Transcript THE RIGHT TO ADEQUATE FOOD VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES

Food Sovereignty and
the WTO
Harmon C. Thomas
Chief
Commodity Policy and Projections Service
Commodities and Trade Division
FAO, Rome
Outline of Presentation
I.
Comparison of food policy concepts



Food Security
Right to food
Food Sovereignty
II. MDG challenge: reducing poverty &
hunger by half by 2015
III. WTO rules and food policies


WTO Agreement on Agriculture
(AoA) – focus and objectives
Current renegotiation of the AoA
and food policy issues
I.
Comparison of food policy
concepts
•
Food Security - a technical concept
•
Right to food - a legal concept
•
Food Sovereignty - a political concept
 scope of the three terms is not strictly
comparable because of their different natures !
Food Security I
Final Goal:
“Food security exists when all people,
at all times, have physical and
economic access to sufficient, safe
and nutritious food to meet their
dietary needs and food preferences
for an active and healthy life”
World Food Summit, 1996
Stability
Utilization
Access
Availability
Food Security II
FSN
Right to food I



Legal foundation: Universal
Declaration of Human Rights (Article
25), International Covenant on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
(Article 11)
Interpretation: General Comment
No. 12 by CESCR
Operationalization: Voluntary
Guidelines
Right to food II
Ultimate Goal:
“The right to adequate food is realized
when every man, woman and child,
alone or in community with others,
has physical and economic access at
all times to adequate food or means
for its procurement”
CESCR, General Comment No. 12, para 6
Food Security = Right to food?
Food Sovereignty I
Definition:
“…the right of peoples, communities, and countries
to define their own agricultural, labor, fishing,
food and land policies which are ecologically,
socially, economically and culturally appropriate
to their unique circumstances.
It includes the true right to food and to produce
food, which means that all people have the right
to safe, nutritious and culturally appropriate food
and to food-producing resources and the ability
to sustain themselves and their societies.
Food Sovereignty II
Food sovereignty means the primacy of people’s
and community’s rights to food and food
production, over trade concerns. This entails the
support and promotion of local markets and
producers over production for export and food
imports.”
NGO/CSO Forum’s Statement Food Sovereignty: A Right
for All, 2002
Outline of Presentation
I.
Comparison of food policy concepts



Food Security
Right to food
Food Sovereignty
II. MDG challenge: reducing poverty &
hunger by half by 2015
III. WTO rules and food policies


WTO Agreement on Agriculture
(AoA) – focus and objectives
Current renegotiation of the AoA
and food policy issues
III. MDG challenge: reducing poverty &
hunger by half by 2015

Scope of the problem
• Poverty


1.1 billion people live on less than $1 a day
2.7 billion people – on less than $2 a day
• Hunger



815 million people go the bed every night hungry
Of 94 developing countries for which info is available
- in 28 of them, 20 – 34 % of pop undernourished
In another 18 countries, the proportion is more than
35%
III. MDG challenge: reducing poverty &
hunger by half by 2015

Role of agriculture in reducing poverty and hunger
• Most of the world’s poor and food insecure people live in
rural areas of developing countries - on average 70% of
pop live in rural areas
• . . . . .and depend on agriculture for their livelihoods.
• Agricultural sector therefore crucial for their immediate
welfare and for their future prospects.
• Food and agricultural production, and trade, are vital for
food security, poverty alleviation and economic growth.
• Few countries have developed economically without first
developing their agricultural sector
• Considerable un-utilized agricultural potential exists in
many developing countries to meet the twin challenges
of hunger and poverty.
• However, the potential is under-exploited. Why?
Why is the agricultural potential
underexploited in developing countries?

Domestic factors
• Low investment and utilization of modern
technology
• Ineffective domestic policy frameworks

External factors
• distorted international markets and the
challenges arising from integrating into
such markets
Government expenditure on
agriculture as a share of total
expenditure
1990
1998
Latin America and the Caribbean
2.46
2.54
Near East and North Africa
4.12
5.04
Sub-Saharan Africa
6.53
4.21
East and Southeast Asia
6.81
4.57
South Asia
7.65
4.87
Source: FAO (2003)
Annual and accumulated
Total support to agriculture in OECD
countries
1980 - 2002
US$ bil. 1938
US$ bil. 2208
US$ bil. 2336
Policy developments and responses

At the national level
• Reactions to BOP crises
• Policy objectives

food security, livelihood security, poverty reduction
food self-sufficiency vs. food self-reliance
At the international level
• Agricultural reform process in the WTO
III. WTO rules and food policies
WTO Agreement on Agriculture (AoA)

Focus: trade (commercial)
interests

Objectives:
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
“to establisih a fair and market-oriented
agricultural trading system”
“to provide for substantial progressive
reductions in agricultrual support and
protection...resulting in correcting and
preventing restrictions and distortions in
world agricutral markets”
III. WTO rules and food policies
Relevant issues in the current
renegotiation of the AoA
•
•
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Doha Declaration
July 2004 Framework agreement
Where we are now - 14 days to Hong Kong
– areas of convergence and divergence
Policy changes under consideration in
the negotiations
Market Access
The basic objective
1. ‘substantial improvements in market access ..
for all products (thru a ‘single approach’)
Additional objectives
2. progressivity
(deeper cuts in higher tariffs)
3.
flexibility


sensitive products
special products
Policy changes under consideration in
the negotiations
Market Access
Mechanisms for addressing sensitivities
Sensitive products

•
•
selection: by self-designation, but no. of tariff lines to be
negotiated
treatment: flexibility to achieve improvement in MA thru
combination of TRQ commitments and tariff reduction
Special products

•
•
selection: self-designation based on criteria of food security,
livelihood security and rural development – to be negotiated
treatment: more flexible treatment to be negotiated
Policy changes under consideration in
the negotiations
Market Access
Special and differential treatment for developing
countries

proportionality
to be achieved through lesser:
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tariff reduction commitments, or
TRQ commitments
SSM for use by DC members
fullest liberalization of trade in tropical products
preference erosion will be addressed (how?)
LDCs

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no reduction commitment required
duty-free and quota-free MA should be provided by DD and DCs
(in a position to do so)
Policy changes under consideration in
the negotiations
Domestic Support
1.
TDS = AMS +DM + BB
•
•
•
•
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Formula for cutting final bound total AMS
Overall reduction in TDS
Product-specific AMS caps
De Minimis
Blue box criteria
2. Green box
Policy changes under consideration in
the negotiations
Export Competition
1. All forms of export subsidies - parallel
elimination
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•
•
•
scheduled export subsidies
export credits (etc) exceeding 180 days
STEs – subsidies, gov’t financing &
underwriting of losses
food aid – not in conformity with disciplines
to be agreed
Policy changes under consideration in
the negotiations
Export Competition
2.
Export measures with equivalent effects parallel elimination
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export credits (etc) of 180 days or less
STEs
- practices to be disciplined
- monopoly status
food aid
- rules to prevent commercial displacement
- exemption of food aid in emergency situations
- other issues: aid in fully grant form, in-kind aid,
monetization
Policy changes under consideration in
the negotiations
Export Competition
3. ‘Credible end date’ and implementation
path
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5 yrs, 10 yrs after agreement come into
effect ?
equal annual phase-out
down-payment?
back-loading will be permitted?
.
Thank you