2022年11月5日，第五届虹桥国际经济论坛“以经贸合作促进全球粮食安全和乡村振兴”分论坛在上海举办。本场论坛由商务部和农业农村部共同主办，中国国际进口博览局、国家会展中心（上海）、农业农村部农业贸易促进中心承办。论坛设置主旨演讲、实践探索和专题讨论三个环节。

以下为爱尔兰驻华大使安黛文在“以经贸合作促进全球粮食安全和乡村振兴”分论坛的主旨演讲中英文原文：

爱尔兰驻华大使

安黛文

尊敬的马有祥副部长，尊敬的各位来宾，女士们，先生们，大家好！

我很高兴来到上海，我很荣幸今天能和你们一起参加这次关于粮食安全的讨论，这是一个非常重要而热门的话题。正如你们在介绍中听到的，我是爱尔兰驻中国大使。爱尔兰是一个蓬勃发展、高度发达、技术先进的欧洲国家，但我们对自己过去的苦难和饥饿有着深刻记忆。

我们以史为鉴，并在此基础上建立了关注饥饿和粮食安全问题的意识。无论是爱尔兰内政外交，海外发展援助活动，我们都高度重视粮食安全问题。我今天将向大家介绍爱尔兰在国内外采取的与粮食安全有关的行动，但我首先简要介绍一下我们所处的国际背景。

据估计，2021年全球受饥饿影响人数已达8.28亿，自2019年以来增加了1.5亿人。这数字自2015年到2019年几乎没有变化，意味着去年世界上超过十分之一的人口是营养不良的。这一数据表明，由于各种因素的结合，全球粮食安全状况已经非常紧张。此外，化肥的日益匮乏和高成本有可能降低农业产量，让全球各地大量人口面临饥饿风险。气候危机也以各种方式威胁着粮食产量和粮食安全，这进一步突出了关注这一问题的紧迫性。

我们知道世界粮食计划署已经扩大了其业务规模，以应对许多复杂的危机，向受影响地区提供紧急基础设施和粮食援助。爱尔兰重视与世界粮食计划署的伙伴关系，并提供多期不附带条件的捐款，以确保爱尔兰的资金能够在危机发生之前到位，并用于需求最大的地方。爱尔兰将在未来两年内担任世界粮食计划署执行委员会成员，我们非常期待能在这方面做出更多贡献。

联合国粮食及农业组织也在发挥核心作用，包括通过其技术委员会为成员提供了平台，以制定粮食政策和更可持续的粮食系统。爱尔兰除了缴纳年度会费外，还自愿专门为全球可持续发展粮食系统项目提供了大量额外资金。

我知道联合国粮农组织屈冬玉总干事是中国农业农村部原副部长。屈总干事自上任以来，已经会见了爱尔兰总统迈克尔·希金斯和农业、食品和海洋部的查理·麦康纳洛格部长。我可以自豪地说，在这些交流中，他注意到爱尔兰在可持续牲畜生产方面的专长、我们在食品安全和可追溯性方面的高标准以及我们农业的绿色发展。屈总干事在上任后不久就发起了“手拉手倡议”。该倡议旨在加速农业转型，利用可持续农村发展来协助消除贫困、饥饿和各种形式的营养不良。

同样，爱尔兰自己也有一个关于农村可持续发展的总体愿景。爱尔兰社区和农村发展部关于这个问题，制定了《我们的农村未来：2021—2025年农村发展政策》。爱尔兰农村是我们国家经济、社会、文化和环境福祉和发展的组成部分，这项政策就是助力农村繁荣发展。它承认并建立在城市和农村的相互依存关系上；承认人的中心地位、充满活力的农村地区以及创造高质量就业机会和维持环境的潜力。

