FAO: World Food Safety Summit Opens in Rome
16/11/2009
The World Food Safety Summit is scheduled to be held in Rome from 16 through to 18 November. Heads of state and government leaders will be debating the paths to follow in an effort to gradually rid our planet of starvation and to build a world food safety goverance system.
Over one billion people in the world are currently suffering from starvation. The financial crisis in 2008 has brought the price of raw materials and foodstuffs down, but families' incomes have also dropped, creating a new source of insecurity. The number of people suffering from malnutrition in the world has risen by 100 million between 2008 and 2009, topping the one billion mark for the very first time.
The effects of the financial crisis have highlighted the urgency that we address this challenge, hence the decision to convene a global Summit.
The issue of global food safety was also one of the main issues debated at the G8 Summit in L'Aquila. The "
Joint Statement on Global Food Security
”, signed by 40 (industrially advanced, emerging and developing) countries and international organisations in L'Aquila on 10 July 2009, and accompanied by a financial commitment worth $20 billion spread over three years, has won recognition as the global reference document for the definition of a new food safety strategy.
The "Joint Declaration" states that food safety, a quality diet and sustainable agriculture must continue to be considered priority issues on the political agenda, and that they must be addressed by adopting a cross-barrier and inclusive approach involving all of the relevant players at the global, regional and national levels.
The most important result that the FAO Summit is expected to produce is the acceptance by every member of the United Nations of the principles established in L'Aquila: a boost to the productivity of farming in order to cope with the rising global population, which is expected to increase by two billion people between now and 2050; aid for small farmers and women; support for "ad hoc" operations in each country; the promotion of synergies among all of the players involved in food safety (producers, consumers, the private sector and scientific research, civil society, governments, international organisations and philanthropic foundations) by setting up new mechanisms identified by the Global Committee for Food Safety (CFS) headquartered in Rome.
Pope Benedict XVI is due to address the Summit on 16 November, for the first time at an FAO Summit, and to greet the heads of state in attendance.
