Devex Dish: The polarizing nature of UN Committee on World Food Security

Fresh from the United Nations Food Systems Summit stocktaking last week in Rome, there’s lots of talk about what FAO, WFP, and IFAD can do to help bring about food systems transformation and improve global food security amid alarming trends in the wrong direction. But not once at the gathering did I hear mention of the U.N. Committee on World Food Security. The relatively little known CFS was created in 1974 and reformed in 2009 after a global food price crisis, which resulted in a drastic increase in the number of people unable to feed themselves. It meets once a year and operates on what it calls a “multistakeholder approach,” ensuring everyone’s opinions are heard even as member governments have the final say. It’s known as the U.N.’s “most inclusive body,” which to some is its biggest asset. Civil society and the private sector have formal seats at the table, so even while they don’t have final approval over documents, everyone still has to listen to what they think. Hosted at FAO, the three Rome-based agencies financially support CFS and lend it staff. I talked to a lot of people for this story, and rarely have I had such a struggle fitting the complexity of opinion on a topic into one article. Simply put, people have “thoughts” about CFS. Some believe that CFS’ radical inclusivity is actually its downfall, because negotiations get so caught up in disagreements over the right to food, human rights, and the corporate role in the food system that nothing meaningful gets done. They also think the Rome-based agencies are undermining CFS and preventing it from achieving its true mission. Others — such as U.N. Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food Michael Fakhri — tell me it is “remarkable” that CFS is a place where the right to food isn’t “abstract,” but has “real institutional clout.” “It’s when governments listen to people that they’re the most responsive,” Fakhri says. “And this is the forum where you can get that.” There was outrage two years ago from civil society and proponents of CFS that the body was sidestepped when the U.N. secretary-general created the U.N. Forum on Sustainability Standards, or UNFSS. That outrage was reiterated last week when many chose to boycott the stocktaking. Fakhri says there’s no way for the national pathways — food system reform plans that countries developed out of the UNFSS process — to succeed without anyone specifically tasked with making sure they happen. “Every single national food plan for food systems transformation … will fail without international coordination,” Fakhri says. “So it always goes back to the CFS.” Read: Is the Committee on World Food Security fit for purpose? A mouthful “What is very clear is that we are all interconnected. We have seen that what happens in one part of the world affects other parts of the world.” --— Alvaro Lario, president, IFAD I asked Lario last week what we need to do to spur food systems transformation right now. He cautioned against reactionary measures to high food prices, including export bans, and instead focusing on actions that will have a long-term effect: More local production, more investment, and more diversification of crops. The focus must be to lift people out of poverty, he said, ensuring a focus not only on subsistence farmers but also on small-scale producers. + Devex Pro members can read our piece addressing why food funding can’t just focus on farming. If you aren’t a Pro member yet, start your 15-day free trial now to unlock the piece and all our exclusive reporting and analysis. Number munching 150 Indian rupees --— That’s the cost (about $1.82) of a kilogram of tomatoes in India, which has driven the cooking staple out of reach for many households. The country’s agriculture sector is struggling after crippling heat waves in May and June, followed by heavy monsoon rains in several tomato-growing parts of the country. The crop is further reduced because there was such an oversupply last year that some farmers chose not to plant this year. There are some things the Indian government can do to mitigate the worst of this, according to Dipti Deshpande, principal economist at CRISIL, an Indian company that provides market intelligence and analytics. These measures include ensuring farmers have access to information about extreme weather in advance, promoting high-yield crop varieties, offering crop insurance, and improving storage and distribution. Read: Weather shocks upset Indian food prices in a now-familiar global trend Opinion You’ll remember last week I brought you news of the COP 28 climate summit’s food systems and agriculture agenda, launched in Rome by Mariam bint Mohammed Saeed Hareb Almheiri, the United Arab Emirates’ minister of climate change and environment. This week, we publish an opinion piece by Almheiri, arguing that decarbonizing food systems needs national leadership. She says that as countries consider the commitments they make as part of their nationally determined contributions, they must factor in their food strategies. These are central to the wider plan for dealing with climate change, and she called on countries to set specific and “appropriate” targets to transform and decarbonize as they gather later this year in the UAE at COP 28. The purpose of launching the food systems and agriculture agenda is to mobilize financing, Almheiri writes, in hopes of drawing attention to the strong linkages between climate and food systems, and the fact that one agenda cannot succeed without the other. Opinion: Why our UAE COP 28 presidency is hyperfocused on food systems We also have an op-ed about the importance of investing in agriculture even in emergency situations, when it is too often an afterthought. FAO Director of the Office of Emergencies and Resilience Rein Paulsen argues that emergency livelihood assistance helps crisis-affected and at-risk populations in the near term by helping to support immediate needs. These include livestock-based interventions, which are likely to increase the availability of, access to, and consumption of animal-sourced foods that have a positive impact on family diets. But equally important is resilience building, Paulsen writes, so families have the tools to weather shocks when they do occur and emergency assistance is less needed. It is notable, he says, that where agricultural interventions have sustained financing, “we are seeing what we expect to be a turning point in the level of acute food insecurity.” Opinion: Investing in agriculture in emergencies is a game-changer Chew on this The ongoing “rapid population decline” of honeybee colonies could precipitate a food security crisis. [Food Security] Amid a cost-of-living crisis in the United Kingdom, as many as a third of the country’s 10,500 fish and chips restaurants may close. [The Guardian] Pope Francis has called on Russia to resume participation in the Black Sea grain deal. [Reuters]