Seán Connick (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Question 39: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food the role he envisages of a sustainable food and agricultural policy in addressing the inter-related global challenges of climate change, population growth and water scarcity; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36075/09]

Seán Connick (Wexford, Fianna Fail)
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Question 75: To ask the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Food his views on the need to develop an overall EU strategy to address the twin challenge of achieving food security and dealing effectively with climate change; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [36074/09]

Brendan Smith (Cavan-Monaghan, Fianna Fail)
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I propose to take Questions Nos. 39 and 75 together.

The Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change aims to finalise an international agreement on global greenhouse gas emissions reductions in Copenhagen in December. The Government supports the EU commitments to reduce overall greenhouse gas emissions to at least 20% below 1990 levels by 2020 and to scale up this reduction to as much as 30% as part of a new global climate change agreement.

At the same time the international community is committed to reducing by half the number of malnourished people in the world by 2015, but the latest estimates from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations show that the number of hungry people could actually increase by a further 100 million in 2009 and pass the one billion mark. For this reason the World Summit on Food Security will be held in Rome in November to consider the actions that must be taken to reduce and eradicate hunger. Ireland strongly supports the international effort to eradicate hunger and believes that we must significantly intensify our efforts in this regard.

United Nations projections suggest that the world population will rise from the current 6.8 billion to 9.2 billion by 2050, with an associated 70% increase in demand for food. At the same time, more than ever, food production is facing competition for land and water resources due to the increasing demand for crops for the production of bioenergy and from urban development. I am concerned at the scale of these challenges, and I believe that there needs to be greater attention on how best to reconcile the twin objectives of reducing greenhouse gas emission while increasing food production and improving access to food. Reconciling these objectives is vital for our collective futures, but presents significant challenges that need to be addressed directly and jointly.

At the Council of Agriculture Ministers in September 2008 and again in July and September 2009, I raised the challenge of reconciling climate change targets with our regional and global food security objectives. We have also repeatedly highlighted this issue in EU and UN discussions leading up the Copenhagen conference. I believe that our efforts are having some impact that there is now growing awareness of this issue.

As well as contributing to the mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions and adapting to unavoidable changes to our climate, agriculture must also deliver other major environmental priorities. These include, maintaining a high level of biodiversity, helping to preserve natural habitats and the protection of endangered species. In my view, sustainable agricultural production, sustainable land use and land use management is the key to achieving these priorities. Coherent EU and UN policy on these matters is important in the context of any agreement at Copenhagen and in the long term beyond 2020.