Contribution to the e-Consultation on Hunger, Food
and Nutrition Security
Conclusions and Recommendations from the Global
Civil Society Symposium in Nicosia, Cyprus
Contact Details:
Kerstin Wittig
Project Director
CYINDEP – Cyprus Islandwide NGO Development Platform
Email: kerstin.wittig@cyindep.org
www.cyindep.eu
Cyprus Island-wide NGO Development Platform
Home for Cooperation – 28 Markou Drakou Str. – UN Buffer Zone – 1102 Nicosia – CYPRUS
www.cyindep.eu - Email: info@cyindep.eu
Introduction
CYINDEP, the Island-wide NGO Development Platform, held an international conference on the
22nd and 23rd of November entitled ‘The World We Want – Global Civil Society Symposium: Food
Security and Nutrition in the Post-2015 Framework’. The Symposium provided the space for
stakeholders (civil society, academia, international institutions governments and private sector) to
discuss, share ideas and experiences on key challenges and opportunities related to food and
nutrition security in the context of a post-2015 development framework.
The following response to the e-consultation on Hunger, Food and Nutrition Security is a
conclusion of the working sessions throughout the Symposium and reflects the expertise and
experience of the approximately 100 participants, representing different voices from civil society
of 23 countries from around the globe.
Theme 1
(i) What do you see as the key lessons learned during the current Millennium Development Goals
(MDG) Framework (1990-2015), in particular in relation to the MDGs of relevance to hunger,
food insecurity and malnutrition?
 The MDGs have not managed to address the issue of food security and malnutrition in
general – they have not been tackling the core issues behind the problem (biofuels, unfair
land ownership traditions, land grabbing etc)
 In the MDGs, there is no conceptualization of what would actually lead towards better
food security
 The MDGs were designed as top down approach and did not encourage the international
community to achieve significant progress for the most vulnerable people
 The MDGs did not were not created based on human rights and did not right to food
Lesson: HOW to get where we want to go is just as important as WHERE we want to go – we need
to look what policy interventions would work both at the national and international level, but at
the same time, we cannot to be too prescriptive but make sure that these policy measures are
coherent
(ii) What do you consider the main challenges and opportunities towards achieving food and
nutrition security in the coming years?
ii.a. Challenges
The main challenges to achieving food and nutrition security in the coming years need to be
addressed in three different clusters: availability and production; access and distribution; and
governance. The following challenges have been identified by the participants of the Global Civil
Society Symposium:
Cyprus Island-wide NGO Development Platform
Home for Cooperation – 28 Markou Drakou Str. – UN Buffer Zone – 1102 Nicosia – CYPRUS
www.cyindep.eu - Email: info@cyindep.eu
1. Availability / Food production
 Increasing demand for energy, land and water and as a result an increase of pressure on
resources
 Consumption patterns (excessive consumption of food and other resources in richer and
Middle-Income Countries)
 Climate change and its affects on land and food production
 Environmental degradation in the way we produce and ‘do business’
 Urbanization, youth moving away from agriculture
2. Access / distribution
 Power structures related to food production and dissemination:
o Lack of access to resources
o Control of resources – often by large Multinational corporations
o Investment policies leading to exploitation of resources
o Distribution, e.g. land of the size of Germany being used to send food to Europe from
more food insecure countries, rather than utilizing the land towards local food security
 Inequalities within society are increasing
 Instability of food prices
 Increased amount of conflicts that affect food distribution and access to food including
using food as a political weapon
3. Governance
 Lack of government accountability to the right to food
 Lack of policy coherence for development
o Initiatives are incoherent, policies such as trade and energy policies are harming the
achievements and goals of development policies
o Policies are not specific enough and not addressing the root causes
 Despite voluntary agreements, lack of political will and commitment to implement them
 High levels of corruption, leading and combining with weak governance
 Particular difficulties associated with fragile states, including corruption, mass
displacement, conflict etc.
 Lack of adequate regulatory mechanisms that would restrict exploitation of natural
resources
 Tax invasion: substantial financial flows out of developing nations
B. Opportunities
1. Access / Distribution
 Innovative technologies exist for food production
 Greater focus on Nutrition (Nutrition is not a problem of food)
 Economic growth as an opportunity to enhance access to food
Cyprus Island-wide NGO Development Platform
Home for Cooperation – 28 Markou Drakou Str. – UN Buffer Zone – 1102 Nicosia – CYPRUS
www.cyindep.eu - Email: info@cyindep.eu
 More focus on waste management
 Changing consumption patterns towards local and seasonal produce
2. Governance
 Greater Policy Coherence for Development on national and international level, especially
with regards to trade agreements
 Volume agreements not sufficient, need to be combined with clearly defined Policy
Coherence for Development
 Right to access of information: Open data needs to be available about progress made with
regards to achieving goals and targets
 National and international laws/ regulations enhancing transparency, accountability and
proper regulation of agreements – ensuring right to land, food, water etc.
