A. PAPASOLOMONTOS (Cyprus): My delegation fully supports the contents of paragraphs 8 to 34 of document CL 86/8 dealing with the potentialities and problems of forestry beyond the year 2000. We are concerned with the excessive deforestation and the neglect of the world’s forests.
In the second instance, we fully support the FAO’s programme of forestry and endorse the medium-term objectives and priorities. The Committee on Forestry’s recommendations for a study on the inter-relationship between forestry and food security is a positive step and one we fully endorse. This, as the Assistant Director-General of the Forestry Department said yesterday, reveals a discussion by the Committee of real policy issues rather than that of the usual issues.
We would also hope that forests and tropical, arid and semi-arid zones, will receive increased attention and inputs from both national and international programmes. Furthermore, we strongly support the further strengthening of measures to protect forests from fires, particularly in the arid and semi-arid zones.
Finally, we have noted the contents of paragraph 9 of document CL 86/8-Sup.2, regarding the declaration of 1985 as the International Year of the Forest and the reasons that have necessitated that declaration. Such a declaration in itself will no doubt bring home to all of us the significance of the forest and the dangers that it faces today, dangers which have not been as intensive in the past. Indeed, we wish to congratulate the Austrian Government for the initiative they have shown in bringing this subject forward. However, we believe that 1985 should not be - and I wish to repeat it should not be - the culmination of our concern about forest conservation but rather the beginning of a concerted and sustained effort at all levels, national and international, to ensure not only the halting but rather the reverse of forestry resource degradation. In this respect, we propose that the Council request its technical committee on Forestry to keep the topic of forest conservation under constant view by including an appropriate item on the agendas of future sessions during the remaining part of the present decade.
With these remarks, my délégation supports adoption of the draft resolution with the proviso suggested;, namely that 1985, the Year of the Forest, will mark the beginning of continuing measures to be initiated and sustained for the conservation of the world’s forest resources.
R.G. PETTITT (United Kingdom): My délégation welcomes this opportunity to debate the report of the Seventh session of the Committee on Forestry. It gives an occasion in a body not solely concerned with forestry nor dominated by single-minded enthusiasts to recognize and reconfirm the importance of forestry in the development process and in particular in support of agricultural production and its security. This recognition is all the more significant against the backdrop of this Council to which the Director-General referred so eloquently at the opening on Monday.
in conveying my delegation’s agreement with the content of the Report, I only wish to draw attention to one paragraph, this is paragraph 54, which echoes and implicitly supports the concern of the Committee on Forest Development in the Tropics about the decrease in their resources made available to forestry in the budget of FAO at a time when the forestry sector is experiencing a uniquely serious situation. It is understandable that it has not been possible to increase the resources in the programme available to forestry, but there remains a need to respond to the call of the Committee to increase attention in FAO’s forestry programmes to fuelwood, fodder and support for agriculture. There is a need for reordering of priorities in budget allocation to take account of this agreed advice, and I infer from the Assistant Director-General’s remarks yesterday that
this reordering and planning is already taking place. In reordering its priorities within the forestry programme, it is the view of my délégation that FAO should give highest priorities to those activities which it is particularly well qualified to conduct, the assembly and analysis of information, the assessment of forest resource and outlook studies, all of which are of real benefit to governments and to international agencies.
Now turning to the related question of commemoration, my delegation recognizes the need for heightened political awareness of the importance of forestry. For this reason we support in principle the Austrian proposal to proclaim a year as the International Year of the Forest, and we are interested in the alternative suggestion that in a year, all nations should give special recognition to the forests.
We have the sole proposition in front of us, the suggestion has been that 1985 be designated the International Year of the Forest. My Government’s view would be that there is insufficient time for the really effective action to heighten public awareness in the way in which we would prefer. We would have preferred, ignoring for the moment the complications over other international years, that an international year be identified at a later date and perhaps 1986 following the World Forestry Congress and the Commonwealth Forestry Congress.
The same point really to our mind applies to the suggestion that we should instead have a year as described in paragraph 2 of the draft resolution, since the objectives of heightened public awareness are the same, and to some extent the work involved would be the same, so this really is actually a difficult matter. Our general position is that we actually prefer the idea of an International Year of the Forest rather than the different and rather modest proposal in paragraph 2. We also think whatever the constitutional position, we prefer to retain the convention of recent years not to have international years decided by this Council in competition and parallel with the agreed, international years and would not like to see an International Year of the Forest in competition with the agreed years of Youth, Peace and Shelter, that is the next two years, and in any event we would prefer, whatever the form of commemorative years identified, for it to be sufficiently far ahead to allow us to do justice to it.
WYDAJAT EDDYPRANOTO (Indonesia): First of all I would like to express congratulations and highest appreciation to Dr Flores Rodas for his excellent explanations on the report of the Seventh session of COFO. Forestry development should be intensified and synchronized to achieve a great success of the forest resources management of the developing countries through the programme of “Forest for People”. Recognizing that millions of people depend on forest for wood, food, fodder, medicine, fishery and energy, therefore the management of forests should be modified for the successful action by multiple uses of the forest land.
The forest in Indonesia has three main functions: its protective function, economic function and social function. Forestry source utilization and development are aimed at the following targets: i) Effort of getting the optimum benefit for the community’s welfare; ii) providing employment opportunities for as many as possible; iii) sustaining the usefulness of the forest.
The modification of the management could absorb more job seekers to have livelihood, so that the forest should contribute to solve the problem of unemployment. Promotion to the capability of the forest industries would be of benefit for the developing countries which are in possession of forest resources. Cooperation among several sectors should be simultaneously strengthened in the effort to avoid the continuing depletion of the forest and to maintain conservation of the forest resources.
Concerning the report of the Seventh session of the Committee on Forestry, I would like to express that my délégation supports and agrees to recommend it into decision. Finally, regarding the proposal that 1985 should be proclaimed as the International Year of the Forest, my délégation strongly agree and recommend to adopt it into decision.
M. MOMBOULI (Congo): Avant toute chose pérmettez à notre délégation d’exprimer ses vifs remerciements à M. Flores Rodas du département des forêts de la FAO pour son expose fort concis d’hier après-midi.
Après l’examen du point 4 de notre ordre du jour, consacré s la situation de l’alimentation et de l’agriculture et à la situation alimentaire de l’Afrique, point qui a montré, à vrai dire, qu’il était l’iin des points le “plus important” de l’ordre. du jour, pour ne pas dire le plus important, nous aimerions, en abordant ce point 7 de l’ordre du jour traitant de la situation des forêts, nous limiter strictement à l’essentiel de ce qui a retenu l’attention de notre delegation. Ce faisant, permettez-nous tout d’abord de rappeler rapidement à notre auguste assemblée, les principes acquis auprès de notre Organisation. A sa session de 1951 la Conference générale de la FAO a adopté la Resolution 33 visant la celebration, tous les ans, de la Fete mondiale des arbres. En 1971, la 23ème Assemblée générale, de la Confederation européenne de l’agriculture qui a eu lieu en Espagne
a approuvé l’instauration d’une Journée mondiale de la forêt, idee qui fut entérinée par la Conference générale de la FAO au cours de sa derniere session tenue en 1971. Enfin, réunissant sa 5ème session en mai 1980, le Comité des forêts a adopté la Stratégie du développement des forêfs, stratégie dont les grandes lignes restent encore d’actualité dans leur majorité malgré le temps écoulé. C’est vous dire qu’en sa qualité’d’Etat Membre de la FAO et du COFO, notre pays a eu en son temps l’occasion de prendre pleinement part aux grands débats organises sur les grandes idées d’antan. Après les grands orages suscités nous avons adhere aux conclusions finales auxquelles ont abouti les travaux du Directeur de notre Organisation.
Nous réaffirmons notre attachement à ses conclusions ainsi qu’au contenu du rapport de la 7ème session du COFO dont est saisi notre Conference par le document CL 86/8 et en même temps, en ce qui concerne les questions de politique forestière, traitées aux paragraphes 8 à 34, et pour ce qui concerne l’examen du programme de travail de la FAO dans le secteur forestier, traité dans ledit rapport, aux paragraphes 42 à 54.
Pour notre part, il ne nous revient plus d’ouvrir ici les débats sur des questions déjà réglées mais de veiller plutót à l’execution des tâches et aux obligations découlant de la stratégie adoptee. Dans ce cadre, nous attendons avec vif intérêt la sortie de l’étude demandee à la FAO par la derniere session du COFO sur les rapports entre la foresterie et la sécurité alimentaire à l’intention des prochaines sessions de 1985 des organes directeurs de notre Organisation et nous saisissons cette occasion pour renouveler notre appel aux pays donateurs pour qu’ils continuent d’accroître leur assistance à la foresterie des zones tropicales arides.
De même, nous apportons notre plein appui à l’idée visant à faire que la communauté internationale accorde une attention spéciale à la question de la destruction des forêts et de la pollution atmosphérique au cours du Congrès forestier mondial qui aura lieu en juillet prochain au Mexique.
Nous souhaitons que la FAO continue à nous tenir au courant, au cours des prochaines sessions de ses organes directeurs des progrès déjà accomplis dans la mise en oeuvre des strategies sur le développement des forêts.
Enfin, en vertu du Préambule de l’Acte constitutif de la FAO qui dispose que l’Organisation peut, indépendamment de l’Assemblée générale des Nations Unies, agir à la suite des dcisions prises par ses organes directeurs dans des circonstances particulièrement justifiees, nous accordons notre plein appui à l’idée consistant à déclarer l’année 1985 Année internationale de la forêt, compte tenu de la gravité majeure actuelle de la situation des forêts et nous invitons les autres membres du Conseil à en faire autant pour que le Directeur général de la FAO prenne les mesures pratiques utiles à la concrétisation de cette idee.
Sra. G. SOTO CARRERO (Cuba): Quisiera en primer lugar agradecer al Dr. Flores Rodas por la presentación de este tema y por las atinadas aclaraciones que nos hizo posteriormente. Cuba le da extrema importancia a las labores forestales y la colaboración de FAO con nuestro país ha tenido excelentes resultados en los proyectos de esta materia.
Nuestra delegación apoya totalmente el informe presentado por el Comité de Montes y en especial la recomendación de que la FAO prepare un estudio sobre las relaciones mutuas entre la silvicultura y la seguridad alimentaria para que sea analizado por nuestros órganos rectores en 1985.
Con relación al examen de los Programas de campo forestales, apoyamos las prioridades establecidas por la FAO, estando de acuerdo con que esta Organización siga concediendo una asistencia plena y continua a los Estados Miembros en la formulación y ejecución de los Programas de campo forestales, especialmente en el marco de la estrategia de desarrollo forestal. Como hemos expresado en otras ocasiones nos preocupa el escaso financiamiento para el sector de los montes.
Asimismo, quisiéramos resaltar nuestra satisfacción por la vigilancia, evaluación y control de los proyectos forestales de campo que efectúa actualmente la FAO. Reafirmamos, por consiguiente, la recomendación de que prosigan esos esfuerzos y continue la práctica de dar publicidad a los casos mas satisfactorios.
Quisiéramos referirnos especialmente, por su importancia, a la labor que esta desplegando la FAO en la utilización plena de las especies y materiales, asî como los manglares, la flora y la fauna. Mi delegación apoya el concepto de los bosques para el desarrollo en toda su plenitud.