发展的核心还有以下方面：过渡到气候中和社会，支持农业、海洋和森林的可持续性，以及支持我们的岛屿和沿海社区的可持续性。我们已经确定了实现这些目标的关键推动因素，包括：优化数字连接；支持农村地区的就业和职业教育；振兴农村城镇和村庄；加强农村社区的参与、领导力和韧性，以及加强农村地区的公共服务。

通过颁布这项政策，爱尔兰政府重申了对可持续农村发展的承诺。我们致力于确保有效履行对环境和生物多样性的责任，致力实现气候中和的未来。

爱尔兰还开创了名为“源于绿色”的食品可持续发展项目，该项目在国家维度运作，联合政府、私营部门和从农民、食品生产到服务的整个供应链。“源于绿色”是一个国家食品和饮料可持续发展项目，并使该行业能够制定和实现可衡量的可持续发展目标，尊重环境并更有效地服务于当地社区。

从本质上讲，它意味着在不影响未来的情况下满足当前的需求，使食品的生产方式能够保护自然资源而不是耗尽自然资源。为了未来发展，爱尔兰也在进一步考虑转变消费形式，特别是摆脱“资源-产品-废弃物”的线性经济转向循环经济。为解决废物问题，我们正在根据《循环经济的废物行动计划》向循环经济迈进。

这项政策要求我们不仅管理废物，还要反思对资源和材料的使用提出质疑，我们质疑的是如何重新设计产品设计减少废物产生，以及如何延长我们使用的货物和产品的寿命。因为在循环经济中，废物和资源的使用被最小化，产品和材料的生命周期被尽可能长时间保持。当一个产品报废时，其零件还能反复使用来生产更多有用的产品。循环经济会创造就业和经济可持续发展，同时也能减少我们的碳足迹。

我们还在国际层面上为粮食安全问题做出了巨大努力。爱尔兰长期以来一直是全球减少饥饿的支持者。自2010年成立以来，爱尔兰在 “全球营养改善”运动中发挥了重要作用。我们将继续为营养方面的行动做出贡献，包括支持联合国关于2016至2025年“联合国营养问题行动十年”的决议等等。

我们非常积极参加粮食系统峰会和营养促进增长会议，调动资源，支持协调、有效地应对饥饿问题。具体而言，在2021年的营养促进增长会议上，爱尔兰承诺在5年内花费8亿欧元用于营养干预措施。爱尔兰在联合国安全理事会的饥饿问题上发挥着主导作用，包括我们作为安全理事会冲突和饥饿问题非正式协调人的工作。在爱尔兰的国际发展政策中，饥饿问题也是一个重要的优先事项。

这个题为“更美好的世界”的政策于2019年推出，其核心是我们对可持续发展目标的承诺，特别是其中关于首先汇集最落后地区的呼吁。我们优先考虑性别平等；减少人道主义需求；气候行动和加强治理。在落实所有优先事项的过程中，我们的干预措施侧重于保护、人民和粮食。

我们以这种方式将消除贫困和饥饿作为我们的外交政策之一，我们以改造自己的农业系统以及高科技和创新社会为坚实基础来处理这一问题。根据我们对可持续发展目标和相应承诺，我们正在采取一种不断发展的方法来处理食品系统，这种方法建立在我们自己的优势之上，在农业和食品生产方面，包括在食品标准、保护自然资源和农业生态方法方面。通过这些措施，我们希望在国内政策和国外发展援助活动之间建立更深的联系。

在结束发言之前，请允许我再次感谢中国农业农村部为我们提供这个机会，和大家共同讨论这个重要议题。正如我一开始所说，粮食安全影响了全球至少十分之一的人口，是真实存在的问题。我们所有人都有义务共同努力，解决这一关键而复杂的问题。我很感谢有机会分享爱尔兰的一些经验，并期待大家对此的深刻见解，谢谢大家。

Remarks by Ambassador Ann Derwin

Vice-Minister MA Youxiang

Distinguished Guests,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

da jia hao

Introduction

I am honoured to join you today for this important and all-too topical discussion on food security.

