Bonn, Germany
May 3, 2007
From May 3rd until Saturday May
5th, the
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
(FAO) is holding an international
conference Organic Agriculture and Food Security at
its headquarters in Rome, Italy. The conference is organized in
partnership with the
International Federation of Organic Agriculture Movements
(IFOAM). The results of the conference will be presented to the
Committee on World Food Security.
The overall objective of the Conference is to shed light on the
contribution of Organic Agriculture to food security through the
analysis of existing information in different agro-ecological
areas of the world. The conference will identify Organic
Agriculture’s potential to address the food security challenges,
including conditions required for its success.
According to the paper Organic Agriculture and Food Security
that the FAO has published in connection with this conference,
"The strongest feature of Organic Agriculture is its reliance on
fossil-fuel independent and locally-available production assets;
working with natural processes increases cost-effectiveness and
resilience of agro-ecosystems to climatic stress." The paper
calls on governments to "allocate resources for organic
agriculture and to integrate its objectives and actions within
their national agricultural development and poverty reduction
strategies, with particular emphasis on the needs of vulnerable
groups."
The outcome of the Conference will be a thorough assessment of
the state of knowledge on Organic Agriculture and food security,
including recommendations on areas for further research and
policy development. The Report of the Conference will be
submitted to the 33rd Session of the Committee on World Food
Security, both to inform government delegations from around the
world and to provide a basis for tangible actions to be taken by
the FAO.
"Given the global conditions of war, climate change, disasters
and inequity, food security is not just a matter of production
figures," stated IFOAM Executive Director Angela B. Caudle,
noting that the positive contribution of Organic Agriculture to
food availability, food access, food stability and food
utilization - all aspects of food security - will be carefully
analyzed and discussed during the conference. "IFOAM member
organizations from all over the world will present their
positive examples and share how the conversion to organic made a
significant difference in the livelihoods of people," such as
with the organic farmers’ organization AOPEB in Bolivia and with
Masipag in the Philippines.
Representatives of all sectors of the IFOAM network will share a
wealth of experiences and the challenges they face with
participants – government delegates and country representatives
to the FAO - and answer questions regarding Organic Agriculture
that they might have.
From May 7th to 10th, IFOAM will advocate that the outcomes of
the conference are taken into consideration by the 33rd
Committee on World Food Security, which should result in policy
changes within the FAO that favor Organic Agriculture.
For complete information about the conference, visit:
www.fao.org/organicag/ofs/index_en.htm |
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