[asia-apec 235] Sustainable Food Security Convention, Part 2

[Jagdish Parikh]

Actions:

1. The Food and Agriculture Organization should convene a process
involving the General Assembly of the United Nations in negotiations
for a Sustainable Food Security Convention. The intent of the
Sustainable Food Security Convention is to elevate food security to
the highest level of priority within international policy.  Such a
Convention would have five primary purposes:

a.) To help national governments develop and implement national
food security plans.  These would include the identification of staple
foods (primarily grains and legumes) and foods that provide
micronutrients essential to domestic food security.  These staple
foods could be exempted from WTO rules and disciplines when said
rules undermine national food security plans.5  Plans would also
include policies to enhance farmers' capacity to provide nutritious
and safe foods through diversity-based sustainable systems.

b.)  To develop an obligatory structure for consultation and
negotiation that ensures that all actors (governments,
nongovernmental organizations, and constituency-based
organizations) have the right to participate in the formulation and
implementation of proposals to advance food security at the local,
national, and international levels.

c.) To coordinate the creation and management of an international
network of local, national and regional food reserves.  The
Convention would also provide for an independent grain auditing
system.

d.)  To facilitate the development of international commodity
agreements  among importing and exporting countries.  Such
agreements could be structured both for concessional food transfers
and to supplement domestic production to meet national demand for
staple foods.  In both cases, the goal is to ensure that demand is met
without export dumping.6

e.)  To create financial and technical mechanisms incorporated in and
financed by the Convention to aid governments in disputes with
other entities such as the WTO that might arise over food and
agriculture policy.7

2.  The Food and Agriculture Organization should initiate a process to
create a Secretariat to implement this Convention.]  Representatives
from food surplus and food deficit countries including farmers, NGOs,
other members of civil society, and representatives from other major
food-related agencies such as the UN Conference on Trade and
Development and the United Nations Development Program should
also play a major role in defining and implementing policy.

3.  The Convention's implementation will be financed by member
contributions and/or alternative financing mechanisms such as a .01
percent tax on agricultural commodity trade or the proposed Tobin
tax on international financial transactions.

National Food Security Plans:

With the support of the Secretariat, local and national governments,
with the full participation of civil society, will develop national food
security plans.  These could include:

-  Definition and identification of domestic staple foods essential to
food security.

-  Annual domestic staple food consumption projections with
accompanying national production goals and commitments.  These
projections should also include volumes to be set aside in local and
national reserves.

-  Implementation of domestic agriculture policies to support staple
production for domestic consumption.  These could include price
supports for staple crops and exemption from mandatory import
requirements.  Countries could also implement import restrictions to
ensure that staple food production not be threatened by export
dumping.

- Implementation of polices which support diverse sustainable
agriculture and livelihood systems of production.  These include land
tenure systems that would ensure adequate land and water
resources for farmers; the guaranteed access, use, development and
free exchange of genetic resources; and the protection of Farmers'
Rights.8

-  Intellectual property laws that would exclude plant varieties,
seeds and other genetic materials from patenting.  Privatization of
plants or animals or parts thereof, through patents and intellectual
property rights regimes and other forms of exclusion like trade only
in registered varieties, should be prohibited.

- Support and incentives for on-farm conservation and development
of biodiversity, and for research and extension programs designed by
farmers to reflect their priorities.

- Risk management policies to minimize the risk to health and the
environment that may occur in the production, processing,
distribution, preparation, consumption and disposal of foods and food
products, including those that are genetically engineered.

International Network of Local, National and Regional Reserves:

1.  The Secretariat will work with governments, NGOs, farmers, and
other members of civil society to develop plans to have a global
network of local, national and regional reserves in place by the end
of the next decade.

2.  Food reserves will be built from the local level up.  National food
security plans could include plans for farmer- or community-
managed reserves and should set targets for their development out
of local production.9

3.  Cooperation within regions (such as West Africa, the Caribbean,
North America) is fundamental to food security.  The network of
reserves would be structured such that regional networks of
reserves would be the first sources of food aid in times of
emergency.

