Press release no. 247 from 21.11.11Aigner: "Natural resources must be available for everyone"

Source: TheFinalMiracle - Fotolia.com

In her opening address to the conference on "Policies against Hunger - Food Security and Access to Natural Resources" in Berlin on Monday, Ilse Aigner, Federal Minister of Agriculture, stressed that: "People have a right to use the resources in their country. This includes arable land, pastures, fishing grounds, water for agricultural use and forests and plant genetic resources. Only if access to these resources is ensured will people be able to bring out the agricultural potential in Africa for themselves."

This year's conference on "Policies against Hunger" in Berlin has brought together some 250 representatives from governments, international organisations, science, industry and civil society. The conference will address the question of how to optimise access to resources in emerging and developing countries for local populations. Important groundwork has been laid in this regard over the last year. The negotiations on the voluntary guidelines on the secure and equitable access to land and other natural resources, for instance, are about to be concluded in the United Nations' Committee on World Food Security. The Federal Ministry of Agriculture is actively involved in these negotiations and provides financial support for this process. "At the conference on Policies against Hunger we will deal with the application of the different sections of these guidelines", said Aigner. She went on to say that it was necessary to ensure, for instance, that provision was made for small-scale farmers and other disadvantaged groups to have access to water for agricultural use right from the planning stage.

Preventing discrimination against women with regard to access to resources is also an important subject. "The participatory rights of women and girls must be strengthened", Aigner added. Women still have little influence on land-use planning in many emerging and developing countries. Despite the fact that women account for more than half of the small-scale farmers, fewer than 20 percent of the titles to land are issued to women. This is mainly due to traditional inheritance and family law. If women had the same access to land, education and technology, it would be possible to considerably reduce the number of people suffering from hunger in the world.

The fishing industry in developing countries plays an important part in contributing to the populations’ food security. Small-scale fishermen are particularly in need of secure and equitable access to waters as these are their principal source of income and food. The role played by forests in ensuring food security is also to be given greater visibility in international processes. Protection and utilisation must be in balance. Thus, the protection of forests must not preclude using the forests sustainably for food security. The Rio 20 process should therefore take local populations’ right to food into account when devising strategies for forest conservation. The conservation of plant genetic resources also plays a crucial rule in safeguarding global food supplies: the challenge is to adapt and improve arable crops, particularly in view of climate change. What local small-scale farmers and breeders need in this regard is simple access to plant genetic resources.

The 9th Conference on "Policies against Hunger", which is taking place at the invitation of the Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection (BMELV), will be held in the Foreign Office in Berlin from 21 to 23 November 2011. This series of conferences, which is directed at domestic and international experts from politics, civil society, industry and the agricultural and food sectors, has been hosted by the BMELV since 2001.