Chapter 6


areas access to productive resources such as land and water should be provided. Overall,
these objectives will allow food insecure households, and members of vulnerable and
disadvantaged groups in urban and rural areas to meet their food, nutritional and health needs
and to endeavor in supporting those who are not capable of doing so. Furthermore, to ensure
quality and accessibility of food supplies, governments are requested to use proceedings in
compliance with international agreements such as the Agreement on the Application of
Sanitary and Phyto-Sanitary Measures.

Commitment number three requires that governments: "Pursue participatory and
sustainable food, agriculture, fisheries, forestry and rural development policies and
practices in high and low potential areas, which are essential to adequate and reliable
food supplies at the household, national, regional and global levels, and combat pests,
drought and desertification, considering the multifunctional character of agriculture".
Food production can be improved by fighting environmental threats to food security, such as
desertification, drought and erosion; monitoring and conserving natural resources in food
producing areas, in forest lands, and non-arable lands; developing appropriate policies and
plans for water management techniques; improving irrigation systems; increasing cropping
intensities and reducing the deforestation rate. Governments are invited to formulate and
implement policies and programmes, in partnership with all actors of the civil society, that
will strengthen the agricultural, fishery and forestry sectors through training and extension
systems, always ensuring equal gender opportunities. This will require cooperation between
the public and the private sectors to promote a stronger research system leading to the use of
appropriate technologies in all sectors.

Commitment number four states that: "We will strive to ensure that food, agricultural
trade and overall trade policies are conducive to fostering food security for all through
a fair and market oriented world trade system". This objective approaches the issue of
food security in terms of trade, a key element for the effective utilization of resources and for
the stimulation of the economic growth. Governments need to establish reliable internal
marketing and transportation systems to ease connections within and among domestic,
regional and world markets. Through the implementation of the Uruguay Round Agreement,
that established a new international trade framework, developing countries will have the
opportunity of expanding trade and economic growth.

Commitment number five: "We will endeavor to prevent and be prepared for natural
disasters and man-made emergencies and to meet transitory and emergency food
requirements in ways that encourage recovery, rehabilitation, development and a
capacity to satisfy future trends". The idea is to establish prevention strategies for
countries vulnerable to emergencies. This can be achieved first through the development of
vulnerability information and mapping, with an analysis of their major causes and
consequences, and then through the improvement and development of efficient emergency
response mechanisms at international, regional, national and local levels. However, it is
fundamental that governments, with the support of civil societies, and of international
organizations, ensure that emergency procedures be capable of sustaining the transition from
relief to recovery and, finally, to development. This can be achieved through the preparation
of "planned post-emergency rehabilitation and development programmes" that, in the long
run will permit to individual households to comply with their primary requirements and will


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