Essential Voices for a Crucial "Zero Hunger" Summit

Everyone agrees that the Fourth Summit of Regions on Food Sovereignty and Security comes at a very relevant time. With the price of food rising day by day because of the war in Ukraine and climate change, it seems that we are already facing the "Coming Hunger" predicted by Paul Roberts.

Faced with this serious situation, ORU Fogar and the National Association of National Councillors (ANCORE) of Chile have organized a program in which they will present the best practices of regional food policies, at the same time it includes some very authoritative voices on the subject.

The Summit, to begin with, will be able to listen to Paul Roberts, American writer and journalist, author of this visionary book, published in 2008. Fourteen years ago, Roberts warned that the exceptional period of history in which humans have had super abundance of food was coming to an end. It pointed to a worrying future because the food production system faced various dangers, the greatest of which was that livestock and crops could be affected by various pandemics and dangerous pollution. And beyond that, in the immediate future, two key elements for food production were in short supply: energy and water. This, he claimed, combined with population growth is a major threat. We’ll hear what Roberts has to tell us when it looks like all his predictions are coming true.

Complementary to this voice may be that of Roberta Billitteri of Slow Food Italia. And that is what, if Roberts can diagnose threats, from Slow Food present an alternative to the state of things in which we are. ORU Fogar had the privilege of listening to the founder of Slow Food, Carlo Petrini, during the local Economic Development Forum we organized in Turin in October 2015. From that moment and within this movement born in Bra, Piedmont, other voices have been complementing that of Petrini. One of the most interesting is that of Roberta Billitteri. Slow Food is expanding in many countries. Northern Italy remains, however, the most important laboratory of this food movement. Its proposal to preserve the eco-region deserves to be heard within ORU Fogar.

Also from Northern Italy, we can listen to Robert Cargangiu. He is one of the most reputed and media chefs in the country. He likes to be called a cook. He is the president of the Association of Italian Cuisine Professionals. The year 2020 published "La nuova cucina regionale". Cargangiu defends the kitchen of "common sense", which consists of achieving nutritional optimization, working with proximity products. Italy is, without doubt, one of the countries of the world, perhaps the most, has valued its traditional cuisine. Robert Cargangiu has not only contributed to this purpose, but has given prestige to the regional scale.

In Temuco we can also hear Gabriel Ferrero, President of the World Committee on Food Security. The Committee (CFS) is an intergovernmental platform composed of United Nations member countries, food security and nutrition agencies and bodies, including ORU Fogar. The CFS is, in some sense, the Parliament of the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations). The FAO, for its part, will be represented by Ornella Tiboni, FAO Food Systems Specialist.

In Chile there will also be Alain-Richard Donwahi, president of the 15th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification and Drought (COP 15). President also of the Regional Council of the Ivorian region of Nawa, member of ORU Fogar, Alain-Richard Donwahi, will intervene in the space "Water security, reforestation and sustainable agriculture". There he can count the policies he has promoted at the forest level, which will allow to recover 3 million hectares of forest by 2030. Salah El Aboudi, vice-president of the Eastern Regional Council of Morocco, Yao N’Guessan, vicepresident de San Pedro, Côte d’Ivore, and Issoufou Oumarou, president of the Tillabéri Region, Niger, will also participate. They will tell us their experiences of working on these issues in the Sahara. Meanwhile, Jean Paul Benavente, governor of Cusco, Peru, will present the Andean experience of "sowing water".

The African presence will be remarkable. Presidents of regions in Morocco, Senegal, Côte d'Ivoire, Niger and Kenya will share their experiences in fighting child malnutrition, defending rural areas, promoting local markets and protecting farmers. The Europeans will explain their policy of local production and designations of origin, but also how they are fighting food waste. From Chile, Ecuador or Colombia we will talk about the work of women and the indigenous world in favor of food sovereignty.

An African, Adama Diouf, a European, Carles Llorens, and a Latin American, Jesús Quispe, will debate the conceptual dilemma of whether it is appropriate to talk only about food security or whether we should talk about food sovereignty.

The Summit will finally count with the presence of Paul Carrasco, former president of ORU Fogar and prefect of Azuay, Ecuador. Organizer of the III Summit of Zero Hunger Regions in Cuenca, Carrasco will make a double transfer in Temuco. If on the one hand he will pass the testimony to Marcelo Carrasco, president of ANCORE and host in Chile; on the other he will pass it to Rachid el Abdi, president of ORU Fogar. The two Carrasco and President El Abdi must be heard for their experience in this area and their work in favour of regional development.