Cooperation Can Overcome The Problem Of Hunger
by Archbishop Agostino Marchetto
Mr. Chairman,
Excellencies,
Mr.Jacques Diouf, Director General,
Ladies and gentlemen
1. Thanks to you, the whole human family, in a certain sense, is present here in its different dimensions and components, once more to "speak" on agriculture and its opposite, hunger, to discuss matters of agricultural production and food supply, and especially to devise clear strategies on food security so that we can reach the goal we gave ourselves in 1996: to halve the number of starving in the world before 2015.
The FAO, through this effort and its presence and activity, especially to reach the poorest and the indigent, reminds us how necessary and urgent it is to implement an effective cooperation in order to spread techniques and instruments in agriculture, forestry and fishery. Furthermore, there is a need for distribution of resources, starting with safe food supplies. In this commitment the concept of food security becomes a fact; food security developed from a mere initial consideration of the technical order, related to the availability of enough foodstuffs in stock into a principle which, by now, guarantees the respect for the true and real fundamental right of every human person, and becomes a vital factor of peace and international stability. We do need peace and stability in this particular moment of worldwide tension!
Unfortunately, worrisome signs of conflict are present in different areas of the globe, not only regarding peace, but also for persons who are threatened or vulnerable on nutritional levels and health conditions, as well as food availability and consumer trends. The existing contrast between the possible and real intervention and the will to do something effective, seriously threatens the survival of millions and millions, in our world where, as a whole, we live a development and progress that are unprecedented. From this very point — I believe — was born the inspiration to implement the "World Food Summit — Five Years Later".
2. Because of this, we cannot forget the situation of starving peoples, refugees and internally displaced people, of victims, of conflicts or violations of fundamental human rights, the situation of those hit by illness and infections, painful realities which not only undermine suitable living conditions for persons and communities, but also threaten human health and cause evident problems for food security.
Therefore in these circumstances, keeping in mind all the data offered to us, the Holy See feels obliged to ask you, in your own different tasks and responsibilities, to open up your hearts in order to understand that there does not exist an abstract hunger problem, but rather that there do exist human beings like ourselves who in their every day story suffer from hunger and malnutrition, far removed from the desired target of food security. Accepting this perspective we recognize that the human being is at the centre of social living with his/her fundamental needs, upon which an international, helpful action has to be based without any further delay or excuse.
Honestly and sincerely, if we look around at the motivations governing our contemporary, international life, we can see first of all opposite interests and desires to overcome the other — conflict prevails over co-operation! Because of this, leaders give up pending negotiations and retreat into isolationism, not answering human needs with due effectivness and readiness. Bearing in mind such a situation and the fact that the "Summit" has been postponed till next year, we would like to underline, nevertheless, that our expectations and those of men and women of good will go beyond the sectors of agriculture and food, to embrace a broader strategy that fights poverty.
The International Community, States, NGOs and civil society alike, must focus their efforts on such basic issues through different ways and means of co-operation, ever more convinced that the fight against poverty is not just another subject in the field of international relations. We must give an answer to millions of people like us and to their life expectancy, who are deprived of the fundamental means of living and work, because of endemic conflicts, lack of central or peripheral structures, and of investments, or under heavy international debt, so that they do not lose hope and become a mob who are frustrated and overpowered by their worst instincts.
Furthermore we have to admit that all over the world, supply and demand even for food products, is devoid of any reference to the principle of solidarity, but anchored in a "culture of having" (Sollicitudo Rei Socialis, n. 28) and not in an ethic of solidarity, which be apt to express sentiments of brotherhood and common membership, on the part of every State, in the entire family of Peoples and Nations,
3. We all know feasible solutions cannot be reduced to technical choices, but are to be found in each one of our functions and responsibilities, responding to obligations, available to others, community, State or nation alike. This approach must become productive policy, redistributing and sharing with the precise aim of setting the relation between the (even growing) food needs of the entire population and food availability, already globally sufficient, as we can see from the data of production. Hence, a new order and balance, in spite of contrasts between developed and developing areas, is not just mandatory, but even possible in thought and in reality. Even so, each one of us can find in him/herself the solution, even in outline, in human nature, compassion and concern for the other (maybe still dormant). The roots of the solutions to our problems are our common human nature, and the natural law, which goes beyond the differences of culture, religion or any other kind.
In Christian tradition — let me mention it, as the Representative of the Holy See — this relationship is well expressed in the Gospel's episode of the multiplication of loaves and fishes. When there was a need for food, the Lord answered, once, with a miracle, giving food to the crowd of people. Later they collected all the left-overs in order not to waste anything (see John 6,12). Well then, the miracle must be realized again today, starting in our hearts: we ought to be ready, not simply to share what we have, but above all to believe that our giving to others is possible and just. We should learn not to waste each and every resource, avoiding a consumerist mentality that, even though it is a reality for very few, is becoming unfortunately a trend for all.
Such a vision tells us that food security cannot be planned and realized only for emergency operations, or to bring help and relief when people are in dire need, but must be considered also as a regular kind of cooperation. We are thinking in particular — as far as an emergency is concerned — of those never ending conflicts, both internal and international, which bring unutterable suffering to entire communities uprooted from their homes or land, therefore causing land loss and finally devastating the levels of food security. War also means hunger; in peace and justice nothing is lost. Let us work then for a just peace, following truth, love and freedom!
If, in our fight against poverty we should not forget food security, we also cannot neglect problems and rehabilitation of environmental protection, in view of a sustainable development of the various ecosystems in agriculture, forestry and fishery, because it is from these that determination and conservation of the levels of security come. Food supply and security do not proceed, therefore, just from cultivation of land and its availability; from natural or manmade disasters' protection, but come from an effective policy on environment, from soil and water safety.
Today, moreover, we have to promote and support safe agricultural production systems in those cases that can pose risks to public health, because of lack of basic standards and quality control.
Finally we exhort all, in order that the pledge made by a variety of countries to participate in the specific FAO Trust Fund, instituted with the aim of ensuring primary and ongoing interventions for hoped for food security, can find a much more generous will to join in the effort. At the same time the global investment goal is extremely limited in comparison with the extremely large military budgets, or in comparison with the needless expenses that millions of people are used to in developed countries. And this has had a substantial influence on developing areas. Recent humanitarian measures taken in Afghanistan confirm in any case that when there really is a political will of intervention against hunger, many things can be done, even more or less accurately.
Mr. Chairman,
Political choices are therefore required in favour of the poorest people affected by hunger, since we to recognize that the responsibility falls upon the entire International Community. In fact, all States and in the first place, those who can afford it, are required to fulfil their duty to guarantee the right to be fed for persons and peoples, if and when a single State, because of poverty and underdevelopment, or for other reasons, cannot provide adequate food for everyone.
This is the perspective of the World Food Summit when the concept of food security was formulated concretely along with the vision of a united effort to guarantee food for everyone, or at least, to halve the number of undernourished and starving people before 2015; through the common efforts of governments, international institutions, and the different entities of civil society.
Thank you!
This item 4118 digitally provided courtesy of CatholicCulture.org
