| United Nations | E/CN.17/1995/6 |
Economic and Social Council
Distr. GENERAL
6 February 1995
ORIGINAL: ENGLISH
COMMISSION ON SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT
Third session
11-28 April 1995
REVIEW OF SECTORAL CLUSTERS, SECOND PHASE: LAND,
DESERTIFICATION, FORESTS AND BIODIVERSITY
Promoting sustainable agriculture and rural development
Report of the Secretary-General
CONTENTS
Paragraphs Page
INTRODUCTION ................................................ 1 - 5 3
I. GENERAL OVERVIEW ...................................... 6 - 29 4
A. Current situation ................................. 6 - 8 4
B. Overall assessment of progress in different
sustainable agriculture and rural development
(SARD) programme areas ............................ 9 - 18 5
C. Major issues and identified gaps .................. 19 - 29 7
II. REVIEW OF PROGRESS ACHIEVED, MAIN POLICY ISSUES AND
EXPERIENCE ............................................ 30 - 75 10
A. Country experiences ............................... 30 - 67 10
1. Developed countries ........................... 30 - 44 10
2. Developing countries .......................... 45 - 61 13
3. Countries in transition ....................... 62 - 67 17
B. Experiences of major groups ....................... 68 - 75 19
III. MATTERS RELATED TO FINANCE AND TECHNOLOGY ............. 76 - 103 21
A. Finance ........................................... 76 - 91 21
1. Changing mode of financing .................... 76 - 82 21
2. Major issues and challenges ................... 83 - 91 23
B. Technology ........................................ 92 - 103 25
1. Progress on technological development and
technology transfer ........................... 92 - 99 25
2. Major issues and challenges ................... 100 - 103 27
IV. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND EXPERIENCES IN INTERNATIONAL
COOPERATION ........................................... 104 - 123 28
A. Intergovernmental cooperation ..................... 104 - 119 28
B. Cooperation within organizations of the United
Nations system .................................... 120 - 121 31
C. Organizations outside the United Nations .......... 122 - 123 32
V. CONCLUSIONS AND PROPOSALS FOR ACTION .................. 124 - 134 32
A. Conclusions: has the path towards SARD been
followed? ......................................... 124 - 127 32
B. Proposals for action .............................. 128 - 134 35
1. Overall strategy .............................. 128 - 131 35
2. Specific proposals for action ................. 132 - 134 36
INTRODUCTION
1. The present report focuses on progress made in the implementation of the
aims set out in chapter 14 of Agenda 21, 1/ entitled "Promoting sustainable
agriculture and rural development", since the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development in June 1992, and puts forth a set of
recommendations for action. This report was prepared by the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), as task manager for
chapter 14 of Agenda 21, in consultation with the United Nations Secretariat,
in accordance with arrangements agreed to by the Inter-Agency Committee on
Sustainable Development at its fourth session (see document ACC/1994/17 and
Corr.1). It is the result of consultation and information exchanges between
designated focal points in various United Nations organizations, and
international and national non-governmental organizations. This report
contains information on countries based on national information available to
FAO.
2. Prior to the holding of the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, concern about the world's ability to feed the growing population
without degrading the environment and natural resource bases had received
increasingly wide attention. Exploring prospects for enhanced food security
and nutrition and sustainability of agricultural and rural development were at
the centre of United Nations system activities. These themes were the focus
of FAO's report (1987) entitled Agriculture: Toward 2000 2/ and the World
Commission on Environment and Development (Brundtland) Report (1987) Our
Common Future. 3/ The FAO/Netherlands Conference on Agriculture and the
Environment (held at 's-Hertogenbosch (Den Bosch, the Netherlands, 15-
19 April 1991) emphasized these concerns with respect to sustainable
agriculture and rural development (SARD) and identified major requirements for
action at national and international levels for promoting SARD. In the Den
Bosch Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development, 4/ adopted
by the Conference, the Conference called for the attainment of three essential
goals: (a) food security by ensuring an appropriate and sustainable balance
between self-sufficiency and self-reliance; (b) employment- and income-
generation in rural areas, particularly in order to eradicate poverty; and (c)
natural resource conservation and environmental protection.
3. These goals were further elaborated as the blueprint for SARD in
chapter 14 of Agenda 21. That chapter elaborated these goals into 12
interlinked programme areas: (a) agricultural policy review, planning, and
integrated programming in the light of the multifunctional aspect of
agriculture, particularly with regard to food security and sustainable
development; (b) ensuring people's participation and promoting human resource
development for sustainable agriculture and rural development; (c) improving
farm production and farming systems through diversification of farm and non-
farm employment and infrastructural development; (d) land-resource planning,
information and education for agriculture; (e) land conservation and
rehabilitation; (f) water for sustainable food production and rural
development; (g) conservation and sustainable utilization of plant genetic
resources for food and sustainable agriculture; (h) conservation and
utilization of animal genetic resources for sustainable agriculture; (i)
integrated pest management and control in agriculture; (j) sustainable plant
nutrition to increase food production; (k) rural energy transition to enhance
productivity; and (l) evaluation of the effects of ultraviolet (UVB) radiation
on plants and animals caused by the depletion of the stratospheric ozone
layer.
4. An inter-agency meeting held at FAO, Rome, in May 1993 identified the
following major areas for increased cooperation and inter-agency collaboration
in implementing SARD: databases including Geographical Information Systems
(GIS); SARD policies; people's participation; trade, environment and
agriculture; biodiversity; alternative agrochemicals; impact of climate
change; and land degradation.
5. Agenda 21 has separate chapters on two of the programme areas of
chapter 14: the integrated approach to the planning and management of land
resources (chapter 10); and protection of the quality and supply of freshwater
resources (chapter 18) on which a report was made for the second session of
the Commission on Sustainable Development. Conservation of biological
diversity (chapter 15), and managing fragile ecosystems: combating
desertification and drought (chapter 12), are also related to some of chapter
14's programme areas. Hence reference to programme areas (d) and (f) is
minimized in this report. Programme area (l), on ultraviolet radiation, now
appears to be much less important for agriculture than was perceived at the
time of the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development.
I. GENERAL OVERVIEW
A. Current situation
6. FAO's report Agriculture: Toward 2010 (AT 2010) (1993) 5/ shows that
the rate of agricultural production growth at the global level has been about
2.3 per cent between 1970 and 1990 and thus has exceeded population growth so
that per capita supplies of food have increased. However, wide regional
disparities remain: the situation improved greatly in East Asia but worsened
in sub-Saharan Africa. There still remain large numbers of under-nourished
people in developing countries; the figure is estimated at about 780 million,
or 20 per cent of their population. The relentless exploitation of the
natural resource base to achieve an increased level of agricultural production
has resulted in increased natural resource scarcity and environmental
degradation.
7. The future food security scenario projected by AT 2010 indicates that by
the year 2010, when global population will have reached about 7.3 billion, per
capita food supplies will continue to increase and the incidence of
undernutrition will slowly decline in most developing regions. However, parts
of South Asia may still face difficulties and much of sub-Saharan Africa will
probably not be better off than at present. 6/ The numbers of people
suffering from chronic undernutrition will remain unacceptably high, at
between 600 and 650 million. Furthermore, per capita availability of arable
land is projected to nearly halve between the late 1980s and 2010, with the
figure going from 0.65 to about 0.4 hectares (ha). This projection underlines
the fact that pressure on agricultural resources and the environment will
continue. It reinforces the fact that there is an urgent need to so promote
the sustainable intensification of agriculture as to enhance food security
(while minimizing the encroachment on fragile and forested land) and protect
the environment.
8. Achieving SARD is a slow-moving wide-frontier process and has to be
promoted accordingly through a wide range of various social, economic and
technological means. An overall assessment of the efforts carried out in
developed and developing countries, and economies in transition, and by
various international and local organizations, including non-governmental
organizations, shows a better understanding of SARD concepts and the links
between them. However, that understanding remains incomplete and there remain
tensions caused by the different perspectives of SARD held by Governments,
communities and people. The challenge still lies in reconciling these
different views and in discovering how to make better use of improved
understanding and of experience gained to achieve SARD objectives, for which a
broad consensus exists.
B. Overall assessment of progress in different sustainable
agriculture and rural development (SARD) programme areas
9. In the area of agricultural policy review and reform, there are efforts
being made to obtain a better understanding of how to integrate environmental
issues into agricultural policy and planning and to assess the links between
trade and the environment, those links constituting an important consideration
given the potential impulse to food and agricultural trade flows arising from
the conclusion of the Uruguay Round of multilateral trade negotiations. In
developed countries, in the area of agricultural policy reform, there is an
increasing tendency to integrate environmental concerns into agricultural
policies as well as concern regarding the impacts of trade and environmental
measures on agriculture. Developing countries are beginning to address
environmental problems relating to food and agriculture. Efforts include the
preparation of environmental action plans and the setting up of environmental
institutions with the help of the World Bank, the United Nations Environment
Programme (UNEP) and other United Nations bodies. Countries in transition are
in the process of restructuring their agricultural sectors and developing
market mechanisms. However, although there have been significant advances in
agricultural and environmental policy reform, only a few countries have
developed an integrated national policy for SARD.
10. People's participation is fundamental to SARD. The issues being
negotiated between Governments and farmers' organizations in developed
countries increasingly involve environmental concerns. Participatory
programmes are emerging. Several organizations are promoting people's
participation through various programmes in developing countries. The role of
non-governmental organizations has been significant in enhancing people's
participation at the field or project level. Multinational lending agencies
are also promoting local participation and other forms of communal
organization in the management of natural resources that cannot, or should
not, be privatized.
11. Efforts for improving farm production and farming systems are being
carried out through various farmer-centred programmes. Non-governmental
organizations have been particularly active in this area. FAO is undertaking
collaborative efforts to promote SARD through analysis and relief of
constraints to sustainable agriculture at the farm level. Some countries in
Asia are launching Farmer-centred Agricultural Resources Management (FARM)
activities with support from United Nations organizations. Farmers and
communities have demonstrated increased food production using resource-
conserving technologies that minimize the use of external inputs.
12. In the area of land and water conservation and rehabilitation, there is
widespread agreement that the Polluter Pays Principle should apply, although
its application in agriculture raises a number of difficulties and its actual
use is limited. In developing countries, the task of conserving and
rehabilitating land and other natural resources is being increasingly shared
by the central Government and local communities. The newly signed United
Nations Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries Experiencing
Serious Drought and/or Desertification, particularly in Africa (A/49/84/Add.2,
annex, appendix II) will assist in combating dryland degradation.
13. In order to meet the objective of water for sustainable food production
and rural development, national action programmes are being formulated and
implemented in various countries of Asia and Africa. These action programmes
aim at increasing water use efficiency, water-supply to rural areas, control
of waterlogging and salinity problems, and scarce water resources management,
as well as inland fisheries and aquaculture development. Inter-agency work is
proceeding on how to implement the joint and integrated management of land and
water resources. The necessary policy and legal instruments to achieve this
may not exist and practical experience suggests that incisive government
intervention may be required.
14. In the area of conservation and utilization of plant and animal genetic
resources, countries are negotiating, through the intergovernmental Commission
on Plant Genetic Resources (PGR), the revision of the International
Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources for Agriculture (PGRFA) in line with
the Convention on Biological Diversity, 7/ including seeking consensus on
matters left outstanding by the Convention: access to existing ex situ
collections and realization of farmers' rights. The Global System for the
Conservation and Sustainable Use of Plant Genetic Resources for Food and
Sustainable Agriculture is being strengthened, including the acceleration of
the development of the global information and early warning system, and
networks for the conservation of PGRFA. The first stages of an assessment of
the world's PGR and the Global Plan of Action on PGR are being prepared for
the Fourth International Technical Conference on Plant Genetic Resources
planned for 1996. A decision also has been made regarding the placing of ex
situ collections of plant genetic resources in the International Agricultural
Research Centres (IARC) genebanks, under the auspices of FAO. A world watch
list of endangered domestic animal species has been published.
