LE PRESIDENT: Nous ouvrons la séance plenière du Conseil. Je constate que la ponctualité n'est pas très bien respectée, c'est peut-être un défaut italien mais je vois qu'il est très répandu sur la planète. Je dis cela parce que je voudrais rappeler que nous sommes très en retard dans nos travaux et il y a une menace qui plane sur vos têtes, c'est la séance nocturne, peut-être ce soir ou demain, mais je pense que si on procède avec pour ainsi dire cette lenteur on ne pourra pas éviter des séances nocturnes dans l'avenir.
Je donne la parole au délégué du Congo, mais je pense qu'il n'est pas présent.
A.M. QURESHI (Pakistan): Mr Chairman, I sympathize with you because we are really behind schedule. I shall be very brief and say that we have discussed this Report at length. The cornerstone of our discussion was in regard to the Compact which we adopted yesterday. Briefly, I endorse this Report.
Le PRESIDENT: Je vous remercie beaucoup pour votre brièveté et je donne la parole au délégué du Brésil.
O.R. da SILVA NEVES (Brazil).: I should like to be as brief as the previous speaker, but unfor-tunately I am afraid that I cannot.
As you know, Brazil attended the Tenth Session of the Committee on World Food Security as an observer. This was not an expression of lack of interest regarding the relevance of the matters under consideration by the Committee. On the contrary, we have studied carefully the Report and wish to express our deep concern with the critical food situation in Africa, as well as the contrast between large food supplies in developed countries and the food shortage in the developing world.
My delegation would also like to express its support for the need to increase the effectiveness of food aid as a development resource. Likewise, we give great attention to the study of the ways and means of coordinating donors and recipients in order to improve the development of the impact of food aid.
Further, the Brazilian delegation is pleased to express its support for the conclusions of the Committee as regards the role of forestry in food security. We are convinced that the development of agro-forestry integrated initiatives will represent an important contribution to the achievement of food security in the developing countries with large forestry potential. We look forward to actively participating in the World Forestry Congress to be held in Mexico City next July with contributions on the role of forestry in food security.
I should like to endorse the Committee's recommendation contained in paragraph 84 to strengthen the Global Information and Early Warning System of FAO. My delegation believes that this System has proved to be of great value to the international community in order to provide timely supplies of food aid to Africa.
We share your view on the importance of limiting debates in the FAO to economic lengths. On the other hand, Brazil has consistently tried to adopt a moderate position in debates in this forum. I trust that you will accept the following statement in that light. My delegation wishes to express its full support of declarations made yesterday by some delegations. In fact, Brazil deplores the use of unilateral economic measures which are incompatible with the United Nations Charter, which represent a serious limitation on the efforts of developing countries towards the difficult task of full economic and social development. Such measures particularly affect developing countries struggling against hunger and malnutrition by impeding their access to international markets and limiting the availability of food. Consistent with the position that Brazil has always held, Brazil could not avoid expressing its disagreement with measures such as those recently taken against Nicaragua which greatly harms the food security of the Latin American countries.
J. TCHICAYA (Congo): Je voudrais m'associer aux félicitations qui vous ont été adressées et vous dire combien nous nous réjouissons de vous voir présider ce point de notre ordre du jour. Le Congo a activement pris part aux travaux de la lOème session du Comité de la sécurité alimentaire mondiale qui a adopté ce rapport soumis au Conseil sous la cote CL 87/10.
Nous devons en remercier M. Islam qui, en le présentant, a attiré l'attention du Conseil sur les points essentiels de ce document. Tout ou presque a déjà été dit hier et certainement encore ce matin par ceux qui sont intervenus sur ce point de notre ordre du jour. Aussi nous contentons-nous de vous livrer nos commentaires sur les points qui nous préoccupent et sur lesquels nous voudrions insister spécialement, étant entendu que nous approuvons d'une manière générale le rapport qui est ici présenté. Bien entendu, nous apprécions et approuvons l'évaluation contenue dans ce rapport, concernant la situation de la sécurité alimentaire mondiale et partageons bien sûr les inquiétudes qui sont relevées face à la persistance de la crise alimentaire en Afrique sur laquelle le Conseil s'est abondamment exprimé au point 5 de notre ordre du jour. La contribution de l'aide alimentaire à la sécurité alimentaire qui y est analysée de manière exhaustive et nous insisterons ici sur l'importance de la composante aide alimentaire dans l'aide au développement et, ce faisant, relevons la nécessité de l'intégrer dans les stratégies aux programmes nationaux de sécurité alimentaire pour en optimaliser les effets.
