UN needs 'new vision of development', says Progressio

The world's most critical environmental and social problems will only be solved by "a new vision of development", declared Catholic agency Progressio's Head of Advocacy Joanne Green at a summit meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) in New York on Wednesday.

The summit brought together heads of government and NGO representatives from around the world, as well as the UK's Director of Policy and Research in the Department for International Development, Andrew Steer.

Green said that the current world food crisis and spiralling environmental degradation are symptoms of deeper problems and should prompt the world to look at "the fundamental flaws in the northern economic development model".

She criticised the current model of development as one which pushes intensive, export-led agriculture on developing countries in order to satisfy northern demands.

Instead, she said governments, institutions and their rules must change if the world is serious about tackling poverty and climate change.

Progressio, a Catholic advocacy and development charity, was one of just two British NGOs invited to speak as part of the UK delegation to ECOSOC's High-level Segment to assess progress towards the UN's Millennium Development Goals.

The agency outlined as part of its "new vision for development" the need for a more people-centred food system that promotes the needs of poor producers and consumers in the developing world.

Multinational companies and a relentless drive from the North to promote profit over people are also partly to blame, said Green.

"Instead of prompting us to question the current paradigm, such crises [as the global food shortage], provide opportunities for developed countries and multinational companies to push for solutions that further promote their interests," she said.

Green said that the recent meeting of the UN's Convention on Biological Diversity was a case in point. At the meeting, leaders pushed GM crops as the answer to the food security issue. She said, however, that delegates at the convention overlooked the unequal access of poorer nations to natural resources and food that leads them to experience greater shortages.

Progressio argued that poor countries must be allowed to determine how they feed themselves in the next era of food production, pointing to a recent UN report which championed the need for much greater focus on small-scale agriculture.

Green also called for northern consumers to be "honest about the impact our consumer choices have on poor people in the south and their environments" and said governments must move beyond short-term technological fixes, such as GM and agrofuels, to address the "long-ignored root causes of food crises and other problems".

"I stand here knowing that my society and my attitudes and lifestyle choices are part of the problem like never before", said Green. "We cannot have more of everything but also reduce poverty and have a healthy environment...we rich countries have to change our consumption now".

Concluding, Joanne called for a radically different reality of development and globalisation backed up by "a global social contract" that brings together northern governments, food producers and consumers with their southern counterparts.

She challenged the UK Government to take the lead in learning from its failures and enable developed countries to face up to their responsibilities.