Such technologies must be economically viable, socially appropriate and environmentally friendly if they are to be truly sustainable in the long term. Particular attention must be paid to ensuring that land and water resources are not degraded or destroyed but are used to their maximum potential in a way that ensures that future generations can also enjoy access to these resources. Local production is frequently important not only to food supply, but also to poverty eradication and rural development. Agriculture is in this sense multi-functional, taking in as it does all the aspects and also the questions of avoiding rural depopulation and protecting the environment. Local production cannot, however, be the complete answer to food security needs.
Trade is also essential.
If we are to feed all our people we must produce and distribute food efficiently, and trade is essential to this. Appropriate trade policies, in accordance with WTO rules, are therefore another important element in food security. We have seen in recent years how man-made emergencies such as civil wars and ethnic violence have severely disrupted food production and distribution, leading to hunger and malnutrition even in previously food abundant areas. The tragic situation in the Great Lakes Region in Africa is an affront to the entire international community. The European Union will continue our intensive efforts to assist in averting further human tragedy in Eastern Zaire and in avoiding a potentially catastrophic humanitarian disaster developing in the region.