 More binding and all inclusive accountability mechanisms, ensuring that policies are not
encouraging and promoting what is not working
 Encourage national and international decision-makers to build upon local knowledge in
order to achieve greater sustainability when implementing development projects
 Social accountability needs to be strengthened
 Monitoring current investments in food security
 The starting point of all countries must be country-specific and differentiated
 Country-specific targets, enablers, incentives
 Global general goals and time-bound targets on global level up to some time
 Working at local, national and global levels for a more comprehensive approach to
sustainability
 Increase control and knowledge about and within the private sector, looking also to reduce
corruption
 Improving reporting standards nationally and globally
 Government policy to promote the production and consumption of local produce
o Produce and consume locally and within season
 Establish participatory decision-making processes on all levels
 Involve a broad range of stakeholders
Theme 2
(i) What works best? Drawing on existing knowledge, please tell us how we should go about
addressing the hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition challenges head on. Provide us with your
own experiences and insights. For example, how important are questions of improved governance,
rights-based approaches, accountability and political commitment in achieving food and nutrition
security?
The following are examples of what works, although not specific to national or regional context:
 Farmers cooperatives
Cyprus Island-wide NGO Development Platform
Home for Cooperation – 28 Markou Drakou Str. – UN Buffer Zone – 1102 Nicosia – CYPRUS
www.cyindep.eu - Email: info@cyindep.eu
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Social accountability
o Citizen education
o Engagement of citizens
o Feedback mechanisms
Incentives for sustainable food production
Sustainable and efficient production technologies
ZERO goals approach – to reach everyone
Country-level targets
Human Rights Based Approach
Enhancing infrastructure
CSA & urban farming, changing consumer patterns
Measuring current investment on nutrition
Diversifying food sources
Reducing food losses through regulations, technologies and education
Theme 3
For the Post-2015 Global Development Framework to be complete, global (and regional or
national) objectives, targets and indicators will be identifies towards tackling hunger, food
insecurity and malnutrition. A set of objectives has been put forward by the UN Secretary-General
under Zero Hunger Challenge (ZHC):
a. 100% access to adequate food all year round
 Food must be affordable
 Food must be diverse and nutritious
 Must be based on human rights and inclusive in order not to discriminate any
groups of society
b. Zero stunted children less than 2 years old
 Must be based on human rights and inclusive in order not to discriminate any
groups of society
c. All food systems are sustainable
 Food systems must be globally sustainable
 Food systems in order to be sustainable must be diverse
 Attention must be given to resilience building in fragile countries
d. 100% increase in smallholder productivity and income
 Increase in smallholders’ market share
 Promote cooperative ownership
 Develop necessary infrastructure for small holders
e. Zero loss or waste of food
 Through technology, regulations and education
Cyprus Island-wide NGO Development Platform
Home for Cooperation – 28 Markou Drakou Str. – UN Buffer Zone – 1102 Nicosia – CYPRUS
www.cyindep.eu - Email: info@cyindep.eu
Further to the above, the participants of the Global Civil Society Symposium have identified the
following points to be taken into consideration:
 We need to take into consideration the inter-linkages of different themes. What might work
best for food security could also be in other areas, how the food system is linked to the
environment, living standards, and social wellbeing? Social structures need to be taken into
account – not just any food but right food, in terms of quality, traditions, religion etc.
Malnutrition isn’t always caused by scarcity of food.
 How to link these things e.g. with the private sector, and use the good sides of the private
sector for food security? Cradle to cradle: system where big companies like Ford change their
system into sustainable system, while still making profit. These kinds of examples could be
useful. It’s not business as usual but still business.
 Increased awareness and information are needed to highlight issues of waste
 Legislation at national level to reduce wastage should be encouraged
 Promote and enforce social responsibility to ensure wastage of MNCs etc is used before it
expires
 Policies need to be adaptable to country context
 Legislation to ensure efficient distribution of food is crucial
 Increased technology and expertise in developing countries, as huge wastage due to lack of
storage
 Good Practice: World Food Programme “Purpose for Progress”
 Regulation of private sector is needed, including a maximum level of profits to be defined
 Raise tariff barriers and promote local community produce
 Policy changes need to also focus on environmental issues
 Engaging directly with farmers, not just civil society speaking on their behalf
 Consumer protection agencies to work alongside governments
 Donors to look at strategies (such as zero hunger) and to design their funding programmes
around this
 Statistics and Report often do not take social factors into account, and do not reflect relative
poverty
Cyprus Island-wide NGO Development Platform
Home for Cooperation – 28 Markou Drakou Str. – UN Buffer Zone – 1102 Nicosia – CYPRUS
www.cyindep.eu - Email: info@cyindep.eu