U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization Release No. 0453.99 Remarks As Prepared for Delivery by Secretary of Agriculture Dan Glickman U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization 30th Conference Rome, Italy November 13, 1999 Thank you Mr. Chair. Director-General, ladies and gentlemen. "I want to acknowledge our Ambassador to the UN Agencies on Food and Agriculture -- Senator George McGovern. His vision in 1961 made the World Food Program a reality. I thank him for the pivotal role he continues to play in alleviating world hunger. "We are pleased that under Dr. Diouf the first strategic framework that will guide FAO for the next 15 years has been developed. As FAO begins to implement the strategic framework, I propose that we take an in-depth look at how we allocate scarce dollars to our most important priorities before we meet at our next Conference in 2001. This is particularly important under the zero nominal growth policy that the United States has for all international organizations, including FAO. "I now want to briefly address three of the most pressing challenges I see facing agriculture in the new century feeding a hungry world, expanding free and fair trade, and using new technologies to benefit both developing and developed countries. Hunger "When I led the U.S. delegation to the World Food Summit in 1996, we joined with other nations in setting a goal to reduce by half the number of undernourished people in the world by the year 2015. To help meet that goal, last March, I announced the U.S. Action Plan on Food Security, designed to help get at the root causes of hunger poverty, income inequality, political instability, poorly managed natural resources, lack of infrastructure, and more. "In 1998 and 1999, there were an unprecedented number of disasters that resulted in a sharp increase in hunger around the world floods in Bangladesh, drought and flooding in North Korea, Hurricane Mitch in Central America, and other natural disasters. The U.S. helped meet this increased need, providing 10 million metric tons of food aid over the last year to help starving people affected by those crises. "This is the most food aid we have provided in any of the last 25 years. The United States stands ready to assist citizens of other countries who face immediate threats of hunger. "In the United States, we are enjoying our strongest economy in 30 years and a very abundant food supply. Yet billions of pounds of perfectly good, nutritious food are thrown away each year. We've embarked on a gleaning and food recovery campaign to rescue some of that food and get it to people who need it. Governments cannot do this alone. We've helped set up partnerships with community-based organizations and private businesses. Restaurants are now redirecting good wholesome food from garbage dumpsters to soup kitchens. Farmers are now gleaning perfectly edible produce that normally would have been ploughed under. Abandoned inner city lots are being transformed into urban gardens across the country. "Recently, I participated in a global conference on poverty, co- chaired by Jimmy Carter and Nelson Mandela, at the Carter Center in Atlanta, Georgia. Their leadership exemplifies how private and non- governmental organizations have joined the crusade to help fight poverty and hunger from local community solutions to international assistance efforts. We need to reach across traditional boundaries and across country lines to create new partnerships from the ground up, as opposed to dictating solutions from the top down. Trade "We can only meet the challenge of feeding the world by embracing sustainable agriculture and a truly free and fair world trading system. "During my 4 « years as U.S. Agriculture Secretary, I've witnessed the extraordinary impact trade has had on agriculture's bottom line for all of our countries. It's abundantly clear that if our economies are to continue to prosper, we all must look for new markets and that means we need an open trading system. Since 1960, tariffs worldwide have fallen by 90 percent, while global trade has grown 1500 percent. "In two weeks, the next round of the World Trade Organization talks will begin in Seattle. The United States has some very clear positions going into these talks positions that we believe are rooted in fairness to all: Reducing tariffs, eliminating export subsidies, assuring adherence to proven science-based principles, and building on the achievements of the Uruguay Round. "In the 20th century, we have made monumental gains in breaking down trade barriers. But, especially in agriculture, we have a very long way to go. We must be firm in our resolve not to allow anything to deter us from achieving universal free and fair trade. Biotechnology "This brings me to biotechnology. On this issue, more than any other that I've dealt with in my nearly three decades of public service, I wish I could wave a magic wand and get rid of all the excess rhetoric all the hyperbolic self-promotion on one side and all the inflammatory fear-mongering on the other. "The use of biotechnology involves two moral imperatives. First, because of its tremendous potential to reduce human suffering, we must allow this technology to blossom. It has the potential to help us feed more people using less water and land; protect the environment through decreased pesticide use; and develop better methods for waste treatment. "On the other hand, it is morally incumbent upon all governments to ensure that the public safety and the environment are always protected by all emerging technologies. We've all seen what happens when the frenzied rush to embrace new technology blinds us to its potential risks as in the early days of nuclear energy when we did not fully understand the need for adequate safeguards and regulatory oversight. These are not arguments in favor of halting progress. Rather, they make the case for wise technological and science-based stewardship. In the long run, sound scientific progress cannot be stopped. "The United States looks to FAO to take a leadership role in biotechnology and to be an objective and analytical clearinghouse in the current debate. Uniform and scientifically sound global standards under the Codex Alimentarius Commission and the International Plant Protection Convention must be developed. Only through a system rooted in science and untainted by ideology or profit-seeking can the best of biotechnology's potential be realized and its risks averted. "Biotechnology is just one significant technological advance that will change the world in the new millennium. Within the next decade, revolutionary, wireless, hand-held communication devices will link billions of people as never before, dramatically changing the face of rural communities and global agriculture. Conclusion "Hunger, trade and new technologies. By embracing these issues head-on, I believe we will go a long way toward facilitating the freer flow of food and feeding the whole world in a sustained manner in the years to come. "I want to close with a story about a boy -- a very curious and inquisitive young boy -- who had the opportunity to visit a submarine and was fascinated at its ability to stay underwater for so long. So he asked the captain: "What happens when submarines run out of fuel?" And the captain explained that they run on nuclear energy and can remain underwater for a decade or so. "Well," the boy asked, "what happens when they run out of drinking water?" And the captain explained all the different distillation methods for making sea water drinkable. The boy persisted: "Well, what happens when they run out of air?" And the captain told him about their oxygen tanks. Finally, the boy asked: "So when do submarines come up?" "That's easy," the captain said, "when we run out of food." In conclusion, the production of food remains the most important work of humankind. How we meet our obligation to feed the world will be the true measure of our generation. And I believe FAO's leadership will play a pivotal role in helping us meeting that goal. Thank you. # # #