From sustag@BETA.TRICITY.WSU.EDUWed Nov 9 10:28:13 1994 Date: Wed, 9 Nov 1994 05:37:49 -0800 From: "Tom Hodges (moderated newsgroup)" To: Multiple recipients of list SUSTAG-L Subject: SAFS Bulletin Two (fwd) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Wed, 9 Nov 1994 03:35:32 -0800 (PST) From: Arthur R. McGee To: faolist@irmfao01.bitnet, fao-info@irmfao01.bitnet, sustainable-development@civic.net, sustag@beta.tricity.wsu.edu Subject: SAFS Bulletin Two (fwd) ---------- Forwarded message ---------- Date: Tue, 8 Nov 1994 16:45:02 -0800 From: Thomas Forster Subject: SAFS Bulletin Two ************************************************************************ 1994 INTERNATIONAL SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY WEEK People's Participation in Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development October 23 - 29, 1994 Washington, DC ************************************************************************ BULLETIN No. 2 ************************************************************************ November 2, 1994 HISTORY AND FUTURE OF FAO On UN Day, October 24th, the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy organized a seminar on the history and future of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). This gathering, which featured founders and early leaders of FAO plus current leaders, provided an overview of the historical circumstances surrounding the founding of the FAO, explored relations between the US government and FAO, and looked at potentials directions for the future. Dr. Ralph Phillips, former Deputy Director-General of the FAO, described the evolution of the FAO which began with a U.N. Conference on Food and Agriculture in Hot Springs, Virginia, in 1943. Juan Felipe Yriart, founder and former Assistant Director-General, followed and emphasized that "the FAO always has looked for equity," and that "the question of food security is an everyday subject at FAO. Roger Sorenson, former U.S. Representative to FAO and Director of the FAO office in Washington, DC, began by saying that relations between the U.S. and the FAO are "not good...difficult, if not strained." He explained that the U.S. has only supported the FAO two out of the past 19 years. The U.S. is the only industrialized country that is in arrears and now owes the FAO $80 million in back payments. This is more back payments than all other member countries combined. Mr. Sorenson recommended that the U.S. reduce its share of the FAO international budget, which is currently 25%. However, Congress doesn't want to do that because they want control and leverage over FAO. Roger argued that lowering the U.S. share would reduce tension between Congress and the FAO. Wayne Denney, International Relations Advisor, USDA, Foreign Agricultural Service, International Organization Affairs Division, pointed out that the U.S. opinion of the FAO was not uniform, but that the adversarial relationship between the U.S. and FAO was "starting to heal." He concluded by saying, "We encourage activities relating to follow-up to the GATT accord. Mr. Denney suggested FAO could do several things in this regard: 1) Strengthen activities of the Codex Alimentarius Commission and the Secretariat for the International Plant Protection Convention; 2) Establish a food quality and pesticide reference center in Vienna as the basis for scientifically testing pesticide residues; 3) Develop a closer partnership with the New World Trade Organization; and, 4) Conduct analyses of the implications of the GATT agreement on developing countries. One of the most important developments in this seminar was a question from the audience concerning the possibility that the upcoming world food security summit scheduled for March of 1996 and organized by FAO, could be used as opportunity to examine the current structure and relations between all of the various multilateral agencies dealing with agriculture issues (FAO, UNDP, IFAD, WTO, CGIAR, the World Bank etc.) to ensure that these institutions are prepared to serve our needs into the future. This question prompted an informal planning discussion which surfaced the following ideas: First, it was recognized that there are a number of pivotal events coming up over the next year and a half that could be stepping stones or key moments in a campaign to re-energize public support for global cooperation on agriculture and food issues. The following is just a partial list of already planned or suggested related events: 1995 EVENTS January 25: US World Food Day Annual Meeting, Washington DC March: Social Summit, Copenhagen April: Commission on Sustainable Development, New York (focus on SARD and related chapters) June 20-24: Major NGO conference to mark the UN's 50th Anniversary, San Francisco July: Regional Latin American SARD conference, Venezuela Aug 30-Sept 8: Fourth World Conference on Women, Beijing October: North American NGO meeting, Quebec City October 11-13: Conference to mark 50th Anniversary of FAO, Quebec City October 14-16: FAO Ministerial Meeting on World Food Security, Quebec City October 16: Special FAO 50th observance and World Food Day, with the theme "food for all" 1996 EVENTS January: World Food Day Annual Meeting, in Washington DC March: World Summit on Food Security, in Rome Also discussed as a follow up to the meeting is the need to develop a vision of the future, of the kind of world we want to live in, and how the UN, specifically the FAO and other food related agencies, can help us create this kind of world. This vision would include the re-shaping of the FAO and of the NGOs that work in this area to maximize future cooperation and collaboration. This vision could be put into a booklet and distributed through the Food Day network and other networks as well in an organized effort to get these ideas developed adopted at the 1996 world summit. _______________________________________________________________________ >>IMPORTANT REMINDER: One major goals of International Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security Week is to acknowledge and strengthen people's participation in the preparation for detailed review of national and international agriculture and land management policies and programs by the United Nations Commission for Sustainable Development (CSD) in April, 1995. If you or your group have been working to prepare or comment upon reports to the United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development related to sustainable agriculture and rural development (SARD) or the role of farmers (chapters 14 and 32 of Agenda 21), you are invited to send written information about your process or draft documents by post, email or fax to the address below. The best method of sending is by email. Any documents received will be listed in later bulletins. Send any material to: Linda Elswick, World Sustainable Agriculture Association, 2025 I Street, Suite 512, Washington, DC 20006 USA, tel. +1 (202) 293-2155, fax. +1 (202) 293-2209, Email: wsaa@igc.apc.org *********************************************************************** These bulletins provide coverage of events during INTERNATIONAL SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SECURITY WEEK and International Center's Week (ICW) at the World Bank. This bulletin was produced by: Nathan Boone, Community Farm Alliance, Sonia Schmitz, Institute for Social Ecology, Thomas Forster, NGO Working Group on Sustainable Agriculture, Rachna Sachasinh, Institute for Social Ecology, Michelle Thom, Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy, and Sandra McDougall, New Agriculture and Ecology Network. For further information or to receive the bulletins, contact Thomas Forster, Email: tforster@igc.apc.org.