WASHINGTON, May 26 (Kyodo) - A summit-level meeting of the Food and Agriculture Organization is expected to call for international policy guidelines for biofuel production as part of efforts to weather the global food crisis, according to a draft of the declaration to be adopted at the talks in Rome in early June.
The draft, a copy of which was made available to Kyodo News on Sunday, says drawing up guidelines for biofuel production, an alleged culprit behind the ongoing spike in food prices, is a medium- and long-term measure designed to help salvage developing nations hard-hit by the crisis.
The measure should be followed by immediate and short-term measures featuring a call for assistance to countries in distress, according to the draft.
The planned declaration, to be released after FAO's June 3-5 summit-level talks, would lay the groundwork for debates at the Tokyo International Conference on African Development in Yokohama from Wednesday through Friday, and at the Group of Eight summit at the Lake Toya resort area in Hokkaido, Japan, on July 7-9. The draft voices deep concern about the soaring food prices and its future consequences, and pointed to the need for the international community to form a united front against the food crisis.
''We are now deeply concerned that the current situation of higher food prices will have further adverse impacts on food and nutrition security, particularly in developing countries and countries in transition,'' it says.
''We are firmly convinced that the international community must take, in the immediate future, coordinated action to mitigate and where possible correct the negative impact of increased food prices on the world's most vulnerable countries and populations,'' it says.
On immediate and short-term measures, the draft encourages developed nations to respond to calls for emergency contributions of $1. 7 billion by FAO and of $755 million by the World Food Program.
For the medium and long term, the draft says international policy guidelines need to be crafted for sustainable bioenergy production in a way that would strike the right balance between energy needs and food security.
It suggests that FAO launch an intergovernmental working group to ''identify best practices for the production and sustainable use of biofuel,'' but participating countries appear divided on the proposal.
Critics fear diverting corn to biofuel use is raising global food prices.
The draft also asks developed countries to reduce trade barriers, support programs and other trade-distorting measures and help the developing world to boost agricultural exports and increase productivity.
Furthermore, the draft says opportunities should be created for the world's smallholder farmers to be able to grapple with droughts and other problems spawned by global warming. (Kyodo)
Today In Asia : Last Update : 08:19:49 26 May 2008 (GMT+7:00)
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