Nous appuyons ce qui est dit au paragraphe 35 sur la nécessité d'accorder une priorité élevée à l'élimination des obstacles qui limitent les pays en développement et de tirer pleinement parti de l'aide alimentaire, ainsi que sur une assistance financière et technique extérieure qui serait la bienvenue pour aider ces pays à se tirer d'affaire.
La situation qui prévaut en Afrique a, certes, démontré que la communauté internationale pouvait mobiliser plus d'aide d'urgence que l'objectif minimum de 500 000 tonnes de la RAIU qui de toute évidence ne cadre plus avec la réalité et devrait être révisé à la hausse sur la base des 2 millions de tonnes, en deux volets, proposés par la FAO. De même, l'objectif minimum de 10 millions de tonnes, atteint pour la première fois, me semble dépassé et le Conseil devrait appuyer l'objectif révisé des besoins d'aide actuellement chiffrés à 20 millions de tonnes.
Monsieur le Président nous voudrions insister sur le rôle fondamental des forêts dans la sécurité alimentaire et, en tant que ressortissant d'un pays forestier, nous ne pouvons que confirmer ce qui a été dit aux paragraphes 68 à 77, que nous appuyons entièrement.
Monsieur le Président, l'aide alimentaire est certes importante pour assurer la sécurité alimentaire dans les pays déficitaires. Mais nous sommes convaincus que la sécurité alimentaire ne peut être garantie que par un accroissement de la production dans les pays à déficit vivrier. C'est pourquoi toutes mesures coercitives prises contre un pays et qui l'empêchent de s'équiper en vue d'accroître sa capacité agricole et alimentaire, devraient être réprouvées par notre Conseil.
Voilà pourquoi ma délégation, dont le gouvernement est attaché aux principes de liberté et de dialogue pour régler les conflits entre pays, ne peut rester sans réaction devant la situation qui est imposée au Nicaragua et elle souhaite s'associer aux pays latino-américains et Caraïbes, Membres de notre Conseil, qui se sont exprimés hier et aujourd'hui sur la session, pour lancer un appel à ce pays, dont le peuple est attaché aux droits de l'homme, de lever son embargo. Certes, hier, le délégué de ce pays s'est voulu rassurant en indiquant que l'embargo ne concernait pas les produits alimentaires, mais nous savons que depuis l'embargo, les échanges sont quasi nuls entre les deux pays et,surtout, le fait qu'il vise des produits nécessaires à l'accroissement de la production agricole nous semble à cet égard suffisamment préoccupant.
L. ARIZA HIDALGO (Cuba): Nuestra delegación participó activamente en el Décimo Período de Sesiones del Comité de Seguridad Alimentaria Mundial. Por consiguiente, al estar de acuerdo con el documento que nos ha presentado brillantemente el profesor Islam, no vamos a extendernos mucho, ya que consideramos, realmente, que recoge todos los aspectos fundamentales que se acordaron en esa reunión.
Queremos llamar la atención sobre este documento, que consta de 94 párrafos, 88 de ellos refrendados por el Comité. Apoyando, tomando nota, considerando, reconociendo, lo que nos quiere decir que la discusión del Comité fue bastante unánime en cuanto a los documentos que se han presentado. De los 94, 84 fueron refrendados por el Comité; unos 4 aparecen aprobados por la mayoría, 4 párrafos más aparecen "con muchos países", dos párrafos aparecen con "algunos países" y un pequeño párrafo, el último creo que es, el punto culminante del Comité, ya a las 11.30 de la noche, que es la historia del draft, no recoge en toda su realidad, pero sobre ese punto nos referiremos posteriormente cuando lleguemos al punto.