Intergovernmental discussions are under way to expand the mandate of the
Commission on PGR to include animal genetic resources. A global strategy on
the conservation of animal genetic resources is being designed.
15. There has been considerable progress in the area of integrated pest
management and related action on pesticides. Responding to consumer
pressures, developed countries are taking new initiatives to reduce the use of
pesticides and are taking measures to limit trade in hazardous pesticides,
through adoption of the prior informed consent (PIC) procedure. In developing
countries, farmer-centred integrated pest management (IPM) projects are being
carried out, particularly in Asia. There is improved collaboration among
international agencies in promoting IPM and innovative financing mechanisms.
Use of biopesticides and biocontrol methods is being promoted. Institutions
within the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR)
are also taking new initiatives to promote research on IPM-related subjects.
16. In the area of sustainable management of plant nutrition to increase
food production, CGIAR centres are carrying out some research activities. FAO
has responded to Agenda 21 proposals by reorienting the focus of its former
fertilizer programme towards an integrated, plant nutrient approach. Some
countries have already made efforts to promote integrated plant nutrient
systems based on a comprehensive approach involving farmers, extension
services, private enterprises and farmers' organizations. Also, research is
being focused to demonstrate the benefit of the combined use of mineral,
biological and organic sources of plant nutrients.
17. In the area of promoting rural energy to enhance productivity, new
policies and technological options are being pursued by many countries, both
industrialized and developing ones. The thrust is towards enhanced energy
efficiency and the promotion of renewable sources of energy, and this is
setting energy and environmental links within a new context. Among the fields
of renewed interest is biomass energy conversion which offers energy,
environment, employment and economic benefits. However, only a few
feasibility studies have been carried out on the potential exploitation of
wind and solar energy in rural areas for promoting energy to enhance
productivity. In a majority of cases, they have not yet proved to be
competitive given the low level of real prices for fossil fuels.
18. In the area of evaluation of the effects of ultraviolet radiation on
plants and animals, the impacts of such radiation on agriculture do not appear
to justify action separate from that already embraced by the Montreal Protocol
on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer. 8/ The use of methyl bromide (an
ozone-depleting substance) as fumigant for soils and food products will be
phased out by the year 2000.
C. Major issues and identified gaps
19. Major issues differ in each group of countries. However, the
conventional external-input-intensive, trade-driven agricultural development
model still dominates government, donor and funding agency policy. In many
developed countries, the policy approaches to promoting SARD are being
explored. Although integrated rural development policies are being
implemented in some developed countries, there is often a lack of an overall
coherent policy promoting SARD. The process of reforming agricultural
policies, including the Common Agricultural Policy of the European Union, will
have some positive effect on the use of resources for farming in more
environment-friendly ways and for the production of environmental public
goods, but will require specifically targeted policies and legal measures.
Progress in implementing SARD in developing countries is similarly uneven,
mainly because the widespread existence of poverty is linked to environmental
degradation, and the lack of a constituency of consumers with regard to food
and the environment, as well as institutional weaknesses. The continued
burden of external debt continues to constrain government interventions
including those designed to promote SARD initiatives, while the pressing needs
to service debt are claimed to underlie continued natural resource-based
exports based on unsustainable practices. Countries in transition face
similar challenges. Though their physical infrastructures, compared with
those of developing countries, are largely in place, agrarian structures and
low prices for farm products are barriers to introducing SARD policies in the
short term. In all countries, the integration of SARD policies with
supportive economy-wide policies still face serious challenges. Fully
coherent packages of policies and their related measures, designed to meet the
diverse objectives of a SARD-based strategy, are also uncommon.
20. There has been an inadequate coalition built among Governments, the
donor community, development agencies and sources of foreign direct investment
(FDI) to tackle the poverty-environment links. There also have been failures
to address the environmental problems often associated with rapid and
uncontrolled agricultural commercialization: habitat destruction and resource
degradation. Owing to misconceived sectorally oriented policies, top-down
approaches and the vested interests of people in power, the call for an
integrated and bottom up approach has been neglected. Likewise, continuously
changing development policies of international development agencies and
internationally imposed policies have contributed to the marginalization of
the poor and particularly women farmers.
21. The issue of poverty-environment links in the third world is perceived
by some observers to be closely related also to international trade policies.
They argue that Northern trade policies undermine the prospects for
sustainable agriculture in developing countries in a number of ways, notably
through the short-term promotion of food and agricultural exports from the
South and a diversion of support to domestic policies aimed at achieving food
security.
22. The agricultural sectors are being increasingly integrated into domestic
and international markets. Many analyses are under way on the impact of the
Uruguay Round Agreement on Agriculture which generally shows that there will
be some improvement in the allocation of resources and a better trading
environment for agricultural commodities. In association with domestic
agricultural policy reforms, these developments will contribute to promoting
SARD. However, the potential impacts of the Uruguay Round on subsistence-
level farming, the existence of poor people and environmentally fragile
marginal areas, which are among the major factors in unsustainable
agriculture, are yet to be measured. The conclusion of the Uruguay Round has
underlined the need to place world trade on an environmentally sound basis,
particularly through the effecting of a better reflection of environmental
costs in the prices of traded goods.
23. Intellectual property rights have evolved in certain legal and cultural
contexts and as such are either totally alien to certain cultures or
inaccessible to informal innovators. Under this system protection of
indigenous knowledge would be difficult and might be alien to those cultures.
This shortcoming can lead to abuse and must be addressed.
24. The increased effects of the use of chemical inputs, particularly
pesticides, on the health of agricultural workers and on public health as well
as on the environment in general, are other major areas of concern with
respect to promoting SARD. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that
between 3.5 and 5 million people a year are poisoned by pesticides (40,000
fatally), primarily in developing countries. In the case of some developing
countries, these are only local problems because the overall use of such
chemicals is low although increasing. More international attention is
required to ensure the safe management of agricultural chemicals including the
use of less harmful chemicals and alternative pest control measures. This
issue also highlights the fact that a different emphasis should be placed on
those chemicals that pose direct threats to human health, such as certain
pesticides, in contrast with those, such as plant nutrients, that do not, in
terms of regulating their use.
25. The problem of soil erosion is widespread as demonstrated by the
UNEP/International Soil Reference and Information Centre (ISRIC) World Map of
Human-induced Soil Degradation, but its effects tend to be more severe in the
developing countries. In the developed world, correcting for soil nutrient
depletion from erosion through excessive applications of mineral fertilizers
may contribute to contamination of soil and water sources. Such problems are
being addressed through the adoption of plant nutrient management and more
comprehensive ecological farming methods. The difficulty in determining
market values impedes conservation efforts by making it difficult to estimate
opportunity costs and maintenance costs for rehabilitation efforts. A study
undertaken by the Winand Staring Centre in the Netherlands with FAO support
has shown that in sub-Saharan Africa, the generally low-level intensiveness of
fertilizer use may lead to soil nutrient depletion becoming a major issue,
rather than pollution.
26. There is need for greater efforts for resource conservation and
rehabilitation at the field level to reduce soil degradation problems. On the
management of fertilizer inputs which are necessary for effective plant
nutrition in an environment-friendly manner, constraints are also imposed
owing to (a) the inability of fertilizer industries, which are frequently
within the public sector, to respond adequately to new orientations in the
market for fertilizers; (b) the lack of reliable information on demand and
supply of nitrogen, phosphate and potash; and (c) the lack of up-to-date and
reliable crop/nutrient response curves, adapted to different management levels
and to agronomic policy and economic conditions.
27. Progress in promoting off-farm employment - a SARD strategy component
important in reducing direct pressure on land and ensuring sufficient
opportunities for earning a living - has been slow in many countries mainly
because of misconceived past industrialization policies that failed to
integrate agriculture into the process. Continuing economic problems relating
to the burden of external debt and, in most recent years, widespread
recession, have also contributed to this problem. Similarly, although
urbanization can act as an engine for agricultural development and hence
provide an incentive for a sustainable agriculture, it has frequently been so
rapid as to lead to widespread urban poverty and a deteriorating urban
environment; it has depleted agriculture's supply of labour without providing
a growing market for food or a flow of remittances. The fault may lie less
with urbanization policies, or the lack of them, than with development
strategies that fail to provide the incentive for a productive agriculture or
services to rural areas. In other countries - notably many of those of the
Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) - there has been
an increase in rural, non-agricultural employment, which has partly offset the
decline within agriculture. Future rationalization of agricultural production
will create a continued need for policies encouraging the development of rural
off-farm employment.
28. Little progress has been made in channelling financial resources towards
the promoting of SARD. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is not directly
oriented towards SARD. The relative success of IPM programmes in attracting
funding underlines the importance of having a defined strategy and fundable
projects. Financial constraints remain in most developing countries which are
still dependent on financial support from the donor community. The potential
for developing financing mechanisms for sustainable development through
innovative ways of generating revenue have not yet been well explored. The
challenge remains of adopting both suitable economy-wide and sectoral policies
that provide an incentive for the mass of small-scale farmers to invest in
conservation and sustainable use of natural resources, and sustainable
agricultural practices, while expanding production.
29. While international attention has been focused on the erosion of plant
genetic resources and while there have been institutional developments to
facilitate remedial action, particularly through the FAO Commission on Plant
Genetic Resources and the International Plant Genetics Resources Institute
(IPGRI), similar progress has not been achieved in animal genetic resources.
Yet the strong trend towards developing and utilizing globally an increasingly
smaller number of animal genetic resources in modern agriculture poses a
serious threat to the remaining resources of domesticated species. This area
merits institutional development, similar to that achieved in the area of
plants.
II. REVIEW OF PROGRESS ACHIEVED, MAIN POLICY ISSUES AND
EXPERIENCE
A. Country experiences
1. Developed countries
(a) Overall progress review
30. For most developed countries, pressure for reforming agricultural
policies has arisen through the recently concluded negotiations of the Uruguay
Round of multilateral trade negotiations which started some years prior to the
United Nations Conference on Environment and Development. Additional factors
were rising budget costs of support policies and the aim of allowing market
signals to have a greater influence on production decisions. Within this
process, the OECD approach of regular "peer reviews" of member countries'
agricultural policies, involving the estimation of such indicators as producer
and consumer subsidy equivalents (PSE/CSE), was useful. The result has been a
move towards the decoupling of farm support from production, production
controls and land set-aside programmes, together with reduced levels of
protection and export subsidies that have led to reduced producer price
levels. This policy change has been accompanied by a reinforcement of
integrated rural policies directed to all sectors of the rural economy. In
some countries consumer pressure is also mounting in support of organic food
production. It may be discerned that since the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development, there have been more moves towards making the
promotion of more efficient agricultural markets, both domestic and
international, compatible with the goals of conserving natural resources and
protecting the environment.
31. Among Western European countries, Germany recently emphasized
ecologically sustainable agricultural production and the United Kingdom of
Great Britain and Northern Ireland submitted a plan to the European Union for
implementing agri-environmental regulation. The United Kingdom plan includes
measures for expanding environment- and nitrate-sensitive areas. The
Netherlands rearranged its institutional structure at the ministerial level in
order to give specific attention to the management of natural resources.
