Points for intervention during the FAO-WFP Post 2015 informal session
on the Global Thematic Consultation on Hunger, Food and Nutrition,
on behalf of some of the Civil Society organisations present:
1. The post-2015 framework must include a specific goal on the realisation of Food and
Nutrition Security (FNS) for all. Such a goal be rights-based and focus on the
universal realisation of the Right to Food, as enshrined in international law. This also
entails rights to access to, control over and ownership of food production systems,
including natural resources, and guaranteeing domestic food security. In particular,
the rights to women and smallholder producers need to be ensured as does the
right to health which is a core basis for nutrition security. These rights should form
the basis and core of the post-2015 development agenda.
2. The post-2015 targets for FNS must be ambitious and time-bound to be realised
‘within our generation’, i.e. by 2025. An example of such ambition is the aims
currently reflected in the Zero Hunger Challenge which has already called for
progress and coherent action towards the aim of FNS for all.
The ambitious goals must follow a fundamentally human rights approach, and must
furthermore build on existing international initiatives, primarily the Global Strategic
Framework which has been developed through inclusive and consultative process
involving the viewpoints of those most affected by food security issues
The goals must require policy coherence among all policy areas impacting upon FNS.
In particular, the Post-2015 Framework must ensure long-term social, economic, and
environmental sustainability, and address the damaging impacts of our food
consumption and production patterns on the environmental, notably climate
change.
3. The post-2015 framework needs to recognize the importance of investing in smallscale producers, strengthening environmental and community resilience, the
empowerment of rural women, the self-determination of populations, their
communities and their democratic institutions, and the means to implement their
food security strategies. It should also consider biodiversity and farm animal
welfare, strengthened urban-rural linkages, and disaster preparedness.
Management of all types of risk should be integrated into the framework so that
risks to its achievement at local, national and international level are identified and
addressed. Reducing these risks must be included as a measurable objective of the
goal.
4. The post-2015 framework must be in line with and aim to strengthen democratic,
inclusive, accountable and effective governance of the global food system, in
particular the work of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS). The CFS
constitutes the foremost inclusive international and intergovernmental platform for
a broad range of committed stakeholders to work together in a coordinated manner
and in support of country led processes towards FNS for all human beings by 2025.
CSOs, food producers, and social movements are an important stakeholder in this
process and those who are most affected by food and nutritional insecurity cannot
be absent from the debate on the policies that affect them. This process must be
based on substantive consultation with the people, including leadership of Southern
governments and Southern CSOs. Therefore, the CFS’s role in setting FNS policy at
international level should be promoted in the post-2015 framework. As noted
above, this should include ensuring that the post-2015 agenda is based firmly on
documents and agreements that have been developed through the broad and
inclusive framework of the CFS, notably the Global Strategic Framework as well as
the Voluntary Guidelines.
5. The Post-2015 agenda should feature accountability mechanisms that people can
use to hold their governments to account. Governments need to put in place multistakeholder platforms at local, regional and national level to ensure input into policy
development and implementation from the people most affected by food and
nutrition security. Therefore, CSOs urge you to continue to support our participation
in the development of the framework, on the road to Madrid and beyond as we
proceed towards 2015, through established mechanisms primarily through the CSM
of the CFS.
6. Hunger is not just a matter of insufficient production. An unacceptable amount of
food produced that could sustain life is annually lost and wasted. The root causes of
food and nutritional insecurity – poverty and powerlessness - need to be addressed
by the post-2015 framework. A transformation of agriculture guided by the results
of the IAASTD report to achieve an environmentally, economically and socially
sustainable and more resilient and nutrition-sensitive food system needs to be
undertaken. This should be done through investing in smallholder and local
production systems, across the urban rural continuum.
Particularly important is support for agroecological models, which result in multiple
environmental benefits and improved nutrition through greater availability of
diverse foods without dependence on high levels of external inputs. Special
attention should be given to women and smallholder producers. Agrarian reform is
vital to secure workers’, farmers’ and rural people’s democratic access to land,
water resources and seeds, as well as to finance and infrastructure. The post-2015
framework must prevent land-degradation and reduce the use of synthetic fertilizer
and pesticides.
7. To address issues of food access, social protection systems need to be scaled up,
strengthened and adapted to the national context to reflect sufficiently and
sustainably the cost of an adequate diet for all. Through such actions as these, the
post-2015 framework must ensure clear progress towards a world where no child is
stunted due to chronic under-nutrition.