Nosotros queremos,en virtud de esto que hemos expresado, apoyar plenamente este documento y recalcar algunos aspectos que consideramos de sumo interés. En primer lugar, quisiéramos elogiar y apoyar nuevamente los esfuerzos desplegados por el Director General por señalar a la atención de la Comunidad Internacional la situación de urgencia en muchos países, especialmente el continente africano y para movilizar la asistencia internacional. El segundo aspecto al que quisiéramos referirnos es el volumen de la ayuda alimentaria, puesto que consideramos que el mismo sigue siendo muy inferior a las necesidades. Al respecto nos parece que las secretarías del PMA y la FAO han dado orientaciones muy certeras y precisas, las cuales mi delegación apoya totalmente. El tercer aspecto al que nos referiremos es al papel de la distribución de alimentos para garantizar la seguridad alimentaria en el plano general. No basta con que se incremente la producción de alimentos en determinados países si después se ponen trabas a que los mismos lleguen a los países más necesitados y a todos y se bloquean los convenios internacionales de los productos básicos más importantes. Esta es una realidad que durante años de trabajos de FAO se ha podido constatar cómo los convenios básicos más importantes en estos momentos están totalmente paralizados. Como cuarto aspecto, quisiera subrayar la importancia de algunas medidas consideradas como complementarias, pero que mi delegación estima muy importantes para garantizar la seguridad alimentaria. Me refiero a la capacitación, a la investigación, a los créditos, a los pequeños productores y a la atención directa a los campesinos sin tierra. Creemos que éste es un punto en el cual debemos hacer hincapié puesto que vemos que hay mucha insistencia en que sean los pequeños productores, los campesinos sin tierra, los que todavía trabajan en condiciones semifeudales en muchos de nuestros países, los cuales resuelven una seguridad alimentaria cuando apenas pueden producir para subsistir.
Creemos, por ejemplo, que la capacitación de los créditos específicamente a los pequeños agricultores es necesario darles relieve si queremos que contribuyan en parte no a resolver la seguridad alimentaria, sino en parte ya que todos sabemos que las mejores tierras están en manos de los grandes productores, en las grandes empresas, las nacionales, que sí tienen todos los recursos para producir. Consideramos también que la limitación con que tropiezan los países en desarrollo debido a la escasez de recursos técnicos y financieros, fuerza de trabajo, capacitación e insumos agrícolas, así como una estructura inadecuada, son obstáculos que seguirán gravitando fuertemente sobre la seguridad alimentaria. Sobre la función de los gobiernos beneficiarios, recalcamos que los mismos deberían introducir la ayuda recibida dentro de sus respectivos planes de desarrollo nacional dentro de los límites de su soberanía nacional y la decisión soberana de cada país.
Otro aspecto que presenta este Informe es el papel de la silvicultura en la seguridad alimentaria, al cual concedemos gran importancia y esperamos que en el próximo Congreso Forestal Mundial que se celebrará próximamente en México se ofrezcan ya mayores aportes en este sentido. Estamos seguros de que el Departamento de Montes de la FAO trabaja con denodado esfuerzo por lograr, junto con la Dirección Agrícola de México, que este Congreso sea un hecho descollante en el análisis de la situación forestal en el mundo.
Finalmente, queremos expresar nuestro respaldo total a lo propuesto fundamentalmente por el Grupo de CONTADORA, al cual respaldamos en todas sus partes. Referente a la decisión número 222 del Consejo del SELA que reafirma el derecho soberano de toda la nación a transitar su propio camino en lo económico, en lo social, en lo político, en paz y libertad, libre de presiones, agresiones y amenazas, y que no hemos reconocido todavía a ningún país en el globo que se pueda convertir en gendarme y decisor de si dejo pasar o no dejo pasar, respetando la soberanía de cada uno de nuestros países independientemente de su tamaño, ya que no se puede ponderar la moral, la conciencia, la justicia y la libertad a través de millones acumulados. Eso no se puede ponderar así. Por lo tanto respaldamos a los países, que han sido unos cuantos, que han pedido en este Consejo que se reconozca una decisión política de Naciones Unidas, en la que se plantea que las medidas económicas y sociales no se pueden aceptar.
Por lo tanto creemos que el bloque comercial al cual está sometido el pueblo de Nicaragua es una afrenta y es una limitación a la seguridad alimentaria de este pequeño país que, sencillamente por desobedecer está sometido a unas medidas políticas utilizando los alimentos, porque son los alimentos los que están utilizándose.
