45 The EU and food security in the developing
world
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8246/10
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COM(10) 127
(b)
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8250/10
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COM(10) 126
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Commission Communication: An EU policy framework to assist developing countries in addressing food security challenges
Commission Communication: Humanitarian Food Assistance
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| Legal base | —
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| Documents originated | 31 March 2010
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| Deposited in Parliament | 10 May 2010
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| Department | International Development
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| Basis of consideration | EMs of 2 and 9 June 2010
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| Previous Committee Report | None
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| To be discussed in Council | 10-11 May 2010 Foreign Affairs Council
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| Committee's assessment | Politically important
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| Committee's decision | Cleared
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Background
45.1 In its introduction to the first of these documents, the
Commission says that in recent years, hunger and malnutrition
have increased and that, in 2010, over 1 billion people are "considered
to be food insecure." It sees food insecurity as affecting
human development, social and political stability, and progress
towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), with
fragile states in particular encountering severe difficulties
in achieving MDG 1 — eradicating extreme poverty and hunger.
It goes on to recall that "soaring food prices on global
markets in 2007-08 sparked a rethink of global food security":
the United Nations (UN) High Level Task Force (HLTF) on the Global
Food Security Crisis was set up to enhance coordination within
the UN; the Global Partnership on Agriculture, Food Security and
Nutrition (GPAFSN) was launched; and G8 leaders agreed a comprehensive
agenda on food security at the Summit in L'Aquila, Italy, in 2009.
For its part, the European Union reacted to the growing food security
challenges with an additional €1 billion "Food Facility"
as a temporary measure to support those developing countries worst
affected: "The EU and its Member States are, and have been
for many years, the most important and reliable players in world
food security, both financially and politically."
Commission Communication 8246/10
45.2 The Commission goes on to note that recent developments and
future challenges require a new common food security policy, further
strengthening EU leadership in the global food security agenda,
and improving the effectiveness of EU assistance, in line with
the Lisbon Treaty, the EU2020 initiative and the European Consensus
on Development:[180]
"Future food security challenges include population growth,
pressures on natural resources and ecosystem services, and adverse
impacts of climate change on agriculture, affecting growing conditions
and making adaptation measures necessary. Moreover, key issues
in the current food security agenda, such as nutrition, price
volatility, social protection and safety nets, biofuels, food
safety, research and innovation, large-scale land acquisition,
and the 'Right to Food' concept need
integration into an overall policy framework."
45.3 Against this background, the Commission says
that the objective of this Communication is "to provide a
common policy framework for the EU and its Member States in the
fight against world hunger and malnutrition, thereby contributing
towards achieving MDG 1. It describes it as:
"coherent with other thematic papers (on education,
health, gender and tax governance) and the 2010 Spring Development
package, which together set out an EU position for the UN High
Level Event on MDGs in September 2010."
45.4 It also notes that this Communication is complemented
by a Communication on Humanitarian Food Assistance, which focuses
on emergency and post-emergency contexts (and which we consider
below).
45.5 The comprehensive approach it proposes has four
main elements:
— Increasing
food availability: helping developing countries to grow more food,
either to supply local demand or to provide jobs in rural areas.
The Commission notes that small-scale farming is dominant: about
85% of farmers in developing countries produce on less than two
hectares of land, and that mixed crop/livestock smallholding systems
produce about half of the world's food, and says that, "therefore,
sustainable small-scale food production should be the focus of
EU assistance to increase availability of food in developing countries";
— Improving
access to food: primarily by improving employment and income-earning
opportunities in both rural and urban areas, including through
diversification and trade, thus making food more affordable for
a larger number of people. This should be complemented by social
transfer mechanisms. The EU and its Member States should assist
partner countries in establishing and operating social mechanisms
in support of vulnerable population groups, especially women.
Experiences on successful mechanisms will be shared and operational
systems will be supported;
— Improving
the nutritional adequacy of food intake, by supporting nutrition
strategies and policies, and the setting up of coordination mechanisms
between agriculture, health, education, and social protection
programmes; and
— Improving
crisis prevention and management through the strengthening of
early warning systems, actions to reduce price volatility, the
maintenance of adequate stock levels, and encouraging freer trade
in food products.
45.6 The Commission then argues that maximising the
effectiveness of food security investments requires a focus by
the EU and its Member States on:
— National
and regional agriculture and food security policies and strategies:
Food security objectives and targets need to be better integrated
into partner countries' other sector policies in such areas as
transport, infrastructure, fisheries, health and education; and
farmer organisations, civil society, private sector, vulnerable
groups and other stakeholders must be involved in the development
and review of these policies.
