A/HRC/9/23 page 7 II. TOWARDS SUSTAINABLE SOLUTIONS BASED ON BUILDING RESILIENCE 7. Annex I contains a brief analysis of the drivers of the crisis and of the broader perspective within which it should be situated. Two conclusions emerge from the analysis. The first is that the surge in prices in 2006-2008 is the result of policies that have systematically undermined the agricultural sector in a number of developing countries over a period of 30 years. This not only made these countries vulnerable to the volatility of international prices for food commodities, but also resulted in a situation where small-holders, owing to the lack of rural infrastructure and access to credit, the dismantling of public support schemes, the impact of rushed and mismanaged trade liberalization and their position in the food production and distribution chain are unable to benefit from the current increase in international markets prices. These factors must be addressed in the search for sustainable solutions to the current crisis. 8. Adopting a human rights framework can help achieve this objective, because it may guide the redefinition of the policy priorities triggered by the current crisis. The question “for whose benefit?” is at least as important as the question “how to produce more?” But there is a risk, in the current situation, that the latter question will be treated as the most pressing and that we focus on solutions that promote the supply of more food, without paying sufficient attention to the question of who produces, at what price and for whom. This would be a mistake with far-reaching consequences. One of the opportunities created by the current crisis is that investment in agriculture, which has been neglected for many years both in the definition of priorities of official development assistance and in national budgets, will be given in the future the priority it deserves. But how the investments will be channelled, towards whom, and for which purpose, deserves close scrutiny. If, guided by a sense of urgency and a mistaken diagnosis about the challenges facing us, investment is planned exclusively with a view to increasing the supply of food, it could result in the wrong choices. Instead, investment should be guided by the need to promote sustainable forms of agricultural production, benefiting small-holders who are most in need of support, and where the impact on poverty alleviation will be greatest.9 9. There is a risk that, in a context dominated by the fear of food shortages, opportunities will be mistaken for solutions, and that, in the name of raising production, the need for both social and environmental sustainability of the solutions devised will be underestimated. One indicator of the reality of the risk is the almost complete silence in international discussions about the conclusions of the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development, sponsored by the FAO and the World Bank that “the way the 9 The difficulty in identifying the best options in this regard is best illustrated by the ongoing discussion on the impacts to be expected from the work of the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA). In order to facilitate a dialogue on the issues raised by the idea of launching a second ‘green revolution’ in the African context, the Special Rapporteur intends to convene a multi-stakeholder meeting in December 2008.