Ayer se nos decía aquí, me parece que un poco ingenuamente, que se habían dejado pasar medicinas y se estaba dejando pasar comida. Nosotros, Cuba, sí sabe lo que es un bloqueo, y Cuba sabe lo que es decir dejar pasar 20 años bloqueados. Actualmente, los proyectos de cooperación técnica son bloqueados para nuestro país cuando tiene algún componente en una pequeña maquinita, porque hay leyes en países que prohiben cosas sencillamente porque tenemos un criterio que no es el de ellos.
Dentro de su concepción democrática no existe ya otro criterio. Y eso de dejar pasar, queremos dar un solo dato muy sencillo: después del decretado bloqueo contra nuestro país lo único que ha entrado es comida procedente de Estados Unidos con las compotas que exigimos en cambio de los mercenarios que nos tiraron.
LE PRESIDENT: Je voudrais rappeler ce que j'ai dit hier. Chacun de nous a ses idées, ses opinions, mais la présidence a des règles à respecter et à faire respecter.
Je dois inviter encore une fois tous les délégués qui représentent ici les pays de l'Amérique latine à s'exprimer sur le thème de la sécurité alimentaire sur un plan très général. Autrement je serai obligé de les priver de la parole. Je le regrette parce que j'ai des principes démocratiques, mais je dois respecter certaines règles parlementaires. C'est avec un très grand regret que je fais appel à votre modération.
H. LAUBE (Austria): The Austrian delegation followed with great interest the discussions of the Tenth Session of the Committee on World Food Security and found especially noteworthy among the large number of topics dealt with CL 87/10 the report on Assessment of The Contribution of Food Aid to Food Security, the draft text of the Global Food Security Food Compact, as well as discussion on the contribution of forestry to food security. Allow me to dwell shortly on these matters.
We have noted with satisfaction the Director-General's assessment of the contribution of food aid to food security, which, in a very useful and timely manner, reviews the history and evolution of food aid policies and important issues arising from the use of food aid, and provides a valuable framework for the continuing search for better, more appropriate, and efficient ways to deal with food aid and development. The importance of the three components of world food security - that is, increased production, stabilization of supplies, and improved access to food by the most vulnerable groups - was appropriately highlighted. The Austrian delegation favours the arguments and measures proposed for donor and recipient countries, but would however like to point to the necessity of safeguarding against the risk of disincentives to local production brought about by increased dependency on food aid. The Austrian delegation would like once again to express its support for triangular systems, and believes that a timely assessment of available supplies in developing countries could contribute to a more effective action.
We fully endorse the proposal to increase the IFR target from 500,000 tons to 1.5 million tons which in the light of the most recent emergency needs in drought striken Arica seems fully justified.
Regarding the proposal of an interim system of national food reserves so as to meet urgent import requirements of low-income food deficit countries to ensure against the event of food supply shortfalls, we believe that such measures can effectively contribute to the stabilization of supplies, but here again could also lead to increased dependency on food aid and thus act as a disincentive to production. We therefore think it advisable for the Secretariat to further examine whether the benefits derived from such action could outweight the possible drawbacks.
R.M. MUPAWOSE (Zimbabwe): Thank you for this opportunity, Mr Chairman, to make our contribution. Zimbabwe as a member of SADCC, Southern African Development Coordination Conference, has been tasked with the responsibility of coordination of food security. We appreciate the views and ideas proposed in the document being discussed. We have, in fact, in our region and particularly in our country, been using food aid which we have so far received to develop some of our irrigation potential. We have established what we refer to as an irrigation fund which provides evolving financial assistance for the development of irrigation. Comments were made previously on the failure of the irrigation in Africa. We only ask that analysis be made on why those schemes have failed and also why others have succeeded.
With the development of our irrigation fund we hope to alleviate the deleterious affects of drought. We believe FAO can assist some of our countries with whatever remedies there may be.
For food security to be a meaningful concept it is important that transport and communications also be improved. These will enable farmers to transport the inputs and also their produce to the markets. Mr Chairman, why should small farmers produce beyond subsistence if they cannot get the produce to the market, or have available goods to purchase with whatever money they may accrue from their produce.