As you have heard in that introduction, I am Ireland’s Ambassador here in China. Ireland is a thriving, highly developed, technologically advanced European country - but we have a deep folk memory of our own historical experience of hardship and famine.

We have taken that painful history and built from it a positive legacy of attention to the twin problems of hunger and food insecurity. And so food security is an issue that has a high level of importance in Ireland’s domestic and foreign policy, including our overseas development assistance activities.

International context

I will speak to you today about the action Ireland is taking, at home and abroad, in relation to food security, but I must first reflect briefly on the international context we are now in.

Globally it is estimated that 828 million people were affected by hunger in 2021, which was an increase of 150 million people since 2019. After remaining virtually unchanged since 2015, this means that over one tenth of the world’s population were undernourished last year.

This data points to the fact that the global food security situation was already significantly strained due to a combination of factors, including the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, even prior to the invasion of Ukraine and the beginning of the terrible conflict there in spring of this year.

Now, conflict in one of the world’s breadbaskets has further contributed to the deepening food crisis and presents major challenges for import-reliant countries. And sadly, developing countries are among those most vulnerable.

Moreover, the increased scarcity and high cost of fertilisers has the potential to decrease agricultural output, worsening the risk of hunger for large populations of people across the globe.

The UN Global Crisis Response Group, in its 2nd brief this year, declared that the conflict in Ukraine “in all its dimensions, has exacerbated a global cost of living crisis unseen in at least a generation, compromising lives, livelihoods and our aspirations for a better world”.

The Black Sea Grain Initiative was a very welcome measure to address these risks - I very much hope that recent events do not signal an unravelling of the initiative.

The climate crisis also threatens food production and food security in myriad ways, which serves to sharpen further the immediate need for attention to this topic.

Responses by international bodies

It is important to recognise that the World Food Programme has scaled up its operations to address these many and complex crises, providing emergency infrastructure and food aid to affected regions.

Ireland values our partnership with the World Food Programme and makes multi-annual, untied contributions, to ensure that Irish funds can be placed in advance of crises and utilised where the needs are greatest. Ireland will sit on the WFP Executive Board for the next two years and we are greatly looking forward to the contribution we can make in that context.

The UN Food and Agriculture Organisation is also playing a central role, including by providing a forum, through its technical committees, for members to develop food policy and more sustainable food systems. In addition to Ireland’s annual subscription to the organisation, we provide significant extra voluntary funding of projects and initiatives with particular emphasis on the development of more sustainable food systems globally.

I am conscious, of course, that the Director General of the FAO, Qu Dongyu, is a former Vice Minister of China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs.

I know that Director General Qu has, since his appointment, met with the President of Ireland, Michael D Higgins, and Minister McConalogue of the Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine. I am proud to say that, in these exchanges, he has noted Ireland’s expertise in sustainable livestock production, our high standards in food safety and traceability and our overall green credentials in agriculture sector.

Rural Development

As some of you may know, Director General Qu launched the “Hand In Hand Initiative”, shortly after taking office. This initiative was designed to accelerate agricultural transformation and to utilise sustainable rural development to assist in the eradication of poverty, hunger and all forms of malnutrition.

Ireland too has an overall vision of sustainable rural development and what that can deliver for all our public, rural and urban. The national strategy on this issue has been prepared by our

Department of Community and Rural Development and is entitled Our Rural Future - Rural Development Policy 2021-2025.

The goal of this policy is for a thriving rural Ireland, which is integral to our national economic, social, cultural and environmental wellbeing and development. It recognises and is built on the interdependence of the urban and rural; and the centrality of people, vibrant rural places, and the potential to create quality jobs and sustain our shared environment.

Transitioning to a climate neutral society, supporting the sustainability of agriculture, the marine as well as our forests and supporting the sustainability of our Islands and Coastal Communities are seen as central.

