Working sessions discuss the fight against hunger and sustainable development

At the opening of the 10th Summit of Presidents of the G20 Parliaments (P20), this Thursday (7), the emphasis was on the defense of joint solutions to global problems, such as hunger, inequality, and the climate crisis.

The presidents of the Senate, Rodrigo Pacheco, and the Chamber of Deputies, Arthur Lira, defended the reform of global governance as a fundamental step to combat inequalities and hunger, in addition to facing the climate crisis.

In the afternoon, in two working sessions, parliamentarians specifically debated the fight against hunger and sustainable development.

Rodrigo Pacheco said it is clear that global problems are of such magnitude that they require joint solutions. “In the same way, the great issues of the day cannot be understood separately,” he said.

“It is not possible to talk about fighting hunger and poverty without also talking about energy transition, climate change and global governance, as all of these are deeply connected,” Pacheco added.

“Parliament must have a true commitment to the implementation of the sustainable development goals and the promotion of equality. We can no longer accept that millions of people survive miserably, excluded from social welfare. It is necessary to ensure equal opportunities for all,” he noted.

Arthur Lira, on the other hand, reiterated the commitment of the Brazilian Legislature to a green agenda focused on the energy transition and the regulation of the carbon market.

He noted that the climate crisis affects populations unequally, requiring investments and responsibilities to mitigate its effects in a proportionate and fair way. And he cited Brazil a country with the credentials to lead this discussion because it has already approved and implemented measures in this regard.

“We approved bills to regulate offshore wind exploration, the production of low-emission hydrogen, the Green Fund of the Energy Transition Acceleration Program. We also remain committed to regulating the carbon market in Brazil. Last month, the Fuel of the Future Law was sanctioned, considered the largest decarbonization program of the transport and mobility matrix on the planet,” he said.

Extreme poverty

The president of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), Tulia Ackson, also advocated joint actions by countries to deal with transnational problems, such as hunger, inequality, and the ecological transition. In her assessment, the world population is at a crossroads, since, according to the United Nations, the possibility of achieving sustainable development goals by 2030 is already threatened.

According to Tulia Ackson, the Covid pandemic and the environmental and social crisis have pushed 23 million people into extreme poverty and left 130 million people hungry.

The climate crisis in 2023 increased the social and economic vulnerability of 1 billion people. She reiterated that parliaments cannot let this situation continue and must engage in actions for sustainable development.

The president of the IPU called for the engagement of Parliaments to achieve the sustainable development goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda. In addition, she defended gender equality actions so that development is more inclusive.

G20

The ceremony was also attended by the Secretary General of Foreign Affairs, Ambassador Maria Laura da Rocha.

According to her, the summit of leaders in Rio de Janeiro, which will take place on November 18 and 19, will be the culmination of the intense work carried out since December last year. “We will reap important results in the midst of the three priorities that we have chosen for our Brazilian presidency: social inclusion and the fight against hunger and poverty, energy transition and sustainable development, in all its three pillars, and the reform of global governance institutions,” he said.

P20 Women

President Arthur Lira also suggested that the next presidencies of the P20 include the meeting of women parliamentarians as part of the parliamentary diplomacy agenda.

This year, an unprecedented initiative brought together women parliamentarians from the P20 in Maceió (AL), in July. The meeting resulted in the “Letter from Alagoas”.

Lira, Pacheco, and Tulia Ackson also stressed the importance of Parliaments monitoring the governments of their countries, promoting transparency and creating an environment of peace and stability.

Fight against hunger

The G20 parliamentarians pointed out to two main factors that make public policies to combat food insecurity unfeasible: inadequate income redistribution policies and the worsening of geopolitical conflicts.

They participated in the 1st working session of the P20 with the theme “The contribution of Parliaments in the fight against hunger, poverty and inequality”.

The president of the Mercosur Parliament (Parlasur), Fabiana Martín, opened her speech by informing that 670 million people will continue to face the food crisis in the next decade, if effective measures are not taken, according to data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). “There is something we are doing wrong, there is an incorrect action because we are not reaching the expected results,” she said.

She reinforced the role of parliament in containing the “devastating impact of inadequate policies” and said that in this sense the parliamentary coalition against hunger was created, which brings together more than 500 legislators from South American countries.

In the same vein, Rodrigo Pacheco, president of the Senate of Brazil, spoke. “Given this alarming scenario, the role of parliaments is essential to develop solutions and promote social and economic justice.”

“Commitment and cooperation between nations are fundamental to build a future without hunger, poverty and extreme social inequalities with legal frameworks that effectively address these challenges,” he said.

China’s parliamentary representative, Xiunxin Deng, criticized the current political polarization, which in his opinion contributes to instability in food prices and increasing inequality. He defended multilateral forums and reinforced the importance of serving vulnerable populations.

“We have to reduce barriers to access to technology and strengthen cooperation, increasing the level of multilateralism in the UN and the WHO (World Health Organization),” he said.