We fully endorse the sentiments in paragraph 72 of section IV on joint forestry, crop, livestock production systems and on the information base which is needed to strengthen these. Excessive deforestation not only leads to environmental degradation but to poverty. Attempts should be made to examine the use of other sources of energy although some of these at this stage may be at a cost beyond the reach of our peasant farmers. Mention was also made of the development of special stoves that maximize the energy use and reduce wood consumption. Regional SADCC Forestry Training Centre is currently being developed and will be established in Zimbabwe.
Mr Chairman, we also compliment the emphasis being placed on the setting up of an Early Warning System. The Global Early Warning System has been useful to our region at times when there has been an outbreak, be it of army worm or at times of red locust. We must place on record our thanks to the Director-General and to FAO for this service. The SADCC region is currently looking at reexamining the existing national early warning systems and the setting up of a regional system. Mr Chairman, it must be realized that we are not starting from scratch. What we hope for is that FAO, with financial assistance to our region by donor agencies, should assist us in improving our existing systems. We need the training of our technicians and professionals. We need to set up our own machinery which will be largely composed of local manpower so as to have indigenous capable personnel.
Mr Chairman, Africa has food problems but I submit we do not wish to be patronized. Let the developed countries assist us to improve our capabilities. In our region we suffer the plague of tsetse fly and also in other countries. We also have the problems of rinderpest which were very well recently highlighted at the Harare African Regional Conference. However, we note that some elements in the developed countries have tended to deprecate our efforts. We shall not however be deterred from fighting these pests.
I must mention a word of caution, Mr Chairman, that technical assistance should be genuine. There are at times attempts to use our plight as an excuse to foist on us unskilled and inexperienced personnel who, it seems, only wish to gain experience at our expense. Africa has become, it seems, a haven for consultants in numerous studies; one study after another consuming large sums of money, often going to nationals of the aid countries. At the end of the day we have very little to show in practical terms on the results of these studies. Assist us to emphasize our priorities and those which we consider essential at this stage, which will lead to practical development projects giving additional produce. There are in many of our countries numerous separate interest groups carrying out disjointed projects which at times are not compatible with our own efforts; projects which are too parochial and cannot be replicated in the wider parts of our countries. They do not only place recurrent budgetary constraints on us but become of value only in themselves. We cannot afford this luxury at this stage. One team after another of consultants descend on us, tying up valuable time for our small manpower. Is it not time international agencies attempt to coordinate their visits and assistance to Africa? It is regrettable that an agency like IFAD seems to be allowed to struggle for funds. I hope it will not be allowed to be starved of the funds which they have so far put to very good use.
Bilateral aid has its merits and is often subject to quick and easy disbursements but suffers from being subject to too parochial interests and the politics of the donor countries. It is because of this tendancy to tie aid that multilateral aid is at times preferred. It is surprising that even begging institutions do sometimes forget that what they bring are only loans which at the end of the day must be paid. The question can be asked why not then give priority to those projects of our choice which stand a fair chance of success. When projects are foisted onto countries and fail, it is the recipient country that is blamed. Of course we appreciate that to every agreement there are two signatures. However those who wish to experiment on us should shoulder the major part of the blame.
The role of women, small farmers and mothers needs to be given emphasis. How can we talk of population growth without their involvement? I cannot resist Mr Chairman, to express our interest in the views expressed by the Independent Chairman of the Council, Dr. Swaminathan, on the participation of farmers. I cannot forget an FAO Workshop that I attended in Nairobi a couple of years ago where the most practical contribution was by the only farmer participant from Zambia. We should sometimes stop and listen to these farmers. We in Zimbabwe make an attempt to give recognition to all farmer groups, big or small. We give them adequate participation in the formulation of objectives and even in devising producer prices. The farmers should play their active roles shoulder by shoulder with the bureaucrats and the professionals and the technicians, if the tide of poor agricultural performance must be contained. We give our support and thanks to FAO and the Director-General for this document.
A. M. KHALED (Yemen, People's Democratic Republic of) (original language Arabic): My delegation, Sir, has taken note of the document under consideration and of the discussions in the CFS on various points. I do not wish to repeat here what has just been said by the delegations who spoke before me. Very briefly what I want to say is that my delegation fully agrees with the assessment made by the CFS, and we once again would like to reaffirm the role of forestry as it appears in the document. We support the points underlined in the document on the various activities of the Global Early Warning System, and in particular the Director-General's proposal to consolidate this System in the biennium 1986/87.