Austria has reoriented its economic policies under the rubric of "eco-social-
market policies" in order to maintain services provided by farmers in
disadvantaged areas and to improve environmental performance in abating
natural hazards and erosion, and promoting diversified land use and soil
quality. Likewise, Norway has strengthened environmental measures. Sweden
introduced an agricultural reform bill in 1992 which set forth environmental
goals to safeguard landscapes, to preserve the natural and cultural values of
the environment and to minimize the negative impacts of agricultural
chemicals. In Switzerland, the federal authorities introduced economic
incentives in 1993 to promote ecological farming.
32. The Japanese Government introduced a new agricultural policy in June
1992 in order to promote environmentally sound agriculture.
33. In the area of soil and land conservation, OECD produced a report on
"Public Policies for the Protection of Soil Resources" in 1994 that presented
the findings of a two-year project on sustainable soil and land management.
It addressed soil erosion problems induced by human activities, soil pollution
by chemicals, soil salinization, afforestation and the management of semi-arid
lands.
34. In the United States of America, recent legislation, building on the
Sustainable Agriculture Adjustment Act of 1989, is designed to enable farmers
to adopt resource conservation techniques. Efforts are intensifying to
incorporate environmental issues more fully into the 1995 farm bill including
a modelling of the environmental impacts of its policy options.
35. Australia has expanded its National Landcare Programme to integrate the
efforts of government (national and state), individuals and communities in
responding to land degradation. A feature of this Programme has been its
participatory nature with communities forming groups of farmers that plan and
implement their own land use and conservation projects.
36. In the area of people's participation, agricultural organizations are
being considered partners by the governments of the Western European countries
in the elaboration and implementation of agricultural policies, including
direct income support and production control measures. These have become
closely associated with environmental measures. Implementation of agro-
environmental programmes is largely decentralized at the community level and
based on the voluntary and contractual participation of farmers. These
programmes also focus on the diversification of land use and off-farm
activities and include organic farming and non-food uses of the land. For
example, in Norway, the Farmers' Union has adopted a policy emphasizing the
sound stewardship of land and other natural resources.
37. As regards the use of pesticides, various measures, such as national
pesticide reduction plans where reduction of 50 per cent within five to ten
years is being planned and achieved, control of pesticide residues, provision
of training in the use of pesticides and regular control of pesticide
application equipment are being implemented. Other measures support the
purchase of more efficient application equipment, introducing specific rules
on selling phytosanitary products, and the research, development and wider use
of alternatives to chemical pest control, including biological control agents
and pest-resistant varieties. However, recent reductions achieved in the
volume of pesticides used may be due as much to the increasing activity of the
ingredients as to genuine reductions in use.
38. In the United States, all previously approved pesticides are being
re-evaluated and a number of them have been taken off the market or have had
their acceptable residue levels reduced.
39. Developed countries are also taking a more active role in implementing
management-related activities in PGRFA. Most of these have started the
process of preparing activities which will become part of Global Plan of
Action. Progress in developing strategies for in situ conservation has been
relatively slow, however.
40. In the area of rural energy, some developed countries have introduced a
series of production, price and taxation policies to promote the
"decentralized" production of power with renewable energies (wind, solar,
biomass). This has opened up possibilities for new energy markets of
potential benefit to rural areas that are becoming energy producers (namely
those having, for example, sugar, rice and groundnut mills; large livestock
farms; wind "farms"; and photovoltaic (PV) installations).
(b) Major issues and challenges
41. Some developed country Governments have expressed difficulty in applying
the goals of chapter 14's programme areas to their particular situations.
This may reflect the fact that most have yet to begin strategic planning for
implementing a SARD strategy. There is still a lack of fully coherent
packages of policy measures combining those affecting farmers' decisions on
farm practices with those on training, extension services, provision of credit
and so on that are needed to move towards SARD. There is also a need for
greater involvement of local communities and non-governmental organizations in
formulating and implementing SARD programmes.
42. In past decades, developed countries have achieved considerable success
in food and agriculture but in a rather narrow range of objectives of
expanding output and enabling farm incomes to match those in non-agricultural
sectors. However, this has been achieved at the cost of much environmental
damage. The challenge, therefore, is to balance farm production/income goals
with environmental protection in essentially market-driven economic settings.
43. There has been a high degree of reliance on market forces in promoting
agricultural production. However, can market forces (a) set an agricultural
research agenda that though increasingly dominated by private commercial
interests is oriented towards developing sustainable technologies, and (b)
exert demand pressure for organic products so as to promote a significant
shift towards more environment-friendly production practices?
44. There is a need for sufficient political support for the more visible
"decoupled" income transfers in order to compensate for output losses arising
from more environment-friendly practices and for land set-aside programmes.
2. Developing countries
(a) Overall progress review
45. The government priority in the majority of developing countries is to
increase food production to meet the demand of growing populations. In line
with this approach to food security, pricing policies for food items and farm
inputs were designed to provide incentives to farmers as well as to keep food
prices within the reach of consumers, particularly urban ones. In addition,
programmes were established, often with the assistance of external donors, in
research, extension and training, and marketing and distribution of
agricultural products, to promote the use of modern technologies.
46. Review of economy-wide and sectoral policies in line with SARD has yet
to be carried out in most of these countries. Domestic pressure for quality
food products is rarely present although external pressures are being exerted,
through international trade. A few developing countries have prepared
National Environmental Action Plans (NEAPs) with technical support from the
World Bank, UNEP and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). NEAPs
focus on the resource base but also include such topics as integrated
management of soil, water and plant nutrition, training on integrated pest
management, monitoring and training for sustainable agriculture and agro-
environmental protection activities at the field level. Though these NEAPs
are in most cases lists of priority areas and do not necessarily integrate
environmental policies into economic planning, they have contributed to a
better understanding of the needs for addressing environmental problems at the
national level.
47. At the sectoral level, some countries have started to address the matter
of policies for increasing the efficient use of land and water resources
mainly on the side of demand. Demand management policies for water include
pricing of the resource, increasing on-farm system efficiency of water use,
and developing water markets where possible.
48. The Farming Systems Development (FSD) approach has been accepted and
widely applied in several developing countries. In Eastern and Southern
Africa, for example, FSD features prominently now in Kenya, the United
Republic of Tanzania, Zambia and Botswana, and this has been achieved through
FSD-awareness programmes for decision makers, human resources development
programmes, and networking. In the Sudano-Sahelian region of West Africa (the
Niger, Benin, Burkina Faso, Senegal), a new generation of sustainable
resources management projects are increasingly using a comprehensive FSD
approach. In Benin, the RAMR (Recherche agronomique en milieu re'el) project
aims to improve the technological transfer process, and PEMR (Poursuite des
e'tudes en milieu Re'el) advocates improving farmers' participation in rural
development. In Latin America, more comprehensive systems are being launched
to promote FSD, particularly in marginal areas in Peru, Ecuador and Brazil,
with the aim of promoting participatory rural development.
49. In Asia, the FARM programme for sustainable agriculture has been
launched to support the implementation of Agenda 21 in China, India,
Indonesia, Nepal, the Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Viet Nam. The
programme is targeted at resource-poor communities and farm households, with
an overall objective of improved conservation, management and utilization of
natural resources in rain-fed lowlands and uplands.
50. The UNDP-initiated programme on Sustainable Agriculture Networking and
Extension (SANE) aims to enhance capacity-building and human resources
development in the area of sustainable agriculture through agro-ecological
training, participatory research, policy advocacy and information networking
among non-governmental organizations and other national/international
organizations in Asia, Africa and Latin America.
51. At the local level, the Group Farming Initiative of the Kerala state
Government in India presents a good example of how coordinated action can have
a significant impact on farming practice. Local communities comprising all
rice farmers were established for group activities, such as water management
and labour mobilization.
52. In the area of agricultural chemicals, pesticide registration
information in developing countries of Asia has been recently compiled.
Indonesia and the Philippines (both in rice) and Brazil (in soy beans) have
already implemented IPM programmes. FAO is supporting IPM programmes in rice,
vegetables and citrus fruits in South-East Asia and start-up studies on
sorghum and millet in Africa. Together, these programmes are training many
thousands of farmers and have saved many millions of dollars in costs of
pesticides: pesticide use has been halved in Indonesia since 1987, largely
because of the IPM rice programme, coupled with a phasing-out of pesticide
subsidies.
53. In China as part of its national Agenda 21, agricultural policy is
encouraging farmers to grow green manure in rice fields: green manures and
plant residues are now used on two thirds of its rice area. Chinese
Ecological Agriculture (CEA) is an approach to agricultural management guided
by the principles of ecology and economics. It combines both indigenous and
modern technologies with maximum recycling of wastes generated in the
production and consumption processes. Likewise, use of green manure and cover
crops in Central America and Brazil has transformed farming practices in
recent years. Cuba has introduced an "Alternative Agricultural Model" which
focuses on technologies that substitute for external inputs, such as IPM (to
replace pesticides). Namibia has produced a Green Plan that strongly
advocates the preparation of a national action plan to implement sustainable
development.
54. As regards land conservation and rehabilitation, efforts made so far by
international, national and local agencies in developing countries are -
compared with the magnitude of this problem - inadequate. It is becoming
clear that conservation and rehabilitation activities can be carried out at a
reasonable price and over large areas only through the activities of land
users themselves, either as individuals or in groups. This is resulting in a
move away from Governments' trying to carry out large-scale soil conservation
projects themselves. A recent longitudinal study, funded by the World Bank,
the United Kingdom Overseas Development Administration and the Rockefeller
Foundation, of the Machakos District in Kenya, has improved understanding of
this process. During a period of 60 years, the district's population
increased fivefold, and average output per unit of land rose almost tenfold,
while environmental conditions measurably improved largely through the
autonomous undertaking of erosion control measures by the farmers themselves.
In some countries, such as the Niger and Burkina Faso, efforts are being made
to develop soil and water conservation practices, based on traditional
technologies, which do not require the use of heavy equipment or expensive
inputs.
55. SARD is also closely related to the matter of the security of land
tenure. Even given the fact that insecure tenant farmers and sharecroppers
may have little incentive to invest in measures designed to enhance land
productivity in the long term, there has been little apparent progress in
addressing this problem. The Gambia has begun to study the impact of land
tenure on natural resources management and Zimbabwe has established a high-
level committee to formulate land tenure strategies.
56. Progress on conservation and sustainable utilization of PGRFA in
developing countries is mixed. A few countries - Brazil, China and India -
have established national programmes and mechanisms for conserving and
utilizing PGRFA. Since the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development these national programmes have begun to implement the activities
listed in Agenda 21. In contrast, a number of least developed countries and
many island countries have no specific programmes on PGRFA. Some have
national facilities but often these are underfinanced and understaffed.
57. Several countries have created and consolidated cooperation networks on
the exchange, management and conservation of plant genetic resources, closely
linked to the use of new technologies. Most of the efforts have been made in
plant rather than in animal or micro-organism genetic resources, however.
Scientific guidelines and manuals are now available for defining scientific
and operational concepts for implementing biosafety systems.
58. A sustainable rural energy supply and transition to enhanced
agricultural productivity remain a major issue in developing countries.
Although some progress has been made in the utilization of some renewable
forms of energy (wind, solar, biomass), low prices, and especially the
subsidies provided to fossil fuels, continue to hamper their application.
