FAO and CELAC join efforts to eradicate hunger

Santiago, March 10, 2015.- Representatives of the Community of Latin American and Caribbean States, CELAC, will meet today with FAO experts in Santiago to coordinate their agendas and perfect the implementation strategy of CELAC’s Plan for Food Security Nutrition and Hunger Eradication 2025.

The plan was developed by the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean with the technical support of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the Latin American Integration Association (LAIA) and the United Nations Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC). The CELAC plan is the main public policy document adopted by the whole region to move decisively towards the eradication of hunger and poverty.

The Santiago meeting can be followed via live streaming and seeks to deepen synergies between CELAC’s Food Security Plan and FAO’s regional work to ensure the greatest possible integration between national, subregional and regional food security interventions.

“Latin America and the Caribbean continue to demonstrate a unique level of political commitment with the fight against hunger. FAO is committed to deliver its full support to ensure that country efforts come to fruition as quickly as possible,” said Raul Benitez, FAO’s Regional Representative.

According to FAO, Latin America and the Caribbean was the first in the world to propose the goal of eradicating hunger by 2025, through the Hunger Free Latin America and Caribbean Initiative, a goal that has been fully accepted by CELAC.

Coordination at the highest level

The meeting was attended by representatives of the Pro-Tempore Presidency of CELAC, currently held by Ecuador, and the CELAC Quartet, composed of Costa Rica (President Pro-Tempore 2014), the Dominican Republic (which will assume the presidency in 2016) and representatives of CARICOM, who will discuss the prospects and challenges of hunger eradicating in the region and the tools and mechanisms necessary to overcome poverty.

The meeting will also be attended by the Minister of Agriculture of Chile Carlos Furche, and representatives and ambassadors of Argentina, Ecuador, Haiti, Nicaragua, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Venezuela and the Latin American and Caribbean Group to the United Nations (GRULAC), who will bring their national perspectives to bear on various aspects of CELAC’s Plan for Food Security.

Alicia Barcena, Executive Secretary of ECLAC and Carlos Alvarez Secretary General of LAIA will also participate in the discussions on the four pillars of the CELAC Plan, which are:

- National and regional strategies and public policies for food security.

- Timely and sustainable access to safe, adequate, sufficient and nutritious food for all people.

- Nutrition wellbeing and assurance of nutrients for all vulnerable groups.

- Stable production and timely attention to natural or man-made disasters.

CELAC plan could help the region achieve the WFS goal

According to FAO, Latin America and the Caribbean is the only developing region that has already achieved the hunger target of the Millennium Development Goals, halving the proportion of people who suffer hunger from 1990-92 levels.

The region is also close to achieving the more ambitious goal of the World Food Summit (WFS): if regional hunger falls by 2.75 million people during 2015, the region will have been the only one in the world to have reached both the MDG and the WFS goals.

“CELAC’s Food Security Plan might just give the final necessary push that the region needs to achieve the goal of the World Food Summit, which would be an unparalleled achievement,” said Raul Benitez.