4.  Costs for food reserves will be shared.  The first priority is to
reassign food aid funds from exporting countries for use by food
deficit countries in the creation of local and national reserves.  These
funds would be replaced by funds earned from the alternative tax
financing mechanisms as these become available.

5.  The Secretariat will develop mechanisms to ensure that reserves
are not managed to the detriment of producers and consumers.

1Such a process of negotiation could be conducted through a system
of "open negotiating tables" at the local, regional, and international
levels in which all significant actors have the right to intervene.

2Many existing multilateral agreements and Conventions, as well as
the Draft Plan of Action, provide the underpinnings for the
Sustainable Food Security Convention.  A short list includes:

-  The Draft Plan of Action Objective 7.4, "To better define and
further develop the Right to Food and propose ways to implement
this right as an instrument to achieve food security."

-  The International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

-  The United Nations Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous
Peoples

-  ILO Convention 169 Concerning Indigenous and Tribal Peoples in
Independent Countries

-  The Convention on Biological Diversity

3Throughout the text, the word "farmers" refers to peasant and
family farmers, as well as other food producers such as fisherfolk.
Corporate agriculture and agribusiness are not included in this term.

4Policies structured for food deficit countries could include the use of
anti-dumping tariffs and prior informed consent for concessional
food trade.  For food surplus countries, they could center on access to
food by the poor, support for local and regional food systems, and
prohibitions against food dumping, export manipulation or harmful
food aid policies.

5This question of staple foods requires more discussion.  Many
countries have consistently treated staple foods differently in
domestic agriculture policy and have attempted to protect them from
cheaper imports on the world market.    Examples include the
Canadian supply management system for dairy, poultry and eggs,
and Mexico's former system of import licensing requirements, price
supports for farmers, and subsidies to consumers for staples like
corn and beans.  Until the Uruguay Round was passed, countries with
domestic supply management programs in place were able to restrict
imports under Article 11.  Under the logic of the Uruguay Round, all
foodstuffs are commodities and should not be treated differently
because of their importance to domestic food security.

There are several basic perspectives on the question of staple foods
and their treatment under international trade regimes.  Some believe
that a proposal to permit exemptions from WTO regimes for staple
foods is a viable one that can garner support from a broad range of
allies, not only in low income food deficit countries, but in countries
like Korea and Japan that worked hard to protect its staple food, rice,
during the Uruguay Round.  Some fear that singling out any crop for
different treatment could lead to overproduction and surpluses in
that crop.  Others question the viability of defining staple foods.  Still
others think it is too provocative to the global trade regime to
suggest treatment for staple foods outside the confines of the WTO,
preferring instead to insert safeguards for food security in the WTO.

This proposal for a Convention suggests that staple foods, when they
are part of domestic food security plans, should be exempt from WTO
rules if these undermine said domestic food security initiatives.
Conditions under which nations could exercise this exemption to WTO
rules would be similar to those formerly required by GATT Article
11 (import controls when linked to domestic supply management
programs) with the added requirement that the crop supplies under
management be essential for food security.

6Drawing on the experience from international commodity
agreements on such products as cacao and coffee, the Secretariat
could work with staple food importing and exporting countries to
develop reliable, stable supplies of staple foods for countries that are
unable to fill domestic demand.  Domestic demand also includes
supplies for local and national reserves.

7Disputes involving any of the functions defined by the Convention,
including conflicts with other international conventions and
agreements, must be resolved in internationally recognized fora with
equivalent authority to the WTO and not be restricted to the dispute
settlement procedures of the WTO.  The Secretariat would assist
governments in challenges related to local, regional, or national food
security planning and policy.

8See The International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources,
W/V623.United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization

9The question of reserves requires more research and dialogue.
While it is a broadly shared objective, mechanisms must be
developed and refined.  Farmers' organizations and consumer groups
play a key role in the development and management of reserves.
The Sustainable Food Security Convention, for example, could include
programs to support agricultural and consumer cooperatives in the
creation and management of reserves at the local level that could
form part of the global reserve network.