From: Michelle Thom <mthom>
Subject: Report on Sustainable Ag at CSD
>From tforster Tue Jun 22 20:55:26 1993
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id AA16079; Tue, 22 Jun 93 20:55:25 PDT
Date: Tue, 22 Jun 93 20:55:25 PDT
From: Thomas Forster <tforster>
Message-Id: <9306230355.AA16079@igc.apc.org>
To: mthom
Subject: susag.news: CSD Sustainable Ag News
Status: R
TO: SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT NGOs
FROM: Linda Elswick, World Sustainable Agriculture Association
NGO Working Group on Sustainable Agriculture
(wsaadc@cdp.apc.org), Washington, DC, USA
Tel/202-347-0637 Fax/202-347-0654
RE: REPORT ON SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE AT THE CSD
DATE: June 21, 1993
Dear Sustainable Agriculture & Development Activists:
The work of this week has plunged us into a frenzy of
activity as we mobilize to seize the opportunities to have input
into the agenda items of the Commission on Sustainable Development
(CSD), meeting June 14-25 in New York at the United Nations
for the first substantive meeting since Rio. Organizational meetings
were held previously and reports about them were posted on
csd.general@cdp.apc.org. Reports about the current negotiations
are also posted there in the Earth Negotiations Bulletin and
by others.
The CSD Agenda:
Agenda items to which NGOs are giving input have included
those listed here. Final decisions will be posted electronically:
1. Guidelines for National Reports -- what should governments be
required to report on and how often regarding progress towards
sustainability? Who should be involved in them? What criteria
should be used to assess progress?
2. Adoption of a Multi-Year Thematic Program of Work for the
Commission -- how will the CSD accomplish the task of reviewing
Agenda 21? When will particular clusters be taken up? (The
agriculture and rural development cluster is proposed for 1995).
Will there be intercessional meetings as well? NGOs are urging that
these meetings require NGO consultation. Governments seem on the
whole to be supportive but are concerned about the mechanisms
through which this will happen.
3. Agenda Item 10 of the High Level Ministerial Meeting: URGENT
AND EMERGING ISSUES ( SEE ACCOMPANYING STATEMENT BY NGOs ADDRESSED TO
THIS AGENDA ITEM). Because Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali
linked sustainable agriculture to poverty and environment in his
proposed paper "Urgent and Emerging Issues" to be considered by the
High Level Ministerial Meeting this week (also posted on
csd.general@cdp.apc.org), sustainable agriculture may be on the
agenda. This was unexpected. There is concern, however, that this
paper may not be addressed at all as it is rumored some ministers have
objected to it, feeling Boutros-Ghali has gone too far, too fast. NGO
strategy is to distribute their paper highlighting agriculture as an
urgent issue as soon as possible. Activist Atherton Martin of the
Caribbean country of Dominica contributed substantively to the NGO
Ad Hoc paper and will one of those raising it with ministers.
4. Financing -- see the Ad Hoc NGO paper for comments being put
forward.
5. PROGRESS AT THE UN ON IMPLEMENTATION OF AGENDA 21:
In response to Agenda Item 5 of the Conference: Progress in the
Incorporation of Recommendations of the United Nations Conference
on Environment and Development in the Activities of International
Organizations, and measures undertaken by the Administrative
Committee on Coordination to Ensure that Sustainable Development
Principles are Incorporated in Programmes and Processes within the
UN System, an Economic and Social Council Report of the Secretary-
General dated 7 June 1993 (E/CN.17/1993/8) noted in regard to
progress on agriculture in the year since Rio that:
"87. As proposed by the Den Bosch Conference on Agriculture and
the Environment, the FAO Conference decided to launch an
International Cooperative Programme Framework for Sustainable
Agriculture and Rural Development (ICPF/SARD). This programme
framework integrates the major Conference recommendations for
action at the international level contained in chapter 14 (sustainable
agriculture and rural development), with those of chapters 11 and 17
(forestry and fisheries) and with relevant programmes of chapters
10, 12 and 13 and those of the Action Plan of the FAO/WHO
International Conference on Nutrition, held in December 1992. The
ICPF/SARD includes a series of special action programmes which
have been streamlined to combine field projects with regular
programme activities of FAO in the following areas:
(a) Policy advice and planning assistance: Policy assistance for
food security and sustainable agriculture and rural development;
Tropical Forestry Action Plan (TFAP); and responsible and
sustainable fisheries.
