ECOSOC 4TH JULY 2007

High Level Segment

SUBSTANTIVE SESSION (morning session)
General Debate on the theme of the Annual Ministerial Review: Strengthening efforts to eradicate poverty and hunger, including through the global partnership for development

During this Annual Ministerial Review (AMR), many states have made a declaration concerning the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).
On behalf of the European Union, H.E. Cravinho has considered some of the MDGs. The AMR is a tool newly established within the ECOSOC in order to measure the achievements concerning the MDGs. His high-level forum aims at sharing experiences and difficulties between all the member-states of the ECOSOC. H.E. Cravinho expressed the thanks of the EU to the Secretary General of ECOSOC for the report he provided on “Strengthening efforts to eradicate poverty and hunger, including through the global partnership for development”. According to the EU, there is a need for an integrated social, economic and environmental strategy to achieve sustainable development. As other participants, the representative of EU underlined that growth does not infer directly poverty reduction. Coherent policies must be implemented and wealth distribution has to be done in a coordinated and coherent manner.

H.E. Walter Fust, Director General Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation delivered his speech, starting by thanks to all the persons involved in the preparation of this important session of the ECOSOC. He brought the support of his country to the report of the Secretary General. He insisted on the necessity to adopt a global vision for the implementation of policies aiming at reducing poverty and achieving the MDGs. Nevertheless, according to Switzerland, the report should also be considered in its negative aspects. The development aggregates differ from one country to another including countries from the same region. This increases the difficulty to compare the situation from one country to another.

H.E. de Donnea, Ministry of State representing Belgium associated his country to the EU declaration but he has précised a few issues concerning sustainable development, migration and development, duties, responsibilities and partnerships.
As a member of the Commission on sustainable development, Belgium considers that the working methods and the functioning of such a Commission needed to be improved.
Belgium will host next week the World Forum on Migration and Development. The issue of development would be considered as a central one during the forum. Through a strong partnership, it would be possible to identify the challenges and the opportunities of migrations.
Belgium is also involved in a process which aim is the rationalization of the attribution of aid to developing countries. The state is participating to the elaboration of a guide of best practices in that field.


ROUNDTABLE (afternoon)
« Green Revolution in Africa »

Mr. V. Borges, President of the roundtable, introduced the problem of hunger in Africa while noting that there is a global overproduction of food. Agricultural challenges, such as lack of access to GMO, bad water management and lack of fertile land, must be met to fight against hunger. Under the Maputo Declaration of July 2006, the signatory states pledged 10% of their public spending to agriculture. Other initiatives to set up a green revolution in Africa have been launched, for example the Oslo Conference for a green revolution, or the Foundation for a Green Revolution in Africa whose President is Kofi Annan. The green revolution is meant to be achieved in the next ten years.

Mr. A. Janneh, Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Africa, gave a brief history of the Green Revolution that occurred in the 1960’s in Asia and Latin America but which largely missed Africa. This was mainly due to inappropriate agricultural policies but also because it was not designed for Africa’s diverse agro-ecological zones, farming systems and socio-cultural contexts. The model of the Asian and Latin American green revolution (GR) cannot simply be applied to Africa nowadays. Indeed, new economic situations, and environmental concerns about salinization, fertilizer pollution etc., impose additional constraints. The difficulties that African countries face are:
market access under WTO rules
agricultural support policies and export subsidies for developed countries
climate change
insufficient financial resources and human and institutional capacities
He recommends:
the development of a coordinated value chain between farmers and agro-industrials
regional integration of agricultural markets
sub-regional centres for technology development and transfer
public investment in agriculture

Mr. D. Harcharik from FAO stated that Africa is the only region in the world where agricultural productivity is declining. Over the past 15 years, the number of undernourished people on the continent has actually increased by 45 million, to 220 million people. He emphasized the importance of improving market access for African countries through fair prices, technology transfer employing indigenous workforces, institutions and infrastructure building, gender equality, health, etc to sustain the development in agriculture. On the model of the Asian green revolution, the African one must be seed-fertiliser-irrigation based. This can be achieved through regional cooperation. He particularly recommends easier access to credit for smallholder farmers. He finally claimed that this war against hunger should be led by Africans themselves and won by them.

Mr. Gerome Gefu, Member of the Committee “Land Net West Africa” explained the dangers of leaving land to speculators. He also highlighted the problem of post-harvest losses due to poor infrastructure.

Mr. Jeffrey Sachs, Advisor to the UN Secretary General, explained that small farmers can’t afford the inputs for their production. They need financing for technology inputs, in particular fertilizer that could multiply tenfold the food harvest in Africa. He took the example of Malawi that has decided to provide all farmers with seeds and fertilizer, which caused a jump in the national harvest. This action would be far less expensive than bringing food aid from the North, and food security will also have a positive influence on war and violence. Food aid is, according to him, out-of-date thinking.