Finalmente, quisiera plantear que se analice la posibilidad de concebir proyectos de desarrollo forestal que puedan asimilar mayor cantidad de mano de obra femenina.
Con relación a las propuestas sujetas a nuestra consideración, nuestro país apoyó durante la reunión del COFO la celebración en 1985 del Año Internacional del Bosque, lo cual a nuestro entender no tiene contradicción con la celebración por las Naciones Unidas del Año Internacional de la Juventud si este Año Internacional del Bosque se celebra en el marco de la FAO, y tal vez pudieran combinarse
ambas actividades solicitando de las Naciones Unidas que entre otras acciones del Año Internacional de la Juventud se exhorte a que en todos los países cada joven plante al menos un árbol en lugares apropiados. lo cual ayudaría a aliviar el actual deterioro forestal en todo el mundo. Ratificamos, por consiguiente, nuestro apoyo a la propuesta de Austria. Para terminar, quisiéramos expresar que estamos seguros del éxito del Noveno Congreso Forestal Mundial que se celebrará en México en julio de 1985.
R. C. SERSALE DI CERISANO (Argentina): En primer lugar querríamos agradecer al Dr. Flores Rodas por su presentación y darle todo nuestro apoyo a la gestión que ël desempeña.
Para nosotros esta cuestión es muy importante ya que la presión demográfica y económica sobre las tierras con bosques naturales hace que éstos sean desaprensivamente eliminados de modo directo y total, o por lo menos se vean degradados paulatinamente por una explotación irracional hasta tornarlos improductivos.
En la Argentina este tipo de procedimientos socialmente irresponsables se han llevado a cabo en el pasado, y aún continúan pese a que existan leyes que los prohíban. A consecuencia de ello la masa boscosa natural se ha reducido sensiblemente. La situación se ve aun mas agravada en mi país por ser la Argentina uno de los recipientarios finales de la cuenca del Plata, en la cual los bosques están siendo devastados catastróficamente en varios de los países que la integran. Ello ocasiona además de inundaciones de gravedad desacostumbrada, con las consecuentes destrucciones de infraestructura y redes de servicio, entre otros daños, que significan enormes gastos para el.erario público, modificación de carácter permanente de la geografía e inclusive posibles contaminaciones.
Todo lo anteriormente dicho tiene como principal causa la falta de concienciación sobre la gravedad de las consecuencias que provocan el tratamiento irracional de los bosques, motivo por el cual la Argentina apoya enfáticamente las conclusiones y recomendaciones contenidas en el informe del Séptimo período de sesiones del Comité de Montes y valoramos particularmente la labor que realiza la FAO en este campo. Estamos seguros que dichas recomendaciones constituirán un aporte importante para el análisis de la situación forestal que se llevará a cabo en el Noveno Congreso Mundial a realizarse en el año entrante en México.
Por último, permítame, señor Presidente, reiterar nuestro respaldo a la propuesta contenida en el documento CL 06/8 Sup.l de que la FAO proclame 1985 como Año Internacional del Bosque. Para nosotros esta cuestión es muy importante ya que entendemos que la trascendencia del tema hace conveniente que se adopten a la mayor brevedad posible las medidas adecuadas para que la Comunidad Internacional tome plena conciencia del valor insustituible de los recursos forestales para el hombre y la necesidad de proceder en forma racional en su utilización. En este sentido apoyamos con mucho entusiasmo el proyecto de declaración que figuran en el suplemento 1, y en el mismo sentido apoyamos la propuesta de resolución del documento CL 86/8, Sup.2.
S.M. MATIUR RAHMAN (Bangladesh): My delegation has studied the report and listened to its introduction by Dr Flores Rodas, the Assistant Director-General, Forestry Department. At the outset, let me record my appreciation to the committee for such a valuable and important report, and to Dr Flores Rodas for his excellent presentation. My delegation endorses the report of the Seventh Session of the Committee on Forestry. My delegation also agrees with the Committee’s assessment of the potential problems and prospects of forestry beyond the year 2000, and its findings and recommendations.
We also share the concern of the Committee at the continued excessive deforestation at the dramatic rate of about 11 million hectares in the tropics, and the desertification in the arid regions and forest destruction through atmospheric pollution, fires, etc. in other parts of Europe and North America. If this deforestation continues at this alarming rate then it will inevitably have serious consequences on the human activities such as food and agriculture, quality of food and water, conservation of wildlife, and fish production. In other words, not only world food security but the security of human life as a whole will be’at serious stake. In view of the seriousness of the situation, all possible measures should be taken urgently at the national and international level to create public opinion and heighten political awareness of the importance of forestry for the future of mankind. For this purpose, my delegation whole-heartedly agrees and supports the proposal and the draft resolution for proclaiming 1985 as FAO’s International Year of the Forest.
My delegation supports that 1985 be declared by FAO the Year of the Forest for two reasons. One is that we cannot wait until 1989 or 1990; this should be done as quickly as possible. Secondly, the FAO, to my mind, will be able to mobilize and take effective steps. Otherwise if we go to the United Nations then it will take a longer time, entirely because this is the year when we are having the Ninth World Conference on Forestry. So, I wholeheartedly support 1985 to be declared as being the Year of the Forest and FAO should be requested to take the necessary steps in this regard. I also support all the programmes of work proposed for the FAO in the field of forestry.
MA GENGOU (China) (Original Language Chinese): The Chinese delegation endorses and supports the views and recommendations contained in the matters requiring attention by the Council, highlighted by the Secretariat.
We would like to express our appreciation of the work accomplished by the Seventh Session, of the Committee on Forestry. World-wide forestry is facing three major challenges. Those are acid rain in temperate regions, destructive lumbering of forests in the tropics, and desertification in the arid zones.
The rapid growth of global population.and the development of the national economy has placed an ever-increasing demand on forestry. It is therefore a strategic policy for the world-wide forestry development to effectively conserve and rationally utilize the existing forest resources and to positively carry out reafforestation. The integration of forestry with rural development, as well as that of forestry planning with the comprehensive utilization of land, are the correct approaches. To raise the awareness of the international community of the importance of forestry, and to make appeal to all nations to coordinate with each other in conserving and developing forestry are matters of immediate urgency.
The Chinese delegation wishes to take this opportunity to express our Government’s support to the proposal that 1985 be proclaimed the International Year of the Forest, and endorses that the Ninth World Forestry Congress be held in México. The departments concerned in our country are making the necessary arrangements for these two activities.
MOHD YASIN SALLEH (Malaysia): I wish to congratulate Dr Flores Rodas on his lucid and comprehensive introduction to the item under discussion. My délégation wishes to commend the Committee on Forestry on its assessment of forestry beyond 2000 and its wide-ranging recommendations. We fully support these recommendations.
Malaysia is actively and positively involved in collaboration in forestry between nations,, especially among members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations, ASEAN, which adopted the Jakarta Consensus on ASEAN tropical forestry. We participate in cooperative projects, such as the ASEAN/New Zealand afforestatiaon programme, the ASEAN/Canada forestry programme, the ASEAN/United States watershed project, the ASEAN/Canada Institute of Forest Management, and the ASEAN/EEC Timber Technology Centre.
My delegation would like to offer a few comments on the COFO recommendations. We feel that the recommendation that the FAO Committee on Forestry Development in the tropics and the UNCTAD-sponsored International Tropical Timber Organization, should ensure close collaboration and avoid overlap in their respective activities is both timely and pertinent. We feel such collaboration should be extended also to cover similar activities of other UN agencies, such as United Nations Environmental Programme, UNEP, and the ESCAP as well as non-governmental organizations such as the World Wildlife Fund.(WWF) and the International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) on which we wish to congratulate you as the current Chairman.
We also feel that FAO should devote more resources and expertise to assist member countries in improving sectoral policy analysis and the formulation of pragmatic and sound strategies and programmes for long-term development of resources rather than on planning and implementation of short-term resource-based development projects. Long-term prospective planning would ensure a sustained yield of socio-economic benefits, whereas short-term developments tend to generate mainly inequitable benefits as well as a host of undesirable effects, such as resource depletion and environmental degradation in the longer term.
FAO should also devote more resources and expertise to assist member countries to develop appropriate technologies, especially for quantification and monitoring of the. resource base, optimization of resource utilization, management and renewal, environmental management and natural resources conservation, rather than merely collecting, collating and disseminating data and information.
Finally, with regard to the recommendation to proclaim 1985 the International Year of the Forest, while we support it we feel that careful consideration ought to be given to tangible commitments for appropriate action programmes, projects and activities.
A. RODRIGUES FIRES (Cap-Vert): Nous remercions M. Flores Rodas, pour la presentation excellente du document, ainsi que le personnel du Département forestier de la FAO pour ce document CL 86/8 que nous appuyons pleinement, en particulier le paragraphe 19 concernant les zones arides qui nous intéressent, nous, Cap-Vert, ainsi que les recommandations pertinentes d’une integration la plus etroite possible à une utilisation agricole et pastorale des terres grace à une participation active dés populations, surtout en ce qui concerne les programmes de lutte contre la desertification et la preservation des forêts; en effet, nous croyons que la participation populaire est la pierre angulaire de tout le programme.
Nous remercions également le Gouvemement autrichien pour son initiative si heureuse et importante pour que l’année 1985 soit l’année international de la forêt. Nous appuyons le document CL 86/8-sup.l. Nous appuyons également la resolution concernant la même année, done l’année internationale de la forêt.
Ma délégation pense que pour mener à bien les actions préconisées au paragraphe 19, surtout dans les pays du Sahel (membres du CILSS) éprouvés par la sécheresse et la désertification continue, ma délégation pense qu’une aide et une assistance technique et économique sont fondamentales. Les projets doivent tenir compte surtout et avant tout des situations socio-écologiques des pays et non pas seulement de l’aspect purement économique.
Pour terminer, nous appuyons le contenu du paragraphe 20, surtout concernant la question de la formation.Car nous pensons que la formation est la base, et surtout la formation à tous les niveaux du personnel forestier.
Nous prenons bonne note que le Comité, au paragraphe 21, a souligné l’importance de la cooperation régionale et internationale, ainsi que des échanges d’information concernant les méthodes de la lutte contre la desertification, et le développement des recherches en vue de trouver des variétés resistant à la sécheresse.
Mrs M.FENWICK (United States of América): I would like to join with the Ambassador from India in the importance of afforestation and reafforestation. I think it is essential, as when he spoke of involving even the school children and getting that kind of coirjî:unity acceptance and enthusiasm. I would particularly like to stress the excellent work of FAO’s Forestry Department in this regard. In the Programme Committee we were given a clear outline of what is intented and what must be done. You cannot do reafforestation where people are living without intimate involvement of these people in the projects. You cannot take some of the land that they think they might be able to plough and believe that the minute the trees are saleable the state will take it away from them and they will not benefit. There must be some security, some understanding and respect, for the people who live where trees are going to be planted, not only to involve their enthusiasm but to make them realize how much benefit it will be to their agriculture. We should develop, as discussed in the Programme Committee, the kind of tree that goes deep down, so that we can put it between fields and it does not spread out and take all the nutrient from the crops, and study which kind of tree does what, for what kind of climate and use, and how it can be melded into an agricultural situation. I do hope that this report will contain some reference to those plans for a community involvement.
