,
protection of the environment, conservation of the natural
resource base and enhanced ecosystem services. We will give
priority to smallholder crops and cropping systems, access to
and sustainable use of land, water and plant genetic resources,
and better management of crop associated biodiversity. We seek
to enhance the socio-economic benefits associated with the
livestock sector in a pro-poor approach, improving resource use

UN ROME 00000058 006 OF 007


efficiencies, preventing and mitigating public health risks and
reducing the risks to natural resources. We will improve
management and conservation of fisheries and aquaculture,
conserving aquatic biodiversity and the health and productivity
of ecosystems with an emphasis on artisanal fisheries and
small-scale aquaculture. We recognize the need for large scale
public investment in rural infrastructure, in particular in
Africa.

-19. We will take all necessary steps to enable farmers,
particularly small farmers, to adapt to climate change applying
appropriate technologies and practices that improve the
resilience of their farming systems, and enhancing food
security. Agriculture has a huge potential for mitigation of
climate change and can contribute to a global reduction of
greenhouse gases. We will consider innovative financing
mechanisms to support adaptation to climate change and to unlock
the potential of the carbon market for mitigation by smallholder
farmers, based on robust measurement, reporting and verification
methodologies.

- 20. We promote research, including research to adapt to and
mitigate climate change, and access to research results and
technologies for food and agriculture at national, regional and
international level. We stress the need to reinvigorate national
research systems, in particular in Africa, and will share
information and best practices, making full use of North-South,
South-South and Triangular cooperation.

- 21. We commit to build capacity, focusing on integrated
actions addressing policy, institutions, and people. We
particularly stress the importance for developing countries to
strengthen institutional capacity to enable smallholders to
access technologies, inputs, credit and markets, and to
strengthen and empower farmers' organizations.

- 22. We will ensure effective national food safety systems to
meet national and international food quality and safety
requirements covering all stages of the food chain and involving
all concerned actors. We support national, regional and
international programs that contribute to improved food safety,
animal and plant health.

- 23. We recognize the opportunities and challenges associated
with renewable energy production from biomass and will promote
its use in a sustainable way, compatible with our food security
goals. We reaffirm the call on relevant international
organizations, including FAO, within their mandates and areas of
expertise, with the involvement of national governments,
partnerships, the private sector, and civil society, to foster a
coherent, and results-oriented international dialogue on
biofuels in the context of food security and sustainable
development needs.

- 24. We will improve access to knowledge, especially for
smallholders, and the quality of information, including national
agricultural statistics and advance forecast and early warning
systems as a basis for sound agricultural policy and strategies.




Principle 4: Ensure a strong role for multilateral institutions
by sustained improvements in efficiency, coordination and
effectiveness.



Principle 5: Ensure sustained and substantial commitment by all
partners of investment in agriculture and food security and
nutrition, with provision of necessary resources in a timely and
reliable fashion, aimed at multi-year plans and programs.

- 25. At this key moment, we commit to a crucial, decisive shift
towards increased short-, medium- and long-term investment in
developing countries' agriculture. We urge governments of
developing countries to devote the necessary portion of their
national budgets to investment in agriculture and rural
development. We call upon African leaders to honour the
commitment in the 2003 Maputo declaration raising the share of
agriculture and rural development in their budget expenditures
to at least 10 percent within the next five years, and ask other
regions to adopt similar quantitative time-bound commitments.

- 26. We commit to a substantially increase in the share of
agriculture in total ODA [to a target level of 17 percent of ODA
in five years as was reached in 1980] and in lending portfolios
of international financial institutions (IFIs) and regional

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development banks. We call on developed countries to fulfil
their commitments to bring overall development assistance to
0.7% of GDP. We welcome the "L'Aquila" Joint Statement on Global
Food Security endorsed by the G8 and by several countries,
regional organizations and international institutions in July
2009, calling for the mobilization in three years of 20 billion
US dollars, and the outcome of the Pittsburgh G 20 meeting in
September 2009 as important steps in the right direction. We
highly appreciate the interest shown and resources mobilised for
agriculture and food security by private philanthropic
foundations in recent years. We call upon developed countries to
provide the necessary support in line with the Paris Declaration
and Accra Agenda for Action.

- 27. We support public/private cooperation and private
investment, both foreign and domestic, for agriculture and food
security in developing countries. We call upon Governments to
create national legal and governance frameworks for private
investment in food, agriculture, fisheries and forestry, and
rural development. We agree to continue studying principles and
good practices for international agricultural investment
(including a code of conduct for investment and voluntary
guidelines on good governance in land tenure).

- 28. We will establish tracking systems at global level to
follow up on donors' pledges and commitments, and at country
level to follow up on in-country investment (To be redrafted
after decision on CFS).
COUSINE