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Liaison Newsletter > LIAISON-Canada Electronic Newsletter #4

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Momentum Gathering towards World Food Summit

In a series of national consultations held in six Canadian cities in late May, more than 100 community and voluntary groups called for a stronger Canadian role in ensuring that the right to food becomes a reality for everyone. The results of the consultations, organized by the Global Network on Food Security, were presented two weeks later in Ottawa, at a national forum aimed at developing official Canadian positions for this November’s World Food Summit.

The regional meetings, which were supported with funding from Agriculture Canada, took place in Charlottetown, St. Hyacinthe, Guelph, Winnipeg, Vancouver and Ottawa. A broad range of Canadian groups and individuals working on food issues, from organizations representing the urban poor to international development agencies to experts on nutrition and health, took part in the consultations. Other key points of consensus included:

  • food security must be recognized as a truly global issue, and not simply as a developing world problem. In Canada alone, there are now over 400 food banks, and guaranteeing food security for our own citizens must remain a Canadian priority.
  • food security is not simply a matter of producing more food; it is ensuring that the world’s hungry have access to adequate food. In this context, trade-based solutions are not enough — local and national food security strategies must also be implemented to ensure no one goes hungry.

The Secretary-General of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, Dr. Jacques Diouf, was in Ottawa for the national forum, and met later with representatives of the Global Network on Food Security. He said the World Food Summit cannot succeed without the active participation of NGOs such as those represented by the Global Network, and welcomed the Network’s push for a more active Canadian role. "It is governments who direct the FAO’s priorities," he said, "but it is non-governmental organizations who make it possible for governments to lead."

Diouf also invited NGOs to play a critical role in the FAO’s Food for All Campaign, which the organization hopes to launch following the November Summit. The goal of the new campaign will be to raise awareness of, and mobilize support for, the ultimate aim of the World Food Summit - the eradication of world hunger.

In early June, the Network also participated in a North American regional meeting on Food Security held in East Lansing, Michigan, and convened two four-hour NGO strategy sessions prior to the official forum. A short-list of 14 points generated at the NGO meetings was submitted to provide a balance to the US/Canada Position Paper.

Looking ahead, the Network hopes to undertake an Eight Days for Eight Hundred Million Campaign. The aim of the campaign would be to raise awareness of the number of people who go hungry every day and to create momentum for change in the months leading up to the World Food Summit. The campaign, to be launched on World Food Day (16 October), would continue through to UN Day (24 October).

For more information, check out the Global Network on Food Security’s Web site, located at: http://www.ncf.carleton.ca/ip/social.services/global-food