Y.A. HAMDI (Egypt) (Original language Arabic): My délégation would like to thank Dr Flores Rodas, the Assistant Director-General, Forestry Department for his efforts in presenting this report. In fact, my delegation has participated in the deliberations of the Seventh Session of the Committee on Forestry and we welcome the proposals and recommendations adopted during that session.
My delegation (believes that forests can play a vital role in the field of rural development and environmental protection. We think also that forests can play an important role as far as food security is concerned. Hence, we would like to welcome the idea of carrying out a study on the relationship between forests and food security.
In conclusion, the delegation of my country welcomes the draft resolution aiming at declaring 1985 the International Year of the Forest. We think that this declaration will have very positive results as far as increasing the awareness of the international community regarding the importance of forests and the links that exist between forests, man and animals.
ASSEFA YILALA (Ethiopia): I wish to congratulate the Assistant Director-General on the presentation of the report on forestry and the proclamation of 1985 as the International Year of the Forest.
At this point I would like to indicate the support of the Ethiopian delegation for the Ninth World Forestry Congress being held in México and the proclamation of 1985 as the International Year of the Forest. Ethiopia, which was once covered 40 percent by forest is denuded to the present level of only 4 percent in less than 100 years. The alarming rate at which the forest is denuded has caused climatic changes and the cost of firewood, which is still a major source of energy, has gone up, thus increasing the problem of food availability for consumption purposes.
The development of the forest resources as a solution to the associated socio-economic trade is fully realized by the Government and people of Ethiopia. The effect of this was the TCP Unilateral Trust Fund and food obtained from WFP and other bilateral sources was used extensively in forestry development and conservation programmes. The development of community forests mainly for heat and energy for overcoming the problems associated with climatic changes and industrial purposes is gaining a very high momentum. A national campaign which will involve the whole peasant organization in the development of forestry is being planned. Ventures towards the development of forestry will get major support, as this is being considered as a priority area in most of the regions in our country.
R. SALLERY (Canada): Our main point of interest in this item is of course the request by the Austrian delegation at COFO to declare 1985 the International Year of the Forest. In view of the upcoming World Forestry Congress in Mexico the Committee did generally support the idea. Several delegations at that COFO meeting, including Canada, suggested that 1985 was perhaps too soon a date to allow for appropriate preparations. Of course a decision by the FAO Council and the UN General Assembly based on the Director-General’ s.recommendations to declare 1985 the International Year of the Forest will’be required.
In this connection my delegation would like to suggest to the Council, in line with what has been suggested by the Japanese delegation already, that we add to the documents before us that we request the Director-General to consider the feasibility of proclaiming in the near future an International Year of the Forest at the General Assembly of the United Nations.
As you know, the question of international years is a difficult and often a delicate one and the correct time should be found for such an important year, and my delegation fully supports the intent and the importance of an International Year of the Forest, but we would be concerned about whether or not we could all make adequate preparations.
J.D. SANDY (Sierra Leone): I wish to congratulate Dr Flores Rodas for the document he has produced. The document was presented in a clear, pellucid, comprehensive and constructive manner. This paper is of great importance to my delegation as most of the areas touched upon do affect our forest reserves.
I endorse the recommendation of the Committee as contained in paragraphs 14 to 18, namely; conservation of forest resources the use and renewal of existing forestry resources, afforestation, reafforestation, etc.
In paragraph 28 of the document, it is true that about half of mankind depends on energy from wood in order to cook food. This has been the problem of my country, particularly in urban areas where the demand for fuelwood is so great and we have experienced a wanton disruption of our forest reserves in this area.
I would like at this juncture to appeal to FAO and other nations that a study which was carried out many years ago for the establishment of fuelwood and the village woodlot be implemented without further delay. This is causing us great concern. Apart from the erratic rains we have had this year, our source of water supply in the Greater Freetown area, the level of the reservoir was lower; than we expected, simply because of the indiscriminate chopping down of trees in catchment areas.
My delegation also supports the resolutions contained in document CL 86/8-Sup.2. We also wish to support the World Forestry Congress which is to be held in Mexico in 1985. We will also lend support to the proclamation of 1985 as the Year of the Forest. This will bring to the attention of our people the importance of forestry, and the fact that it is not advisable for them just to go about chopping trees. We welcome this very much. Finally, I wish to thank the Assistant Director-General and the Director-General for having presented such a comprehensive paper.
T.D. DA COSTA (Sao Tomé-et-Principe): La délégation de Sao Tomé-et-Principe voudrait, premièrement féliciter M. Flores Rodas pour la presentation et précise qu’il a faite du sujet dont notre Conseil se préoccupe en ce moment. Le Gouvernement de sao Tomé-et-Principe approuve’et appuie le document CL 86/8 ainsi que les propositions faites par le Comité des forêts et la proclamation de l’année 1985 comme Année internationale des forêts. La clairvoyance et l’analyse qui nous sont présentées par ce document et les objectifs qui sont proposés montrent bien la préoccupation et la sensibilité de notre Organisation aux problèmes économises et sociaux de nos pays et d‘une façon intégrée en tenant compte de l’importance du patrimoine forestier dans notre dévelopment en général.
La délégation de Sao Tomé-et-Principe trouve extrêmement opportune la discussion de ce sujet puisqu’en l’analysant de façon profonde, comme le Conseil est en train de le faire, cela dénote une solidarité de tous avec les victimes de la désertification, des effets de brousse et autres fléaux, dans la recherche de solutions à tous ces problèmes qui, directement ou indirectement,affectent leur economie et compromettent l’avenir forestier. En appuyant la proposition selon laquelle l’année 1985 est déclarëe l’Année internationale des forêts, nous le faisons de façon consciente et nous sommes convaincus que la realisation de la neuvième Conference mondiale sur les forêts au Mexique représentera un pas très important dans la solution des principaux problèmes forestiers dans le monde, un pilier à partir duquel tous les gouvernements seront appelés à se référer. Ainsi nous tous, ici présents dans ce Conseil, nous devons être prêts à consentir tous les efforts nécessaires à la mise en oeuvre et à la realisation de nos projets forestiers nationaux, sous-régionaux et régionaux créant simultanément pour le Mexique les bases fondamentales à une ample et profonde réflexion et à une analyse avec la ferme conviction du succès des résultats de nos travaux dont nos pays bénéficieront.
Par consequent, la délégation de Sao Tomé-et-Principe réitère la volonté des politiques de son gouvernement en vue de la mise en oeuvre de toutes les decisions qui seront prises par ce Conseil.
Pour terminer la délégation de Sao Tomé-et Principe s’associe aux propositions faites par les autres délégations qui m’ont précéde sur la nécessité d’intensifier les efforts pour la sensibilisation et la préoccupation Internationale aux problèmes qui nous amèneront à la réalisation de la Conférence du Mexique et à la mobilisation des ressources financières nécessaires à la FAO pour sa préparation et sa réalisation avec succès.
L. POZO MALO (Ecuador): Quisiera en primer término felicitar y agradecer al Dr. Flores Rodas por la clara y completa exposición que hizo sobre el tema que nos ocupa. Mi delegación comparte plenamente la preocupación expresada en los documentos de la FAO y en la reunion sobre montes de hace pocos meses, por la vertiginosa desaparición de bosques en el mundo; para mi país, cuyas zonas tropicales se enfrentan con estos problemas, resulta desde todo punto de vista importante que los órganos competentes entreguen su colaboración para detener la deforestación indiscriminada. Por otra parte, consideramos oportuno que los estudios y recomendaciones respecto de la acelerada desertificación de grandes zonas alrededor de todo el globo, y confiamos en que las medidas que adopten los países para contrarrestar estos fenómenos negativos tengan una inmediata solución. Queremos, finalmente apoyar decididamente la proclamación de que 1985 sea declarado Año Internacional del Bosque, según el documento CL 86/8, Sup. 1 y auspiciamos la celebración de la reunión en México.
G. DESESQUELLES (Observateur pour la Communauté économique européenne): La Communauté économique européenne a examiné avec intérêt le rapport de la septième session du Comité des forêts. Les orientations générales figurant dans le rapport n’appellent pas d’observations fondamentales de notre part. Nous appuyons tout particulièrement la recommandation du paragraphe 9, le programme permanent de collectes d’informations et d’évaluation des perspectives du secteur forestier. A cet égard, nous rappelons l’intérêt d’une concertation préalable avec les institutions internationales concernées et, dans ce contexte, avec la Commission des communautés européennes afin de rationaliser autant que possible la collecte des informations et de ne pas surcharger les administrations nationales par des questionnaires kaléidoscopiques.
Par aílleurs, nous sommes tout à fait favorables a la proclamation de l’Année internationale de la forêt comme il est préconisé au point 10.2. Nous sommes d’accord pour l’organisation d’une telle manifestation internationale qui mériterait d’être organisée a l’échelle mondiale vu que le problème de la forêt concerne toutes les parties du monde. Nous préconisons que l’Organisation et les premieres demarches de cette manifestation fassent l’objet d’un examen approfondi dans le cadre du Congrès mondial qui se tiendra l’été prochain à Mexico.
M.A. FLORES RODAS (Subdirector General, Departamento de Montes): En general, el Consejo ha apoyado totalmente el programa y el informe presentado por el último Comité de Montes Esto significa un apoyo total a la estrategia de lo forestal para el desarrollo presentada por el Director General hace dos o tres años.
En general, el Consejo se refirió a todos los puntos y a casi todos los párrafos del estudio en un apoyo total, y se ha hecho énfasis principalmente a la desforestación de las zonas tropicales, a la desertificación y a la participación de la población rural en la toma de decisiones para provocar su propio destino.
Especialmente el distinguido Embajador de la India, hizo ayer una exposición completa del pensamiento de la India sobre la participación del sector forestal en el desarrollo comunal de las aldeas. Prácticamente él en su exposición presentó una vez más la estrategia de las actividades forestales en pro del desarrollo, especialmente aquél que se re.fiere al desarrollo rural.
Es indiscutible que la participación popular en la toma de decisiones que afectan al sector forestal y a su propio destino es el pilar fundamental de tal decision. Contestando así a la pregunta hecha por la distinguida Embajadora de los Estados Unidos.
El señor Embajador de la India pregunto ayer sobre cuál era el volumen aproximado de metros cúbicos mundiales. Se estima, y esto por supuesto, que es muy aproximado, en alrededor de unos 350 000 millones de metros cubicos, presentes.
Siguiendo con las preguntas, el distinguido representante de Pakistán se refirió en el sentido de que creía que el Departamento de Montes y la FAO en général, se preocupaba muy poco de aquellas zonas áridas montañosas. Quiero decirle al señor representante del Pakistán que probablemente existe una diferencia de definición, una diferencia semántica; lo que él llama las montañas con desierto, nosotros lo llamamos la ordenación de cuencas hidrográficas de montaña. Esencialmente estamos muy enterados y tenemos grandes programas referentes a este tipo de cuencas hidrográficas en dos grandes Departamentos de la FAO, principalmente en el de Montes, en la Dirección de Recursos Forestales, y en el Departamento de Agricultura en la Dirección de Fomento de Tierras y Aguas.
