Pacific Food Summit
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Pacific Food Summit 21-23 April2010 Port Vila, Vanuatu (at~~l World Health ~~§ Organization --"?~ -=--- Western Pacific Region FOOD SECURE PACIFIC REPORT FJFIC FOOD SUMMIT Port Vila, Vanuatu 21-23 April 2010 WHO/WPRO LmRARY MANILA. PHILIPPINES 3 0 SEP 2011 Manila, Philippines December 2010 WPDHP1002530-E Report Series Number: RS/2010/GE/22(V AN) REPORT PACIFIC FOOD SUMMIT Convened by: WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION REGIONAL OFFICE FOR THE WESTERN PACIFIC In collaboration with: FOOD AND AGRICULTURE ORGANIZATION OF THE UNITED NATIONS GLOBAL HEALTH INSTITUTE PACIFIC ISLAND FORUM SECRETARIAT SECRETARIAT OF THE PACIFIC COMMUNITY UNITED NATIONS CHILDREN'S FUND Port Vila, Vanuatu 21-23 April 2010 Not for sale Printed and distributed by: World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific Manila, Philippines December 2010 NOTE The views expressed in this report are those of the participants of the Pacific Food Summit and do not necessarily reflect policies of the Organization. This report has been prepared by the World Health Organization Regional Office for the Western Pacific for governments of Member States in the Region and for those who participated in the Pacific Food Summit, which was held in Port Vila, Vanuatu from 21 to 24 April2010. CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ........ ... .... .... ........ .......... ...... ..... ... ... ... ... ...... ....... 1 1.1 Objectives ................ ..... ........ .. ... .. .. ..... ........ .... .... ..................... ... 2 1.2 Opening Remarks ........ ... .... ... ...... ...... ............... ... ........ ... ..... .......... 2 2. PROCEEDINGS .. ...... ...... .... ........ ... .................... ............ ............. 2 2.1 Session 1: The summit's purpose, structure, framework, and outcomes .... .... ... 2 2.2 Session 2: Country statements on food security and pacific-wide action ............ 5 2.3 Session 3: Meeting the challenge of food security .................................... 5 2.4 Parallel group sessions 4-9 .................................... ........................... 7 2.4.1 Session 4: Production, processing/trading of safe/nutritious local food .. ..........7 2.4.2 Session 5: Protect infants and vulnerable groups ...................................... 8 2.4.3 Session 6: Consumer empowerment and mobilizing partners ........................ 9 2.4.4 Session 7: Regulatory frameworks and public-private sector collaboration ...... 12 2.4.5 Session 8: Leadership and cooperation ........... ..................................... 13 2.4.6 Session 9: Building food security information systems ............................. 15 2.5 Feedback: Reporting back from the sessions ................................. ........ 16 2.6 Session 10: Finalizing the Framework and the way forward .. ..................... 16 3. CONCLUSIONS ............. ........ ......... .................. ... ......... ......... .... 17 3.1 The Summit outcomes document ...... ....... ........ ..... ...... .. ....... .. .. ... ...... 17 3.2 Next steps ............................................................... ... .............. 18 3.3 Closing .. .. ... .. ... ... ... ...... ............. .... ....... ..................................... 18 ANNEXES: ANNEX 1 - SUMMIT OUTCOMES DOCUMENT ANNEX2- LIST OF PARTICIPANTS, TEMPORARY ADVISERS, SECRETARIAT, OBSERVERS AND REPRESENTATIVES OF AGENCIES ANNEX 3- PROGRAMME OF ACTIVITIES ANNEX4- SUMMIT MEDIA REPORTS ANNEX5- COUNTRYSTATEMENTSONFOODSECURITY ANNEX6- OPENING AND CLOSING ADDRESSES SUMMARY A Pacific Food Summit was called for by Ministers attending the 7th Pacific Health Ministers meeting in 2007 in Vanuatu. In 2008, at a meeting in Niue, the Pacific Island Forum Leaders made food security a priority in the Pacific, and in 2009, Ministers of Trade, Agriculture and Health endorsed the concept of a Pacific Food Summit at their respective regional meetings. Continuing the impetus, several Pacific island countries held national food summits leading up to the Pacific Food Summit, which was held at Le Lagon Resort, Port Vila, Vanuatu, from 21 to 23 April2010. More than 170 people from 23 countries attended the meeting. Ministers and senior policy-makers from Agriculture, Health and Trade attended as well as representatives from the food industry, community organizations, faith-based organizations, consumer groups, academia and regional and national organizations. The purpose of the Summit was to enable regional action on food security. Specific objectives were: (1) to review threats to food security in the Pacific and best practices for improving food security; (2) to finalize and endorse a Framework for Action on Food Secuirty and agree on Summit outcomes; and (3) to agree on a process for advocating the