The third Global Commodities Forum closed on 24 January 2012 at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, after a productive two-day programme. The Forum's theme this year was "Harnessing development gains from production and trade".

As in previous years, the 2012 Forum attracted high-level participants from government, business, international organizations and non-governmental organizations, as well as experts from academia, civil society and the press.

Participants heard presentations and discussed a variety of topics related to the event's theme. Some themes related to perennial problems, such as how to expand markets to small producers in developing countries. Others concerned recent challenges, such as the effects of the sovereign debt crisis on the commodities sector and commodity-dependent developing countries (CDDCs).

The discussion on the financialization of commodities markets and the sovereign debt crisis converged on the need for a balanced regulatory framework. Such a framework would continue to offer opportunities and liquidity to entrepreneurs, while increasing transparency in the system and limiting the adverse effects of speculative capital on price movements. A more balanced regulatory framework would involve many of the regulatory measures proposed in November 2011 by the Group of Twenty (G-20) Study Group on Commodities.

Forum participants identified the need for a multilateral framework that would define the limits of the biofuels mandate, so as to balance the interests of energy and food security. Similarly, national governments need to calibrate their biofuels policies to meet food security needs and enable farmers to capitalize on the biofuels opportunity.

In addition, participants encouraged an effort at all levels to develop better policies to accompany the increased flow of foreign direct investment in the agricultural sector. A portion of these investments aim to control land and water, raising food security and sovereignty concerns. From a development perspective, few mechanisms exist to channel these new investments in agriculture to small producers and thus help tackle priorities such as poverty reduction and rural development.

Recognizing that CDDCs cannot expect multilateral policy reforms to protect their vulnerable populations from the next food crisis, participants discussed the issue of food reserves, placing it back on the policy agenda. Recent progress by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations to expand the scope of their existing rice reserve, and by the Economic Community of West African States to establish a new regional reserve, shows that international food reserves have re-emerged as a political possibility in regions vulnerable to food shortages.

The 2012 Global Commodities Forum devoted several sessions to examining services and supply chain development projects that help bridge the gap between small producers and the international market. These practical, innovative initiatives included:

• Improving small producers' credit worthiness with collateral management and warehouse receipts systems.
• Developing accessible market and standards information systems.
• Realizing the multifaceted potential that commodity exchanges and farmers associations represent for small producers.

The practical focus on the small producer is important after high-level meetings such as the Global Commodities Forum, and in following up recent major multilateral efforts such as the United Nations Secretary-General's High Level Task Force on the Global Food Security Crisis and the G-20 process on commodities under the French presidency last year. Converting this considerable multilateral momentum into national and local initiatives is imperative. Indeed, Mexico will devote its 2012 presidency of the G-20 in part to enhancing the productivity of small-scale farmers and the sustainability of farming, as well as improving physical and financial commodities markets.

The 2012 Global Commodities Forum facilitated an important, multi-stakeholder exchange of ideas on how to convert gains from the ongoing commodities boom into durable development and growth in developing countries. It also provided important guidance to UNCTAD ahead of its upcoming thirteenth quadrennial conference, to be held in Doha in April of this year.