En este momento para 1985, en coordinación con el Centro Internacional para el Desarrollo Integrado de las Areas Montañosas, se llevará a cabo un estudio que se refiere a la participación popular en esas áreas montañosas, particularmente en las areas del Himalaya a que él se refería. También se llevará a cabo un curso de entrenamiento sobre este tipo de ordenación de cuencas en Katmandú, Nepal,en el mes de marzo del próximo año, y se llevará a cabo también en Katmandú, en febrero del próximo año, una reunion de expertos para determinar estrategias, aproximaciones y sistemas de ordenación integrada de cuencas montañosas.
Por otra parte, también como les decía, la Dirección de Fomento de Tierras y Aguas del Departamento de Agricultura de la FAO, tiene la capacidad para estudios integrados que se refieren a erosión del suelo, hidrología, irrigación y producción agrícola en tales zonas.
Para terminar, y refiriéndose especialmente a la proposición hecha por el Director General sobre el Año Internacional del Bosque, entiendo que tenemos una clara definición del Consejo en apoyo de un tipo de declaración similar. Existen algunas dudas por parte de algunos miembros del Consejo referente al tiempo necesario para llevar a cabo tales proyectos; sin embargo, quisiera decir al Consejo que ya.hemos iniciado algunos trabajos y que se refieren a grandes rasgos a los siguientes grupos: en primer lugar, acción integrada con otras organizaciones tanto del sistema de las Naciones Unidas como de sistemas no gubernamentales: la UNESCO, el PNUMA, con la que ya tenemos estrechos lazos, la UICN, el Fondo Mundial para la Naturaleza, etc. y con grupos no gubernamentales interesados en este tipo de trabajo. Esto es un plan de trabajo, el otro plan se refiere a las actividades regionales y subregionales dentro de los programas ya en acción de FAO, a través de sus representantes, en las regiones y subregiones, haciendo énfasis en este tipo de trabajo.
A nivel nacional, intentamos trabajar más cerca todavía con los Servicios Forestales y con aquellos que tienen que ver con el desarrollo rural específicamente, haciendo hincapié más que nada en el impacto de la situación forestal en el desarrollo rural, su impacto sobre la seguridad alimentaria, no sólo en términos de erosion y protección puramente dicho, sino en aquellos términos que se refieren al empleo, a la producción de alimentos bajos del bosque, a la integración mayor del bosque dentro de lá sociedad, y a provocar rentas que saquen al trabajador forestal del problema económico en que se encuentra.
Así, a grandes rasgos, es el plan de trabajo que intentamos y que como dije, ya hemos iniciado con una reorganización de nuestro propio presupuesto interno del Departamento de Montes, para apoyar las decisiones que ustedes han tornado. No sé si he contestado a las inquietudes del Consejo, pero por supuesto estoy a la disposición de sus miembros para cualquier pregunta ulterior.
H.J.H. TALEYARKHAN (India): May I request the Assistant Director-General to make a few observations about the association of education institutions in the programme to which I referred.
M.A. FLORES RODAS (Subdirector General, Departamento de Montes): Uno de los pilares fundamentals del programa forestal de la FAO tiene que ver con la formación, entrenamiento y. educación a todos los niveles, no sólo educacionales referente al sector puramente forestal, sino que tambien participants en los últimos cuatro años en la educación de campesinos en coordinación con la Direccción de Recursos Humanos de la FAO y Reforma Agraria, y en todos los programas de entrenamiento général que tiene que ver la FAO para apoyo del desarrollo rural.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you. If there are no other comments or questions, may I associate myself with the 37 distinguished delegates and observers who have spoken both yesterday and today. They were all unanimous in their praise, Mr Director-General, for the work of FAO in the forestry sector, and for the dedication and competence of Mr Flores Rodas and his colleagues. I would like to associate myself fully with these sentiments.
I would like to offer three brief comments on some of the points made. I share the view expressed by several delegations here that 1985, which will be the year of the Ninth International Forestry Congress, should mark the beginning of an expanded forestry movement designed to ensure in perpetuity the basic needs of rural people for work, water, food, fuel and fodder. We all know that youth and the poor are the only two really genuine majorities in most of the Third World countries.
1985 being the UN Year of Youth and 1986 being the UN Year of Peace, I feel there are unique opportunities for facilitating the involvement of both the youth and the poor in various conservation and afforestation programmes.
Secondly, several distinguished delegates have commented that forests are being chopped down. All of us in this room know that it is the forest dweller who knows the importance of forests even better than we do.
In my own country, the people who started the most significant movement in forest conservation are illiterate women. This is the famous movement called ChipKo Andlan or “Hug the trees”. Under this movement, women hug the tree when the contractor goes to fell it. For them it is a matter of life and death and therefore we need not preach to them, “don’t cut the forest”. The more important thing to know is why they have to cut. It is almost cutting their own children to many of them when they cut the forest. Therefore, I think unless, as Dr Flores Rodas rightly said, there is an orientation to the forestry movement which will help to provide the people the basic needs of work and water, fuel, fodder and food, we will be fighting a losing battle.
In this context I go to my last point. I think some of the delegations and the distinguished Ambassador of India mentioned about the medicinal plants in forests canopies. Thus the destruction of forests is not only relevant in relation to losing the forest trees by themselves but the unique flora and fauna associated with forest canopies.
Here again we can go on talking about the conservation of forest genetic resources. We should take steps to establish biosphere reserves but experience shows us this is not going to be an easy task. In fact, every time I hear the statistics on forest losses, year after year, they are increasing, they are not diminishing. The delegate of Ethiopia has said, that forests have dwindled from 40 percent to 4 percent in the last hundred years in his Country and this year’s drought will certainly aggravate the problem of forest denudation.
I therefore feel that while we should intensify by all possible means programmes for saving the forest and forest genetic resources, we should also not lose time in taking steps for preserving for posterity some of the unique forest germ plasm through the new tools which are available. For example, the construction of a DNA library; DNA is the chemical substance of heredity, and today, molecular biologists can preserve the genetic material in a DNA Library.
I would therefore like to suggest to Dr Flores Rodas that during the International Forestry Congress in México we may organize a small group discussion on matters of preserving for posterity some unique forest genetic material through the establishment of DNA Libraries. We should harness all possible methods, and while in situ conservation is exceedingly important for many reasons, it is also important to preserve some of the valuable genotypes which we are losing very fast.
As regards the specific proposal for declaring 1985 the International Year of the Forest, I have heard all delegations agree to the idea in principle. Everyone felt it is an excellent idea; several have expressed reservations on the timing and the method. Since the majority has fully supported the idea, while some have for a number of valid reasons raised some questions and expressed certain reservations, the Drafting Committee which will have the opinions expressed by all the delegations, could put up a revised version of the resolution.
DIRECTOR-GENERAL: I think I would like to know whether the majority was in favour of the proposal because the Drafting Committee is only to reflect the views of the Council, not to start another debate and try to reach a consensus amongst themselves.
CHAIRMAN: The Director-General has rightly asked whether the mayority supports the declaration of 1985 as the International Year of the Forest. May I summarize the position as follows. First, all members are in favour of the concept, secondly, the majority is in favour of declaring 1985 the International Year of the Forest, and thirdly, a few delegations have expressed reservations about the feasibility of making the necessary arrangements so soon. I have got the complete list here and I will be happy to give it: Austria, Thailand, México, Bulgaria, Spain, Colombia, Panama, Lebanon, India, Japan partially, Tunisia, Uganda, Pakistan, Cyprus, Indonesia, Congo, Cuba, Argentina, Bangladesh, China, Cape Verde, Sierre Leone, Sao Tome and Principe, Ecuador and Federal Republic of Germany have all supported the proposal. Some delegations have raised a few valid points. The Drafting Committee should take them into consideration and develop a final resolution for adoption at the concluding session.
Thank you very much for this very significant contribution on this important item. Thank you Dr Flores Rodas and all your colleagues.
M. GIFFORD (Canada): Simply to ask you, for a point of clarification.
My delegation, like others, has been reviewing our heavy timetable of the coming days and week and we have been concerned that some documents which we expected to be before us have not yet been circulated. In particular, next week we understand from the Agenda that we would be discussing the question of the World Food Programme accounts, and it would appear to us in roder to do this fully and responsibly, that the Council will need to have, in addition to the document already circulated, which is the Report of the FAO Finance Committee, several other documents that are extremely relevant to the discussion of this item. In particular, I refer to the Report of the ACABQ Committee on the WFP accounts, the Report of the Eighteenth Session of the Committee on Food Aid, the comments of the Executive Director on the WFP audited accounts, and lastly, the comments of the Director-General.
It seems to me that if we are to hopefully finish by next Friday, it would be useful if we could have some idea from the chair, when these documents, which we think are extremely relevant, will be circulated.
H. CARANDANG (Philippines): I want to speak on this item because I find it a little bit strange that at this point so many procedural matters are being raised and I want to be clarified what it is all about. I do not know what is the exact regulation involved in the presentation of documents related to items that are before the Council, and before I give an opinion regarding this, I wanted to know what is involved in here,because I think there are some rules that apply to the way of reporting, and I hope these matters are not being precipitated before the time comes.
I would like to clarify some questions in this regard, because the documentation that is before us is indicated in an INF document, and I do not know what are the rules if you have to issue new documents, because if you are going to issue now documents which have not been seen by our governments, we might have difficulty about making our comments on them because, Mr Chairman, as you know, we are only expressing the view of our government, and if you begin to circulate documents that have not been circulated to our own governments, I do not know whether that would be correct.
I am therefore asking clarification as to why all these documentations being requested and why are they now being asked to be circulated at this point.
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Ya nuestro colega y amigo Carandang, de Filipinas, se refirió a uno de los aspectos que también preocupan a la delegación de Colombia en relación con la desafortunada intervención del delegado de Canadá. Fue inoportuna y queremos agregar que nos preocupa la prisa, el aceleramiento del colega del Canadá en este campo tan delicado.
Usted, y los miembros del Consejo saben que yo estoy haciendo un esfuerzo dirigido a evitar que se repitan en esta Sala Roja los debates intensos que ya tuvieron lugar en la Sala Verde; de manera que mi primer consejo al colega del Canadá es que tenga un poco de paciencia, que espere porque hay una secuencia que ellos conocen muy bien y por lo tanto actúan de mala fe, hay una secuencia -repito-que ellos conocen muy bien y actúan de mala fe. Nosotros creemos, que comentarios agresivos de cualquier jefe de una organización ciertamente no contribuyen a crear el clima de serenidad y concordia que debe reinar en un Consejo como éste.
Tendríamos muchas cosas que decir, preferiríamos que no se nos forzara a hacer una declaración más amplia, pero si intervenimos ahora es porque estamos preocupados por la salud, por la salud -repetimos- y por el porvenir de estos colegas que están como enloquecidos, están realmente excesivamente desaforados en este intento de provocar un debate irresponsable. Por eso intervenimos desde ahora para rogarles que estén tranquilos, quietos, que tengan paciencia.
P. PONGPAET (Thailand): As a member of the Council and also as a member of the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes, my delegation wishes to state that according to the Report of the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes, at the last session the Committee had adopted the Report requesting that the representation in the Financial Report of 1982/83 be incorporated by the Executive Director and also the Report of the ACABQ and the External Auditor.
