Food summit: what’s the story?

June 3, 2008 | by Alex Evans | More on Climate and resource scarcity | No comments

One of the catches with this week’s UN food summit is that it’s not immediately clear just what deal the various heads of state and ministers assembled here are supposed to cut - and that leaves the (hundreds of) journalists here looking for story angles.  Look at some of the main issues at play in the food prices issue and you start to see their problem:

Humanitarian relief.  The World Food Programme’s urgent appeal for $755m needed to keep feeding the 73 million people dependent on it for help has been making headlines all spring - but now the funding gap has been plugged, thanks to a half a billion dollar donation from Saudi Arabia. 

(Incidentally, it’s a mystery on a par with the Marie Celeste as to why WFP didn’t wait until the summit to announce the cash.  Here in Rome, it would have been the story from the summit.  As it was, the news - announced late on a Friday afternoon - sank with hardly a trace.  One leading food journalist I spoke to this morning said he didn’t get the press release until two days later. You couldn’t make it up…)

Trade.  Numerous policymakers have pointed to the long term importance of trade reform, and pushing ahead with the Doha Development Round.  But as far as this summit is concerned, that’s off the agenda, since the Doha Round has its own, separate, negotiations.

Changing diet patterns.  The growth of a global middle class eating a grain-intensive western diet is the single biggest driver of rising prices, and as I noted in another post earlier today, it raises the awesomely complex and politically difficult question of fair shares.  But there’s no chance of any substantive discussion of that here this week.

Investing in agricultural supply.  Everyone agrees that a ‘new green revolution’, or whatever you want to call it, will be essential given that demand is set to rise 50% by 2030.  But while the UN’s High Level Task Force sets out a strong analysis in its newly published paper on elements of a comprehensive strategy, it’s hard to see what actual deal this week’s summit could cut in this area.  Admittedly, several countries are likely to announce major new funding commitments while they’re here.  But the amounts will have to be very big to become the story of the week.

So what does that leave?  If I worked for the UN Secretary-General, I’d be putting all of my effort into persuading one or two of the really big producers who’ve imposed export restrictions on crops - like India, Russia, Kazakhstan or Argentina - to announce an easing of those restrictions.  That would mark an important step forward, and represent a triumph for the UN and its Secretary-General.

But without that, it looks like the story of the week is likely to be about biofuels - where it’s hard to see any great strides towards consensus being made here in Rome.  On the contrary, with the US and Brazil defending biofuels to the hilt even as others (including FAO head Jacques Diouf) fire broadsides off against feeding crops to cars, the risk is of a damaging spat.  That will make for a lively story, if it becomes the angle that journalists here go for - but could also lead to all sides entrenching their positions, which would be a Bad Thing.

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2. FAO chief calls world summit on food security
3. Gordon opens up a new front on food prices
4. Nestlé chairman: high food prices are here to stay
5. Why Doha progress would mean even higher food prices

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