Topic: 2024-GMOs and Food Security
Country: Venezuela
Delegate Name: Jackson Bunda
Alarmed by the rapid increase in GMO farming and the potential introduction of new allergens because of it; however, more deeply concerned by the estimated 690 million people worldwide facing food insecurity. We urgently recommend that the UN take greater action to increase food security and ensure the safe trade of food products.
As Venezuela continues encountering economic obstacles, increasing food security and safe trade remains a priority. Venezuela, on its own, has taken measures to do so through Food Security programs such as CLAP (Local Committees for Supply and Production), which work to supply people with essential foods and ingredients. On a global scale, we have also supported food security measures worldwide with organizations such as WFP (World Food Programme). Venezuela also believes that on the topic of GMOs, actions must be taken to adopt a policy in which the 40 countries in the UN with GMO restrictions would agree, thereby increasing the circulation of food. Venezuela, on its own, has participated in trade with China, Cuba, and Iran for essential unaltered food products to provide food to its citizens. Venezuela has also worked with the Bolivarian Alliance for the Peoples of Our America (ALBA), a South American Organization that works to evenly distribute food amongst ourselves. However, even throughout all these efforts, Venezuela continues to encounter obstacles regarding GMOs and Food Security.
Therefore, to address these problems, Venezuela proposes the establishment of Regional Food Security Partnerships and widespread Sustainable Agricultural Practices. By creating Bilateral agreements, agreements with neighboring countries, as well as developing regional organizations, organizations which are made to respond to region-specific needs, which in this case, is supplying food and granting safer food trade, we would be able to establish a market that could further enhance the growth of unaltered genetically diverse foods that countries are looking for. Furthermore, we could also increase industry development by distributing income among neighbors and renovating or establishing farms to generate more food. We would lower conflict among the borders and provide greater access to food in those locations. Finally, by informing each other of Sustainable Agricultural Practices, countries would be able to produce higher quantities of food which would then lower inflated prices of practical goods, increase the safety of those goods, and leave a market that can further expand to tackle even more malnutrition.
SOURCES:
The World Factbook
https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/
World Food Programme (WFP)
https://www.wfp.org/
United Nations Publications
https://shop.un.org/
Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS)
https://www.csis.org/