In this matter I think it would be well balanced if the Council were also to receive the document informing us of the comments by the Executive Director and the comments by the ACABQ.
M. MOHBOULI (Congo): Notre intervention a trait, évidemment, à la déclaration faite récemment par la délégation du Canada. Nous voudrions tout d’abord dire, ainsi que l’a déjà dit notre ami des Philippines, que nous, avant d’en venir aux instances dirigeantes ou aux gouvernements directeurs de notre Organisation, nous nous référons à nos gouvernements et, concernant précisément le Conseil qui se tient actuellement, nous avons reçu un ordre du jour, mais aussi une liste des documents sur lesquels doivent porter nos débats. Ce faisant, nous nous sommes rendu compte que les documents que reclame la délégation du Canada ne sont pas sur la liste de ceux qui nous servent pour débattre au cours de cette session et nous sommes très surpris que l’on reclame que ces documents soient distribués à cette occasion.
Nous sommes également membre du CPA (nous sortons d’un CPA suffisamment animé), et nous avons, je crois comprendre, pris des dispositions suffisamment équilibrées pour que nous n’agissions pas avec háte. Nous devons prendre le temps nécessaire pour ces questions, et il nous apparaît inopportun que la délégation du Canada exige que ces documents soient distribués puisqu’ils ne figurent pas sur la liste de ceux dont nous devons débattre. Nous voudrions insister sur le fait qu’il ne faut pas prendre la mauvaise habitude d’appréhender les différents Membres du Conseil au dernier moment pour leur distribuer des documents sur lesquels ils ne sont pas préparés à se prononcer. En fait nous ne sommes pas disposés à regarder ces documents maintenant. Ces documents n’apparaissent pas sur la liste de ceux dont nous devons débattre.
H. HØSTMARK (Norway): I am somewhat disturbed by the trend this discussion is taking. I heard just a very reasonable request for some documents for information of the Council. I have not heard any intention so far of an acrimonious debate or otherwise. I believe it is perfectly natural and it is an accepted practice throughout the UN system when a member of a body, be that a Conference or a Council of an organization, that they find information they believe would be of interest to discussions ahead that a request that this document pertaining to the subject be placed before the members of the Committee. This is done now, I believe in reasonable advance of the discussions we are going to have. It is not raising a matter for decision, it is not raising any debate, it is just trying to see that this Council gets the fullest information possible before the point on our Agenda is discussed. I really cannot see that this should be contentious at all, and I fully support it.
P.N. BAIGENT (New Zealand): We too would like to support the circulation of these papers as suggested by Canada. We are a little surprised really that this has not been done officially since it involves matters that we have to discuss on the Agenda. We feel there is likely to be additional information in these papers which will be important to us in considering these accounts before us.
We are a member of the Council, and you will appreciate that we are members for the South Pacific, and we certainly need to fulfil our responsibilities in representing that area. In this respect, we have a relatively small representation here and have difficulties at times in keeping abreast of some of the proceedings.
Now, in this respect, we feel that these documents would be most useful to us in appreciating the issues involved; particularly since we are not members anyway of CFA.
B.H. DJIBRIL (Bénin): Ma délégation voudrait s’associer au Groupe composé des délégations des Philippines, du Congo, et de la Colombie parce qu’en effet nous ne voyons pas comment on pourrait discuter ici d’un document dont nous n’avons pas été saisis auparavant. Je suggère même au Conseil que si une telle documentation existait, que l’on n’en discute pas au cours de cette session et que nous ayons le temps nécessaire pour l’étudier.
C’est pour cela que je voudrais suggérer, encore une fois, que les débats s’arrêtent à ce point et que nous puissions continuer nos travaux comme prévu.
J.R. LOPEZ PORTILLO (México): Para asociarnos a lo que han expresado Filipinas, Colombia, Congo y Benin en el sentido de que nos sorprende que algunas delegaciones pretendan ahora introducir, en estos momentos de nuestros trabajos, la presentación de documentos que no han sido entregados previamente a nuestros Gobiernos. El 20 por ciento de los que estamos reunidos aquí, en este Consejo, y que somos miembros, nemos participado en el CPA; pero el 80 por ciento no lo ha hecho, y estamos seguros que sus Gobiernos no han podido siquiera tener una copia de los documentos’ a que han hecho referencia, y por tanto, no podrían discutir.
En todo caso, nuestro Gobierno tampoco puede aceptar que, en esta ocasión, se traten cuestiones y temas que no han sido presentados y aprobados previamente en la agenda para esta reunion, por lo que consideramos inapropiado e ilegítimo que se maneje esa información. Además, señor Presidente, creemos que la actitud de algunos países es la de tratar a este Consejo y obligar a estas discusiones a empujones, contra lo que nos oponemos.
En la última reunión del CPA se llegó a un informe muy balanceado, muy equilibrado, muy difícil después de muy largas discusiones; y se dejaron las cosas, de tal manera que podíamos confiar que en una próxima ocasión, pudiéramos contar con mejores elementos para discutir los informes y los documentos a que han hecho referencia esas delegaciones.
De manera, que solicitamos igualmente, como lo ha hecho la delegación de Colombia, que tengan paciencia, que no saltemos etapas, que no nos traten a empujones y que no esperemos para una próxima ocasión.
En todo caso, advertimos desde ahora que, en el momento en que cualquier delegación intervenga sobre algún tema que no esté dentro de nuestro Orden del día, nosotros interrumpiremos y nos opondremos a ello.
A.Y. BUKHARI (Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of) (original language Arabic): My delegation believes that you might as well stop right now this discussion. In fact, we are losing our time, losing the time of this Council discussing the matters which are not important at all to my mind. We know, and you personally might have heard or might have known, how we adopted the Report of the CFA. We have lost a great deal of time during the deliberations of the CFA, and we did not have enough time to discuss in detail the report adopted.
We do not want to see the Report of the Council during the present session, knowing the same fate as the report adopted by the CFA at its last session. We accept all official documents and matters presented to us provided that these matters are presented to us in good time beforehand.
If we accept these demands then we should also ask for the observations made by the Director-General commenting upon the observations made by the Executive Director regarding the final accounts.
R.C. SERSALE DI CERISANO (Argentina): Sí, es para apoyar lo que han dicho las delegaciones de Filipinas, Colombia, Congo, etc. Y esto por dos razones; la primera es que mi país al no ser miembro del CPA no tiene conocimiento de esos documentos. No ha tenido la suerte de poder participar en esas discusiones, y por tanto no está enterado de ello, y no estaría en condiciones de discutir estas importantes cuestiones que acá se plantean. Y la segunda cuestión es por una cuestión procedimental. Nosotros, en el lunes pasado, hemos aprobado una agenda con un Orden del Dia en donde el tema 8 que se refiere al Programa Mundial de Alimentos se refiere al Noveno Informe Anual del Comité de Políticas y Programas de Ayuda Alimentaria del Programa Mundial de Alimentos, que trata unos períodos de sesiones anteriores a los del año 1984.
Por lo tanto, le solicitamos que este Consejo se atenga a lo aprobado el día lunes, al aprobar la agenda, y nos consignemos a discutir los temas ya aprobados en su oportunidad.
CHAIRMAN: I find we have many speakers on that now. I will give you the floor but after I have made my remarks. I am asking for your advice on handling this matter. The Basic Texts as far as the Agenda item and the documentation is concerned reads as follows: “The Director-General, in consultation with the Chairman of the Council, and having regard to suggestions made by any Member Nation or Associate Member acting within the limits of its status, shall prepare a Provisional Agenda and despatch it to Member Nations and Associate Members by airmail, not less than 60 days in advance of the Session. Documentation shall be circulated with the Provisional Agenda or as soon as possible thereafter.”.
Now two viewpoints have been expressed. The Canadian delegate wanted some supplementary information, and some others, like the Chairman of the Group of 77, have stated that for anything circulated now they could not consult with their governments. So I thought I should read out the relevant rule here. “During the Session the Council may, by a vote concurred with by at least two-thirds of the membership of the Council, add to the Agenda any item proposed by a member of the Council”, in which case it is obvious that the documentation of the agenda will have to be circulated also. Since there are so many delegations who want to speak, I want to know if two-thirds of the members want some additional information. According to the rules then it has to be provided. Otherwise, as I read it here, - I think the Legal Counsel could answer better - but as I read the Basic Texts it says the Agenda items and the documents must be circulated in advance, although anybody can ask from the floor any of the officers of the Council for additional information.
Now shall we go through the entire list of speakers or would any of you like to make a proposition because, as I think the distinguished delegate of Saudi Arabia said, we shall spend too much time. The delegate of Sudan, have you got a specific proposal on how to handle this matter?
A.A. KHALIL (Sudan) (original language Arabic): I have been working with this Organization for the last 14 years. I have attended all the sessions of the Council, the General Conference and the majority of various Member States in the Council, asked to stop the discussions on that particular item. The delegate of Benin asked to stop the discussions, a proposal which was seconded by the representative of Saudi Arabia and others. Hence, the proposal is very clear. Let us stop the discussion now and proceed with the remaining items on our Agenda according to their order.
i would like therefore to formally propose to stop discussing this issue in the light of the proposal made by Benin seconded by Saudi Arabia, Argentina and the various other delegations which took the same stance.
CHAIRMAN: The Legal Counsel will make a remark.
LEGAL COUNSEL: The rule on the motion, which is relevant to the motion which just has been proposed from the floor is that in Rule XII, paragraph 2k of the General Rules of the Organization. Rule XII, paragraph 24 reads as follows, and I will read it slowly: “The following motions shall have precedence in the following order over all other proposals or motions before the meeting, except a point of order.” The list is as follows: “a) to suspend the meeting; b) to adjourn the meeting; c) to adjourn the debate on the item under discussion; and d) for the closure of the debate on the item under discussion.”
The motion, if I understood it correctly, which was made from the floor, is for the closure of the debate on the item under discussion.
Paragraph 25 of the same Rule provides that when a proposal has been adopted or rejected, it may not be reconsidered. Now the question is what you have to proceed to do now is to decide on the motion for the closure of the debate.
M. GIFFORD (Canada): I do apologize to other delegations that wanted to intervene on the subject but since it was Canada that precipatated the debate - rather unexpectedly I guess - a relative neophyte in the formulations of this Council. As some of you are aware, we have been in discussion with the Director-General, and it was on the advice of the Director-General that in order to discuss certain items you have to table some documents, that it was suggested we have to raise this issue formally. So following the guidance of the Director-General, we simply requested these documents. We did not expect it was going to precipitate a debate, quite frankly.
CHAIRMAN: I would also like to read out the procedure hereafter.
“Permission to speak on a motion to reconsider shall be accorded only to two speakers opposing the motion, after which it shall be immediately put to the vote.”
G. BULA HOYOS (Colombia): Usted le concedió la palabra al delegado de Canadá. Entonces yo creo que también pueda hablar el delegado de Colombia. Lo vamos a hacer muy brevemente, por cuestión de principio porque nos falta todavía una semana de la reunion del Consejo.
Queremos decirle al colega de Canada, con toda franqueza y con toda claridad, que no deseamos que aquí en la Sala Roja los representantes de Canada repitan las mismas actitudes agresivas e irresponsables que asumieron en la Sala Verde.
