Mr Chairman,
Excellencies,
Distinguished delegates,
My dear colleagues, the President of IFAD and the Executive Director of the WFP,
Ladies and gentlemen,

It is a great responsibility for me to address today the supreme Economic and Social body of the United Nations, because your subject of today – Eliminating Hunger in the new Millennium - is literally a matter of life or death for millions of people.

Mr Chairman, the objective of the World Food Summit to "eradicate hunger in all countries with the immediate goal of halving the number of undernourished people by 2015" has been recently echoed in the Millennium Declaration. But our recent report on the State of Food Insecurity in the world, available to you here, shows that the rate of progress towards reaching the WFS goal is far too slow. 826 million people in the world, 792 in the developing countries, remain chronically undernourished. Most severely affected are South Asia for the number of persons undernourished, and sub-Saharan Africa for the proportion of undernourished people in the population. Despite notable successes in several countries, in sub-Saharan Africa, the region of your special attention, the absolute number of persons undernourished is growing – now standing at twice the level of thirty years ago. Overall, the rate of decline in the number of undernourished people in developing countries has been only 8 million per year during the 1990s, when 20 million would be needed to meet the 2015 target.

I must be clear: this target will not be reached unless urgent and resolute action on the scale required is taken by all concerned, along the lines clearly spelled out by the WFS Plan of Action.

Mr Chairman, the three Rome based agencies invited here today share a common goal, that of the WFS. Each strives to achieve it in line with its distinct but complementary mandate. Our mechanisms for co-ordination range from the top-level to joint planning of technical activities. I myself meet on a regular basis with my colleagues Mr. Al-Sultan and Mrs Bertini; so do the Deputy Heads among themselves. At country level, we support the ACC network on rural development and food security through 69 national thematic groups under the Resident Co-ordinator system; we work jointly, and with several other institutions, at improving Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping Systems at national and international levels. FAO co-operates with IFAD in helping member countries prepare many of their investment projects, and shares with WFP the task of undertaking food needs assessment in response to emergencies. These are only some examples. A video presentation will inform you on the case of the Horn of Africa, where the UN has reacted to a particularly dramatic situation through a combination of short-term and long-term interventions, mobilising the full capacity of the system in a co-ordinated fashion.

Mr Chairman, let me illustrate some of the diverse other actions towards food security that FAO conducts for its member nations. FAO raises awareness on current and longer-term issues of food security. The Committee on World Food Security monitors progress in implementing the WFS Plan of Action, and regular reports are provided to ECOSOC. FAO assists developing countries at being well-informed and equal partners in the new round of multilateral trade negotiations on agriculture, of critical importance for them. Food safety standards are established through the FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius programme, and related technical assistance is provided. FAO assists its developing and transition member countries and several regional economic groupings in preparing national and regional strategies for agricultural development and food security, to help mobilise more resources for the countries and regions: this is complementary to the technical assistance provided on all aspects of sustainable agricultural and rural development. The FAO Special Programme for Food Security, through participatory field demonstrations and promoting self-reliance, is already showing in more than 60 low-income, food-deficit countries how rural and peri-urban communities can incorporate simple but sustainable changes in technology, leading to considerable increases in farm production, incomes and access to food.

Mr Chairman, I now wish to raise most critical issues on which the views and action of ECOSOC are of paramount importance; they derive from the fact that hunger, in most societies, is the direst trait of poverty; and therefore eradicating hunger must be a priority, one that can concretely be targeted and monitored.

With 70% of the extremely poor and food insecure people living in rural areas, hunger is predominantly rural, and closely linked with low agricultural production and productivity. The role of agricultural development in poverty and food insecurity eradication is therefore crucial, particularly in Africa: indeed, the greatest number of low-income, food-deficit countries (LIFDC), and of highly indebted poor countries (HIPC), are found in Africa south of the Sahara; they are greatly dependent upon agriculture for the employment of their population, the financing of their imports, the generation of private and national incomes. We know that food insecurity and poverty are growing fastest in the towns, but they are nurtured by rural deprivation and food insecurity. Rural development is the pro-active answer to excessive rural-urban migration.

The paradox, however, is that agricultural and rural development are not being pursued with the indispensable priority. We observe insufficient investment and declining external transfers towards agricultural development and food security. What is at stake is also the capacity of future generations to feed themselves. The Special Programme for Food Security directly targets food insecurity, but its impact in the poorer countries needs to be multiplied with increased financial support.

In the context of globalisation, both trade and finance must contribute to food security and poverty alleviation. The HIPC initiative; the High Level Event on Financing for Development; further progress in market access; full implementation of the Marrakech Ministerial Decision, and innovative funding mechanisms, provide new opportunities for a focus on hunger and poverty.

It is especially important to reverse the downward trend in investment for food security where food emergencies seem to be increasing in frequency, like in the Horn of Africa. In this region, ODA has fallen by 40% over the last 10 years and the cut for agriculture has been even greater – around 50%. Relief efforts must be complemented by long-term investments in the production and distribution of food and in improving people’s access to food; they should kick-start rehabilitation and development, and strengthen the capacity of governments to eliminating hunger. Strategies to alleviate food insecurity are important contributions to preventing food emergencies, including those caused by conflict.

Mr Chairman,
Excellencies, distinguished delegates,

Placing lasting food security as a priority on national and international agendas, through sustainable agricultural and rural development where livelihoods primarily depend upon it, needs to be pursued consistently not just by FAO, WFP and IFAD alone but by all UN system institutions, each within its own mandate and competence. The role of ECOSOC is essential in this common endeavour.

I now invite you to watch a video projection on the work done in the Horn of Africa on behalf of the ACC.