Food and energy security at top of UN meeting in Bangkok
Updated
The United Nations regional economic and social commission has placed energy and food security at the top of the agenda when it hosts its 64th Session in Bangkok next week.
Presenter: Ron Corben
Speaker: Noeleen Heyzer, Executive Secretary, UN economic and social commission.
CORBEN: Food and energy security are to be the forefront issues at the upcoming ministerial meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and Pacific or ESCAP - as food prices continue to rise and little respite from rising energy costs.
On Thursday, Thai rice prices reached a new record of one thousand U.S. dollars a ton marking an almost tripling of the price since the start of the year. Thai Rice exporters are already warning of higher prices amid fears some exporters such as Vietnam will halt overseas sales while importing nations such as Indonesia and Iran may enter the global market adding further pressure on supply.
Noeleen Heyzer, a United Nations Under secretary general, fears the rising prices will eventually plunge more people into poverty above the 640 million already considered poor across the region. She says part of the problems lie in the fact that economic growth has for too long centred on urban and industrial areas.
HEYZER: The fact that because of the growth much of this growth has been centred on the urban areas and also in the townships and there has been terrible neglect of the agricultural sector. You have countries, for example India, where the overall growth rate is nine per cent but the agricultural sector is 2.2 per cent. And here what happens is that because of the lack of investment many farmers get into a crisis and agricultural debt which in turn has led in this particular case to high levels of suicides.
CORBEN: Heyzer sees the rise in energy costs and food prices as interlinked and which the commission session is preparing to debate.
HEYZER: The focus of the commission this year is on energy security and of course food security. And these are two very interlinked very important issues that face the region as a whole. What I've been looking at is the development challenge within which energy security and food security have to be addressed. The fact is that you have a region where you have economic powerhouses, but at the same time growing inequalities.
CORBEN: ESCAP recently launched a study on energy security in the Asia and the Pacific that is aimed at contributing to the wider debate over the impact of climate change as well as addressing issues of sustaining economic growth.
HEYZER: So it is the challenge of making sure that there is still economic growth - not just the rate of growth but also the pattern of growth and making sure that it is equally shared. And at the same time, because of the issue of climate change how do you bring about this growth that is inclusive as well as sustainable and change to less polluting energy forms.
CORBEN: The United Nations is looking to what it sees as a paradigm shift with less reliance on fossil fuels to energy sources that are more efficient and less polluting on the environment. But Heyzer also believes that the solutions to many of these problems lie within the grasp of the member countries of the Asia and Pacific.
HEYZER: What has been very special about the Asia Pacific region is the diversity of development experiences. This is a region where you do have the knowledge, you do have the technology and you also have the finances because you have about 3 trillion dollars in reserves. China is a very good example where they're trying in this development plan to see whether they can increase energy efficiency by about 20 per cent.