— Harmonising
EU intervention: The
EU approach needs to be anchored in the Paris Declaration on Aid
Effectiveness, the Accra Agenda for Action and the EU Code of
Conduct on Division of Labour. The EU and its Member States should
identify regions and countries where tasks will be divided based
on comparative advantage and coordinate actions under the guidance
of a lead donor. EU and Member States policy frameworks and financing
instruments need greater harmonisation and greater complementarity,
as well as coordination with private investments, in order to
produce more effective results;
— Improving
the coherence of the international governance system:
support the rapid reform of the Committee on World Food Security
(CFS) as the central body on food security, so that it has an
oversight role in other specific domains with implications for
food security, including food aid and nutrition; plus further
rationalisation of the priorities of, and improved cooperation
between, the three Rome-based UN agencies (FAO, WFP, IFAD).
45.7 To achieve these goals, the following priority
actions are identified:
— Improve
smallholder resilience and rural livelihoods: target smallholder
farmers (in particular women), by providing support for effective
and sustainable national policies, strategies and legal frameworks,
and for equitable and sustainable access to resources, including
land, water, (micro) credit and other agricultural inputs; involve
them in policy-making and encourage links with EU counterparts;
— Support
effective governance, both at the national and the international
levels (as set out above);
— Improve
on regional agriculture, food security and nutrition policies;
— Strengthen
assistance mechanisms for vulnerable population groups.
45.8 At its meeting on 10 May 2010, as part of its
preparation for the UN MDG review summit in September 2010, the
Council adopted conclusions on the Communication and asked the
Commission to propose an implementation plan for this framework
before the end of 2010.[181]
The Government's view
45.9 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 9 June 2010,
the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department
for International Development (Mr Stephen O'Brien) notes that
agriculture, food security and nutrition are already substantial
elements of DFID's programme. He says that the UK took a leading
role in the policy dialogue with the Commission during the development
of the Policy Framework and that, as a result, "the outcome
closely matches our analysis of the causes of food insecurity
and the international responses needed."
45.10 He goes on to say that DFID's principal policy
response has been to work with others to implement a Global Partnership
for Agriculture, Food Security and Nutrition:
"This approach was endorsed at last year's G8
summit at L'Aquila, and at last November's FAO (Food and Agriculture
Organisation) Food Summit. It prioritises raising agricultural
production in developing countries to increase the availability
of food, reducing overall poverty levels by making food more affordable
to poor households, expanding social protection programmes for
the most vulnerable, and putting greater emphasis on tackling
nutrition. Making progress on these fronts requires coordinated
action across a range of sectors including health, education,
water and sanitation, as well as agriculture. A parallel priority
is to continue with efforts to get the international trading system
working better for poor countries, including getting the Doha
Development Round of trade talks back on track."
45.11 The Minister also says that DFID is already
engaged in numerous activities that support the Policy Framework
objectives:
45.12 "A significant part of DFID's bilateral
programme, including our agricultural research programme, is directed
at helping smallholder farmers to increase their productivity.
We continue to support effective governance in food security,
increasingly through developing countries' own national and regional
initiatives — for example the Africa Union's Comprehensive
African Agricultural Development Programme — as well as
through reform of the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO).
We are significant donors of humanitarian assistance through the
World Food Programme, and we remain by some margin the largest
bilateral donor to the UN's Central Emergency Response Fund."
Commission Communication 8250/10
45.13 In its introduction to this Communication,
the Commission says that, in accordance with the orientation of
the Humanitarian Aid Consensus,[182]
and more generally to promote best practice in the provision of
humanitarian food assistance by the EU and its Member States,
the principal aims of this Communication are to:
— maximise
the effectiveness and efficiency of EU food assistance, in accordance
with the Commission's humanitarian mandate defined by the humanitarian
legal framework, and in accordance with the Financial Regulation;
— improve
policy coherence, coordination, and complementarity between the
Commission, Member States and other donors, in the provision of
food assistance; and
— inform
partners and stakeholders of the Commission's objectives, priorities
and standards in the delivery of humanitarian food assistance.
45.14 The Communication therefore sets out the policy
framework for EU humanitarian food Assistance and seeks to outline:
the issues and trends to be taken into account; the concepts,
definitions and objectives that should drive humanitarian food
assistance; the principles that should underscore this work; and
the scope of activities undertaken.
