2024-05-05 17:31:01
From neck down Alvaro Lario (Madrid, 1977) has all the appearance of a director of a financial institution, or of an international organization, as has been his case: he is a slender and friendly young official with an easy smile and a good suit. The calm and calm voice accompanies that first sensation. In reality, this Spaniard, the only one currently in charge of a United Nations agency, outlines delicate phrases that hide the free struggle that occurs in international diplomacy, especially when talking about access to natural resources and food.
Your mission explains it. Lario, a former World Bank employee with a master’s degree from the London Business School and another from Princeton University, has been the president of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) for two years. This is a small agency that promotes rural development and uses microcredit as part of a strategy that seeks to go beyond welfare (or humanitarian charity), so that 3 billion people (40% of the world’s population) living in rural areas in developing countries have a decent life.
That is, a task that hardly makes headlines, often clashes with the interests of the powerful food industry and faces armed and (now also) climatic conflicts, which are causing a historic setback in the most vulnerable countries in the face of climate change. richer, as he explains in this interview given to El Periódico, from the Prensa Ibércia group, at the organization’s headquarters in Rome.
Is the industry still part of the problem in the current global food crisis?
I would say that the main difficulty is the lack of investment in local production and the lack of investment in crop diversification. What we do not see as reasonable is that a country 3,000 kilometers away with enough land, water and access to be able to have crop diversification, depends on what is produced in a completely different country or region, and this is due to lack of investment in agri-food production structures.
We usually talk about Africa relating it to all its most problematic aspects. But can’t this continent be part of the solution today? Couldn’t Africa be a major global food exporter?
They all have the conditions: the size of the population, the quality of the land, but there are still difficulties in water management and supply, that is a reality. The potential is tremendous, what happens is that we have been saying it for decades, and despite this we have not made progress.
Because?
One part is [falta de] investment from local governments, as well as support for the private sector. And on the other hand, the multilateral system should invest in infrastructure, not provide food, but provide investments that in the medium term can turn agriculture into a business. [para los países en desarrollo].
Water has become a source of conflict in developed and developing countries. What is the scenario that awaits us?
Well, the scenario is complicated. As far as Africa is concerned, we are talking about 86 million people who will be affected or displaced between now and 2050 by climate change. We talk (also) about possible conflicts between countries…
Wars over water…?
Well, yes, that is a very strong phrase we could say. We can talk about low and high intensity conflicts over access to natural resources, and among them, water. That’s going to happen more and more. And we also need to start talking about these issues at the UN. [Ya hoy] Two-thirds of refugees and asylum seekers come from countries experiencing food crises. In the Sahel, for example, people are already moving because of climate change and, of course, that is causing new conflicts. That is happening. We see it all the time.
And Europe?
The problem is that there has not been a single round of talks at the World Trade Organization on agriculture in the last two decades and much of European agricultural policies [relacionadas] with sustainability and resilience to climate change are also affecting other countries, that is a reality. At the same time, in the populations themselves and in European public opinion there is difficulty in understanding how to make this transition of food systems. It is evident that we cannot continue producing in the same way, how we manage it is where we are now.
We return to the industry.
There is data that measures that. Of the main 350 agri-food companies in the world, those that declare their scope three emissions [de gases de efecto invernadero originadas en operaciones comerciales] They are less than a fifth, which means that we do not know what the impact of much of their production is in terms of climate change.
The war in Ukraine has driven up fertilizer prices, which still remain high.
The war between Russia and Ukraine has clearly affected [el aumento de precios de fertilizantes]With [la situación en] Belarus, which produces one of the main components. And one of the things that happens is that there is no local production of said fertilizers. These large global chains affect the most vulnerable but the entire world is being affected, even the developed world. If we look at the protests in the countryside [en Europa] We see that it is due to that. The issue is that, in higher-income countries, there is support for these farmers, while in low-income countries this possibility does not exist, which means they are even more affected.
Is that what is increasing the gap between rich countries and poor countries?
In the last meetings of the World Bank, [se ha puesto en evidencia que] More than half of the 75 most vulnerable countries have widened their gap with respect to rich countries. It is very clear that it is happening in terms of agriculture but also in terms of economic growth. We see more and more that the most vulnerable countries, low-income in many cases, have very high debts, which means they also have to pay interest that has increased and in many cases the cost of that payment has doubled, which It often means more cuts in health, education and, for example, support for the countryside.
He has reported that only 0.8% of climate financing supports small farmers, who produce 80% of the world’s food in Asia or Africa.
On the positive side, at the last COP28 climate summit, for the first time there was a connection between food systems and climate change. But the reality is that there are tens or hundreds of millions of people who are being affected, about whom we talk very little, and we have to give them solutions now.
Because the climate crisis can no longer be prevented, we must adapt.
Well it’s reality. Zambia recently declared an emergency situation because it had gone without rain for many years. In Somalia they have been without rain for five years; We have just resumed operations there. But there are people who are in situations of extreme vulnerability. These people have no capacity, no possibilities. That is what must be contributed, also to allow them to stay where they are and not migrate.
In Gaza everyone is hungry, according to the UN.
Yes, it is a dramatic situation. UN agencies that work directly there, such as the World Food Program (WFP), have not been able to feed a large part of the population that depends on their aid, especially at a time of conflict. We are in a time of famine and clearly action must be taken.
The conflicts and food crises in Yemen, Haiti, Sudan… What worries you most?
My biggest concern is that we forget a good part of the conflicts. But the populations that are there continue and continue to suffer.
#Álvaro #Lario #president #International #Fund #Agricultural #Development #conflicts #resources #water