Secretary-General of United Nations Trade Organisation Extols Organics

The Secretary-General of UNCTAD (UN Conference on Trade & Development), Supachai Panitchpakdi, stated recently that organic agriculture was one of the most promising options to solve the world’s current farming problems.  ‘In our view, organic agriculture is one of the most promising options to meet global challenges’ Supachai Panitchpakdi stated at a meeting in Geneva on Oct 7th.

Andre Leu, Chairman of the OFA (Organic Federation of Australia), was at the high-level meeting in Geneva which included representatives from the FAO (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation), UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development), UNEP (The United Nations Environmental Program),  OECD,(Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development ) and IFOAM (International Federation of Organic Agricultural Movements) and representatives from many governments around the world.

Mr Leu stated ‘the United Nations agencies and many governments see organic systems offering a significant number of solutions to the current global agriculture crisis.’

The UNCTAD Secretary General made the following statements on a range of key areas:

Climate Change

‘Organic agriculture mitigates climate change by utilizing less energy than conventional agriculture and also by sequestering carbon. It also improves soil fertility and structure, thus improving water retention and resilience to climatic stress, contributing to climate change adaptation.’

Increased earnings, Food Security 

‘Studies from Africa, Asia and Latin America indicate that organic farmers earn more. And higher incomes can be an important contributor to food security.’

Increased productivity

‘A recent UNCTAD-UNEP study analysing 114 cases in Africa revealed that a conversion of farms to organic production and related training and capacity building led to an increase in agricultural productivity of 116%! ‘

Reduced dependence on external inputs

‘This means that organic farmers are less affected by rising fertilizer and agrochemical costs.

Environmentally friendly

‘It does not pollute the environment with agro-chemicals and also reduces illness and death in farm families due to agro-chemical exposure --  a leading cause of occupational mortality and morbidity worldwide. Organic agriculture actually conserves biodiversity and natural resources on the farm and in the surrounding areas. 

‘For all these reasons we believe that organic agriculture is a powerful tool for achieving the Millennium Development Goals, particularly those related to poverty reduction and the environment’, stated the Secretary-General of UNCTAD.

Source www.ofa.org.au

Secretary-General of UNCTAD opened his speech stating :- 

Earlier this year, the International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD) - an intergovernmental process supported by over 400 experts and many UN Agencies - concluded that "the way the world grows its food will have to change radically to better serve the poor and hungry if the world is to cope with growing population and climate change while avoiding social breakdown and environmental collapse. 

In our view, organic agriculture is one of the most promising options to meet these challenges.

Source:-  www.unctad.org

The reform of FAO seeks to fundamentally modify the mandate and nature of this United Nations institution. The real question is: who will gain from this?

FAO (United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation) reform: power struggle may lead to FAO marginalisation 

Source :-La Via Campesina Press Release

In the intergovernmental discussions on the FAO reform that take place in the run up to the next FAO Conference in November this year, some governments are pushing to reduce the mandate of FAO and to skip any reference to fundamental human rights. Beside this, according to inside sources, major donors are pushing FAO to stop anaging projects in developing countries. They propose to divert those funds towards a separate so called “trust fund” where donors directly decide which country will receive funds and for what purpose.

Major donor countries such as Canada, Australia, Japan, Great Britain, USA and Germany are particularly pushing in this direction. A probably result would be that FAO development cooperation  falls directly under their control and that the autonomy of receiving countries further decreases.

Donor money will be used increasingly to reinforce the agenda of the donor countries instead of responding to the needs expressed by the countries receiving the funds.

The strategy to bring the international response to the food crisis under the so called “UN High Level Task Force on the Global Food Crisis” is part of the same strategy: funds and initiatives are taken away from the FAO.

Meanwhile, the World Bank, industrialized country governments and private foundations are taking over.

La Via Campesina is convinced that a reform of FAO is necessary. However, FAO should not be dismantled but reinforced. It should focus its efforts more on its original mandate: “fighting hunger and poverty through an improvement of the socio-economic conditions for people living in the rural areas“. It should focus on the strengthening of sustainable peasant agriculture and not on corporate interests. One of the important tasks is to implement the results of the International Conference on Agricultural and Regional Development ( ICARRD).

