Regional conferences of the FAO unanimously ask for greater commitment on the part of governments in the fight against hunger

The end of May concluded the cycle of regional conferences that the FAO organizes every two years in Africa, Asia, Latin America, Europe and the Middle East. The conferences in 2002 focused clearly on the preparation of the World Food Summit: five years later to take place 10-13 June in Rome. All the regional conferences have called for stronger commitment by governments to combat hunger in the world. During the last few meetings (Latin America, Asia, Pacific and Europe), emphasis was placed on the difficult living conditions of the inhabitants of rural and mountainous zones, on the disadvantages of trade and on the difficulties to ensure the sustainable management of land and water.

During the Latin American conference (Havana, Cuba 22-26 April), the problem of food security was also widely debated, as well as the question of commercial negotiations related to agricultural products. The Director-General of the FAO, Jacques Diouf, underlined the commitment on the part of the FAO to improve the negotiating capacity of Latin American countries in the headquarters at the World Trade Organization as well as to help these countries derive benefits from the Uruguay Round accords on agriculture. To improve the living conditions of the rural population, the FAO seeks to promote the support of institutional reforms of the local governments with projects financed by public expenditure. The conference will end with the promise of serious commitment for the creation of a world coalition against hunger, an argument that will, with total certainty, be discussed at the summit in June.

The promotion of sustainable development in mountainous areas has been one of the priorities recognized by the FAO in Asia during the Nepal Conference (Kathmandu 13-17 May). Thanks to the designation of the year 2002 as the International Year of Mountains, the development of these areas, populated by millions of people, has regained the attention of governments and multilateral organizations. The commitment to mobilize resources and to formulate action plans coordinated among the different partners of development will be one of the great challenges of the FAO in the coming months. During the conference, there was discussion of empowerment of the poor rural population as a means of overcoming hunger and poverty. According to the participants at the conference, the development of human resources and the access to credit on the part of the poorest could help in reaching these objectives.

The Conference for Europe (Nicosia, Cypress, 29-31 May) centred on the question of sustainable resource management. Many hold that the problem of desertification and the prevention of soil degradation are tightly linked to the problems of water supply, to poor access to resources and to institutional shortfall. There is a strong compromise on the part of governments with regard to mobilizing resources for this problem, and there is a great expectation for the WFS, which could be the appropriate place to propose concrete lines of action aimed at guaranteeing equitable access to resources and reducing environmental degradation.