45.15 It also says that this Communication should
be read in conjunction with the Commission's Communication on
food security, noting that separate Communications on these interrelated
topics are "deemed necessary in order to respect the distinction
between their policy focus i.e. food assistance linked to humanitarian
objectives for populations affected by crises in emergency contexts
and food security linked to development objectives", and
stating that "the two policy frameworks have been "designed
in such a way as to ensure coherence and safeguard against uncoordinated
overlap."
45.16 The Communication sets out the troubling picture
for food security in much the same way as does its counterpart.
It notes an increasing incidence of natural disasters, often exacerbated
by the impact of climate change. In addition, conflict and repression
continue to undermine people's livelihoods resulting in large
numbers of displaced persons. It estimates that high food and
fuel prices in 2007-08 increased the number of undernourished
people by 172 million to 1.02 billion in 2009, and that approximately
10% are "food insecure as a consequence of a disaster or
emergency situation."
45.17 To promote best practice in providing humanitarian
food assistance by the EU and Member States, the Communication
aims to:
— maximise
the effectiveness and efficiency of EU food assistance;
— improve
policy coherence, coordination and complementarities with other
actors; and
— inform
partners and stakeholders of the Commission's objectives, priorities
and standards in delivery of humanitarian food assistance.
45.18 The policy aims to ensure the consumption of
sufficient (in quantity), safe and nutritious food before, during
and in the aftermath of a humanitarian crisis when access to sufficient
food is compromised. Food assistance may involve the direct transfer
of food, but may also use a wider range of tools, such as providing
water, sanitation and health services, inputs, cash or vouchers
and skills. The choice of the most appropriate intervention and
transfer instrument (e.g. cash-based or in-kind) must be context-specific,
evidence-based and regularly reviewed. Complementary measures
alongside food assistance, such as public health measures, are
vital as they influence food use and therefore nutrition.
45.19 EU interventions will be underscored by the
following good practice principles:
— financing
of interventions will be prioritised according to severity of
the crisis, unmet needs, and the expected impact of the response;
— use
of flexible resources to ensure delivery of the most appropriate
and effective response in a specific context;
— when
food aid is deemed the most appropriate tool, local purchase (i.e.
from the country of operation) or regional purchase will be prioritised
to support local markets and cut transport costs;
— measures
to ensure food needs are met in ways that do not create dependency,
expose beneficiaries to undue risk, and minimise negative environmental
impacts;
— nutrition
will be incorporated into all food assistance needs assessments
and responses, and will focus on defined vulnerable groups, especially
children under two and pregnant and lactating women;
— beneficiary
communities will be involved in identifying needs and designing
and implementing responses;
— seek
to mainstream gender considerations in food-needs assessments,
design of responses and impact analysis; and
— seek
to uphold Linking Relief Rehabilitation and Development (LRRD)
principles and facilitate LRRD objectives.[183]
45.20 To achieve its objectives, the core role of
the humanitarian food assistance work is to save lives through
delivering assistance to meet basic humanitarian food and nutrition
needs. However, it also aims to fulfil supportive functions, specifically
contributing to reducing risk and vulnerability, and to improving
effectiveness through capacity strengthening and advocacy.
45.21 The Communication also highlights the importance
for mainstreaming disaster risk reduction (DRR), preparedness,
mitigation and prevention, within the limits of the humanitarian
mandates and food assistance objectives. DRR initiatives, such
as early warning systems and strategic food reserves, often require
long-term support and are seen as being beyond the remit of humanitarian
policy.
The Government's view
45.22 In his Explanatory Memorandum of 2 June 2010,
the Minister of State at the Department for International Development
(Mr Alan Duncan) welcomes the EU framework for tackling hunger
in emergencies through its Humanitarian Food Assistance policy,
and the consultative process undertaken in producing it. He notes
how the Communication sets out ways to improve the effectiveness
of EU spend on food security in emergencies, and ways to encourage
greater investment in alternatives to food aid, and the greater
emphasis on nutrition, including making sure that in emergencies
direct and indirect responses to acute malnutrition are better
prioritised.
45.23 The Minister wishes to encourage the EU to
use this Communication to advocate similar principles of good
practice in other humanitarian institutions, saying that:
"Core to this will be defining food assistance
as not only direct food transfers, but also a wider range of tools
(as described above). ECHO, the EU body in charge of delivering
humanitarian assistance, has a role in this context — to
work closely with multilateral and bilateral donors and International
NGOs to improve policy and practice in delivering humanitarian
food assistance."
