In face of crises, states must ‘act together’ now, or risk cycle of poverty, despair...

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says Secretary-General at Sustainable Development Commission’s high-level segment

Source: United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC)
Date: 13 May 2009
ENV/DEV/1048

Commission on Sustainable DevelopmentSeventeenth Session9th & 10th Meetings* (AM & PM)
Chair Says Old Solutions No Longer Fit Twenty-First Century Challenges; Round Table on "Responding to the Food Crisis through Sustainable Development"

In the midst of a global recession and ongoing food price crisis, "things can deteriorate frighteningly fast", United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned today, as he urged the Commission on Sustainable Development to look beyond short-term measures and agree on a set of policy decisions that would revitalize agriculture, support small farmers and promote food security for all.

"It is but a short step from hunger to starvation, from disease to death," Secretary-General Ban said in a sobering opening address to the high-level segment of the Commission's seventeenth session, which is expected to culminate Friday with concrete policy options to drive practicable actions on agriculture, rural development, land, drought, desertification and Africa. The day's programme included one ministerial-level plenary round table and two smaller interactive discussions on "Responding to the food crisis through sustainable development".

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