Señor Presidente, bien conocido es que los representantes del Canadá, y ellos mismos lo han aceptado, han llegado hasta la amenaza, hasta el chantaje, hasta a amedrentar a algunos países dignos y soberanos. Nosotros creemos que esa actitud de esta mañana va a prolongar esa posición en la Sala Verde.
CHAIRMAN: May I request the delegate of Colombia not to use words’to which other delegations are objecting. Now is the majority in favour of the closure of this debate? Members of the Council in favour of closure, can you raise your hands? I think the majority are in favour of closure, that is the closure of the debate on the distribution of documentation. In other words there are two viewpoints. Therefore I now move that the majority desire that this discussion should be closed and so this item is now closed and we will move on.
L. ARIZA HIDALGO (Cuba): La discusión, no el debate, ya ha terminado y estamos totalmente de acuerdo con él, pero consideramos que usted tiene la suficiente autoridad como Presidente, que se la hemos dado y que usted la tiene, para no permitir en lo adelante ningún debate que no esté en el Orden del Día se comience porque después no sabemos cómo vamos a terminarlo, y tenemos que utilizar tiempo útil que ya hemos perdido bastante. Creo que la autoridad, y se la ratificamos, para que usted no permita iniciar nada que esté fuera del programa.
CHAIRMAN: This matter is now closed. We have taken a majority decision to close this issue and the Legal Counsel has explained the position.
Sra. E. HERAZO de VITI (Panamá): Es solamente para decir que después de la exposición del tema 8, Panamá desea intervenir sobre el tema 8.
J.C.INGRAM (Executive Director, World Food Programme): Mr Chairman, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen: It is a pleasure for me to address this Council to present to it the Ninth Annual Report of the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes for 1983. Since I last spoke to you somewhat more than a year ago the most dramatic development in the global food situation has been the worsening crisis in Africa. For that reason I would first like to say a few words on WFP’s involvement in Africa before I touch upon the Programme’s overall performance in 1983.
Because WFP is a multilateral food agency a special responsibility rests on it to do its best to alleviate the famine and refugee problems which beset sub-Saharan Africa. We have therefore joined ranks enthusiastically with others to wipe the tears of hunger of children and women and men, to quote you, Mr Chairman, from the opening remarks that you made to this Council.
I need hardly remind this body that of all the major regions of the developing world sub- Saharan Africa has had the slowest growth in food production and the fastest growth in population during the past 20 years. It is the main región where food production is losing the race with population growth.
As you have seen in the documents before this session of the Council, in 1983 aggregate cereal production of the 24 countries in Africa which are identified as facing exceptional food needs was 16.9 million tonnes, 9 percent below the food crop of the previous year and 15 percent less than the last normal crop in 1981.
In the face of this challenge WFP has stepped up its activities in Africa both for development and emergency food needs. In 1983 34 percent of emergency shipments from WFP’s own resources were delivered to that region. Special measures were taken to increase the Programme’s capacity to respond to the African food emergency. I joined with the Director-General of FAO in setting up the FAO/WFP Task Force in Africa inApril 1983 to monitor the food and agriculture situation there. At the same time I also established a WFP operational task force in order to speed up the Programme’s deliveries and provide essential information to facilitate the planning, procurement, shipment and distribution of food aid by all donors.
In 1984 we have already earmarked US $186 million of emergency assistance and many more requests are under consideration. However, in spite of generous donor support in 1984 to the IEFR (International Emergency Food Reserve), in fact exceeding the target of 500 000 tonnes, as well as the availability of US $45 million set aside from the Programme’s regular resources, we do not now have enough food and money to enable an adequate response to the many urgent requests for assistance due to flooding. In this situation the CFA at its last session agreed at my request to transfer an additonal US $10 million from WFP’s regular resources for emergency assistance in 1984. Following the Director-General’s appeal for additional contributions to the IEFR, launched on my recommendation, additional contributions of 56 000 tonnes have so far been received. But more, much more, is still required.
Ethiopia has been the main focus of media attention in recent weeks but you should know that WFP had been concerned about the situation there and had been providing substantial aid well before the dimensions of the current tragedy became evident. So far the Programme has committed this year some US $22 million worth of assistance to Ethiopia not only by providing food but also trucks and tarpaulins and by airlifting food and relief equipment on behalf of voluntary agencies. Food aid being the vital need in Ethiopia today, it is natural that WFP’s input is the biggest within the United Nations family. As you know, the Secretary-General of the United Nations has appointed Mr Kurt Jansen as Assistant Secretary-General for emergency operations in Ethiopia. WFP strongly supported this decision and we are playing a central role to support his efforts to provide staff and supporting facilities.
As delegates will also know,a WFP technical mission recently identified bottle-necks and other logistical problems which must be overcome to speed the flow of aid to the needy. While the international community has responded generously to the Ethiopian crisis, there is a lot yet to do if lives are to be saved. At least half a million tonnes of food must be mobilized and supplied for the first half of next year. The new pledges of food so far amount to some 220 000 tonnes. In addition there have been cash contributions of about US $20 million for internal transport and another US $6 million for food purchases, and I may say that WFP itself will be supplying substantial additional amounts for delivery to Ethiopia early next year.
While the media has been invaluable in dramatizing the urgency of the situation in Ethiopia, we should not overlook the fact that there are other countries in Africa for which a special effort is necessary if lives are not to be lost. I referred to two of those countries at the recent CFA meeting, but there are others. I came back yesterday from New York, where I met with the Secretary-General and his senior officials, as well as officials of other UN agencies concerned with Africa’s needs. While it would be premature to go into details here, I want to assure the Council that the UN family is indeed mobilizing its energies in a systematic and purposeful way and with a great sense of urgency to ensure that all critically affected countries in Africa get the necessary special attention.
Let me now briefly turn to the performance of the Programme in 1983 and so far in 1984. As you all know, 1983 witnessed the Twentieth Anniversary of WFP as well as the highest level ever of approved new development projects or new phases of ongoing ones, some US $696 millions, representing over 1.4 million tonnes of food, and I might say that the equivalent figure for 1984 will be in excess of US $900 million, an increase of 30 percent. In keeping with WFP’s objectives, about 80 percent of these projects are concentrated on low-income food-deficit countries. Among them the least developed again received over one-third of the total development commitments for 1983. Development projects for Africa have been rising rapidly and WFP had in 1983 projects worth over US $1 billion operational in that region.
As for the developmental objectives served by the 1983 projects the proportion devoted to agriculture and rural development was 68 percent and human resources development 32 percent. This corresponds exactly with the 12 years average 1972-1983. Moreover, Mr Chairman, I would draw your attention to the fact that in the Ninth Report before you we have for the first time analyzed WFP’s development assistance and the beneficiaries on a new functional basis which was found illuminating by the CFA.
If WFP is to continue to expand its efforts, donors will need to provide more food aid on a multilateral basis. While pledges to WFP resources for the 1985/86 biennium have already reached the record mark of over US $1 billion, it seems unlikely that we will reach the target of US $1.3 billion set for the biennium. However, the fact that many pledges are expressed in national currencies means that at a time when the dollar is strong the dollar figure understates the available resources expressed in physical terms and more food aid is of course also being channelled through the IEFR, whose long-term successful operation is however dependent on the availability of adequate resources including especially cash for our regular developmental work.
Let me conclude by saying something about the recent session of the CFA. As you know, the CFA had before it a report of the United Nations Joint Inspection Unit on personnel problems of WFP. The Committee considered the Report at length and in the course of its deliberations acquired a very comprehensive understanding of administrative problems which had gone on for many years and which if left unresolved will impair this Programmed ability to deal successfully with the immense challenges ahead. I need not go into detail. Let me quote from the CFA’s Report:
“The Committee recognized that relations between FAO and WFP had not been exempt from problems and that those problems required corrective action. It therefore welcomed the joint decision of the Secretary-General of the United Nations and the Director-General of FAO to examine areas in which problems had arisen. It was felt that the problems which have arisen should be addressed with goodwill to bring about a rapid solution”.
As I said to the CFA, I welcome very much this positive initiative of the Secretary-General and the Director-General. I have also noted the very positive remark of the Director-General when he said in his opening statement to this Council, “I shall do my best to resolve the issues”. Mr Chairman, let me also give you, and through you this distinguished Council, a similar assurance.
With these words I commend the Ninth Annual Report of the CFA contained in document CL 86/9 for your consideration.
J.R. LOPEZ PORTILLO (México): Para hacer, señor Presidente, simplemente un punto de orden. Agradecemos la declaración que ha hecho el Director Ejecutivo, pero esperamos sin embargo, que ninguno de los miembros de este Consejo haga referencia a la última parte de su declaración, en tanto que no forma parte de la agenda de nuestros trabajos. En todo caso insistimos, como lo hizo la delegación de Cuba, en que Ud. detenga a todos los delegados que intervengan sobre ese tema, en particular cuyo conocimiento no es parte de las labores de este Consejo.
A. REGNIER (Directeur, Bureau des affaires interinstitutions): Qu’il me soit permis, au nom du Directeur général, de faire quelques remarques au moment où le Conseil est saisi du 9ème rapport annuel du Comité des politiques et programmes d’aide alimentaire.
Je suis évidemment conscient de ce qu’il s’agit d’un document portant sur l’année 1983 et que certains développements peuvent être intervenus depuis lors.
Néanmoins, me semble-t-il, une rapide analyse du rapport peut conduire à quelques réflexions de nature générale sur le rapport lui-même et, au-delà, sur le Programme.
L’intérêt de ce document est qu’il présente de manière factuelle, je dirais comptable, l’état du Programme. A ce titre, c’est donc une importante source d’informations.
Il n’est cependant pas conçu pour conduire à une analyse de politique générale et done à une vue propsective sur le Programme.
Dans ces quelques mots d’introduction,qu’il me soit permis d’illustrer ce propos par quelques exemples, comme une contribution à la discussion que le Conseil souhaitera peut-être tenir sur cet important sujet.
Mais auparavant je voudrais dire qu’à la lecture du rapport, on est certes impressionné par l’ampleur des opérations du PAM: transporter quelque 1,5 million de tonnes par an.
La FAO apprécie le travail accompli par le PAM et tire d’ailleurs quelque fierté d’y contribuer par la fourniture de services de toute sorte, en tout premier lieu, pour la préparation technique des projets.
J’en viens maintenant au rapport proprement dit. Nous avons, tout d’abord, noté que la proportion entre les projets de développement agricole et rural, d’une part, et les projets de valorisation des ressources humaines, d’autre part, correspondait en 1983 à la moyenne des douze années 1972-1983: 68 pour cent contre 32 pour cent. Le Directeur exécutif vient de le rappeler. On peut cependant remarquer que cette proportion des projets de développement a fléchi durant les trois dernières années puisqu’elle est passée de 81 pour cent en 1981 à la moyenne de 68 pour cent en 1983. Il aurait peut-être été intéressant d’en analyser les raisons de manière à éviter à l’avenir un nouveau fléchissement, comme cela semble avoir été également le cas en 1984.
Certes, il peut y avoir des fluctuations d’une année sur l’autre mais il importe de rester vigilant, de s’assurer qu’il ne s’agit pas d’une tendance durable et que priorité continuera à être donnée aux projets de développement.
