55 Countries Endorse Agricultural 'Revolution'
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UN Assessment calls for shift to small-scale, sustainable practices to meet global food, development and environmental crises
April 15, 2008, governments and scientists from around the world announce their commitment to a radically different approach to global agricultural production. "Business as usual is not an option," says Robert Watson Director of the UN's International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), which today releases its final report in Delhi, Nairobi, London, Paris and Washington, DC. Recent reports of dramatic food shortages and riots underline the problems with the current food system and the urgency of finding solutions. The IAASTD report concludes that small-scale, agro-ecological farming will be more effective at meeting today's challenges than the old energy- and chemical-intensive paradigm of industrial agricultural production. "This is a wake-up call for governments and international agencies. The survival of the planet's food systems demands global action to support agroecological farming and fair and equitable trade," said Dr. Marcia Ishii-Eiteman of Pesticide Action Network North America, speaking from Johannesburg moments after the report was finalized on April 11. Under the auspices of the UN agencies and the World Bank, scientists, food activists, corporate and government representatives met 7-12 April in South Africa to debate solutions to the thorny, intertwined problems of global agriculture, climate change, hunger, poverty, power and influence. The meeting is the culmination of four years' work by some 400 authors from around the globe. On Friday, April 11, 55 world governments agreed on the IAASTD final report, overcoming difficult negotiations and a recent departure of agrichemical industry representatives. Canada, Australia, the United Kingdom and the United States requested additional time to consider whether or not to approve the final report. In Johannesburg, the US claimed the assessment was unbalanced, an allegation identical to one made some months earlier by the agrochemical and biotechnology industry. Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP, opened the plenary with these comments on April 7, 2008: "Agriculture is not just about putting things in the ground and then harvesting them. It is increasingly about the social and environmental variables that will in large part determine the future capacity of agriculture to provide for eight or nine billion people in a manner that is sustainable." Also speaking from Johannesburg, civil society representative Erika Rosenthal from Pesticide Action Network concluded, "The IAASTD set out to be a precedent-setting experiment in multi-stakeholder participation in intergovernmental processes. Its success proved that civil society participation as full partners in intergovernmental processes is critical to face the challenges of the 21st century." |
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