Declaration of the World Food Summit: Five Years Later, International Alliance Against Hunger

1. We renew our global commitments made in the Rome Declaration at the World Food Summit in 1996 in particular to halve the number of hungry in the world no later than 2015, as reaffirmed in the United Nations Millennium Declaration. We resolve to accelerate the implementation of the WFS Plan of Action.

2. We call on all parties (governments, international organizations, civil society organizations and the private sector) to reinforce their efforts so as to act as an international alliance against hunger to achieve the WFS targets no later than 2015. With this aim, parties should promote coordinated action. Bearing in mind the contribution of all parties, countries should continue to report on progress to the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), within its mandate as a focal point for the implementation of the WFS Plan of Action.

3. We recognize that progress had not been adequate to reach the WFS target. Recognizing that responsibility for assuring national food security rests with national governments in cooperation with civil society and the private sector and with the support of the international community, we resolve to accelerate implementation of action to halve hunger by no later than 2015. This requires a rate of hunger reduction of more than 22 million per year on average.

4. We stress that poverty reduction and food security strategies should, inter alia, include measures to increase agricultural productivity, food production and distribution. We agree to promote equal access for men and women to food, water, land, credit and technology which will also help in generating income and creating employment opportunities for the poor, thus contributing to reduction of poverty and hunger.

5. We reaffirm the importance of strengthening the respect of all human rights and fundamental freedoms including the right to development, democracy, the rule of law, good governance, sound economic policies, the equality of rights for all without distinction as to sex, race, language, religion, the resolution of conflicts in accordance with the UN Charter and respect for international humanitarian law, and international cooperation so as to solve economic, social, cultural and humanitarian problems, which are essential for achieving food security.

6. We call upon the concerned development partners to exert all necessary efforts to achieve the international development goals of the Millennium Declaration, particularly, those related to halving poverty and hunger by 2015, to improve and strengthen the indicators necessary for measuring progress and to monitor progress within their mandate; and to renew and strengthen the commitment to national and international systems in place to assess food security. We reaffirm the role of FAO, with World Health Organization (WHO) and UNICEF in monitoring progress towards the Millennium Development Goal on hunger and the importance of the Inter- Agency Working Group on FIVIMS (Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping Systems) in strengthening national and international monitoring of food security.

7. The vast majority of the hungry and those living in absolute poverty are in rural areas. We recognize that reaching the goal of halving the number of hungry requires that the most food insecure and impoverished countries promote the alleviation of rural poverty especially through sustained growth of agricultural production, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa.

8. We reconfirm that FAO has a major role to play in assisting countries to implement the provisions of the WFS Plan of Action within its mandate, keeping in mind that the WFS entrusted the Committee on World Food Security to monitor progress.

9. We believe that broad international partnerships are of utmost importance for the implementation of the WFS Plan of Action. We call on governments, the international organizations and financial institutions to utilize their resources effectively, to improve their performance and strengthen cooperation and to undertake joint efforts to combat hunger, and reinforce the key role of sustainable agriculture and rural development in food security.

10. We invite the FAO Council to establish at its One Hundred and Twentythird Session an Intergovernmental Working Group, with the participation of stakeholders, in the context of the WFS follow-up, to elaborate, in a period of two years, a set of voluntary guidelines to support Member States’ efforts to achieve the progressive realisation of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security; we ask the FAO, in close collaboration with relevant treaty bodies, agencies and programmes of the UN System, to assist the Intergovernmental Working Group, which shall report on its work to the Committee on World Food Security.

11. We specifically urge governments to review their ongoing national food security policies with a view to filling gaps, identifying new initiatives, removing implementation obstacles and streamlining inter-ministerial and inter-departmental policy initiatives.

12. We reaffirm the Monterrey Consensus and we urge all members of the WTO to implement the outcome of the Doha Conference, especially the commitments regarding the reform of the international agricultural trading system, with particular reference to paragraphs 13 and 14, given that international agricultural trade has a role to play, consistent with Commitment 4 of the WFS Plan of Action, in promoting economic development, alleviating poverty and achieving the objectives of the World Food Summit, in particular in developing countries.