The vice president of the Indian Senate, Shri Harivansh, listed as “game-changing measures” in the fight against poverty in his country, the policies of income transfer. According to him, these actions, along with health policies and access to the financial system for the most vulnerable, lifted more than 200 million people out of poverty between 2014 and 2023.

The speaker of Singapore’s parliament, Kian Peng Seah, also defended equitable policies and said that the parliament had played a decisive role in supporting income distribution.

“We have a support system that has subsidies to focus on low-income and vulnerable groups, for education, health care and social assistance. We have had a support network that leaves no one behind,” he said.

Sustainable development

The collaboration between countries and parliaments with society in the pursuit of the implementation of the UN 2030 Agenda predominated in the speeches of the 2nd session of the 10th Summit of P20 Presidents of Parliament and Guests.

Under the title “Parliaments and the challenges of the environmental crisis and sustainability”, the session was chaired by the Speaker of the House, Arthur Lira, who proposed to the G20 countries to advance in the search for alternatives for a fair and inclusive ecological transition. “It is up to parliamentarians to have, in this transition, the sensitivity not to dissociate the challenges of cost distribution and to maintain the integrality of the concept of sustainable development, with respect for human rights and dignity regardless of race, gender and ethnicity,” he said.

The vice president of the UAE Parliament, Tariq Altayer, cited estimates that climate change will cost 23 trillion dollars by 2050. “If we don’t address this [climate change], the consequences will affect rich and poor, increasing the migration of people who will leave their territories, especially from the southernmost states to the north,” he said.

The president of the Senate of Canada, Raymonde Gagné, recalled that only 17% of the goals of the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda were achieved and in 1/3 of them there has been no improvement.

“Changes depend on civil society and parliaments. In Canada, we work to ensure sustainable development,” she said, recalling that the Senate reduced its carbon footprint to zero to set an example.

The vice president of the U.K. upper house, Simon Russell, called on other countries to join the U.K. in reforming the international financial system, citing data showing that 3.3 billion people live in countries that pay more in interest than they spend on education and health.

On behalf of the Angolan Parliament, its president, Carolina Cerqueira, stressed that the country has incorporated the 2030 Agenda into its national development plan. “Our action today should not harm future generations and industrialization must not come at the high cost of deforestation, as is the case in southern Angola,” she said, recalling initiatives to expand access to health and basic sanitation.

The speaker of the South Korean Parliament, Wonshik Woo, recalled that the G20 countries have 27% of the estimates of greenhouse gas emissions and the world could exceed the estimate of 1.5 degrees Celsius above the pre-industrial average.

“We need to make sure that parliaments adopt effective measures to achieve emission reduction targets and we also have to collaborate for the green transition in other developing countries,” he said.

In the same vein, the speaker of the Indonesian Parliament, Puan Maharani, warned that the UN’s sustainable development agenda requires the commitment of parliaments to adopt relevant laws to foster “high-quality economic growth with attention to the environmental and social area”.

“The clock is ticking, and inaction is unacceptable,” she said.

The vice president of India’s upper house, Shri Harivansh, said that his country has always been at the forefront in addressing the challenges of sustainable development. “We have passed different laws in recent decades and have made a significant contribution to reducing emissions, although we are responsible for 4% of these emissions with 17% of the world’s population,” he pointed out.

Also reporting on Mexico’s achievements, Alejandro Ismael Murat Hinojosa, a member of the Upper House of Parliament, pointed to income transfer programs that benefit 80% of the Mexican population to increase the minimum wage by more than 100%, considering the social approach essential in the face of sustainable development. “If society is not included in the decisions, everything will remain only in good intention,” said the parliamentarian.

The deputy speaker of the Lower House of South Africa, Annelie Lotriet, reinforced the need to implement disaster response mechanisms that affect many poor communities in sensitive areas.

According to her, “disasters in South Africa impact the environment, cause substantial damage to public infrastructure and private assets, driving the government to higher levels of debt.”

Likewise, Telmina Pereira, from the Mozambican Parliament, recalled that, due to the geographical location of the country, the population has suffered extreme events, such as floods that have compromised the agricultural sector, especially the family one. “Mozambique has made changes in legislation on the environment and biodiversity protection, in addition to focusing on an energy transition strategy,” she said.

The deputy speaker of the Upper House of Russia, Konstantin Kosachev, said that the implementation of the 2030 Agenda faces challenges because of the instability of the world economy, but assured that Russia will continue to contribute to the UN sustainable development goals. “But countries cannot use these goals to interfere with global competitiveness,” he said.

Similarly, Yang Zhenwu of China’s parliament highlighted China’s philosophy of people-centered development. For him, who is chairman of the social affairs committee of the Chinese Parliament, “the international community has to take into account the difficulties of developing nations, and developed countries have to help them.”

Zhenwu advocated convergence around multipolarity with collaboration in global governance and safeguarding the UN and the World Trade Organization (WTO).

Senate News Agency