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Resolution 1957 (2013) Final version
Food security – a permanent challenge for us all
1. On a planet with 7 billion people
and abundant natural resources, 1 billion people are hungry or undernourished
and, at the same time, 2 billion are overweight or obese. Worldwide,
famine kills one person every second and one child dies every five
seconds from the consequences of malnutrition. With the economic crisis,
food insecurity affects ever more needy people, even in Europe.
Overcoming current imbalances will be key to providing sufficient
and adequate food, as well as decent living conditions for all human
beings.
2. Food is our most basic need and right. If we cannot secure
access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food for present and future
generations, our health, development and fundamental rights will
be compromised. However, even though there is no shortage of food
in the world, we constantly face food crises, particularly man-made
ones. If we fail to address the problems of governance, these will
only escalate. The Parliamentary Assembly considers food security
as one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century. This challenge concerns
us all and the problems can only be resolved with enough political
will and the involvement of citizens.
3. As social inequalities keep widening between and within countries,
more solidarity is needed to enhance food security through development
policies and strategies, in particular as regards the Millennium Development
Goals, the Sustainable Development Goals, global trade negotiations
and consultations on the post-2015 governance framework. Given that
sustainable food supplies are increasingly threatened by demographic,
environmental and market factors, our collective policy choices
affecting food systems must seek a better balance between needs
and resources.
4. The Assembly is deeply concerned about the scale of food waste
and its impact on our living conditions. Indeed, between 30% and
50% of food in the world is being lost. Nearly half of food still
fit for human consumption is thrown away in developed countries,
whereas it could, if recovered, help wipe out hunger and malnutrition
for nearly 870 million poor people worldwide. The population at
large needs to make better informed consumer choices.
5. The demographic boom, together with modifications in people’s
diets, puts growing pressure on the environment and, ultimately,
on food supplies. Climate change, land abuse, chemical pollution
and the exhaustion of natural resources in turn harm the quality
and quantity of food production. Agriculture will remain central
to achieving food security, but it needs to embrace more sustainable
practices.
6. The food trade has become a critical link between producers
and consumers. However, certain faults in the global trading system,
such as speculation, corporate capture and fraud, aggravate the
volatility and the level of prices and the diversity and quality
of food supplies. This calls for better market regulation and food controls
at national and international levels, as well as for measures to
guarantee sufficient incomes for farmers. The Assembly also welcomes
fair trade initiatives offering social and ecological guarantees
to both producers and consumers.
7. The importance of food safety as a vital component of food
security should not be underestimated. Recurrent food scandals –
worldwide and in Europe – attest to the fact that adulterated, contaminated
or sub-standard food not only harms our health, but can also kill.
To enhance food safety and to reduce health risks, in particular
for the most vulnerable population (such as children, pregnant women
and sick or allergic persons), the benchmarks on food hazards and
labelling requirements for processed foods must be strengthened.
8. In view of the above considerations, the Assembly urges member
States to:
8.1. as regards sustainable
production of food:
8.1.1. intensify action to combat climate
change – for example by concluding a global Kyoto-2 agreement by
2015 – and chemical pollution with a view to better balancing quantity
and quality of food supplies;
8.1.2. invest in sustainable farming (including “ecologically
intensive” agriculture and organic farming), including through tax
and regulatory measures;
8.1.3. accelerate the development of second-generation agrofuels
from biomass waste or non-food plants, and in the meantime reduce
the use of food crops for making biofuels;
8.2. concerning more responsible consumption of food:
8.2.1. reduce loss and waste throughout food production, distribution
and commercialisation systems;
8.2.2. hold national awareness-raising campaigns on the harmful
effects of food waste on food security;
8.2.3. provide the public with proper food education so as to
promote healthy eating habits and reduce the increasingly widespread
problem of excessive weight and obesity;
8.3. with regard to enhancing food safety:
8.3.1. strengthen
food controls to better detect economically motivated fraud and
irregular substances in the composition of foodstuffs;
8.3.2. ensure that food products are labelled in a transparent,
clear and objective way;
8.3.3. increase support for independent research on new or emerging
food risks to human health from low-dose but long-term exposure
to, notably, genetically modified organisms (GMOs), endocrinal disruptors,
nanotechnology and cocktail effects of chemical residues in food, with
a view to adjusting the existing reference norms;
8.3.4. ensure that the commercial use of new technologies and
chemical substances in the food sector is subject to rigorous scientific
examination so as to identify regulatory measures that may be required;
8.3.5. strengthen the legislative framework concerning the sales
of energy drinks to children and adolescents, with a view to preventing
the adverse effects that these drinks may have on their health and
behaviour;
8.4. as concerns affordability of food:
8.4.1. strengthen
solidarity mechanisms to combat poverty, which obstructs access
to food by the population concerned;
8.4.2. increase development aid devoted to agriculture and improved
food preservation, and honour aid commitments entered into;
8.4.3. recognise children as a particularly vulnerable group
and take specific measures to avoid them suffering from malnutrition
and its devastating effects on their development;
8.4.4. foster food security in fragile countries, particularly
in sub-Saharan Africa and southern Asia, by improving small farms’
resilience and rural livelihoods, assisting good regional governance
in agriculture and food policies, and enhancing aid to vulnerable
populations;
8.4.5. support the minimum human rights principles applicable
to large-scale land acquisitions or leases identified by the United
Nations Human Rights Council, and seek the broadest geographical
coverage for their application through development co-operation
programmes and international trade agreements;
8.4.6. promote food security by establishing a new universal
framework for post-2015, integrating the Millennium Development
Goals and the Sustainable Development Goals;
8.5. in respect of regulatory mechanisms:
8.5.1. ensure
full implementation of the human right to adequate food by recognising,
in their legislation, the enforceability of this right, together
with the related human right of access to clean water;
8.5.2. seek to harmonise the use of the precautionary principle
across Europe and beyond in respect of food supplies, with a view
to ensuring adequate protection of public health;
8.5.3. support the efforts of the United Nations agencies, the
World Trade Organization (WTO) and the Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD) to shield foodstuffs from financial
speculation, to stem price volatility of food staples and to promote
the establishment of food reserves at national or regional levels,
as appropriate;
8.5.4. phase out market-distorting export support for agricultural
products and support progress in WTO negotiations on the Doha Round
so as to improve food security in developing countries;
8.5.5. ensure that an international climate change agreement
in 2015 recognises food security risks and highlights the importance
of valuing natural capital in the pursuit of the objectives set out
in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.