45.24 The Minister is also supportive of the accompanying
Commission Staff Working Document, which addresses the operational
dimensions of the Communication, with the following comments:
"The EU needs to clearly articulate potential
synergies between different Communications and instruments, for
example, the EU Agriculture and Food Security Policy Framework,
the EU Strategy for Disaster Risk Reduction strategy and LRRD
strategy.
"The Communication's reference to protection
of agricultural livelihoods potentially opens the door for ECHO
to fund FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) humanitarian action.
This is an opportunity for ECHO to assist 'handover' from humanitarian
to rehabilitation programming between WFP (World Food Programme)
and FAO, and broadening the skill-set of humanitarian aid workers.
"In protracted crises, food assistance interventions
should address underlying causes and aim to enable an exit strategy.
"ECHO should also include food fortification
with minerals and vitamins as an option for response. Breastfeeding
practice should also be a focus to reduce under-two malnutrition
rates and reduce bad practice such as dumping of infant formula
in emergency settings. This is an emerging area of leadership
for ECHO.
"ECHO should ensure funded partners be part
of the Humanitarian Cluster coordination mechanism (implemented
by the UN during an emergency to ensure good sectoral coordination).
Where robust assessment methodologies exist for nutrition and
food within Clusters, ECHO should insist they are used in reporting
and evaluating impact."
45.25 At its meeting on 10 May 2010, the Council
adopted conclusions that welcomed the Communication as capturing
best practice and articulating "the objectives, principles
and standards by which the EU and its Member States can tackle
hunger in humanitarian crises in the most effective, efficient
and coordinated way", and deemed it "a necessary and
timely policy framework, recalling the increasing humanitarian
needs, and the growing number of undernourished people in the
world" as well as recognising its "important contribution
to the fulfilment of a commitment made in the Action Plan for
the European Consensus on Humanitarian Aid, to 'elaborate diversified
approaches and interventions to food assistance' including livelihood
support responses in different contexts on the basis of needs
assessment and analysis.'"[184]
Conclusion
45.26 We have considered these Communications
as essentially two sides of the same coin. Given the magnitude
of the problem — over 1 billion people considered to be
food insecure, with adverse effects on human development, social
and political stability, and on progress towards achieving the
Millennium Development Goals, and in particular MDG 1, eradicating
extreme poverty and hunger — and the imminence of the 20-22
September 2010 UN MDG Review High Level Plenary Meeting, we are
drawing them to the attention of the House.[185]
45.27 We now clear the documents.
180 The European Consensus on Development identifies
shared values, goals, principles and commitments which the European
Commission and EU Member States will implement in their development
policies, in particular:
¾ reducing poverty - particularly
focusing on the Millennium Development Goals;
¾ development based on Europe's
democratic values - respect for human rights, democracy, fundamental
freedoms and the rule of law, good governance, gender equality,
solidarity, social justice and effective multilateral action,
particularly through the UN;
¾ developing countries are mainly
responsible for their own development - based on national strategies
developed in collaboration with non-government bodies, and mobilising
domestic resources. EU aid will be aligned with these national
strategies and procedures.
Published as 2006/C 46/01, full information
and background is available at http://ec.europa.eu/development/policies/consensus_en.cfm. Back
181
The seven pages of conclusions were published as 9653/10 and are
available at http://register.consilium.europa.eu/pdf/en/10/st09/st09653.en10.pdf.
Back
182
Signed in December 2007 by the Presidents of the European Council
, the European Commission and the European Parliament, the Consensus
"sets out a common EU vision and a practical approach for
reaching out effectively to millions of people worldwide suffering
as a result of conflicts and natural disasters." See http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2008:025:0001:0012:EN:PDF
for the full text. Back
183
The objective of LRRD is to assess the measures designed to fill
the gap that exists between relief (short-term) and development
aid (long-term) and to provide a broader view of the problems
involved in assisting the Third World, taking account of the various
types of crises, other actors on the international stage and the
risk of structural dependence. See http://europa.eu/legislation_summaries/humanitarian_aid/r10002_en.htm
for further information. Back
184
See http://www.europa-eu-un.org/articles/es/article_9728_es.htm
for the full text of the conclusions. Back
185
Also see chapter 2 of this Report, on Commission Communication
8910/10: "A twelve-point EU action plan in support of the
Millennium Development Goals". Back
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