Perth Declaration calls for timely relief efforts to deal with crisis

PERTH (Australia), Oct 29 (UNB): Perth Declaration on food security principles Saturday called for coordinated and timely regional and global emergency relief efforts to deal with immediate crises. The 16-point declaration adopted at the CHOGM 2011 called for undertaking decisive and timely measures to prevent crises, mitigate their impact and build resilience. It called for delivering practical measures over the medium-term to make agriculture, including irrigated agriculture and fisheries more productive and sustainable, and strengthening support to government-led programmes and initiatives based on the spirit of effective partnerships. The declaration also called for development of country-led medium to long-term strategies and programmes to improve food security and ensure alignment of donor support to implementation of country priorities. It emphasized on scaling up nutritional interventions, including those that target mothers and young children, and incorporating nutrition considerations into broad food security initiatives. The declaration stressed enhancing research and development over the longer term to build a sustainable agricultural sector, including through the promotion and sharing of best agricultural practices, in order to feed and nourish the people of the world; It called for strengthening fisheries and marine resource management in member states' waters to ensure sustainability of these resources for national and global food security, including through addressing illegal unregulated and unreported fishing. It emphasised on improving international market access for food producers, including smallholders and women, through trade liberalisation measures such as the elimination of tariff and non-tariff trade barriers and avoidance of restrictions on food exports. The declaration called for addressing the impediments that are inhibiting economic opportunities for these important producers, including lack of affordable financing, local value-added and adequate infrastructure. It also called for collaboration between international organisations, donor countries, and national governments to address production, storage, waste reduction, elimination of post-harvest losses, and transportation and marketing challenges. This collaboration could include more effective ways of meeting infrastructure financing gaps that engage the private sector; and improving the institutional framework for global food security efforts, including by supporting reform of the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). The declaration says food insecurity is one of the most pressing and difficult global challenges of the present time. It says global food crises of 2007 and 2008 and the ongoing volatility and uncertainty of world food markets underscore the need for sustained international engagement with the issue. The declaration says population growth will have a major impact on global demand for food. Additional factors, including scarce land and water resources, the diversion of fertile land, the reduction in crop species, and use of crops for non-food purposes, urbanisation, distorted markets, and climate change, are intensifying pressures on supply. "The world's poor and most vulnerable suffer most from food insecurity," it said. The Commonwealth countries reaffirm the right of everyone to have access to safe, sufficient and nutritious food, consistent with the progressive realisation of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security. The Commonwealth member states affirm the important role that women, youth, farming and fishing communities, civil society, and the private sector play in sustainable development and the need for their effective involvement in driving climate-smart agriculture and the food security agenda. The Commonwealth countries recognise the critical role played by national and international agricultural research in promoting and sharing agricultural technologies for enhanced crop yields, and undertake to deepen their cooperation. The Commonwealth members urge the UN Conference on Sustainable Development in Rio de Janeiro in June 2012 to commit to an ambitious program of action to drive increased investment to boost sustainable global agricultural and fisheries productivity. The declaration said the Commonwealth, through its five G20 members, further commits to advocate for strong outcomes on food security at the G20 Cannes Summit, including to increase investment in appropriate agricultural technologies and sustainable productivity, and address market volatility and other market-distorting factors.