I should also like to mention two points to which my delegation attaches great importance. First, we consider that peace and security can play a very important - in fact a vital role to prevent situations damaging to food production therefore food security,and this is why we fully agree with what was said reaffirming the rights of all the people to choose their way of life without any outside intervention.
Our second point; this concerns the role of international organizations in food production and their role in food security in developing countries. Here I would like to mention the crisis in certain international organizations today, in particular IFAD, the lack of resources and the drop in contributions from donor countries. This is why I would like to take this opportunity to appeal to all donor countries to ask them to support this Organization, to enable it to continue to serve the cause of world food security.
Sra. M. FERMIN GOMEZ (Venezuela): Señor Presidente, queremos expresar, uniéndonos a las anteriores declaraciones de otros delegados, nuestra complacencia por verle a usted dirigiendo extraordinariamente esta sesión y nos congratulamos por ello.
Asimismo debemos declarar nuestra satisfacción por la excelente presentación que ha hecho el profesor Islam del documento que nos ocupa, el cual hemos leído cuidadosamente dándole nuestro apoyo.
Este documento, estudiado también por nuestro gobierno, debe declarar Venezuela en este sentido que nuestro gobierno concede especial importancia, dentro del 7° Plan de la Nación vigente en este año, a la estrategia alimentaria que comprende la preocupación por un programa de consolidación del desarrollo agrícola en el Plan de producción de abastecimiento agrícola para los próximos cinco años. A tal efecto ha venido tomando una serie de acciones conducentes a dar cumplimiento a las previsiones del Acuerdo de Cartagena, y en ese sentido fue convocado en Caracas un seminario técnico que tuvo como objetivo recabar información sobre el sistema alimentario nacional de los países miembros, cuyos resultados fueron presentados durante la 9a runión del Consejo Agropecuario del Grupo Andino.
Asimismo, Venezuela participo activamente en la segunda reunion técnica en la cual presentaron los avances logrados en relación con el desarrollo de los Planes Alimentarios y de la organización institucional, así como la programación de las actividades que desarrollara el grupo nacional de Seguridad Alimentaria en cada uno de los países miembros. Para ello se ha establecido un convenio subregional de seguridad alimentaria para dar cumplimiento al compromiso contraído con el resto de los países andinos de Sudamérica y con la población venezolana en el presente 7° Plan de la Nación.
Este sistema alimentario así concebido aspira a alcanzar los siguientes propósitos dentro del marco del concepto de seguridad alimentaria que responde a los principios del documento que estudiamos. Estos propósitos, entre ellos, citamos: proteger a nuestro país contra los riesgos de desabastecimiento de alimentos, coadyuvando a la integración subregional a través de acciones en el marco del Acuerdo de Cartagena, que genera la instrumentación de un sistema de seguridad alimentaria bajo los principios de la FAO, como corresponde a los países miembros de la Organización.
De la misma manera, para alcanzar este proposito se ha designado a un grupo de especialistas que se dedicara exclusivamente a la integración de estos proyectos para consolidar el plan alimentario subregional andino. Nuestro país, al adherirse a este convenio, adquirió los siguientes compromisos: promover la creación del sistema de seguridad alimentaria nacional, evaluar la situación alimentaria del país, elaborar un plan alimentario, que esta actualmente en vigencia, establecer la estructura organizativa que garantice la coordinación institucional de las acciones de seguridad alimentaria.
Este grupo de especialistas, citado anteriormente tendrá como tarea primordial el perfeccionar los mecanismos que nos permitan dar fiel cumplimiento a los compromisos contraídos con la Organización de alimentación, la FAO, y con el resto de los países andinos, puesto que estamos seguros que el sistema nacional de seguridad alimentaria debe ser un mecanismo que permita articular Xa producción de alimentos y materias primas, su transformación comercial y distribución, con el consiímo de productos alimenticios de la población.