(b) Major issues and challenges
59. Most developing countries are under pressure from numerous sources to
review agricultural policies, plans and programmes, both economy-wide and
sectoral ones, with respect to their implications for the sustainability of
economic development and the achieving of food security. Those sources of
pressure include the conditionalities imposed by lending institutions, as part
of stabilization and structural adjustment programmes, as well as the follow-
up to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development, the
seeking of more effective government input into the provision of food security
and more rapid economic growth. Trade-offs between economic growth and
environmental protection, or between reducing poverty and conserving natural
resources, if stated in an overly simple manner, can pose serious policy and
political dilemmas for developing countries. They typically possess limited
institutional and human resource capacity to assess the implications for
sustainable agricultural and rural development of ongoing developmental plans.
Such countries find their limited capacities further extended by multiple,
overlapping and uncoordinated requests for environmental and sustainable
development plans and their analyses. Experience shows that response to
external demands often result in top-down, non-participatory actions with too
much emphasis on the plan as a document and too little on its entailing a
process that will result in changed attitudes towards the shifting of
agricultural and rural development onto a sustainable path.
60. Insufficient capacity to review economy-wide and sectoral policies, due
to data- and institution-related limitations as well as the lack of political
commitment, characterizes many developing countries and has limited progress
in achieving SARD. The links among the incidence of poverty, the dynamics of
population growth and migration and environmental degradation are not well
understood. Three types of conceptual and empirical knowledge are required
about agricultural, environmental and economic systems. These involve:
(a) A better understanding of biophysical relationships that allow
quantification of, for example, the effect on yields of a given level of soil
erosion or changes in climate, or the effects on the natural resource base of
particular agricultural practices. Such quantifiable cause-and-effect
relationships are necessary in order to calculate costs and benefits of
alternative actions;
(b) The establishment of appropriate (efficiency or social) prices or
values for environmental goods and services produced and consumed and for
natural resources stocks. For some of these, reasonably efficient and
competitive markets provide usable prices. However, for many environmental
goods and services either markets do not exist or existing markets are
imperfect (so that market prices either are not available or do not reflect
true social values). There is thus a need to develop markets, to remove any
impediments to their development, and to so price resources and production as
to reflect those social values, thereby internalizing externalities. However,
where markets do not exist, there arises the problem of the valuation of
environmental benefits, as a basis for any policy intervention and evaluation.
This also underlines the issue of intellectual property rights as they relate
to the rights of farmers with respect to genetic resources;
(c) In areas where market-based instruments cannot provide economic
incentives, such as that of subsistence-level farming, there is a need to
identify resource use and management alternatives to relieve the pressure on
marginal areas. Creation of physical infrastructures will gradually help to
introduce market-based policies, but there is a danger of further resource
depletion and environmental degradation before the introduction of such
mechanisms is fully achieved. In such areas, identification of local needs,
clear definition of property rights, development of indigenous technologies
and enhancing of participation of the local people are necessary. These
efforts are being retarded mainly by widespread ignorance of local people's
knowledge of these issues.
61. Another major gap is the current weak institutional status in a variety
of areas. Firstly, current institutional arrangements for promoting
sustainable agriculture are largely project-based. This means that progress
has been weak in the overall policy area, and it has also been weak in the
building of viable institutions that can provide continuity and adequate
support to the efforts made. In addition, there is often a lack of a strong
political commitment to making the transition to sustainable agriculture and
rural development, so as to safeguard the environment and eradicate poverty.
In most countries the existing bureaucratic structure is inefficient or not
well structured and incapable of tackling deep-seated social problems relating
to more equitable access to land and other assets and the status of women.
Finally, in the area of food trade, non-tariff barriers are becoming
increasingly important, reflecting rising health and environmental concerns in
developed country markets. Responding to legislation such as the prior
informed consent (PIC) procedure and the Codex Alimentarius places additional
demands on developing country institutions in meeting the requirements for
setting and monitoring food-quality and packaging standards.
3. Countries in transition
(a) Overall progress review
62. The countries with economies in transition are exposed to the same
pressures and constraints as both developed and developing countries. In
particular, they currently confront major industrial or "brown" pollution
problems, together with the effects of radical changes in economic systems
that have completely altered input-output price relationships, including those
for agriculture. Environmental factors related to agriculture are largely
being overshadowed by basic problems such as land reform, farm restructuring,
input supply, improvement of production and productivity, and pricing. There
are still geographical areas where the overriding environmental issue is the
radionuclide contamination caused by the Chernobyl accident of 1986.
Nevertheless, these countries are moving towards a process of agricultural
reform, including the adoption of measures directly related to rational use of
natural resources and environmental issues and the protection of water and
soils. Policies aimed at taking marginal lands out of production are being
introduced. Another consideration is the sharp reduction for economic reasons
in the use of fertilizers, plant protection chemicals and energy.
63. In the Czech Republic, the policy objective is to combine sufficient
yields with environmental protection. In order to reduce surpluses together
with the intensive use of land, measures have been taken to withdraw land from
cultivation and turn it into meadow or woodland. Poland has prepared a
programme entitled "Pro-ecological Orientation in Agricultural Policy in the
Twentieth and Twenty-first Centuries". In the Russian Federation, as a result
of agrarian reform, 60 per cent of the cropland has been brought into new
forms of agricultural enterprises. The Russian Government also adopted a
decision on the functioning of the agro-industrial complex of the Russian
Federation for 1994 to keep the economic incentives given to producers in
1993. In Romania, the modernization and restructuring of the whole agro-food
sector is taking place with the stated aim of strengthening food security.
Though these measures do not directly contribute to environmental
improvements, the move towards privatization should establish an economic
environment favourable to the introducing of market-based measures.
64. As regards chemical fertilizers and pesticides, the rate of use has
decreased in countries such as Bulgaria in the last five years owing to
agricultural reforms, discontinuation of state subsidies, increase in costs,
and training and extension programmes. In Hungary, various measures have also
been taken concerning the use of nitrates. As for pesticides, a widespread
network for the monitoring of crops allows residues and their impact on the
environment to be controlled. Measures are also being taken to regulate the
use of nitrogenous fertilizers.
(b) Major issues and challenges
65. In most of these countries, there did not exist a policy framework
designed to influence producer, consumer and investment behaviour through the
modifying of price signals. Thus, it is a case of needing not to review,
analyse and modify existing policies but rather to design and implement a new
policy framework. This has the advantage of offering an opportunity to learn
from past mistakes connected with the policies of other (including developed)
countries. However, there are few people with knowledge of and experience
with market institutions, and the institutions through which policies can be
administered are few in number and weak. The existence of only poorly
organized markets with their inexperienced participants makes response
behaviour less predictable than it would be in established markets. The
provision of adequate education and training is a challenge, together with
support to the formation of farmer groups and other non-governmental
organizations to promote participatory decision-making for coherent policies
aiming at the well-being of the rural population. It is likely that this will
lead to major employment problems in rural areas which will require the
establishment of alternative sources of income.
66. One of the serious problems encountered in the transition process which
has critical implications for sustainability of agriculture production and use
of land resources has been that concerning the processes of privatization and
decollectivization of state and collective farms. Political pressure for
rapid action has often resulted in distribution of land before legal
instruments and institutions were in place to provide clear and transferable
tenure rights. Land grabbing, together with excessive fragmentation, has
prompted Governments to choose cautious approaches before a well-functioning
land market is in place and individual rights and responsibilities are
established. It is also difficult to design policy instruments to internalize
environmental externalities associated with land use practices when tenure
rights and responsibilities are not well established.
67. There has also been an excess of often conflicting policy advice from
the various bilateral and multilateral assistance agencies. The already
overtaxed capacity for policy analysis is being called upon to evaluate the
"sustainability" of the policy advice offered by those who are looked to for
help.
B. Experiences of major groups
68. In preparing this report, the task manager made an effort to reach out
to major groups, in particular non-governmental organizations and farmers' and
women's organizations. An invitation to contribute views and experience was
sent out in July 1994 to over 30 international non-governmental organizations
and regional and subregional non-governmental organization networks active in
the area of SARD, more than half of them based in the developing world. The
fact that individual replies were received from nine, including two from the
South, demonstrates the difficulty of channelling to an international level
the rich and diverse experience of organizations that have priority calls on
their limited resources and cannot easily apply them to reporting. The
material presented in this subsection thus presents only a partial view of
major group experience.
69. It should be emphasized that there is no single non-governmental
organization, much less a major group, view of SARD and of what its
implementation entails. Many non-governmental organizations have, however,
expressed their feeling that the perspective of chapter 14 of Agenda 21 is
overly technological and insufficiently critical of the current development
model. As these non-governmental organizations see it, chapter 14 fails to
address the issue of the overall system driving unsustainability. The
fundamental characteristics of the global food system that are incompatible
with the objectives of SARD are, they feel, the dominant development model of
unlimited economic growth, short-term profit and disregard for social and
environmental "externalities"; underregulated international markets and
transnational corporations, globally mobile capital, and a globalized food and
agriculture system based on world prices well below the costs of production;
structural adjustment programmes; indebtedness and debt repayment strategies;
and systems of national accounts that fail to value a healthy environment, a
productive resource base, preventive health care, and non-wage-type but
essential social and reproductive work and stewardship of resources. One form
of non-governmental organization follow-up to the Rio de Janeiro Conference
has thus been a continuing constructive critique of SARD concepts, emphasizing
such elements as democracy, participation, equitable access to resources,
local solutions, cultural values, social justice and equity, and ecological
agricultural systems often adapted from traditional methods. Concerns like
these, expressed in the NGO Alternative Treaties on Sustainable Agriculture
and Food Security adopted in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, have been reiterated in
subsequent international non-governmental organization meetings such as the
"Bringing Rio Home" conference held in Mulheim, Germany, in September 1993,
the "Down to Earth: Between the Summits" meeting held in Copenhagen in
December 1993; and the International Week on Sustainable Agriculture and Food
Security, which took place in Washington, D.C., in October 1994.
70. Non-governmental organizations have undoubtedly increased the intensity
and effectiveness of their lobbying on SARD-related issues at the
international level since the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development. Non-governmental organization-organized discussions and
preparatory work are helping to ensure that SARD does not slip off the agenda
of international conferences like the International Conference on Population
and Development, the World Summit for Social Development and the Fourth World
Conference on Women. At the same time, many non-governmental organizations
note and are concerned that factors such as distance, limited human and
financial resources, and unequal access to information are tending to
distinguish between those non-governmental organizations that are closely
following international processes and those, particularly in the developing
world, that are not.
71. More generally, non-governmental organizations note that their
involvement is now being solicited by a steadily increasing quantity of
international actors and forums to an extent that is well beyond their
capacity to participate in a substantive way. At the International Week on
Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security, held in Washington, D.C., in
October 1994, participants identified a need that they felt to think and act
strategically, while planning for the long term and carefully selecting where
to invest their energies, through, for example, taking preventive action to
promote the establishment of frameworks for new developments like
biotechnology; monitoring the impact of the Uruguay Round on agriculture in
order to be in a strong position for the review process that will take place
in four years time; maintaining links between community-level activism and
policy-level advocacy at national and international levels; and maximizing
research and information capacities in order to be able to demonstrate the
viability of alternative approaches.
72. A number of international non-governmental organizations have reported
post-United Nations Conference on Environment and Development activity to
propagate SARD within their organizations. The International Federation of
Agricultural Producers (IFAP) has adopted SARD policies at its World Assembly
and is proposing action to strengthen farmers' organizations and links among
farmers, researchers and extension services. The International Federation of
Organic Agricultural Movements (IFOAM) is developing and promoting an
international organic standard system aimed at maintaining the productive
capacity of the soil. The Pesticides Action Network (PAN) is undertaking
advocacy and fieldwork aimed at reducing dependence on chemical pesticides by
promoting sustainable agriculture. The World Sustainable Agricultural
Association (WSAA) has organized conferences on sustainable agriculture in
Asia and South America. At the same time, less formal networking
arrangements, as an effective and flexible way of exchanging experience across
national and regional frontiers, have multiplied in the non-governmental
organization world.