We have identified a number of key enablers to achieve these objectives, including

- optimising digital connectivity,

- supporting employment and careers in rural areas,

- revitalising rural towns and villages,

- enhancing participation, leadership and resilience in rural communities,

- as well as enhancing public services in rural areas.

By enacting this policy, the Irish Government reaffirms its full commitment to sustainable rural development. We are committed to ensuring the effective implementation of its responsibilities towards the environment and biodiversity, as well as towards achieving a climate neutral future.

Origin Green

Ireland has also pioneered a food and drink sustainability programme – called Origin Green. This programme operates on a national scale, uniting government, the private sector and the full supply chain - from farmers to food producers and right through to the foodservice and retail sectors. 

Origin Green is the worlds’ only national food and drink sustainability programme, and enables the industry to set and achieve measurable sustainability targets that respect the environment and serve local communities more effectively.

In essence, it means meeting the needs of the present without compromising the future – enabling food to be produced in a way that protects natural resources rather than depleting them.

Circular economy

Ireland is also going further, however, to begin to consider our model of consumption and in particular, moving away from a linear economy – what is often referred to as “take, make and throw away” - towards a circular economy, for the sake of our environment and all our futures.

We are introducing ambitious new targets across all sectors to tackle waste and move towards a circular economy under our Waste Action Plan for a Circular Economy.

The policy requires us to move beyond a position of merely managing waste, to where we question our use of resources and materials, how to reconsider product design to reduce waste generation and how we extend the productive life of the goods and products that we use.

Because, in a circular economy, waste and resource use are minimised and the value of products and materials is maintained for as long as possible. When a product has reached the end of its life, its parts are used again and again, to create further useful products. A circular economy of this type supports viable and sustainable enterprise opportunities, jobs and training. There is great potential for job creation in innovative new fields, while simultaneously reducing our carbon footprint. 

Overseas development assistance and other measures to tackle hunger

We are also making strong efforts to address food insecurity on an international level.

Ireland has been a long-standing champion of global efforts to reduce hunger and starvation, working with a range of development and humanitarian partners.

- Ireland has played a leading role in the Scaling up Nutrition (SUN) movement, since its inception in 2010. We continue to contribute to international political action on nutrition, including supporting the United Nations Resolution for a Decade of Action on Malnutrition 2016-2025.

- We have been active at the Food Systems Summit and Nutrition for Growth conferences to mobilise resources and support coordinated, effective responses to hunger. In concrete terms, at the Nutrition for Growth conference 2021, Ireland pledged to spend €800 million over 5 years on nutritional interventions.

- Ireland is playing a leading role on hunger at the UN Security Council, including through our work as informal Security Council focal point on conflict and hunger.

- And hunger is a key priority too in Ireland’s policy for international development.

This policy, entitled A Better World, was launched in 2019 and has our commitment to the Sustainable Development Goals at its heart, including in particular its call to reach the furthest behind first. We particularly prioritise gender equality; reducing humanitarian need; climate action; and strengthening governance. And in delivering on all our priorities, we focus interventions on

- Protection;

- People;

- and Food.

We have in this way made combating poverty and hunger one of our flagship foreign policies - and we approach this with the strong basis of the transformation of our own agriculture system, along with our high technology and innovative society. In keeping with our commitment to the SDGs and the sustainability theme which connects them, we are taking an evolving approach to food systems that builds on our own strengths – in agriculture and food production, including in food standards, in safeguarding natural resources and in agro-ecological approaches.

Through these and other interventions, we hope to build ever-deeper links between our policies at home and our development assistance activities abroad.

Concluding comments

Before concluding, allow me again to thank the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development for this opportunity for us all to meet and discuss such an important topic today.

As I said at the outset, food insecurity is all too real a problem in our world, impacting on at least one tenth of the global population.

We – all of us – are obliged to work together to address this critical and complex problem. I am grateful to have had the opportunity to share some of Ireland’s experience and look forward to the insights that the panel discussion will bring.

Thank you.

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