10/02/2014

This committee will address the complex relationships surrounding

food security and sustainable development. Food security was defined as
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 at the Rome World Food
Summit of 1996.
Latin America and the Caribbean have had very fast progress in
reducing hunger, particularly towards the south of the continent. In the
north of Africa, several countries have low levels of undernourishment,
and rapid progress has been achieved in Eastern and South Eastern Asia.
However the regions of SubSaharan Africa and Southern Asia have made
slow and modest progress in hunger reduction. Indeed, subSaharan
Africa has the highest prevalence of undernourishment in the world at
about one in four people, while Asia, the most populous region in the
world still has the highest number of undernourished.
International Framework:
Article 25 of Universial declaration of human right: the right to
foodevery human being carries a right to worthy life concerning health
and wellbeing, including food.2
The international covenant on economic, social and cultural rights
The Rome Declaration on World Food Security
The world food summit plan of action
Declaration of the World Food Summit
Committee on World Food Security: proposing a draft paper entitled
Framework for Action for Addressing Food Insecurity and Malnutrition in
Protracted Crises
The eradication of hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition
The elimination of poverty and the driving forward of economic and
social progress for all
The sustainable management and utilization of natural resources,
including land, water, air, climate and genetic resources for the benefit
of present and future generations.
Effects of food scarcity:
Social
Economic cost: lost economic output and impact onlivelihoods

HANDOUT D: GETTING TO KNOW YOUR COUNTRY

Government
Official country name: With the advent of the Cold War, two German
states were formed in 1949: the western Federal Republic of Germany
(FRG) and the eastern German Democratic Republic (GDR). The
democratic FRG embedded itself in key Western economic and security
organizations.
Governmental system:
Head of state:
Official languages: German, Englishn
Region:
Allies or blocs:
People
Population and growth rate: 80millions, -.18%
Major religions or cultures: Protestant(34), Roman catholic(34),
muslim (3.7)
Standard of living:
Development
Development status:
Climate: land: 348,672sq km/ water 8350sq km
Cool, cloudy, wet winters and summers; occasional warm
mountain (foehn) wind
Lowlands in north, uplands in centre and Bavarian Alps in south
Environment (problems, innovations, etc.): flooding (natural
hazards)

Emissions form coal burning utilities and industries contribute to

air pollution; acid rain damaging forests; pollution in the Baltic
Sea from raw sewage and industrial efflluents from rivers in
eastern Germany; gov established a mechanism fro ending the
use of nuclear power over the next 15 years; nature preservation
areas in line with the EUs Flora Fauna and Habitat directive
Has this nation met the Millennium Development Goal targets?
Economy
Economic system: Europes largest economy and second most
populous nation
GDP and growth rate:
Major cities:
Infrastructure status (good, poor, etc.):
Trade blocs/associations:
Balance of payments/trade: Major exports/imports:
Major trade partners:
International Monetary Fund, World Bank positions (debtor nation?
donor nation?):
Natural resources: Coal, lignite, natural gas, iron ore, copper, nickel,
uranium, potash, salt, construction materials, timber, arable land
Energy sources:
Military
Military organization:
Percent of GDP spent on defense: Major weapons, nuclear capability, etc.:
PAGE 61
THE 2006 UNA-USA MODEL UNITED NATIONS CONFERENCE ADVISORS
GUIDE
GETTING TO KNOW YOUR COUNTRY
United Nations
Date admitted to UN: UN dues payment status:
Has the UN ever intervened in a conflict involving this nation? If so,
where and how?
How does the country contribute to UN peacekeeping?
Has the UN cited this nation for human rights violations? If so, why?
What do you think this nations position on the topic of debate will
be? Why?
____________________________________________

Try to find at least one recent article that is about or makes

reference to this nation (preferably from the past two weeks).
Conflicts/Issues
What are four problems that affect this nation?
Ethnic/cultural issues, if any:
Refugee problems:
Major conflicts both past and present:
Committee: Food Agriculture Organisation
Topic: Food Scarcity
Country: Germany
History of Germanys agriculture industry:
Back in the early 20th century, over 80% of Germanys land was used for
agriculture and forestry. In 1992, Agriculture had then undergone
profound structural changes (Some areas of German agricultural policy
have transferred to the European Union (EU): more effective farming
method and more ecologically safe agricultural production were promoted
to the local farmers with government funds), resulting in the drastically
decrease in number of farms and the gradually replacement of labour
forces by machines to increase productivity. Therefore, some farmers left
the industry for better income. In 1997, both family farms and individual
farm entrprises had gained ground in Germany, which contribute most of
the agricultural output nationwide.
The government has been developing environmental friendly and
sustainable agriculture since then. As Germany believes that agriculture
plays a key role in the attempt to overcome the global challenges of food
scarcity. A worldwide increase in food production and a strengthening of
income in countries affected by poverty is necessary. As the former
Federal Minister for Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection Ilse Aigner
said Agriculture and forestry are not only a part of the economy, they are
also a part of our society, our culture and our environment. They are
indispensable partners in the bid to meet the new global challenges
(feeding the world, climate protection, reliable energy supplies).
Germanys current position on food scarcity:

