EARTH SUMMIT: Hunger undermines sustainable development
JOHANNESBURG, 27 August (IRIN) - The UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
on Tuesday warned that there could be no sustainable development as long as
millions of people suffered from chronic hunger and extreme poverty.
"The poor are certainly not responsible for the bulk of resource
depletion and environmental degradation. However, they suffer most from
it," FAO Assistant Director-General, Hartwig de Haen, said in a statement
distributed at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg.
"Poor farmers care deeply for the limited resources on which they
depend. Due to lack of sufficient access to land, water and appropriate
technologies their actions are dominated by the struggle to survive," he
said.
More than 70 percent of the poor in developing countries live in rural areas
and depend mostly on agriculture for their livelihoods.
"Sustainable agriculture and rural development are the basis for success
in fighting hunger and poverty," De Haen said. "Extreme poverty, low
agricultural productivity and resource degradation may form a vicious circle.
This circle must be broken if we are to achieve the international community's
commitment to halve hunger and extreme poverty by 2015."
FAO forecasts that world demand for food will increase by 60 percent by 2030.
Most of the additional demand and production would be expected to originate in
developing countries. The agency anticipated that close to 20 percent of the
extra production would come from an expansion of land used for agriculture,
mainly in Africa and Latin America, 10 percent from more frequent harvests, and
70 percent from higher yields.
"[As a result of the land expansion] the possible encroachment into
ecologically sensitive lands is still a major concern," De Haen warned.
"The fundamental task is to realise the projected yield increases with
minimum negative impact on the environment. In other words: we need sustainable
intensification."
This could be done by using and improving existing technologies, he said.
Political will, concrete commitment, and involvement of all stakeholders was
essential to achieve the twin goals of halving hunger and sustainable resource
management. FAO estimated that reducing the number of hungry people by half
would bring about annual benefits in the order of US $120 billion "as a
result of longer, healthier and more productive lives". This would be to
the advantage of poor and rich countries alike.
De Haen encouraged developed and developing countries to support financially
the FAO's Anti-Hunger Programme and the Action Plan for Agriculture, one of the
five areas for action under the UN Secretary-General's so-called WEHAB
initiative (Water, Energy, Health, Agriculture and Biodiversity).
[ENDS]
[This Item is Delivered to the "Africa-English" Service of the UN's
IRIN
humanitarian information unit, but may not necessarily reflect the views
of the United Nations. Copyright (c) UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs 2002]
More WSSD news
|