73. Non-governmental organization contributions to the task manager's report
provide far less information on activity at national/local levels than at
international ones. A report from the United Kingdom does indicate that a
pro-SARD movement is taking shape there and in other European countries.
Non-governmental organizations and other interested parties are joining
together to offer advice and support to Governments in developing cohesive
policies for SARD at national and regional levels. Particular attention is
being given to involving European farmers in the process.
74. Throughout the developing world, as non-governmental organization
reports emphasize, indigenous organizations and local community groups have
played a significant role in managing and developing natural resources.
Examples are peoples' irrigation systems in northern Thailand, farmer-managed
irrigation systems in Nepal and the waru-waru land management system in Peru,
to name a few. However, such traditional systems are gradually being eroded
in many parts of the developing world, as indigenous people are displaced and
their agriculture strategies endangered. Non-governmental organizations play
an important role in defending and rehabilitating those systems. The same
holds true, as non-governmental organizations point out, for agricultural
practices. Many of the practices now being pursued in the name of
sustainability were traditional agricultural arts, pioneered and field-tested
by peasant farmers. Among these are crop rotation, spatial diversification
through cultivated crops and wild species on farms, biological pest control,
soil-building through composting and green manuring, cover-cropping and
conserving open-pollinated seed varieties.
75. There is an increasing wealth of non-governmental organization and other
major group experience in Africa, Asia and Latin America, as organizations go
beyond specific initiatives in limited areas to develop more comprehensive
strategies for promoting peasant-based SARD. This wealth has not been
captured in the present Commission on Sustainable Development reporting
process, in spite of the fact that non-governmental organizations are
attaching importance to more systematic analysis and exchange of experience.
III. MATTERS RELATED TO FINANCE AND TECHNOLOGY
A. Finance
1. Changing mode of financing
76. Agenda 21 estimated that the average annual cost (1993-2000) of
implementing SARD was about US$ 31.8 billion of which about US$ 5.075 billion
was to come from the international community as grant or concessional loans.
How much of this total estimated funding requirement has been or will be
achieved is a question this report cannot answer.
77. Financing efforts to promote SARD is a key issue, especially in
developing countries. Various international, multinational and national
agencies have been, and continue to be, the major source of finance for
projects with environmental impact in those countries. It is especially the
regional development banks, the International Fund for Agricultural
Development (IFAD), UNDP and the World Bank that have been the main lending
organizations for technical assistance and loans for agricultural and rural
development projects in developing countries and economies in transition.
Hence their policies on their appraisal of project proposals in the light of
SARD objectives are crucial. As an example, IFAD has sharpened its focus on
the financing of sustainable agriculture projects that can serve as replicable
models for rural poverty alleviation. It has also begun an accelerated
institutional learning programme on natural resource management for rural
poverty alleviation, including proactive environmental assessments of 23
agricultural development projects. Since August 1994, IFAD has adopted formal
procedures for environmental assessment to apply to all pipeline projects.
78. The Asian Development Bank has made a fundamental commitment to
sustainable agricultural development (SAD). Post-United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development activities include efforts to incorporate the
United Nations Conference on Environment and Development agenda in the Bank's
strategic planning process and the formulation of a strategic focus and agenda
on SAD. It seeks to foster development of sustainable agricultural production
systems and to ensure that the following elements of sustainability are
incorporated in the formulation and implementation of Bank-financed projects:
increased and stabilized productivity; rational use of natural resources;
enhancement of the quality of life and the environment; and intergenerational
equity.
79. Between 1992 and 1994, the Asian Development Bank approved a number of
SARD-related projects which included (a) tropical crops development, and soil
conservation and management in China, (b) tree crop development, upland farmer
development, and sustainable agricultural projects in Indonesia, (c) watershed
development in Bhutan, (d) environmental rehabilitation in Thailand, (e) tea
development in Nepal, and (f) flood damage restoration in Pakistan. It has
also assisted in institutional strengthening and environmental impact
assessment activities in its member countries. Implementation of its SAD
strategy is being supported by a number of parallel initiatives. These
include rationalization of the policy environment in the Bank to promote
renewable production systems; a continued increase in productivity;
nutritional security activity; and transfer of technology, particularly
biotechnology.
80. The World Bank is undertaking efforts to make the links among
environment, agricultural development and poverty explicit in its project and
programme lending. The main programme areas include natural resource
monitoring and assessment studies; improvement of irrigation technology and
water management to reduce pollution; arresting of salinity and waterlogging;
and development and dissemination of improved farming practices.
81. The World Bank is currently financing 49 projects (in 35 countries) that
serve directly to improve natural resources management. Funding for
biotechnology is generally a component of these projects, with more loans for
agricultural biotechnology. Countries like Brazil, India, China, Indonesia,
Mexico and Turkey have been the biggest clients in drawing loans for
environmental improvement. Likewise, new lending was also approved for 13
projects addressing rural environmental problems - so-called "green" projects
involving new environmental borrowers such as Bhutan, Colombia, the Lao
People's Democratic Republic and Uruguay as well as older clients such as
China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Paraguay, Poland and Tunisia. Also, loans
were approved for strengthening environmental institutions in the Gambia, the
Republic of Korea and Morocco. Financial support was given to several
sub-Saharan African countries, to prepare NEAPs. However, most investments
were directed towards forest protection and urban environmental improvements.
In the area of poverty reduction and environmental management, 66 operations
were approved by the World Bank during 1993-1994 of which 10 were specifically
directed at natural resources management.
82. The World Bank has also promoted innovative financing mechanisms for the
restoration of degraded lands and agricultural promotion projects. These
projects seek to increase agricultural production and rural incomes by
encouraging farmers at the micro-catchment level to adopt sustainable forms of
land management and soil and water conservation.
2. Major issues and challenges
83. Though some progress towards changing the mode of financing mechanisms
can be seen, the existing level of poverty and growing environmental problems
raise serious questions about the sufficiency and the mode of financing to
promote SARD in developing countries. In most of these, the potential cost of
natural resources depletion and environmental degradation is very high
compared with defensive expenditures or the investment made for environmental
improvement.
84. There is a need to identify priorities, and mobilize additional
financial resources, mainly at the household or farmer's field level.
Identification of priority areas at the local, regional and national levels in
each country and a search for alternative sources of funding are required to
make the transition towards sustainable development. In some cases, however,
rather than look for additional financing, it may only be necessary to avoid
unsustainable practices. This may involve revoking past policies that
rewarded speculative land clearance or subsidized chemical inputs.
Conventional financing mechanisms aimed at promoting agricultural production,
extension services and research priorities would have to be reoriented and
restructured (rather than such sources being alone looked to for increased
funding).
85. Not only should the alternative financing mechanisms to be developed be
non-distortionary, but they should also mitigate market failures, internalize
externalities and correct incentive structures. Within the changing context
of sustainable development, developmental efforts should be able to pay its
full costs, that is, the environmental and social costs; for this reason
resources have to be priced at or equal to the marginal value or scarcity rent
and incorporated into development-related decision-making.
86. Ex ante reduction in the use of potentially damaging inputs and waste
generation will, wherever applicable, be a more practical way of minimizing
their effects than ex post diversion of large amounts of resources. Each
country has to work out the physical links between ecosystem resource use and
productivity under different conditions for different products. The
identification of these links will help in identifying additional physical and
human resource and investment needs.
87. Efforts should then be made to prepare national plans on financing for
sustainable development. In theory, considerable opportunity exists to use
public finance and fiscal policy to encourage a more sustainable use of
natural resources. However, modifying the behaviour of the private users of
resources is hampered in practice by the same valuation problem mentioned
above. Pending further progress on valuing environmental goods and services,
policies may have to be set using intuitive rather than fully rational
criteria. Moreover, irrespective of quantification, the longer-term nature of
environmental benefits puts them at a political disadvantage relative to
pressing and shorter-term concerns when financing priorities are set.
88. Some progress on altering fiscal policies as part of structural
adjustment programmes so as to discourage unsustainable resource use has been
made. Funding under GEF has provided some financial means for Governments to
subsidize activities having external, intangible or very-long-term benefits
but, as already stated, GEF is not directly oriented towards SARD.
Nevertheless, IFAD has established a framework agreement on GEF collaboration,
whereby the GEF portfolio may be enriched with projects that address global
environmental concerns through community-based resource management-related
agricultural projects.
89. Since it is unrealistic to expect large increases in government or
multilateral finance for environmental conservation and SARD, the need is to
(a) refine the methodologies and means to strengthen the potentially powerful
economic arguments for larger allocations in favour of sustainable agriculture
within existing budgets; and (b) to assist Governments in framing policies
that maximize the potential leverage on private behaviour and investment of
available public finance, that is, to mobilize private sector investment in
sustainable agricultural practices and particularly the labour inputs of
small-scale farmers. FAO and the World Bank, the International Monetary Fund
(IMF) and other multinational financing organizations have major roles to play
in achieving these goals.
90. Several financing mechanisms are feasible for SARD. First, for making a
transition to sustainable development, there is a need to reduce progressively
or remove subsidies on chemical fertilizers, pesticides, irrigation water and
electric power, and design economic incentives to avoid excessive input use.
Second, self-financing mechanisms at the local level should be explored by
guaranteeing farmers' rights. For example, the farmer's willingness to pay
for the use of irrigation water and upper watershed protection could be
captured. Likewise, the farmer's willingness to pay for the use of chemical
fertilizer and pesticides (in areas where there is potential for groundwater
and surface-water pollution) can be captured and used for developing organic
farming methods. When farmers want either to convert to organic farming
because conventional inputs are too expensive, or to have access to markets
for organic foods, it is important to support the development of organic
farming methods, adapted to the region concerned and to analyse the economics
of conversion. Investment in infrastructural development projects can change
the value of rural property and some taxes on these added values can be
imposed and directed for off-farm income-generating activities. Likewise,
private financing in promoting organic fertilizer and biotechnologies can be
initiated through joint efforts of local universities, private entrepreneurs
and farmers.
91. Another way of generating revenue for environmental protection is
through environmental tax reforms. This means shifting from conventional
systems of taxing "goods" to taxing "bads". Examples are reducing land taxes
and increasing water and water pollution taxes. Possibilities with respect to
making such a shift in conventional tax systems and looking for the other
mechanisms outlined above should be explored by each country, and areas where
international cooperation and financing are needed should be worked out.
B. Technology
1. Progress on technological development and technology transfer
92. Case-studies conducted by the United Nations Conference on Trade and
Development (UNCTAD), the World Bank and others, including non-governmental
organizations, demonstrate that sustainable production techniques exist and
that farmers in both developed and developing countries are showing an
increasing interest in their adoption. Farmers respond positively when the
necessary incentives are provided and when extension services are available
and the macroeconomic framework as well as international trade opportunities
is favourable.
93. Increasing consumer concerns regarding the quality of food and the
environment, and hence the demand for "organically" produced products (both
foods and agricultural raw materials), has an important potential for
improving environmental standards and promoting the technologies to meet these
standards.
