This page contains the archive of all SARD-related news items published for the months of January through September 2005, with the most recent at the top. Useful links are given at the end of each item and documentary resources are listed in the right sidebar.

For news from SARD-Mountain for 2005, go to: http://www.fao.org/sard/en/sardm/news/2005/index.html

September 2005

High-Level Plenary Meeting of the 60th Session of the UN General Assembly on the Follow-Up to the Outcome of the Millennium Summit, 14-16 September 2005, New York USA. In preparation for the high-level plenary, the UN Secretary-General released a report on the event’s modalities, format and organization. Based on these recommendations, a three-day event took place at the commencement of the 60th session of the General Assembly in September 2005. This Millennium + 5 Summit undertook a comprehensive review of the progress made towards the commitments articulated in the UN Millennium Declaration. The event also reviewed progress made in the integrated and coordinated implementation of the outcomes and commitments of the major UN conferences and summits in the economic, social and related fields.

For more information about the Millennium + 5 Summit, go to: Millennium + 5

August 2005

Third World Congress on Conservation Agriculture (IIIWCCA), 3-7 October 2005, Nairobi, Kenya.
The III World Congress on Conservation Agriculture (IIIWCCA) with the theme "Linking Production, Livelihoods and Conservation" was held in Nairobi, Kenya, from 3rd to 7th October 2005. It was convened in order to take stock of potential and real contribution of conservation agriculture (CA) in fighting poverty and hunger through improved livelihoods, nutrition and food security. Given the relevance of CA initiatives for sustainable agriculture and rural development, the SARD Initiative participated in the Congress as part of the facilitation team, especially for the session on socio-economic and cultural dimensions of CA adoption and impact. Some of the main socio-economic and cultural constraints to CA adoption are: insecurity of land tenure and the small size of farm holdings; crop livestock interaction whereby free ranging livestock graze on farm plots under CA regardless of the damage they cause to soils and mulching material; attitudes and beliefs, i.e. non-tillage is still seen as a bad farming method and therefore not an option; lack of policy support and problems related to CA technologies particularly some technologies being gender insensitive. Beyond supporting the planning and facilitation of the Congress, the SARD Initiative information kiosks exhibited publications and brochures.

For more information about the 3rd World Conference on Conservation Agriculture and the conservation agriculture movement in general, go to: Conservation Agriculture FAO and ACT identified)

April 2005

13th Session of the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-13), 11-22 April 2005, New York, USA. CSD-13 was a “Policy Year” to decide on measures to speed up implementation and mobilize action to overcome obstacles and constraints for the thematic clusters of water, sanitation and human settlements.

19th Session of the FAO Committee on Agriculture (COAG 19), 13-16 April 2005, Rome, Italy. SARD was an item on the agenda of COAG 2005, where governments reviewed a background document on Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (SARD) and Good Agricultural Practices (GAPS), and discussed the way forward for SARD in partnership with civil society. The Committee agreed that the SARD Initiative is an important instrument for fulfilling FAO’s responsibility as UN System Task Manager for WSSD follow-up on implementation of Chapter 14, Agenda 21. It welcomed FAO’s continued support for the SARD Initiative, concurred with the three action areas listed in paragraph 42 of the background document (i.e., sustainable livelihoods, sustainable intensification of integrated production systems, integrated natural resource management) and appreciated the high degree of stakeholder participation. A number of delegates expressed the hope that the scope of the SARD Initiative would be enlarged in due course.

For more information on the topic of SARD Good Practices, go to: Resource materials

Side Event on SARD and Civil Society during the 19th session of the Committee on Agriculture (COAG 19), 14 April 2005, Rome, Italy. Following the plenary discussion on SARD at COAG19, a side event on SARD and Civil Society took place on 14 April. focusing on i) local successes fostering sustainable livelihoods, sustainable intensification of rural production systems and integrated natural resources management as a means to SARD and ii) the need for mobilizing the capacity of different stakeholders to scale up successful practices in order to influence policy changes that can rapidly reduce poverty and hunger while protecting the environment. Four prominent civil society and government panellists took part and offered diverse but complementary views on sustainable agriculture and rural development. They underscored the importance of civil society, government and inter-governmental collaborative efforts for the implementation of SARD, promoted people-centred approaches to scale up local level successes and contribute to achieving the Millennium Development Goals.