Germany had long acknowledged the problems of hunger and malnutrition

brought to the society during post WWI and WWII. German people
suffered from severe starvation because of food blockades. Until now, in
the developing world the problem of hunger still exist because of varies
reasons: wars, poverty, unfair terms of trade, lack of secure ownership
rights, unfavourable political and economic environments and natural
disasters, climate change and the competition between food crops and
biofuels. While in the Millennium Declaration, the international community
undertook by 2015 the absolute number of people forced to go hungry
and the percentage of the worlds population is looking forward to cut by
half. The results so far are negative since the number of undernourished
people is much higher than the target figure. Therefore, food scarcity is
definitely a priority area of Germany development policy.
As a developed nation, Germany closely cooperate with other
international community: 1996 World Food Summit in Rome, the FAO to
help other states developing food security strategy.
Suggested resolution:
According to the UDHR, Germany believes that every country should
be able to attain food sovereignty. To achieve this, Germany aims to
integrate developing countries into the global economy in such a way as
to promote development, provided this does not jeopardise local food
security. Therefore, Germany is willing to work with Global Partnership for
Food Security together with other nations to support this strategy.
In long term rise in agricultural production, sustainable agricultural
system should be adopted under good governance of any state.
Therefore, an international agricultural research platform should be set
up, so as to increase the total yields of agricultural production via
technology that is developed from the platform.
Germany as a member of the European Union as well as various
international organizations, looks forward to offer its support to the
improvement of the international framework for food security.
Plant geneticist Hans-Jrg Jacobsen
The German population is shrinking. Why should Germany be
worried about food shortages?
Hans-Jrg Jacobson: Our demand for plant products is actually on
the rise we need them not only for food but for other things as well.
Corn, for example which is subsidised is grown increasingly for use in
biogas plants. Everyone wants to see sustainable energy prevail. I can
take fifty kilos of wheat and either feed a person for six weeks or use it to
provide enough bio-fuel for a car to drive from Hamburg to Hanover, a
distance of just under 150 km. There are already signs of food shortage.
In 2012, for the first time in 25 years, Germany will import more grain
than it exports. Food prices worldwide are on the rise.
Cant we just produce more food?

Its not that simple, unfortunately. The world has about 1.5 billion
hectares of farmland, and thats about the limit. Each additional acre of
land that is ploughed for cultivation means more carbon dioxide
emissions, which ultimately heat the atmosphere. Why is this? The
increased oxygen in the soil activates the microorganisms, which then
break down organic substances and cause emissions. What we need is to
intensify the way we work the land already under cultivation in a manner
that is sustainable.
The wariness toward genetically modified plants is
considerable.
Yes, but it is unfounded, from both a scientific and engineering
standpoint. The EU has invested 300 million euros in 500 projects to
investigate the risks of green genetic engineering. Results have showed
that the risks affiliated with green genetic engineering are no more and
no less than those of conventional breeding. As long as the public is
barraged by yellow press headlines that read Genetically Engineered
Potatoes Cause Brain to Shrink, results like these fall on deaf ears.

The German Government has generously funded US$1,561,500

through UNODC to continue the implementation of the Project "Increasing
Food Security and Promoting Licit Crop Production and Small Farmer
Enterprise Development in Oudomxay province, Lao PDR."
The objective of the project is to continue to implement the
remaining activities, in the old project target villages and to expand
activities to 17 new project target villages, in the 3 districts of Xay, Houn
and La. The project will provide sustainable alternative livelihood
development to former opium farming communities including the
provision drug abuse treatment. Certain pilot farmers from the first
phase of the project have been able to increase their income more than
tenfold through innovative agricultural production techniques with support
from the Royal Project Foundation and the Highland Research
Development Institute of Thailand in partnership with the provincial
agricultural office and UNODC.

Germany has committed nearly six million dollars for food and
nutrition security, sustainable livelihoods and climate-smart agriculture in
agreements signed with FAO, the agency announced today.FAO has been
promoting improved complementary feeding in a number of countries in
Asia and Africa, teaching families how to enrich young childrens diets
using locally available, nutrient-dense foods.Just over two million dollars
will be used to finance a three-year project to evaluate and document the
effectiveness of existing complementary feeding practices in order to
inform nutrition policy and programme design in developing countries.
Two other projects are aimed at improving nutrition and nutrition
education. Promoting sisal The Government of Germany provided
funding for the first phase of a 52-month project to promote the
commercial and environmental potential of sisal production among
farmers and vulnerable communities in several of the worlds poorest
countries.Sisal is a renewable resource that thrives on marginal land in
hot and arid climates. Fibre residues can be used to generate bioenergy
and produce animal feed, fertiliser and ecological housing material. Sisal
is also entirely biodegradable at the end of its life cycle. German funding
will also support policy development and capacity building on the linkages
between bioenergy and food security, as well as a three-year project to
improve climate change mitigation within the agricultural sector. Another
project will contribute to FAOs post-earthquake agriculture emergency
and rehabilitation programme in Haiti, with a view to strengthening
coordination.
The all-round development of rural areas becomes a locomotive of
growth in the generally agrarian economies of developing countries. The
focus is on small farming and fisheries. Small farmers and their families
receive support to help them make the transition from purely subsistence
farming to producing a marketable surplus. Productivity gains and income
generation in agriculture make it possible to create jobs outside
agriculture. This is the most effective way of overcoming poverty and
hunger, both of which are widespread in rural areas. Private investment in
agriculture should be stepped up and geared to development goals. In a
growing number of rural regions in the world, creating employment
alternatives to the cultivation of drug crops is in the interests of security.
German activities focus on developing local, national and regional
markets for food and animal fodder. Any disruption of these markets, say
in the form of export subsidies on the part of industrialised countries,
should be avoided. German development policy also aims to integrate
developing countries into the global economy in such a way as to promote
development, provided this does not jeopardise local food security. Support is given to ensuring sovereign access to natural resources (including
fishing grounds, soil fertility, biodiversity).