L’aide alimentaire doit rester, autant que possible, un investissement, un facteur de production à intégrer aussi étroitement que possible dans les plans de développement des pays bénéficiaires. Ceci nous paraît particulierement important à un moment où on s’interroge de toutes parts sur le caractere dissuasif de l’aide alimentaire sur la production locale. Le paragraphe 12 du rapport s’y réfère.
Un des moyens d’assurer une telle intégration est de favoriser une véritable progranimation par pays de l’aide alimentaire et de renforcer le cycle des projets, ce à quoi d’ailleurs le PAM et la FAO se sont attelés.
Nous avons également note qu’en 1983 aucun projet de reserve alimentaire n’était prêt pour approbation. Ceci est peut-être du aux circonstances, mais l’année 1984 n’a guère été plus propice puisque seul un projet de ce type, de très petite taille, a été approuvé.
Le panier alimentaire est aussi un sujet qui mérite quelque réflexion. Le rapport annuel du CPA ne mentionne au paragraphe 58 que les céréales et les produits laitiers il depend,bien sûr, des produits qui sont mis à la disposition du Programme. Cependant, ne serait-il pas bon de s’interroger sur les moyens de diversifier les rations, tant du point de vue de l’intérêt nutritionnel que pour éviter une trop large dépendance de produits que les pays récipiendaires ne peuvent produire sur place et qui à long aller, peuvent modifier durablement les habitudes alimentaires?
Un des moyens d’y remédier serait pour le Programme d’accroître ses achats de denrées, en particulier, dans les pays en développement.
A cet égard, une analyse plus en detail aurait été utile de la politique des achats de produits, des types de produits qui ont été achetés, où ils l’ont été et pour quelle destination. On note dans le rapport qu’une part importante des achats a été réalisée dans le cadre de transactions triangulaires financées par les pays donateurs bilatéraux, mais il serait intéressant d’apprécier les achats effectués surles ressources régulières du PAM: ce qu’elles ont représenté en 1983 en volume et en pourcentage de dépenses en espèces. Une telle analyse permettrait peut-être d’en tirer des conclusions de politique générale.
Evidemment, la capacité du Programme d’acheter des denrées depend des contributions en espèces dont il dispose.
Le paragraphe 59 du rapport s’y réfère et fait allusion, sans toutefois donner une évaluation détaillée de la situation, des contributions en espèces face aux besoins et face aux objectifs fixés qui sont, comme on le sait, d’un tiers au moins en espèces et services pour les ressources régulières et de 30 pour cent pour la Reserve alimentaire intemationale d’urgence.
Le sujet mérite sans doute d’autant plus d’attention que, aux dires même du Directeur Exécutif lors de la 18ème session du CPA, le Programme est menacé par un problème de liquidités - et là je crois même qu’il a exprimé la chose en disant: “a looming cash problem”.
Ma dernière remarque portera sur l’importante question des opérations d’urgence. Les paragraphes 40 à 44 du rapport donnent les statistiques essentielles pour en indiquer l’ampleur. Ils n’en soulignent cependant pas leur immense complexité, et il faut le reconnaître, les difficultés objectives auxquelles ont à faire face tous ceux qui opèrent dans le secteur des urgences.
Les débats ici même au Conseil ces jours derniers, en particulier sur l’Afrique, ont montré l’extrême importance de cette question, qu’il n’est pas possible de sous-estimer.
A la demande du Directeur Général, le CPA examinera, d’ailleurs à sa prochaine session, les mesures à prendre pour garantir la livraison rapide des aides alimentaires d’urgence aux populations les plus touchêes. Il est en effet important d’étudier quelles sont les contraintes freinant la livraison des aides d’urgence et les moyens de les surmonter. Il aurait, par exemple, été intéressant pour le Conseil de connaître le laps de temps moyen s’écoulant entre la requête en
aide alimentaire d’urgence, d’une part, et, d’autre part, successivement la décision, la première distribution des aides, la fin des opérations d’urgence; ou d’être mis au courant des principaux goulots d’étranglement ralentissant les opérations, comme les transports et la distribution. Ceci aurait sans doute permis un échange de vues intéressant sur les solutions à mettre en oeuvre.
Je souhaite me borner à ces quelques remarques qui, je l’espère, aideront le Conseil dans ses délibérations sur cet intéressant rapport du CAP. Je vous remercie.
Sra. E. HERAZO de VITI (Panamá): Ante todo deseamos agradecer al Sr. Ingram por la presentación del noveno Informe anual del Comité de Políticas y Programas de Ayuda Alimentaria del Programa Mundial de Alimentos; y asimismo deseamos manifestar cuánto apreciamos los términos precisos y detallados expuestos por el Sr. Regnier sobre el contenido del noveno Informe anual del Comité de Políticas y Programas de Ayuda Alimentaria del Programa Mundial de Alimentos, la delegación de Panamá desea hacer las siguientes puntuaciones:
Como país que conoce de los beneficios del PMA nos congratulamos por las conclusiones positivas que se desprenden del capítulo l del documento CL 86/9, en particular de los párrafos 3 y 7.
Por otra parte, en el capítulo segundo sobre examen de las políticas y programas de ayuda alimentaria creemos conveniente subrayar lo acordado por el 15° período de sesiones del CPA en el sentido de que la ayuda alimentaria debe ser considerada como parte integrante de la asistencia para el desarrollo hasta tanto los países beneficiarios de esta asistencia alcancen capacidad y niveles tales que les permitan resolver sus problemas de autosuficiencia alimentaria. Lo mismo que la ayuda alimentaria debe contribuir al desarrollo nacional y, en ultimo término, a la autodependencia. Son dos conceptos que no deben perderse de vista cuando analizamos políticas y programas de ayuda alimentaria. Dentro del marco de estas consideraciones llega a estar plenamente justificada la propuesta de elevar el objetivo de la ayuda alimentaria durante 1985 por encima de los 10 millones de toneladas.
Por la importancia que reviste en la ejecución del proyecto del PMA el aspecto de la coordinación a nivel nacional y conociendo por experiencia el cuello de botella que la falta de coordinación oca-siona, debe recomendarse que los funcionario.s de campo del PMA estén desempeñados al máximo en el logro de una adecuada coordinación con los gobiernos solicitantes.
Sobre el importante aspecto de ayuda alimentaria y capacitación destacamos lo señalado en las últimas líneas del párrafo 23 sobre la urgencia de dar más importancia a la necesidad de capacitación de los sectores más humildes, y en particular a las mujeres, de cara a lograr mejora en la calidad de vida de las familias rurales. Es por esto que destacamos lo expuesto en el párrafo 24 sobre medidas que se están tomando tendientes a destacar cada vez mas la función y participación de las mujeres.
Finalmente, cuando analizamos lo referente a los proyectos de desarrollo del PMA y dada la crítica situación por la que atraviesa Africa, registramos como una opción un tanto positiva lo expuesto en el párrafo 30 en el sentido de que con el transcurso de los años se han ido incrementando los proyectos de desarrollo en ésta región, tendencia ésta que debe continuar conforme a lo que ya hemos expresado al referirnos al tema de la grave crisis por la que atraviesan los pueblos hermanos africanos.
A. ABDEL-MALEK (Liban) (langue originale arabe): La délégation libanaise voudrait exprimer son admiration pour ce rapport succinct soumis au Conseil. Nous nous plaignons d’habitude du volume et de la longueur des rapports, mais étant donné le volume de l’aide presentee par le PAM, ce rapport succinct qui nous est soumis attire notre attention et notre admiration. Notre délégation voudrait tout d’abord commenter certains points généraux.
Le rapport constitue en fait un expose des faits et nous donne un grand nombre de chiffres, mais à notre point de vue il est incomplet car il ne développe pas et ne se concentre pas sur n’importe quelle question concernant les politiques qui auraient dû être soumises au Conseil pour y être étudiées. On nous a dit que le PAM se développe rapidement et qu’il est nécessaire d’envisager certains ajustements. Nous ne doutons pas que ces ajustements se rapportent aux politiques. La délégation libanaise voudrait connaître le point de vue du Secrétariat sur les moyens à suivre pour que ces rapports se concentrent à l’avenir, d’une manière plus ample, sur les politiques surtout que ce Comité est appelé “le Comité des politiques et programmes d’aide alimentaire”. De nombreuses voix s’élèvent, surtout au sein des pays donateurs, pour dire que les aides alimentaires ont des aspects négatifs sur la production nationale et le Rapport, dans son Préambule, souligne l’intérêt de relier plus étroitement l’aide alimentaire et le développement national. Toutefois, ce rapport n’aborde pas ce problème fundamental et ne souligne pas comment le PAM évitera ces aspects négatifs. La délégation de mon pays voudrait connaître le point de vue du programme au sujet du moyen de relier l’aide alimentaire et la production nationale d’une façon générale et entre l’aide alimentaire et le développement de la production alimentaire plus particulièrement. Dans ce rapport il n’existe
aucune tentative pour évaluer les resultats des projets terminés en 1983. Ce projet cite le volume des denrées alimentaires transportées; mais est-ce à dire que tous ces projets, et surtout les projets de développement ont atteint les objectifs fixes dans le plan de travail? Y a-t-il des sujets ou des points de faiblesse ou bien quels ont été les goulots d’ëtranglement? Quelles ont été les mesures envisagées par le Programme pour surmonter ces difficultés à l’avenir? Permettez-moi actuellement de discuter de certains points de detail. Au paragraphe 33, le rapport souligne que la proportion entre les projets de développement agricole et rural d’une part et les projets de valorisation des ressources humaines d’autre part correspond exactement à la moyenne des douze années 1972-1983: 68 pour cent contre 32 pour cent. Toutefois, nous constatons dans le tableau C que les projets de développement ont été réduits de 83 pour cent en 1981, à 76 pour cent en 1982 et à 68 pour cent en 1983. Il aurait été utile que le rapport souligne une analyse des raisons de cette reduction et les mesures prises pour remédier à la situation. Dans le même paragraphe, nous constatons qu’il n’y a pas eu de projets de reserves alimentaires en 1983, parce qu’aucun projet n’était prêt à être approuvé durant cette même année. Etant donné que le Comité des politiques et programmes d’aide alimentaire a affirmé à plus d’une occasion l’importance de ces projets, la délégation de mon pays ne comprend pas pourquoi nous en sommes arrives à ce point.
Nous aimerions savoir quels sont les problèmes qui ont empêché la préparation de ces projets et comment le Programme compte remédier à cette situation.