94. FAO, in cooperation with other international organizations, national
Governments and non-governmental organizations, has promoted, introduced and
implemented various environment-friendly technologies in the past. For soil
conservation, such technologies include cover crops, wind-breaks, timing of
cultivation according to weather conditions, contour cropping, selective and
more shallow ploughing, minimum- or no-tillage agriculture, and maintenance of
organic-matter content through organic manure or composting of green-manure
crops and crop residues. Bioenergy conversion of agricultural and livestock
wastes also offers alternatives for energy and fertilizer production.
Together with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), FAO is exploring
possibilities for employing the sterile-insect technique to eradicate the
Mediterranean fruit fly in the Mediterranean basin, a technique that led to
the recent eradication of the screwworm in North Africa.
95. Another track with respect to insuring sustainable agriculture is to use
environment-friendly "conventional" pest and weed control technologies, an
approach already adopted by several developed countries such as Denmark and
Sweden. The wider introduction of these technologies in developing countries
has to be based on their local needs, knowledge and agro-ecological
conditions. Developing countries also have an urgent need to augment their
capabilities for the production of less hazardous pesticides, while ensuring
conservation of the environment through adequate treatment of effluent.
Promotion of environment- and user-friendly, IPM-compatible pesticides and
their formulations, including botanical pesticides such as that derived from
the neem tree in Asia and microbial pesticides based on the bacterium Bacillus
thuringiensis, is another approach. Regional National Pesticides Production
in Asia and the Pacific (RENPAP) under the UNDP/FAO/UNIDO FARM project is
aimed at creating a self-sustaining functional Regional Network, catering to
the information, individual consultancy and training needs of its 15 member
countries. The Regional Network will support the production of botanical
pesticides, the safe production of pesticides and effective waste disposal
management in pesticide production facilities.
96. There is a search for alternatives to large-scale chemical control
methods, combined with cultural weed controls, breeding programmes directed
towards crop selection for tolerance of weeds and plant breeding for insect
and other pest resistance. Application of the International Code of Conduct
on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides 9/ as well as PIC is exerting
pressure on pesticide users to adopt less toxic products as well as IPM
technologies.
97. The World Bank has set out to identify the existing technology gap and
address the issue for the purpose of increasing the productivity of existing
resources in order to minimize the pressure on marginal areas. Examples of
efforts in this area are the co-managing of a project researching exploitation
of local sources of rock phosphate in sub-Saharan Africa; the promoting of
innovative land management projects such as the expansion of technologies for
conservation tillage in tropical environments throughout Latin America and
into Africa; the broad dissemination of research into and field trials of
various vegetative barriers for land conservation; and the developing of an
agenda on Soil-Water-Nutrients management (SWNM) in collaboration with CGIAR
centres and national research systems. Other components of the project on
innovative approaches include the promotion of sound agricultural practices
such as crop rotation, green manuring, alternative cultivation practices,
small-scale mechanization, and weed and pest control.
98. The CGIAR system aims to harness modern science to the sustainable
development of agriculture. In close coordination with national research
facilities, the different centres of CGIAR are working for more resource-
efficient technologies for food production while protecting and enhancing the
natural resource base. Along the same lines, CGIAR has identified research
areas, central to chapter 14 of Agenda 21, including the contribution of
genetic improvement to disease and pest resistance; the increased use of
nitrogen-fixing plants and reduced dependence on artificial fertilizers; the
effectiveness of IPM research in reducing dependence on chemical pesticides;
the potential of crop mulches to contain soil erosion; integrated agricultural
resources management; and the application of improved agroforestry
technologies. The different centres of CGIAR are taking on responsibilities
for research and dissemination of results in these areas, as well as adopting
an ecoregional approach to the development and transfer of sustainable
agricultural technologies.
99. Nuclear techniques have increasing application in modern agricultural
technologies that are supportive of SARD by enhancing productivity and
permitting the replacement of conventional environmentally damaging
techniques. Examples, drawn from the joint work of IAEA and FAO, include the
use of radioisotopes for labelling deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) in the
manipulation of plant germplasm, and for studying the utilization of plant
nutrients and the fate of pesticides and other contaminants in the soil; the
irradiation of food to replace chemical fumigants; and the production of
sterile insect pests. The Agricultural Laboratory at Siebersdorf (Austria), a
facility which is being expanded, is undertaking research, training and
transfer of technology in this scientific area.
2. Major issues and challenges
100. Developing countries and, to some extent, economies in transition, face
problems in evolving local-level indigenous technology, and in transferring
clean technology from the developed countries, as well as in adopting and
making efficient use of such technologies. Some farmers in these countries
have been practising organic farming, traditional terracing, tillage and
resource conservation methods for many years. However, the lack of farmers'
capability to cope with the changes in the physical environment and the lack
of understanding of these indigenous technologies and methods by those
concerned in implementing government interventions have inhibited their
development. At the same time, developed-country farmers can learn from the
principles of such techniques, adapted to different agro-ecological and socio-
economic conditions. As yet, there is no formal mechanism for such exchange.
101. Biotechniques are being increasingly used to create new, more productive
strains of crop plants (transgenics in rice is a recent example), plant and
animal diagnostic products, animal vaccines, biological pesticides and other
biological control agents. However, their benefits are skewed towards the
more developed countries - towards their farmers, crops and animals. The
safety, cost and relevance of biotechnology should be assessed and compared
with available traditional technological options. An international code of
conduct on biotechnology developed by a multinational organization such as FAO
would be a useful instrument in assessing biotechnology. Lack of
international and national guidelines on the release of genetically modified
organisms (GMOs) is also a major concern. Environmental impact assessments on
GMOs need to be in place and biotechnology needs to be assessed for its
impacts on poor and marginalized farmers.
102. Local innovation, development, transfer from outside and adoption of
developed technologies require training for farmers and field educators.
Education on improving fertilizer application methods and individual
fertilization plans should be encouraged. As farmers also have experience of
these technologies, their experience should be utilized. Other requirements
are the developing of guidelines for legislators, extension advisers, and
farmers on the best practical and the least harmful means of handling animal
wastes. Likewise, the promotion of multispecies livestock production systems
to increase waste and by-product recycling can lead to more efficient use of
feed energy and nutrients.
103. Other major issues related to technological factors in developing
countries are (a) information as well as misinformation, that is the amount
and quality of information on technology, (b) efforts on developing
participatory types of technology, (c) promoting traditional methods,
technologies and knowledge, (d) basic scientific research, (e) financing
technology transfer and cooperation, and (f) disseminating lessons learned
from past experiences. Developing countries should be helped not only by
direct transfer of clean technologies suitable to their agro-ecological
conditions but also by developing their own technology through local
participation in order to develop their self-sustaining capacity.
IV. RECENT DEVELOPMENTS AND EXPERIENCES IN INTERNATIONAL
COOPERATION
A. Intergovernmental cooperation
104. In Western Europe, the Economic Commission for Europe (ECE) adopted a
decision on "Cooperation in the field of environment and sustainable
development". The Commission also requested its subsidiary bodies to
strengthen their activities in this field. An ECE workshop on Environmental
Performance Review (EPR) in OECD countries in cooperation with OECD took place
in May 1994. It stressed the need for close cooperation with other
international organizations for the EPR process. The framework to be used for
the EPRs includes the following elements related to agriculture: agricultural
run-off as a source of water pollution; agricultural waste; landscape and
habitat conservation; environment-related legislation; enforcement and
compliance mechanisms; monitoring systems; environmental policy and
integration with economic policies; land use planning; economic instruments;
environmental considerations in the legislation on privatization; and land
reform. OECD is also actively engaged in the analysis of the linkages between
agriculture and the environment in the context of these policy reforms, and
concerned with the need to promote sustainable agricultural practices with the
least economic distortions.
105. In the countries of South Asia and the Pacific, the Economic and Social
Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) is carrying out a series of
country studies, national seminars, regional meetings, and other technical
assistance activities to promote sustainable agriculture.
106. In the countries of Western Asia, the Economic and Social Commission for
Western Asia (ESCWA) is focusing its activities on resource conservation in
some countries to assess the current status of resource degradation, prepare a
sustainable land use plan, and analyse micro- and macro-policies and their
linkages to sustainable resource use.
107. FAO, as one of the responsible United Nations organizations promoting
SARD in the area of policy changes, is being requested by its member
countries, both developing and those with economies in transition, to assist
in reviewing existing policies and in formulating policies more consistent
with SARD. In the past, FAO responded to such requests by (a) fielding
missions and undertaking projects for policy analysis assistance and building
capacity for policy analysis; and (b) taking actions to ensure that all policy
assistance provided by FAO would take into account SARD objectives. FAO is
also actively engaged in a number of areas where the concerns of agricultural
trade and the environment meet. FAO's commodity and trade policy activities
stress achieving growth and stability of international markets through
producer/consumer consultations, particularly through the Committee on
Commodity Problems (CCP) and its Intergovernmental Groups. FAO is also
helping countries develop their policies on environment and assisting them in
their efforts to expand their agricultural trade in sustainable ways.
108. A concrete example of FAO's activities on environmental and trade issues
is its work on strengthening the competitive position of natural vis-a`-vis
synthetic fibres, because of the greater environment-friendliness of the
former. During the last two years, the Intergovernmental Group on Jute, Kenaf
and Allied Fibres has been examining environmental issues having an impact on
trade with respect to the products covered by the Group.
109. CCP also encouraged the Intergovernmental Groups to undertake commodity-
by-commodity studies that would include (a) technical environmental reviews;
(b) economic assessments of the costs of reducing environmental damage and of
adopting SARD/environmental policies; and (c) national and international
policy support to countries to adopt appropriate SARD/environmental policies.
A methodology for economic assessment of commodity-specific environmental
impact is under preparation, as well as case-studies on individual
commodities.
110. The intergovernmental machinery of UNCTAD is also dealing with the
issues related to SARD in different areas. Its Trade and Development Board is
considering one specific topic related to trade and environment each year. In
1994 the specific topic was "The effects of internalization of external costs
on sustainable development" and in 1995 it will be "The impact of environment-
related policies on export competitiveness and market access". In 1993, the
Standing Committee on Commodities discussed "Experiences concerning
environmental effects of commodity production and processing" within the
context of "fostering sustainable development in the commodity field". The
agenda for its third session in September-October 1994 included
"Identification of the means by which the competitiveness of natural products
with environmental advantages is improved".
111. In the area of land conservation and rehabilitation, an important
development since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development
has been the agreement reached in Paris, in June 1994, on a text for an
International Convention to Combat Desertification in those Countries
Experiencing Serious Drought and/or Desertification, particularly in Africa
(A/49/84/Add.2, annex, appendix II). This convention has four regional
implementation annexes which provide for action in different regions.
112. At its 1993 Conference, FAO adopted a Special Action Programme for Land
Conservation and Rehabilitation. This programme will continue to implement
the existing International Scheme for the Conservation and Rehabilitation of
African Lands (ISCRAL) and will also develop and help implement similar
schemes for two other regions - Asia and the Pacific and Latin America and the
Caribbean.
113. FAO is also taking active part in promoting IPM both in developed and in
developing countries. In meetings of the FAO/UNEP Panel of Experts on IPM, of
the International Agricultural Research Centres, and of the International IPM
Working Group, and in other meetings organized by FAO and other international
organizations including the World Bank, UNDP and UNEP, ways to promote IPM
have been discussed and priorities established.
11‡Z Within the Special Action Programmes (SAP) formulated by FAO in response
to the challenges posed by SARD, the two programmes on conservation,
development and use of plant and animal genetic resources for agriculture are
designed to promote in situ and ex situ conservation, evaluation, monitoring
and use, and capacity-building for research and development in member
countries. FAO is carrying out these activities in partnership with farmers,
rural communities, national and international agricultural research
institutions and non-governmental organizations. At the national level, FAO
continues to support the establishment and/or strengthening of national
capacities to conserve, manage and use genetic diversity, including crop
diversification and the use of underutilized and multi-purpose species.