The BMZ has set out to achieve these strategic objectives in two
ways. It is working within the multilateral forums of the Global Partnership for Food Security that have been set up since 2009 to have its three
strategic objectives generally adopted
secondly, it consistently gears its own bilateral cooperation in the
field of rural development and food security to these objectives. It will
process its positive experience and achievements to date
and contribute them to the Global Partnership in the form of good
practices.
international agricultural research, which is enormously important
for long-term food security, to increase its commitment to realising the
above three strategic objectives.
"We are grateful to the Government of Germany for its continued
support to WFP. This contribution not only strengthens WFP's important
partnership with Germany in protecting Sudan's most vulnerable people,
but also allows us to carry out activities that will promote long-term food
security, said WFP Sudan Country Director Adnan Khan.
end hunger, achieve food security, and improved nutrition and
sustainable farming
ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns
Small farmers and their families receive support to help them make
the transition from purely subsistence farming to producing a marketable
surplus. Productivity gains and income generation in agriculture make it
possible to create jobs outside agriculture.
Donor packages:

Can use we
Germany: food scarcity is definitely a priority area of Germany
development policy, via international platform providing funds for the
developing nations
worldwide increase in food production and a strengthening of
income in countries affected by povertywater resources and agricultural
France: France is strongly committed in support of food security,
both within the framework of bilateral cooperation and at a multilateral
level
Argentina:

Austria: climate change, long term solution, education of local

farmers,
Brazil: poverty, technological, inequality
Canada: insurance scheme, environment: efficient method of
production
China: food distribution
Costa rica:
Korea: extreme weather cause,
Indonesia: food diversification
Mexico: food scarcity/ mislocation of food? How aid can be utilized
Myanmar: international fund, climate change action is needed, asia
pacific region, see more aids,
Papua: Soil erosion, hard to culturivate/ war
Phillippines: tsunami, volcanic eruption, natural disasters, strongly
affected, climate change causes the disaster, no problem with gm crops
Rwanda: reduce trade resistance, contribute more on use of gm
products
Switzerland: food wastage
US: getting food from area of production to other people, not
increasing the land
Germany: policies against hunger conference held in july this
year, it is estimated that there would be 9 billion people to feed worldwide
by the middle of the centuryour Federal Minister Schmidt emphasised:
"Sustainable agriculture is the key in the fight against hunger and
poverty.
president of the Earth policy research centre in Washington: We are
entering a new era of rising food prices and spreading hunger. Food
supplies are tightening everywhere and land is becoming the most
sought-after commodity as the world shifts from an age of food
abundance to one of scarcity," says Brown. "The geopolitics of food is fast
overshadowing the geopolitics of oil."
His warnings come as the UN and world governments reported that
extreme heat and drought in the US and other major food-exporting
countries had hit harvests badly and sent prices spiralling.
"The situation we are in is not temporary. These things will happen
all the time. Climate is in a state of flux and there is no normal any more.
GMO free
Our government is very much in favour of GMOs
TTIP will not change the way we regulate GMOs [genetically
modified organisms] in Europe. EU trade commissioner Karel De Gucht
stressed that publically many times. The EU has its red lines in the
negotitations and the GMOs is one of them.

the EUs non-tariff barriers to US agricultural products, specifying in

particular long delays in reviews of biotech products [that] create
barriers to US exports of grain and oil seed products.
protecting public safety and the environment come before the profits of
big business. Europes safety-first policies are a fundamental
cornerstone and must not be traded away
GMcrops constitute a major threat to sustainable farming in Europe,
our right to choose and the environment
Food Assistance Convention: developed nation would provide fund
for developing nation to help them with efficient local farming
We've not been producing as much as we are consuming. That is
why stocks are being run down. Supplies are now very tight across the
world and reserves are at a very low level, leaving no room for
unexpected events next year," said Abdolreza Abbassian, a senior
economist with the UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO). With
food consumption exceeding the amount grown for six of the past 11
years, countries have run down reserves from an average of 107 days of
consumption 10 years ago to under 74 days recently.