Brussels, 15/04/2013 (Agence Europe) - Some of the questions and issues participants sought to answer at the international conference, “A New Dialogue: Putting People at the Heart of Global Development” that opened on Monday 15 April in Dublin (EUROPE 10821), included how to combine the traditional know-how of small farmers, climate adaptation practices and innovation for reducing hunger, improving nutrition and helping vulnerable communities in developing countries adapt to climate. This joint initiative between the Irish government, Climate Justice, the Mary Robinson Foundation, in partnership with the World Food Programme (WFP), is expected to produce a number of recommendations that will provide a contribution to the creation of a global framework for post-2015 development.
Hosting the conference, Irish President Michael D. Higgins pointed out that starvation in the world in the 21st century constituted the most obscene violation of human rights and the most significant ethical challenge the international community had ever had to face. Eamon Gilmore, the president in office of the Foreign Affairs Council, testified to his country's commitment to the development cause and pointed out that Ireland is internationally recognised for its leadership in the fight against hunger in some of the poorest communities in the world. He said that Ireland allocates 20% of its external aid budget to tackling hunger and putting emphasis on improved productivity of small farmers in Africa and by tackling malnutrition amongst mothers and children. He also said that climate change was increasing the frequency and seriousness of droughts and floods and making food production more difficult. Therefore, Gilmore said, innovative solutions had to be found to sustain communities that are in the front line.
Joe Costello, the president in office of the Development Council, underlined the importance of listening to what is being said by small farmers in Africa (Ethiopia, Malawi), Asia and Latin America and including them in international discussions. Ertharin Cousin, the executive director of the WFP, further hammered home this message. She said this conference provided a golden opportunity to influence and enrich the process to establish a roadmap for taking over the reins to meet the Millennium Development Goals. Frank Rijsberman, the director general of the CGIAR consortium, said that this conference was an excellent occasion “to put food security through climate-smart agriculture at the top of the political agenda”. To achieve this end, he explained that “they would need to make sure our research agendas continue the G8's commitment to the world's poor, by focusing on the needs of smallholder farmers - they have the least capacity to adapt and will be the most affected by climate change”. (AN/transl.fl)