(b) Improvement of people's welfare: Nutrition and food
quality; people's participation/poverty alleviation; sustainable
development of rural households.
(c) Sustainable management of the natural resources base:
land-use planning, conservation and rehabilitation; manag (d) Sound use of
agricultural inputs: integrated plant nutrition
systems; and integrated pest management."
Other particularly relevant language in this report includes:
"88. A number of countries have requested FAO's assistance in
sector policy reviews and in launching projects in line with Agenda
21 and the special action programmes noted above. A major strategy
document to guide policies and action on sustainable agriculture and
rural development is being finalized. Similar strategy documents
will be produced on responsible fisheries and sustainable forestry.
91. "The FAO Commission on Plant Genetic Resources, in discussing
the follow-up, adopted a resolution in order to revise the
International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources, to ensure its
consistency, synergy and complementarity with the Convention on
Biological Diversity, addressing in particular the issue of access to ex
situ collections and the realization of farmers' rights."
92. "FAO will be leading the preparatory process to hold an
International Technical Conference on Plant Genetic Resources in
1995, which will prepare the first state of the world's plant genetic
resources and a plan of action to implement the Agenda 21 action on
plant genetic resources and make the global system on plant genetic
resources fully operational. The global programme on animal genetic
resources was broadened and strengthened. Work on in situ
conservation of crop, animal, forest and fisheries genetic resources is
being strengthened, including networking. A code of conduct for the
collection and transfer of germplasm was approved, and one for
plant biotechnology is under preparation."
93. Re progress at IFAD: "a process of qualitative change, already
initiated with IFAD, to place increasing emphasis on sustainability
issues in IFAD project design and implemention would further
enhance this consistency (in the areas of sustainable agriculture and
rural development and managing fragile ecosystems such as
mountains and desert-prone areas.)"
94. "The UNDP programme in support of Agenda 21 includes
intensifying efforts to develop a strategy for sustainable agriculture,
supporting a global sustainable agriculture network and launching a
national capacity-building initiative for managing national forests."
95. "Through the FAO/IAEA Joint Division, nuclear techniques are
used to overcome problems in the following areas: soil fertility,
irrigation and crop production; plant breeding and genetics; animal
production and health; insect and pest control, through the sterile-
insect technique which reduces the use of insecticides and avoids
ecological damage; agrochemicals and residues."
Other agenda items have included environmentally-sound
technology transfer, cooperation and capacity building for effective
implementation of Agenda 21. The Women's Caucus has written a
statement on this subject, which reads in part:
"As this Commission is well aware, women are the caretakers of
the young, the elderly and the environment. Increasingly, in every
country, as heads of households, they ensure the survival of family,
community and country."
"The technology which is shared should be people friendly,
with a focus on women, as well as environment friendly. It should
be non-violent and non-invasive, appropriate to the local culture and
not tied to aid."
The Draft decision prepared by the Chairman of the CSD dated
18 June 1993 notes the following:
"5. The Commission recognized that in addition to promoting
the transfer of environmentally sound technologies, it should also
promote the assessment of environmental, health or safety and social
impacts of technologies, including new and emerging technologies
such as biotechnology. The Commission requested the Secretary-
General to prepare reports on a continuous basis on such impact
assessments, and to establish mechanisms to discourage the transfer
of technologies to developing countries with net negative
environmental, health and social impacts. In this context, national
and international measures to discourage hazardous technologies and
industries to developing countries should be strengthened."