Con la puesta en practica de este sistema así concebido aspiran los países del Pacto Subregional Andino, y Venezuela entre ellos, a proteger al país contra los problemas de desabastecimiento que periódicamente se presenta en nuestro país, atender los requerimientos alimentarios y nutriciona-les de la población con menores ingresos y coadyuvar a la integración subregional a través de las acciones en el marco del Acuerdo de Cartegena y de los principios de la FAO que generen la instrumentación del sistema de cada uno de los países de la region sudamericana.
Finalmente no puedo dejar de anotar que Venezuela, como miembro del Grupo de Contadora, debe expresar su preocupación frente a los planteamientos hechos ayer por los delegados de los países latinoamericanos y que da su apoyo a la Resolución del Sistema Económico Latinoamericano en relación con los acontecimientos de Nicaragua.
A.K. OSUBAN (Uganda): Many of the issues which this paper is dealing with have been covered in discussions which have preceded this one, so it is possible for me to be brief.
We wish to restate our concurrence on the need for the establishment of international preparedness plans in order to be able to monitor the changing supply and demand conditions continuously, also the need for setting up early warning systems to give adequate warning for proper action. We consider that this should be a good way of bolstering the food security through the normal rehabilitation of agricultural production.
However, it must be recognized that in all these respects we, the developing countries, have a well-recognized weakness or inability to implement any of the programmes connected with any of these actions and in this respect we depend on the goodwill of the developed countries to assist us.
We would like to endorse the idea of pre-positioning of stocks in the famine-prone areas, this especially in the light of experience so far gained, when the relief stocks have stockpiled at the ports while people are starving to death where the food is required.
We also endorse the idea of promoting triangular transactions, if nothing else to encourage the consumption of the type of foods that are traditional in the affected areas.
On the question of forestry, we fully endorse the Committee's observation that the principal cause of the deterioration of food production is in land use practices that lead to environmental degradation because of excessive deforestation. We therefore share the view that stronger links be developed between agriculture and forestry services. We agree that inter-disciplinary research is required in order to develop innovative approaches to land use that promote stable, sustainable, diverse and more productive systems.
Finally, we wish to commend the Director-General for his efforts in alerting the international community to the serious food situation in these countries.
M. BALLA SY (Senegal) : Je voudrais à mon tour comme les délégations qui m'ont précédé répéter l'inquiétude de ma délégation devant la gravité sans cesse croissante de la sécurité alimentaire mondiale surtout en Afrique et plus particulièrement dans les pays situés comme le mien dans la zone sahélienne. Je saurai cependant reconnaître que, grâce aux appels répétés du Directeur général et grâce à la perfection du système de l'aide rapide que la FAO a mis en place, la communauté internationale, je veux parler des pays donateurs parmi lesquels je voudrais citer le votre, Monsieur le Président, ces pays donateurs ont consenti des efforts considérables, ont fait tout ce qu'il était en leur pouvoir pour soulager les difficultés et les misères de ces pays. Mais il demeure tout de même que, compte tenu de l'effet de surprise que j'avais déjà souligné et de l'ampleur du fléau, les besoins restent encore très importants.
C'est pourquoi je voudrais, très brièvement, appuyer le rapport du Comité de sécurité alimentaire mondiale, pour une raison assez particulière du reste puisque j'ai eu l'honneur de contribuer un peu à son élaboration, compte tenu également des points importants qui ont été soulignés dans ce document. C'est ainsi que je mettrais l'accent sur le problème de la réserve alimentaire internationale d'urgence pour souhaiter que la proposition faite d'augmenter son plafond à 2 millions de tonnes qui seraient réparties en 500 000 comme initialement prévu à 1,5 million mobilisables à la demande.
Je souhaiterais également appuyer le système des réserves intérimaires dans les zones menacées. Certes, certains pays ont justement posé la complexité du problème compte tenu des difficultés de gestion que cela aurait supposé. Mais je crois très sincèrement que si l'on se rend compte des difficultés qui ont un peu affaibli les efforts consentis dernièrement par la communauté internationale pour secourir dans les délais souhaités des populations qui étaient en détresse devant une famine particulièrement mortelle, je crois que l'on peut se rendre compte que, compte tenu également des preuves que la FAO a déjà données en incitant certains,pays à mettre en place des stocks de
sécurité, cette Organisation a l'expérience et les compétences qu'il faut pour en tout cas contribuer à une parfaite gestion de ces stocks s'ils venaient à être mis en place. Il suffirait simplement qu'on lui donne les moyens nécessaires.
