Insights from the European Center for Development Policy Management, Ecco and African Arguments
The news
The Italian government is launching a new foreign and climate policy initiative focused on sustainable food at this week’s G7 summit in Puglia.
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s Puglia Food Security Initiative – details of which are not yet available – would prioritize food security in Africa by investing in sustainable agriculture and farming. The plan is based on similar proposals from last year’s UN COP28 climate conference, which recognized the carbon footprint of food production for the first time.
The move could give Meloni a greater role in global affairs, but domestic political and financial obstacles threaten its implementation.
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To lead Europe’s foreign policy, Meloni must include Africa
Sources: Al Jazeera, Ecco, African Arguments
With his growing influence in Europe, Meloni has positioned Italy as “the new European face in Africa” as businesses increasingly look to the mineral- and resource-rich continent, according to a European Council researcher foreign relations. But its approach so far appears “focused on investment rather than development,” Al Jazeera noted. At COP28 last year, Meloni said redefining Italian-African relations must go beyond “charity”. To do this, African farmers must be “treated as equal project partners rather than mere beneficiaries,” wrote an analyst for Italian think tank Ecco, because African agriculture is among the most threatened by change climatic.
European sustainable food initiatives collapse under pressure from the far right
Sources: European Center for Development Policy Management, Politico, NPR
Although refocusing the debate on Africa is a good step for the world as a whole, “European food systems are not entirely sustainable,” ECDPM analyst Cecilia D’Alessandro of the food group told Semafor reflection European Center for Development Policy Management. It’s not that the EU didn’t try, but many of its initiatives were abandoned after huge farmers’ protests rocked countries across the continent. The few remaining policies — like satellite monitoring of agricultural production — still anger farmers who might be swayed toward the far right, NPR noted.
Agricultural investment is not as risky as some banks claim
Sources: Institute of International Affairs, European Center for Development Policy Management
Financing the Meloni project will be one of the G7’s biggest challenges, wrote analyst Cecilia D’Alessandro for the Istituto Affari Internazionali. To rally financial institutions and banks, “it’s about showing them that (agriculture) is not as risky as they think,” she explained to Semafor. Banks are concerned with their financial returns, so they tend to be more willing to finance a few large infrastructure projects than several small and medium-sized farms. The G7 must convince financial institutions that long-term social and environmental benefits – such as avoiding climate disasters – are just as important, if not more so, than short-term financial gains, D’Alessandro said.
