MANILA, Philippines–A visiting United Nations envoy on Friday cited massive land conversion, mining activities and climate change as age-old truths that have devastating effects on food production.
Hilal Elver, UN special rapporteur on the Right to Food, was in the Philippines on an eight-day official visit to assess the country’s efforts to realize the people’s right to food.
Elver, who was here on the invitation of the government from Feb. 20 to 27, will write a final report to be presented to the United Nations Human Rights Council in March 2016.
Elver met with officials of agencies in charge of the country’s food security and access to food, particularly the Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of Agriculture and Department of Social Welfare and Development.
In a briefing, the UN envoy presented her assessment and recommendations to reporters, highlighting one strong irony: “Those working in the agricultural sector are particularly prone to hunger due to low rural incomes, whether as farmers or farm workers.”
Farmers in the countryside lack access to resources like land, seeds, water and capital and remain vulnerable to extreme weather events and armed conflict, she said.
“[These have had] a significant impact on their ability to earn a living,” Elver said.
“Similarly, the issue of land conversion has also had an impact on food production with large land owners selling off land for commercial use,” she said, noting that legal steps must be taken to address this.
Mining activities, on the other hand, drive the indigenous peoples away from their ancestral lands, she said.
In urban centers, Elver said access to adequate and nutritious food was hampered by poverty and income levels, with the obvious disparities between the poor and the rich.
“Many seemingly are benefiting from all the comforts of modern life while others are forced to live in extremely precarious conditions,” she said.
Elver listed recommendations for the Philippine government to address the problems on food, among them the adoption of a national strategy that sets time-bound benchmarks and effective implementation per region.
She also urged the Congress to pass pending bills that would aid the government’s efforts to curb hunger and increase access to food, particularly the Right to Adequate Food Bill, the National Land Use and Management Act, and the Agrarian Reform Extension Law.