Sustainable Agriculture and Development NGOs at the CSD
Due to the nature of working groups being formed around
specific agenda items and regionally, such as a Southern Caucus,
Finance, National Reports, etc., sustainable agriculture initially fed
into these groups and met briefly around them. Beginning the
week of June 21, daily caucuses will be held to better influence
the CSD and plan for future work. Meetings with representatives of
inter-governmental agencies may be possible as well. Further
reporting will be done to communicate results of some of the
numerous meetings occurring. NGOs will be able to ask UNDP and
FAO, for instance, about plans for inter-agency coordination, followup
to UNCED, plans for releasing major reports, etc.
Our numbers in New York ebb and flow; they have not been as
large as we would hope to have at future CSD sessions. This needs to
be a part of longer range strategy which is beginning at the CSD and
will be communicated widely. However, NGOs both in New York and
other parts of the world have been able to input into the work of this
session of the CSD, either in person or via electronic networking.
Some, notably Thomas Forster, NGO Working Group on Sustainable
Agriculture, have made extensive and much appreciated contributions
to the text via email. Sue Milner, International Ecological
Agriculture Network, has responded and made contributions to the text
and materials to be shared via email. Others are invited to communicate.
PARTIAL LISTING OF GROUPS PARTICIPATING AT THE CSD MEETINGS AND
ACTIVE IN SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE ISSUES:
(Addresses will be posted when time permits)
Nyoni Associates, ZIMBABWE; Korea Economic Justice Institute,
KOREA; World Wild Fund For Nature; SWITZERLAND; Sobrevivencia,
PARAGUAY; World Sustainable Agriculture Association, US; NGO
Working Group on Sustainable Agriculture, US; Swedish Organic
Farmers, SWEDEN; School for International Training, US; IEAN,
Belgium; Third World Network, MALAYSIA; Women in Development,
SUDAN; Global 2000, US; Friends of the Earth, CANADA;
Caribbean Network for Integrated Rural Development, WEST INDIES;
INTGLIM, US; Zero Population Growth, US; Inter-American Institute
for Cooperation on Agriculture, COSTA RICA; Wilanowska, POLAND;
Women's Environment and Development Organization (WEDO/US),
International Union for the Conservation of Nature, NETHERLANDS;
Environment Liaison Centre International (ELCI), KENYA; Turtle
Island Earth Stewards (TIES), CANADA; Southern Networks for
Environment and Development (SONED) - AFRICA REGION, KENYA;
International Organization of Consumers Unions (IOCU), Regional
Office for Asia and the Pacific, MALAYSIA; g 2000 - Youth Campaign
for a Sustainable Sweden; and NGO representatives from the UK,
Scotland, Bermuda, Dominica and the Netherlands as well as
representatives from UNDP and UNIFEM (United Nations Development
Fund for Women).
In an attempt to be as inclusive, open and participatory as
possible, reporting on the CSD has been communicated by email to
many who could not be here but who are following the implementation of
Chapter 14, Agenda 21 closely. Reports from NGO activities in New York
have been posted on public email conferences ("csd.general", "susag.news"
and "en.agriculture" on IGC.APC.ORG (Internet). The reports have also
been emailed directly to NGOs active in UNCED follow up in the area
of sustainable and ecological agriculture. A partial list is included
below:
ASPTA, Brazil; CLADES and CIED, Peru; REDES, Uruguay; The Ecologist,
UK; COUP, Canada; GRAIN, Spain; RAFI, US; MAELA and IPIAT, Venezuela;
ILEIA, Netherlands; IFOAM, Germany; IEAN, Netherlands; Working Group
on Biodiversity, US; Asian NGO Coalition, Philippines; Organic Farmers
Associations Council, US; Solagral, France; Swedish Organic Farmers,
Sweden; Sustainable Agriculture Network, US; Institute for Agriculture
and Trade Policy, US; PAN, US; NGONET, Uruguay; Friends of the Earth,
US; INFORUM, US; ATTRA, US; Bank Information Center, US; Center for
International Environmental Law, US; World Resources Institute, US.