Le rapport ne comporte aucune evaluation précise des liquidités financières du Programme, soit en ce qui concerne les besoins ou en ce qui concerne les objectifs et cela est d’autant plus étonnant que le Directeur exécutif des Programmes avait lancé un avertissement au cours de la 18ème session du PAM dans lequel il avait annoncé qu’il se heurtera à l’avenir à une difficulté de liquidités. Enfin, M. le President, le rapport est tout à fait vague en ce qui concerne l’achat des denrées, il ne comporte aucune analyse des denrées qui ont été achetées, leur provenance et quels sont les pays qui en ont bénéficié. On a fait simplement mention des operations triangulaires financées par les pays donateurs. Mais quels ont été les achats finances par le Budget ordinaire du PAM ? Quel a été le volume de ces operations en 1983? Quelles ont été les dépenses encourues au comptant pour les achats? Quelle a été la nature des services fournis par le Programme pour les pays donateurs bilatéraux tel que cela a été mentionné au paragraphe 63 de ce projet? Y a-t-il d’autres procédés de distribution à part les 4 mentionnés dans le rapport? Il existe un nouveau tableau de droits perçus par le Programme en contrepartie des services bilatéraux; est-il encore nécessaire de recueillir pareil montant “subsidize the expenses” dans le cadre du nouveau programme? Dans l’affirmative, quelles sont les depenses dues? Dans le paragraphe 64 il a été dit que le PAM veille à ce que les services qu’il fournit à des operations bilatérales ne nuisent en rien à ses propres activités. Pourrait-on savoir comment cela pourra être execute? La délégation libanaise espère que le Secrétariat fournira les réponses et les éclaircissements concernant toutes ces questions.
R. STEINER (Austria): As Austria is not a member of the CFA, my délégation studied the document before us with particular interest. Let me be brief, yet still make a few basic remarks concerning the work of the WFP.
Austria has supported the activities of the World Food Programme since it was founded in 1963. We believe that the existing général regulation arrangements and procedures for the establishment and operation of the UN/FAO World Food Programme augurs well for the future cooperation of FAO and WFP. My delegation does not see any need for any amendment of the statutes. Austria has always advocated the optimum use of the resources allocated to the individual organizations. Therefore, we feel that cooperation between WFP and FAO should be conducted in a manner and spirit which takes into account the principles of efficiency and economy.
The establishment of new bodies which might only lead to duplication could not be supported by Austria. We would rather believe that we should seek ways of making even better use of existing instruments and arrangements. This applies both to emergency aid as well as to project planning and implementation. Food aid will also be needed in the future, and it is particularly needed to help speedily in cases of emergency. In these efforts, consumption habits, farm prices and the farm income situation in the recipient countries has to be taken into account. We should therefore strengthen our assistance to those who are on the way to a stronger self-reliance. We therefore advocate the triangular transactions of the World Food Programme, as explained in paragraph 15.
At times when, for instance, certain African countries were in dire need of food assistance, other countries in the región had commercially available stocks, for instance, of sorghum and millet. Although they did not always exist in volumes corresponding to the needs, food aid could in such a manner become more instrumental in enhancing regional food marketing structures and enhance the price level and price structures of the commodities accordingly.
With this idea in mind, Austria has placed at the disposal of Burkina Faso this year sorghum to the tune of four thousand pounds.
I am fully aware that locally regionally available stocks are inadequate to cope with emergency needs and that an overwhelming part of the food emergency existence in future will still have to be brought in by supplies from grain exporting countries.
We welcome that the WFP mainly concentrates on countries with low income and food deficits. As regards the statements in paragraph 30, it may be remarked that Austria noted with regret a decline of the activities in Africa south of the Sahara from 40 to 24 percent of the commitment. We have taken note of the increased shipments in and under the title of emergencies. Especially in view of the most recent appeals for the support of the needy African countries, activities of the World Food Programme are increasingly required in that region.
My delegation noted with satisfaction that for the second time since the establishment of the IEFR, the target of 500 thousand tons of grain was reached in 1983. I hope it will also be reached in the years to come and I may assure you, Mr Chairman, that Austria, within its possibilities, will contribute substantially. Austria furthermore pledged to provide 20 thousand tons of grain annually under FAO. In the last two years, the Austrian contribution to FAO was shipped by the World Food Programme.
Let me conclude by saying that my country has in the past positively commented on the cooperation between the World Food Programme and FAO. That cooperation has proved to be necessary, and my délégation is hopeful it will continue to be efficient on the basis of the existing regulations and arrangements covering the cooperation between FAO and the World Food Programme.
P. PONGPAET (Thailand): In response to your recommendation, my délégation has already trimmed down my statement.
My delegation has studied document CL 86/9 with interest. We consider that this Report is a well-prepared document highlighting the Programme activities in 1983. My délégation is pleased to note that the year 1983 was the Twentieth Anniversary of the Programme and was marked by the highest level of development commitment in its history. The Programme activity amounted to US$ 696 million representing over 1.4 million metric tons of food. My delegation commends the pragmatism adopted by the Programme in directing a high proportion of this commitment to low-income food-deficit countries. However, its continuous support in emergency operations is not so commendable. My delegation is of the opinion that while emphasis had been made on the development assistance, the Programme should not lose sight of the emergency assistance, and the emergency situation is prevailing and sometimes deteriorating in some areas even in this very day.
My delegation fully supports paragraphs 45 to 47 and is grateful to all concerned in that operation. My delegation fully supports the importance of the FAO/World Food Programme Task Force in their work to help alleviate famine and food shortage in Africa. This Joint Task Force is commendable and my delegation looks forward to seeing their continued assistance to the needy people in the African continent.
My delegation will not go at length into the comprehensive Report under discussion with the introductory statement by the Executive Director, which receives the support of my delegation.
In conclusion, my delegation supports the statement made by Dr Regnier and to the contents of paragraph 15 that the World Food Programme can promote the practices of triangular transactions in buying food from developing countries in their operation.
H.J.H. TALEYARKHAN (India): At the outset, I was impressed by the fact of the expression of the cordiality of relations and complementarity of action or inter-action between the two organizations of FAO and WFP. They cannot afford to have differences, to my mind, because that will be detrimental to the interests of suffering humanity in Africa and other places, because they are the main instruments for the organization of the supply and assistance to the affected areas in Africa and other parts of the world.
The Report, as we have seen from document CL 86/9, is certainly impressive of the work done by WFP in consultation and in coordination with FAO. The two organizations historically and contemporarily today have been playing an outstanding role in bringing about an area of assistance which has been deeply appreciated and blessed by those people who have been suffering in different parts of the world. I pleaded during the time of the CFA meeting that there should be a durability of understanding and a maturity of approach between the two organizations, and I am sure that with their experience, their desire, with their intention, genuine no doubt of both organizations, it will be possible for that ideal to be achieved, and there would be no differences among members of the Council whose anxiety is also to see that the people who are suffering today get the benefit, obtain it, and it is not bettered by any differences between the two most important organizations in the world for providing food assistance, so all our food for thought should be directed towards the actual supply of food by the coordinating which the two organizations will be able to achieve without any distinctions, without any acrimony between them.
I have no doubt that the continuity of effort to achieve this will ultimately result in the peaceful pursuit of constructive and creative efforts between them, I am sure that each and every member of the Council will be with me to support such a move.
From what I have gathered from the Report I see that there is a mutual appreciation of each organization’s work by the other, and that means that there is a real power between both of them to try to see to the maximum extent possible that the victims get the assistance as soon as possible.
I would like to mention a few words arising from my study of the Report, which has been of great interest and has been done with great application of mind and of sincerity of purpose. The duration of the supply is one point I would like to mention. The duration of the supply lines - how long does it take to reach the victims, and does it actually reach them as quickly as possible and right to their doorstep. I know that WFP has been making these efforts and they have given me some figures which I have asked for during the CFA, but it appears that as against the average number of days of supply in 1983, which was 60 days, now it is in the semester of 1984, 77 days. There might certainly have been legitimate reasons for it, but in the particular critical situation through which these affected countries are passing, it would be advisable to find ways and means by which it could be reduced, even below those 60 days instead of the 77 days which it has been taking. Is it due to shipment difficulties? Is it due to other transport difficulties, by rail, road or ship? I would like to be enlightened why the period of time has been lengthened instead of being shortened in order to reach the victims as soon as possible.
Another thing I would like to be enlightened about is the assurance I would like to have for any avoidance of duplication of assistance of food in these areas. Does the food supply which has been provided reach the affected people without any duplication? Has an agency made sure about it? The last time the Executive Director was good enough to agree with my suggestion that there would be increase of manpower of the organization to ensure this and I am sure he must be on the way to having it done.
So far as emergency assistance is concerned it is restricted to a supply of basic commodities, and sometimes only to cereals, so in this connection the emergency assistance is the immediate remedy. The emergency assistance arrives as soon as possible, as the word itself connotes ‘emergency’, then it would serve the purpose. We have already discussed at quite some length about the long-term progress of schemes by agricultural production, research and so on which we are not entering into at this stage. There is the question of instant supply and that is what emergency assistance might be able to achieve as far as possible.
Then, for how long does the supply last for the people affected? For example, as I mentioned the other day, in Ethiopia the drought conditions might carry on for another 12 months or so. Is this emergency assistance only for a very short period of time so after it is over that particular period of time, does it mean that these affected areas will again revert to the same condition of suffering from which the comfort and the assurance given by the assistance rendered by WFP will cease? It will of course depend upon the extent of the donations given and so on, but I am sure there will be nothing wanting among the donors in every respect to try to ensure that it is provided for the time that the actual emergency condition of the severely affected areas in such catastrophic conditions and such calamitous conditions exist.
I would like to have the latest precise recipient status of African countries if it is possible to supply it, as that would be helpful for us to know which particular areas get the benefit to the extent that they require, and as I repeat again to what period of time it will be possible to have it.
May I also know whether the intelligence services require to be strengthened. I know the best is being done, but are there any areas which are omitted? Are there any pockets which are not reached, and does the intelligence service of WFP together with FAO in complementarity of purpose know the exact extent of the different types and nooks and corners which are required to be reached? It is quite possible that all the millions of people who are suffering may not possibly be reached by emergency assistance or even by food aid as of now, but we must try to reach the maximum that we can and efforts have been made through the various operations which have been undertaken in 1983 and 1984 which have now increased in their number and also those of the operations whose distribution began through the borrowing programme, they have also increased. It is a gratifying sign but it is in my mind that it. is possible to increase it to a still greater extent. I appreciate the fact that there might be limitations by which it might not be possible ito reach the extent that might be required, but there is certainly a genuine effort to do so, and I am sure that in future with more and more responsible appeals made by the Director-General of FAO and the Executive Director of WFP it will be possible to do so.
It is very gratifying to find from what the Executive Director, quoting from the Secretary-General’s observations of the United Nations that a complete area of effort is being made, a comprehensive, a consummate effort is going to be made at this level also to ensure that this complementarity of effort between FAO and WFP working in cohesion with each other and not in collision, and all of us in the Council should make our best effort to ensure it is avoided, not only now but for all times to come. It is not only during a particular emergency which exists that we should have a cessation of any difficulties, I am not using the word “hostilities”, there are no hostilities between them but I do not think anyone should try to create the impression that there is any hostility between the organizations because there is none and because of the very sincerity of purpose, their dedication, their devotion, their commitment, there can be none. This is to my mind comületely ruled out from the scheme of things. The only thing is there may be occasion as there is sometimes in human nature areas of misunderstandings which it is our duty to assist in overcoming.
By themselves also they are trying to do their best, but I think with the distinguished contribution of the Council it will be possible to do so further. So with the blessing of these poor people in Africa and other parts of the world where floods and famine and other conditions exist, misunderstandings could be overcome.
The meeting rose at 12.30 hours
La séance est levée à 12 h 30
Se levanta la sesión a las 12.30 horas