La Via Campesina calls upon its member organisations to demand their own government to raise these concerns in the institutional FAO process that will end with the next FAO conference, in November 2008.  On the 12-17th of October 2008 the FAO governmental Committee on Food Security (CFS) will meet in Rome. This will be an opportunity to raise the issue with the governments present. Destructive  deregulation and privatisation policies, such as those proposed in the current reform, have in fact lead the world into the current food crisis. This must be stopped!

According to La Via Campesina the original mandate of the FAO should be  reinforced instead of reduced and watered down. The role of FAO should be strengthened and it should receive clear instructions from the member governments to undertake any initiative needed to decrease hunger, to stabilize and increase food production for domestic consumption and to give people in the rural areas access and control over productive resources. Donor countries should stop their selfish policies which transform cooperation for development into a tool to impose their own interests. They should start to build real cooperation through truly democratic international institutions. The introduction of the World Bank principle "one dollar one vote“ into UN institutions such as the FAO should be strongly rejected.

Contact Via Campesina: Paul Nicholson (cell phone: 34 636451566)

More information on www.viacampesina.org <http://www.viacampesina.org/>  and www.foodsovereignty.org <http://www.foodsovereignty.org/>  

IFOAM, UNCTAD and FAO Launch Tools for Uniting the Organic World

The International Task Force on Harmonization and Equivalence in Organic Agriculture (ITF) has completed its work and launched two practical tools to facilitate the trade flow of organic products worldwide. Led for six years by a partnership of IFOAM, UNCTAD and FAO, the ITF sought solutions for barriers to trade in the organic sector due to a multitude of organic standards, government technical regulations and certification performance requirements that now characterize the sector.

Governments and private certification and accreditation bodies can now depend on one set of instruments for assessing the equivalence of standards, technical regulations and certification requirements. Equivalence will ease trade barriers and foster organic market development worldwide. EquiTool, which facilitates the equivalence of standards for organic production and processing, includes assessment criteria and emphasizes reference to the international standards of IFOAM and Codex.

IROCB (International Standards for Organic Certification Bodies) will enable the recognition of organic certification bodies worldwide. Based on ISO 65 (General Requirements for Bodies Operating Product Certification Systems), IROCB (pronounced eye-rock-bee) also includes performance requirements specific to organic certification. The ITF Tools were launched by IFOAM Vice President Urs Niggli, UNCTAD Director General Supachai Panitchpakdi and FAO Assistant Director General Alexander Mueller at a public session following the 8th ITF meeting.

The final ITF meeting was held on 6-7 October at the Palais des Nations in Geneva, Switzerland. "The growth of organic agriculture presents a very good opportunity for farmers to participate in trade", noted the FAO Deputy Director during his remarks at the public session. "Market demand is strong and consumers know that the quality of organic products is high and the production system is environmentally friendly." "The food supply and price crisis have called to attention the problems in agriculture.

The way that the world grows its food will have to change radically to meet these changes, and organic agriculture is an approach with strong potential to address the problems," observed the UNCTAD Director General. "The sector is growing rapidly and presents opportunity for producers. Organic agriculture is particularly well suited for smallholder farmers. It preserves traditional knowledge and reduces dependence on external inputs. Constraints include the requirements to obtain organic certification for different markets. To address these constraints, the public and private sectors should embrace the ITF findings and tools."

"Now we have another result in the organic sector from a public-private cooperation, stated IFOAM's Vice President. "The cooperation of FAO, UNCTAD and IFOAM on the ITF has produced two important tools to support organic market development. ITF is one of the rare successful examples of public-private partnership. It is of utmost importance to intensify and enhance the partnership of IFOAM, UNCTAD and FAO."

Participants in the ITF praised the tools. Some participants, such as those from the EU Commission and IFOAM, committed to using these tools in their systems, and others committed to advocating in their own regions for their adoption.