115. An early warning mechanism is also being developed to draw rapid
attention to hazards threatening the operations of genebanks holding germplasm
collections, and to the danger of the extinction of plant species and the loss
of genetic diversity throughout the world. Progress has also been made in
developing the global network through the renegotiating of an agreement
between FAO and CGIAR on the location of CGIAR centre collections. There have
also been contacts between FAO and national Governments on participation in
the network. In India, FAO is advising an NGO on in situ conservation of PGR.
116. The Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA) is
collaborating with its member States in the design of policies, sectoral
studies and institutional reforms, and in advisory services on sustainable
agriculture. Also, IICA's strategy has focused on establishing new horizontal
cooperation networks such as the Programa cooperativo de Investigacio'n y
Transferencia de Tecnologi'a Agropecuaria para los Tro'picos (PROCITROPICS)
(or cooperative programme in land and cattle-related research and technology
transfer for the tropics) which brings together eight countries of the Amazon
basin and subregional networks on the subject of plant genetic resources
management and conservation.
117. In the indo-gangetic region, an initiative has been taken among the
countries of the region to strengthen their collaboration on research into the
causes of the declining response to conventional inputs, and into new
sustainable technologies suitable for the farmers of the region. The
initiative was launched in January 1993 between senior agricultural
administrators of Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Pakistan, together with the
CGIAR centres - the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI), the
International Centre for Maize and Wheat Improvement (CIMMYT) and the
International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) -
with the support of UNDP, the World Bank, the Asian Development Bank and
various bilateral donor agencies. It is designed to facilitate this
collaboration, as well as to provide guidance on policy and on a strategic
research framework for addressing these issues.
118. In the area of rural energy, the World Bank is supporting the continued
expansion of electricity distribution systems. Examples of Bank programme and
project innovations in this area include:
(a) Extensive use of photovoltaic cells in poor/rural areas that would
not otherwise be served by the national or regional power grid (especially for
rural health clinics, village water pumping, battery charging for village
use);
(b) In Estonia, a district heating rehabilitation project that, rather
than rely on imported oil, supports the replacement of small boilers and their
conversion to peat and wood;
(c) Programmes that encourage alternatives to biomass for fuel, such as
the Calub Gas Development Project (Ethiopia), which is replacing wood fuels
with liquefied petroleum gas in the south-eastern region of the country;
119. The Committee on New and Renewable Sources of Energy and on Energy for
Development, at its first session, held in February 1994, noted with concern
that, on the eve of the twenty-first century, 2.5 billion people in the
developing countries still had little or no access to commercial energy
supplies and electricity. 10/ The Committee recommended to the Economic and
Social Council the adoption of a draft decision by which it would decide that
the Committee should hold a session in February/March 1995 in order to provide
advice on energy for rural development to the Commission on Sustainable
Development at its third session, as provided for in Agenda 21. 11/ The
recommendations of the Committee will be submitted to the Commission on
Sustainable Development at its third session.
B. Cooperation within organizations of the
United Nations system
120. Several cooperative activities have already been described elsewhere.
Among United Nations organizations, FAO has initiated a number of actions such
as (a) establishing a Special Action Programme for Country Policy Assistance
for food security; (b) providing funding to support cross-sectoral activities
within its Inter-Departmental Working Group for Environment and Sustainable
Development and its specialized subgroups; (c) forming a new department of
sustainable development which will provide more centralized leadership and
greater visibility for this area of work when it is established in early 1995;
(d) undertaking activities to improve the capacity of FAO and others to
evaluate policies that integrate environment and sustainable development
goals.
121. Among other coordinated efforts within United Nations organizations are
(a) establishment of a working party on relations between agriculture and the
environment in Europe in cooperation with ECE; (b) implementation of a
farming-systems approach to development in Latin America, with support from
other international agencies such as CGIAR, the World Bank, IICA, the
International Cooperation Centre of Agricultural Research for Development
(CIRAD)-SARD and national institutions; (c) implementation of an integrated
approach to land and water management activities in cooperation with ESCWA;
(d) activities on "Sustainable Agricultural Development Strategies" in Asia
and Pacific countries in cooperation with ESCAP, UNDP and UNIDO; and (e)
carrying out of research activities on sustainable farming systems in
collaboration with CGIAR institutions.
C. Organizations outside the United Nations
122. The post-United Nations Conference on Environment and Development period
has seen an increase in cooperation between non-governmental organizations and
the United Nations family in the area of SARD. As the United Nations
specialized technical organization in the field of agriculture, FAO has a
special responsibility to develop such cooperation, in both policy formulation
and field programmes. Non-governmental organizations are participating in a
number of SARD-related normative activities, such as technical meetings
related to the International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of
Pesticides and to the elaboration of standards for organic products within the
FAO/WHO Codex Alimentarius. Non-governmental organizations are also well-
established partners in FAO's efforts to promote the conservation and use of
plant genetic resources, and will be closely associated with the preparations
for the Fourth International Technical Conference on Plant Genetic Resources
to be held in 1996. A consultation focusing on "NGOs and SARD in Asia:
Challenges for Policies and Practises" was organized by FAO in September 1993,
and non-governmental organizations have participated in the preparation of two
issues on SARD in FAO's Development Education Exchange Papers (DEEP) Series:
one issue on Latin America/Asia and the other on Africa/the North.
123. At the field level, FAO and non-governmental organizations in Africa,
South Asia and Latin America have formulated regional components of a
cooperation programme aimed at strengthening non-governmental organization
capacity to promote sustainable farming systems and food security for peasant
households, for which resources are being sought. FAO has drawn on the
services of a Brazilian non-governmental organization, Assessoria e Servicos a
Projetos em Agricultura Alternativa (AS-PTA), to assist a national peasant
federation in Senegal (Fe'de'ration des organisations non gouvernementales
se'ne'galaises (FONGS)) in promoting village-level reflection on the impact of
structural adjustment on peasant agriculture and the environment. Field-level
cooperation with non-governmental organizations is also an important part of
the IPM programme in Asia and of the UNDP/FAO/UNIDO FARM programme in Asia.
V. CONCLUSIONS AND PROPOSAL FOR ACTION
A. Conclusions: has the path towards SARD been followed?
124. Apart from the lack of sufficiently comprehensive indicators, 12/ the
reaching of definite conclusions about progress in implementing SARD following
the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development is complicated by
the fact that people have different perspectives of SARD shaped largely by the
socio-economic environments in which they live. There is a corresponding
diversity with respect to the sustainability of the agricultural and rural
development path pursued, the nature of the environmental problems and the
importance given to each specific programme area identified in chapter 14 of
Agenda 21.
125. Environmental impacts in the agricultural sectors in OECD countries are
rooted in increased production of agricultural commodities using more inputs,
especially farm chemicals, with less labour and largely unchanged land area.
The environmental problems have been aggravated by agricultural policies -
which have encouraged increasing production of some commodities on fragile
lands and the use of inappropriate farm practices - and the lack of markets to
value environmental public goods or the failures of some markets to
internalize environmental costs and benefits within farmers' decision-making.
The clear policy message is that agricultural policy reform (which has started
to a limited extent in many OECD countries, and is underpinned by the recent
Uruguay Round Agreement) is a necessary condition for tackling many of the
environmental problems in agriculture. However, this reform will need to be
supported by well-targeted policy approaches to addressing remaining
environmental concerns in ways that are cost-effective from the point of view
of domestic economic efficiency, government budgets, and administrative
efficiency, and that also minimize international trade distortions. In the
developing countries, the problems are related more to poverty and to lack of
productive technologies. In the countries with economies in transition, the
main difficulties to be confronted are weak institutions and poorly developed
markets. They are also much concerned with industrial or "brown"
environmental problems. Solutions will therefore be different although they
will share common features: the need for coherent and transparent policy-
making and appropriate legal measures at the national level, combined with
strong political commitment; the widespread participation of those involved -
the stakeholder - in the decision-making process; and finally, means to ensure
that the process of globalization - of agricultural trade, capital flows and
information - does not impact adversely on the environment and benefits small-
scale farmers.
126. Disappointment is widely expressed at the lack of progress in moving
towards SARD, even in the relatively short period since the United Nations
Conference on Environment and Development. Yet the previous discussion shows
that progress has been made although it has been uneven and, in some cases,
not driven by a desire to implement SARD itself. Clearly much remains to be
done in virtually all countries and the task has barely begun. It may be
concluded, however, that perhaps there is now less need for broad advocacy of
SARD, as represented by the Brundtland report, for example, and a much greater
need for scientific implementation. This implies a need for more applied and
strategic activity, in other words, problem-solving, research and information-
sharing and more committed policy-making processes.
127. In the process of trying to gather together these thoughts trawled from
a wide range of contributions to the present report, the following more
specific conclusions emerged, leading to proposals for action:
(a) A productive agriculture is an essential prerequisite of SARD, with
its multiple objectives of reducing poverty and improving livelihoods while
conserving and protecting the natural resource base. At the same time,
achieving SARD is a complex and slow-moving process, demanding patience,
endurance and the willingness to exploit opportunities for stepwise advance
over a wide range of quite confined activities, such as IPM, but within an
overall strategy;
(b) Within the context of the situation of the majority of developing
countries as well as the economies in transition, there needs to be an
appropriate incentive environment that promotes, in particular, private sector
investment in agriculture and its supporting systems, and rewards
environmental protection;
(c) In all countries, policies oriented towards promoting food and
agricultural production and rural development and raising or maintaining farm
incomes, while protecting the natural resource base, need to be coherent,
consistent and mutually supportive;
(d) There is a need for a deeper and wider understanding of socio-
gender-cultural-economic relationships between the farmer and his or her
environment at the household and community levels and of the biophysical
processes that underlie the interactions between farming activities and the
ecologies in which they take place. Such understanding will improve the
coherency and consistency of agricultural and environmental policies, improve
the efficiency of measures to implement them and support the development of
the appropriate indicators of sustainable agricultural activities needed to
assess the status of a wide variety of ecologies in which farming takes place,
and to monitor changes in status;
(e) The evidence from farms and communities from around the world shows
that sustainable agriculture can be achieved in all three country typologies
dealt with in this report, so as to bring both environmental and economic
benefits to farmers, communities and nations. In this regard:
(i) In the industrialized agricultural systems, a transition to
sustainable agriculture could mean a fall in per hectare yields of
10-20 per cent in the short term, but with better levels of
financial returns to farmers;
(ii) In the high input and often irrigated lands of developing countries,
farmers adopting regenerative technologies have maintained yields
while substantially reducing inputs;
(iii) In the diverse, complex and "resource poor" lands of the third
world, farmers adopting regenerative technologies have doubled or
trebled crop yields, often with little or no use of external inputs,
at least in the short term.
