Looking Ahead:
Touching Human Freedoms and the World’s Economy
In 2015, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) will celebrate its 70th anniversary. What will it be doing then? What should it be doing between now and then? Its field of action touches on the most basic of human rights and needs, that of freedom from hunger, as well as on crucial sectors of the world economy - agriculture, forestry and fisheries.
A number of major trends and forces can be considered likely to have a bearing on the future work of FAO.
They can be summarized as follows:
- Increased emphasis on a State’s principal role as that of providing a policy and regulatory framework conducive to sustainable development;
- Continuing globalization and liberalization of trade, including food and agricultural trade;
- Growth in the number of countries in the middle-income group and increased reliance on regional and subregional groupings;
- Persistence of poverty and mounting inequality - a widening of the gap between the affluent and the poor;
- Continued risk of disaster-related and complex emergencies;
- Changing demands on agriculture, fisheries and forestry in increasingly urbanized societies;
- Changing dietary patterns and increasing public awareness of food (safety and quality) and environmental issues;
- Increasing pressure on natural resources and competition for their use;
- Steady progress in research and technological development, and continued inequality in access to its benefits;
- Increasing impact of information and communications technology on institutions and societies;
- Changes in the nature and composition of funding for agricultural development; and
- Changing role and public perceptions of the UN system.
In a report to the first conference, in Quebec City, which established FAO on 16 October 1945, the drafters of its Constitution stated: “If there is one fundamental principle on which FAO is based, it is that the welfare of producers and the welfare of consumers are in the final analysis identical.” It was to be the business of FAO to seek and emphasize the “larger framework” within which the interests of the consumers of food and the interests of agricultural producers were seen to be the same. And, as was made clear in Article I of the Constitution, the term “agriculture” was to be understood in a broad sense to include fisheries, marine products, forestry and primary forest products. The order of the elements in the Preamble, and the name given to the Organization, associating food and agriculture, were significant in that they recognized both the imperative of ensuring adequate nutrition and standards of living for all, and the importance of agriculture in doing so.
FAO mission, in fulfilment of the purpose for which it was established and in full respect of its mandate, is to help build a food-secure world for present and future generations.
Certain fundamental values underlie the Constitution, which members accept on joining FAO and are enunciated in the Oath of Office by which its staff are bound:
- Commitment.
With broad global membership, FAO is dedicated to promoting the common welfare through cooperation among nations; integrity and devotion to this ideal are required of those who serve in the Secretariat.
- Independence.
FAO provides a forum in which members seek to broaden consensus, and an impartial Secretariat is key to assisting them in achieving this.
- Partnerships.
FAO belongs to a global family of institutions in the UN system dedicated to the promotion of international economic and social cooperation, and brought into relationship with the UN itself under the provision of Article 57 of the UN Charter, and its staff belong to an international civil service that is loyal to common principles.
- Competence.
FAO is expected to be a centre of excellence in its field, with a Secretariat dedicated to securing the highest standards of efficiency and technical competence.
- Equality.
FAO is committed to the promotion of the full and equal participation of women in development and to the achievement of gender balance in the staff of the Secretariat.
- Diversity.
FAO’s strength derives from, among other things, respect for diverse approaches and paths to a common destination; its Secretariat therefore recruits personnel on as wide a geographical basis as possible.
- Unity.
By coming together in the Organization, nations affirm their belief in the need for collective action and their willingness to take it, and the Secretariat accepts loyally to carry out the decisions of members.
Poverty is a major cause of food insecurity. Efforts to increase food supplies and accelerate economic growth will bring overall benefits to the country and society but, unless accompanied by complementary targeted measures, they are unlikely to completely eliminate poverty and food insecurity among rural populations. People living in economically and environmentally marginal areas are at the greatest risk of being left behind, but poverty and food insecurity also exist among the resource-poor in more favourably endowed areas. More sustainable livelihoods and food security can be ensured for these populations only through efforts to increase individuals’ opportunities and choices and improve resource productivity, thereby resulting in higher rural incomes and improved access to food.
The promotion of equitable access to natural and economic resources and social services is crucial and may require specific action to address gender disparities. The challenge is to improve rural livelihoods, farm incomes and food security, both in food-deficit and economically marginal areas and among the resource-poor in more favourably endowed areas.
The components include:
- improving the opportunities available to the rural poor to strengthen, diversify and sustain their livelihoods by taking advantage of the potential synergies between farming, fishing, forestry and animal husbandry, including through pre- and post-production income-generating enterprises (e.g. through the Technical Cooperation Programme and the Special Programme for Food Security);
- supporting efforts to strengthen local institutions and enact policies and legislation that will provide for more equitable access by women and men to natural resources (particularly land, water, fisheries and forest) and related economic and social resources;
- improving the efficiency and effectiveness by which the public and private sectors respond to the multiple and differing needs of disadvantaged rural populations, notably of women and youth; promoting gender-sensitive, participatory and sustainable strategies and approaches, based on self-help, capacity-building and empowerment, to improve the skills of the rural poor and local, civil society and rural people’s organizations; and
- assisting in the targeting of investment in the agricultural, fisheries and forestry sectors, from public and private, domestic and international sources, that contributes to food security and poverty eradication.
| “...FAO contributions focused on the rural sector are not provided in isolation but are an integral part of the broader effort...” |
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