Fostering Cross-Sectoral Dialogue on Nutrition and Trade

In the context of FAO’s Committee on Commodity Problems, the theme of the 2016 Ministerial meeting was ‘Long-term Commodity Price Trends and Sustainable Agricultural Development’. During this meeting held in October 2016 at the FAO HQ (Rome), Ministers were invited to share their views and experiences on the difficulties decision makers face when designing policies to address declining agricultural prices and increased volatility, and the ability of institutions to provide a coordinated response to agricultural development. Michel Mordasini, Chair of the UNSCN and Vice-President of IFAD participated in the ministerial meeting and presented the highlights of the UNSCN Trade and Nutrition: Opportunities and Risks event (June 2016), thus ensuring continuity in the debate about trade and nutrition.

Trade also featured in Dr. Hilal Elver’s latest report on nutrition. Presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council in October 2016, the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food report argues that, by increasing trade liberalization and foreign direct investment by transnational corporations, has led to a surge in low-cost, ultra-processed foods onto the global market. This influx and related marketing by the food industry has had serious negative impacts on diets and health.

The report also analyses various shortcoming, such as the inability of the global governance system to provide adequate safeguard against conflicts of interest. While there is a role for all actors to play, appropriate guidelines and mechanism to regulate harmful interventions need to be strengthened. Dr. Elver underlines the need for corporations in the food and nutrition industry to respect human rights and contribute to equitable access to nutrition foods. The full report is available here.

Photo by ©UN Photo/Mark Garten