There is a need, however, for a better sharing of information, on both
sustainable indigenous and modern technologies, to expand their use on a wider
scale. This process will benefit from the moves towards increased networking
and use of advanced information technologies;
(f) The above conclusions converge towards awareness of the need for a
significantly greater emphasis on a wide range of agricultural research and
information-sharing efforts. That agricultural research is currently
underfunded constitutes a serious and potentially disastrous flaw in the
global strategic approach to meeting future demands for food and agricultural
products and to implementing SARD. There is a need to develop new
agricultural technologies and better exploit existing technologies to permit
the sustainable intensification of the more agriculturally productive areas,
while enabling livelihoods to be protected in the more agriculturally marginal
ones. In many situations, though a range of information exists, that
information must be more widely and equitably shared;
(g) Trade, and international food and agricultural trade in particular,
has paradoxical features with regard to the environment and to the
implementing of SARD. On the one hand, it offers opportunities to expand
output beyond the demands of the domestic household, local and national
markets and so creates employment, raises incomes and provides an incentive to
invest in agriculture. On the other, in progressively eliminating the
limitations on local or national markets, through the working of unfettered
market forces, it can lead to the spoliation of natural resources. However,
controlling the flows of trade for environmental reasons is generally not an
efficient response and can lead to forms of environmental protectionism. It
is better to tackle the problem of environmental damage at the source
typically through the internalization of externalities, for example, by
applying the polluter pays principle;
(h) Finally, reporting progress on achieving SARD, as well as making
cross-country comparisons and identifying policy gaps, should be based on an
agreed set of indicators. As mentioned, efforts for developing
"sustainability" indicators are under way, but in rather fragmented ways.
Such efforts should also proceed with improving the existing system of
national accounts. Reorientation of data-collection and information management
systems at the national levels, in each group of countries, would be an
important component of such an initiative.
B. Proposals for action
1. Overall strategy
V+À‰ Chapter 14 of Agenda 21 provides a comprehensive plan of actions for
implementing SARD, based on several distinct programme areas. Making SARD
operational involves establishing the appropriate national policy environment
at both agricultural and rural-related sectoral and macroeconomic levels
within an internationally agreed framework of practices regarding trade and
capital flows and treatment of property rights, setting up mechanisms to
facilitate people's wide participation in decision-making, and moving ahead in
several distinct yet interlinked technical areas such as land and water
conservation and management, genetic resources, integrated pest management and
plant nutrient systems, to name a few identified in the chapter. In these
areas, the task is to obtain a better understanding of processes, sharpen
concepts and approaches, fund field activities and learn from mistakes and
successes.
129. The overall strategy should thus be towards focusing on the wider issues
of institutional and policy changes that are needed to provide the right
incentives and support mechanisms for the adoption of technology required to
increase production efficiency, while promoting diversity, increase resilience
and minimize environmental risks. With respect to national Governments, the
message is a need for greater political commitment on their part to assuming
responsibility for guiding progress towards SARD by making the required policy
shifts and by reinforcing the participatory efforts of individuals, community
organizations and non-governmental organizations.
130. All of these national-level actions have to be set within a broader
political framework reflecting commitment to achieving largely socially
related goals. These include reducing levels of poverty, integrating
population factors with development and the environment, and empowering women
so as to achieve greater gender equality. The move towards these goals will
be effected through achieving more specific targets, such as universal primary
education and health-care services, including reproductive health care, as set
forth at a series of United Nations conferences. 13/
131. The message for the international community, including donor countries
and multinational agencies, is to shape and support the undertaking of these
measures through addressing the issues of development finance, international
debt, trade and the environment, technology transfer and intellectual property
rights and rewards for environmental stewardship. The overall message is to
make a faster transition to the achieving of SARD.
2. Specific proposals for action
132. The proposals that follow are the result of the process of consultation
between FAO as task manager and its partners, including non-governmental
organizations, in preparing this report. They were presented in outline to
the Council of FAO, at its one hundred and seventh session in November 1994,
and the Council of FAO supported their submission to the Commission on
Sustainable Development.
133. The proposals are to:
(a) Develop indicators for monitoring the status and trends of the
various agricultural and non-agricultural dimensions of SARD objectives and
guidelines for sustainable agricultural practices for a variety of ecological
and socio-economic settings. There is a need to develop better statistical
information and develop simple and low-cost indicators for monitoring SARD.
Principles and guidelines are needed to assist countries in collecting and
analysing information at the agro-ecological zone and/or the farming-system
level to promote appropriate SARD policies. Development of information
systems that analyse, in an integrated manner, the environmental, social and
economic dimensions of SARD are under way in several organizations but are
fragmented and lack visibility. This work should be accelerated and carried
out in a more coordinated manner among agencies, non-governmental
organizations and countries. Efforts should be made as soon as possible to
collaborate with countries in developing the information base, identifying
indicators and establishing SARD information systems;
(b) Review economy-wide and sectoral policies with regard to their
compatibility with SARD objectives and use appropriate incentives and other
measures to promote the adoption of sustainable agricultural practices and
attain other SARD objectives. Some countries have already undertaken or are
undertaking wide-ranging policy reviews as part of NEAPs and similar
exercises. However, many countries have still not done so and often economy-
wide and sectoral policies diverge widely in their focus and impact on SARD.
The aims are to have a consistent and coherent policy framework within which
to launch programmes and projects fulfilling the broad objectives of SARD,
tailored to the particular situations of different countries, and to
increasingly internalize environmental externalities within market prices;
(c) Increase support to research and technology development for the
sustainable intensification of agriculture, through the strengthening of
national research institutions, the development of regional cooperative
networks and the enhanced support of the CGIAR system. Agricultural research,
particularly strategic, problem-solving research, has been consistently
underfunded, although mechanisms exist for such funding such as CGIAR and its
International Agricultural Research Centres, including the International
Service for National Agricultural Research (ISNAR). The Commission on
Sustainable Development may wish to support the recent initiative of the World
Bank regarding CGIAR funding and recommend more consistent donor support in
line with SARD objectives;
(d) Extend to a wider number of countries the ongoing FAO programmes and
projects for sustainable land and water management in agriculture, IPM and
integrated plant nutrition systems (IPNS), involving the collaboration of
other institutions such as UNEP, the CGIAR centres, UNDP, the World Bank, and
a range of non-governmental organizations. The strategy for implementing SARD
consists of moving ahead in several well-defined programme areas. Some of
these have been defined by FAO as Special Action Programmes which involve the
collaboration of a variety of other institutions (United Nations bodies,
non-governmental organizations, and so on), to develop approaches, formulate,
fund and operate projects and distil experiences. The Commission on
Sustainable Development may wish to draw attention to FAO's Integrated
Cooperative Programme Framework for SARD (ICPF/SARD) and its component Special
Action Programmes as a means of bringing together the initiatives of different
development partners in a defined programme area with a view to implementing
SARD;
(e) Strengthen national and international action for the conservation
and sustainable use of animal genetic resources, thereby bringing
international cooperation and support to a level similar to that of ongoing
initiatives on plant genetic resources. There has been recent progress
concerning the revision of the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic
Resources for Agriculture so that it is in line with the Convention on
Biological Diversity, the defining of the concept of farmers' rights and the
launching of the preparatory process of the Fourth International Technical
Conference on Plant Genetic Resources, to be held in 1996. Comparable
international attention to and progress in the area of animal genetic
resources have not been achieved, although a first world watch list of
endangered species has been published. A global strategy for the conservation
of animal genetic resources is being designed and the broadening of the
mandate of the Commission on Plant Genetic Resources to include other forms of
genetic resources is now under discussion. The Commission on Sustainable
Development may wish to support these processes;
(f) Promote international cooperation and national action for
sustainable and environmentally sound production and use of energy by rural
communities and agro-industry. The challenge is to develop a strategy to
facilitate and expedite the transition towards the sustainable use of an
appropriate mix of traditional, conventional and renewable sources of energy
for rural communities and rural economic activities in a variety of socio-
economic settings;
(g) Analyse the implications for SARD of the Final Act Embodying the
Results of the Uruguay Round of Multilateral Trade Negotiations 14/ at
national, regional and international levels, through FAO collaboration with
UNCTAD and the proposed Committee on Trade and Environment of the World Trade
Organization. Concern is widespread that moves towards the liberalization of
food and agricultural trade arising from the conclusion of the Uruguay Round
of multilateral trade negotiations, while benefiting countries and farmers
able to exploit the resulting market opportunities, may have adverse effects
on the environment and on small-scale farming. There is also concern that
environmental standards will be unilaterally lowered to maintain national
competitiveness in food and agricultural markets. The aim of the analysis
would be to assess such concerns, identify problems and recommend solutions;
(h) Ensure that SARD objectives are pursued with the full participation
of rural people and their communities, and strengthen the capacities of local
governments and private sector non-governmental organizations and rural
people's organizations (farmers' organizations, cooperatives, rural workers'
organizations, informal groups, community associations and so forth) in
decision-making and the implementing of environmentally sound and socially
just agricultural and rural development programmes. Participation involves
democratization and the effective reduction of socio-cultural, economic and
political constraints on the formation of local-level groups of a variety of
types (comprising indigenous people, farmers, women, rural youth, and so on).
Existing mechanisms to improve this process in rural areas need to be reviewed
by all concerned organizations including FAO, the United Nations Development
Fund for Women (UNIFEM) and UNDP, as well as national and local government
agencies and non-governmental organizations. Such reviews should aim at
enhancing existing mechanisms and identifying new ones, and may be part of the
regular monitoring of the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural
Development (WCARRD) Programme of Action, 15/ and of People's Participation in
Rural Development: the FAO Plan of Action. 16/
134. Should the above proposals for action be endorsed by the Commission on
Sustainable Development, the cooperative mechanisms established by the task
manager for preparing this report, could also serve as a means for their
implementation within a collaborative framework. The basis for such
collaboration would be the institutional comparative advantage of the various
partners.
Notes
1/ Report of the United Nations Conference on Environment and
Development, Rio de Janeiro, 3-14 June 1992, vol. I, Resolutions Adopted by
the Conference (United Nations publication, Sales No. E.93.I.8 and
corrigendum), resolution 1, annex II.
2/ Rome, FAO, 1987 (C 87/27, July 1987).
3/ Oxford and New York, Oxford University Press, 1987.
4/ FAO Council, Report on FAO/Netherlands Conference on Agriculture and
the Environment (Rome, FAO, May 1991), appendix A, first part, sect. II (1).
5/ Rome, FAO, 1993 (C 93/24, November 1993).
6/ AT 2010 projects a positive (that is to say, the most likely)
scenario rather than a normative (desirable) one.
7/ See United Nations Environment Programme, Convention on Biological
Diversity (Environmental Law and Institutions Programme Activity Centre),
June 1992.
8/ United Nations Environment Programme, 1987.
9/ Rome, FAO, 1986 (M/R8130/E/5.86/1/3000).
10/ See Official Records of the Economic and Social Council, 1994,
Supplement No. 5 (E/1994/25 and Corr.1), para. 4.
11/ Ibid., chap. I, sect. B, draft decision I.
12/ Various bodies, such as the Department for Policy Coordination and
Sustainable Development of the United Nations Secretariat, FAO, the
Statistical Division of the United Nations Secretariat, UNEP, WHO, OECD and
some non-governmental organizations, are working on a series of sustainability
indicators, including those for chapter 14 of Agenda 21, but they are only at
a preliminary stage.
13/ Recent conferences include the United Nations Conference on
Environment and Development and the International Conference on Nutrition,
both held in 1992, and the International Conference on Population and
Development (1994). Of course, these targets stretch back to the World Food
Conference (1974) and the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural
Development (1979).
14/ Legal Instruments Embodying the Results of the Uruguay Round of
Multilateral Trade Negotiations, done at Marrakesh on 15 April 1994, vol. I.
15/ See Report of the World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural
Development, Rome, 12-20 July 1979 (WCARRD/REP); transmitted to members of the
General Assembly by a note of the Secretary-General (A/34/485).
16/ Rome, FAO, 1992.
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