endorsement of the Framework for Action by Pacific Forum Leaders and national governments and funding related activities. Before the Summit, a draft Framework for Action on Food Security was developed and circulated widely across the Pacific by Framework Partnership Agencies: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Global Health Institute (GHI), Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat (PWS), Secretariat for the Pacific Community (SPC), United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization (WHO). Country representatives of the highest rank were invited to the meeting. The Summit was opened by the Acting Prime Minister of Vanuatu, Honourable Serge Vohor, with a supporting welcome addresses by Dr Shin Y oung-soo, WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific, and Mr Feleti Teo Deputy Secretary General, Pacific Islands Forum Secretariat. The first session of the Summit reviewed the meeting objectives, purpose and structure, presented the draft Framework and introduced a draft Summit outcomes document. During this session, the Pacific food security situation was presented along with the threats of population growth, climate change, food-related diseases, poverty and poor economic growth. It was stressed that individual sectors cannot achieve food security in isolation. To be effective and sustainable, government and society must work together. The Framework was a mechanism through which this could be achieved by providing long-term solutions that recognize the complexity of the food system and the means for multisectoral action. Individual country statements were delivered in second session of the Summit. Before the meeting, each country representative was given a draft of the Framework and asked to comment on the Framework in terms of relevance and national priorities. The responses were presented in the form of short verbal presentations supported by a more comprehensive written statement. Statements from all21 countries in attendance supported the Framework, with delegates identifying specific areas within the Framework that needed clarification and/or modification. The areas of transportation, energy, education and information and communication technology were raised as potential enablers of food security in the Pacific that needed more attention in the Framework. The third plenary session consisted of eight presentations on behalf of the private sector and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) followed by questions from the floor. Presentations from the private sector gave clear indications that the food industry can adjust to protect health. Partnerships between government and industry were a reality and food control systems can be fine-tuned not only to ensure foods are free from contaminants but also to ensure that foods contain acceptable levels of salt, fats and energy. Trade agreements can be made that ensure acceptable food quality and national regulations are made consistent with best practice. The NGO presentations showed that consumer power is alive and well in the Pacific and the role of NGOs cannot be underestimated. Information on food market surveillance, food safety concerns and "naming and shaming", advocacy and price monitoring are core activities. It was shown that most NGOs are run by or for women. Women and food go together and "food is what women do in the Pacific". It was shown that growing and consuming local foods increased food security and health. The key was to preserve as many varieties of indigenous crops as possible. This would provide protection against the effects of climate change, crop failures, pests and natural disasters. The main work of the Summit was done during six working group sessions that were aligned with the themes in the draft Framework for Action. Each session consisted of one or two short presentations that set the stage, a panel discussion with questions and answers followed by group table discussions. The group discussions were designed to follow a pre-set series of questions on the specific themes of the Framework. The questions prompted the groups to critique, modify and make changes to the Framework. Participants were asked to prioritize their changes and recommendations to one or two issues. The results of these discussions were recorded and then presented to all session partiCipants for further comments. The presentations were then synthesized, agreed upon and recorded for each of the six sessions then reported back to all participants at two separate feedback plenary sessions to identify priorities for action. The presentations made by groups at the feedback sessions recommended several changes to the Framework. Once again, there was good support from the floor for the changes recommended by the groups who worked on each theme. Most of the suggested changes were on technical