G8 discussions at the European Parliament

In December 2015 the European Parliament commissioned a report on the G8 New Alliance on Food Security and Nutrition to which the EU is the second donor after the USA providing about 1,1 billion. In his report Olivier De Schutter, former UN rapporteur on the Right to Food, concluded that the New Alliance is deficient in a number of areas: shifting to sustainable modes of production, tackling the dangers of emerging land markets and contract farming. They are also weak on women’s rights. Following up on the report the DEVE Committee produced a report whose content is encouraging – it says the EU should support more agroecology rather than industrial agriculture and it has called for more references to VGGT (Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security). However, the report is still subject to amendments which will be discussed in Committee on 14 March and voted on 20-21 April. After this there will be a plenary vote. The goal of the report is to adopt a resolution in plenary, to be voted on in June 2016.