The right to food A/RES/73/171 prepared by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, in collaboration with the World Health Organization, 13 and to apply it, as appropriate, in the design, implementation, evaluation and monitoring of laws, policies, programmes, budgets and mechanisms for remedy and redress aimed at eliminating preventable mortality and morbidity of children under 5 years of age; 13. Encourages all States to take steps, with a view to progressively achieving the full realization of the right to food, including steps to promote the conditions for everyone to be free from hunger and, as soon as possible, to enjoy fully the right to food, and to create and adopt national plans to combat hunger; 14. Recognizes the advances made through South-South cooperation in developing countries and regions in connection with food security and the development of agricultural production for the full realization of the right to food; 15. Stresses that improving access to productive resources and public investment in rural development is essential for eradicating hunger and poverty, in particular in developing countries, including through the promotio n of investment, including private investment, in appropriate small-scale irrigation and water management technologies in order to reduce vulnerability to droughts and to tackle water scarcity; 16. Recognizes the critical contribution made by the fisheries sector to the realization of the right to food and to food security and the contribution of small -scale fishers to the local food security of coastal communities; 17. Also recognizes that 70 per cent of hungry people live in rural areas, where nearly half a billion family farmers are located, and that these people are especially vulnerable to food insecurity, given the increasing cost of inputs and the fall in farm incomes; that access to land, water, seeds and other natural resources is an increasing challenge for poor producers; that sustainable and gender-sensitive agricultural policies are important tools for promoting land and agrarian reform, rural credit and insurance, technical assistance and other associated measures to achieve food security and rural development; and that support by States for small farmers, fishing communities and local enterprises, including through the facilitation of access for their products to national and international markets and empowerment of small producers, particularly women, in value chains, is a key element for food security and the provision of the right to food; 18. Stresses the importance of fighting hunger in rural areas, including through national efforts supported by international partnerships to stop deserti fication and land degradation and through investments and public policies that are specifically appropriate to the risk of drylands, and in this regard calls for the full implementation of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in Those Co untries Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, Particularly in Africa; 14 19. Urges States that have not yet done so to favourably consider becoming parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity 15 and to consider becoming parties to the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture 16 as a matter of priority; __________________ 13 14 15 16 18-22267 A/HRC/27/31; see also Human Rights Council resolution 33/11 (see Official Records of the General Assembly, Seventy-first Session, Supplement No. 53A and corrigendum (A/71/53/Add.1 and A/71/53/Add.1/Corr.1), chap. II). United Nations, Treaty Series, vol. 1954, No. 33480. Ibid., vol. 1760, No. 30619. Ibid., vol. 2400, No. 43345. 7/11