Je voudrais également dire que mon pays souhaiterait que les négociations relatives à l'accord international du blé soient accélérées de manière que les espoirs placés dans ce contexte soient exaucés.
Je crois que nous ne pouvons pas non plus ne pas évoquer le problème assez important du système FMI pour le guichet, en tout cas céréalier, dont l'utilisation a été peu efficace, et n'a pas répondu aux espoirs des pays que nous sommes pour des raisons qui ne sont pas essentiellement dues à cet Organisme mais à d'autres circonstances, et souhaiter que tout cela soit étudié dans le sens d'une amélioration.
Je pense également que la mobilisation des ressources nécessaires pour l'aide alimentaire d'urgence et les moyens de renforcer les structures des pays concernés afin d'en accélérer la livraison jusque dans les zones les plus touchées sont autant de mesures sur lesquelles notre Conseil devrait insister et surtout appuyer la FAO, le PAM et toutes les organisations intergouvernementales et non gouvernementales concernées pour que ce mal soit enfin atténué sinon supprimé.
Voilà très brièvement ce que je voulais dire d'autant plus que le rapport que nous avons étudié a été particulièrement complet et intéressant.
M. GIFFORD (Canada): The views of my delegation were well articulated at the last meeting of the Committee on World Food Security. I would like to make reference, however, to three or four points.
The first point is to wholeheartedly concur with the view expressed in the document that food aid must be integrated into a country's over-all development strategy. The second point is that we still have reservations with respect to certain proposals contained in the document, particularly those relating to a revised IEFR, and the idea of an interim system of national food reserves. In that context, I cannot help but comment that although numerous delegations made reference to the revised definition of world food security, I am struck by the fact that virtually all the comments made almost exclusively related to the same Malthusian preoccupation of the World Food Conference in terms of preoccupation with grains internationally, and wheat in particular. We had a problem of scarcity in the early 1970s; we have had that situation since 1973/74. We have had a recurrence of surplus in the 'seventies and' eighties such as we had in the 'fifties and 'sixties. Perhaps we need to put the grain situation into a longer-term and perhaps more accurate perspective.
Thirdly, we certainly concur with the need to pay increasing attention to the role of forestry in food security, particularly with respect to the context of the African situation where deforestation has had such a fundamental effect on the soil and water base.
Lastly, I would like to close my remarks by once again endorsing the value of the Global Information and Early Warning System to which Canada attaches major value, as you are well aware, Mr Chairman. The System served us well, and we look forward to further improvements, including the work being done on a balance sheet approach to the presentation of the reports.
F.J. FERNANDEZ DE ANA MAGAN (España): El Documento CL 87/10 es muy interesante, Sr. Presidente, pero abarca demasiados temas importantes por lo que mi delegación prefiere hacer hincapié en uno de ellos. Nos referimos al apartado IV destinado a la Función del Sector Forestal en la Seguridad Alimentaria y esto lo hacemos por los múltiples efectos que el bosque ejerce como elemento físico y como elemento económico sobre las poblaciones más marginales de cualquier país y sobre el conjunto de todas las regiones del globo como estabilizador de las bases de recursos de aguas y suelos imprescindible para la producción alimentaria.
En este sentido, Sr. Presidente, nos preocupan los desastres ecológicos que por diversos motivos están ocurriendo en el mundo y creemos que la FAO, a través de su Departamento de Montes debiera dedicar una participación más activa en la vigilancia de estos fenómenos de degradación. Por esta razón hemos hechos sentir en otros momentos en el Foro de la FAO la necesidad de crear dentro del Departamento de Montes, un sistema de alerta y denuncia de estos hechos para lo que, lógicamente, sería necesario potenciar la capacidad de dicho Departamento.
Ahora, Sr. Presidente, quisiera comentar otros puntos sobre el Documento que estamos estudiando en el apartado IV: Función del Sector Forestal en la Seguridad Alimentaria. En el punto 69 se dice que en las zonas tropicales las prácticas provocaban una deforestación excesiva y provocaban la erosión del suelo en las tierras roturadas en las partes altas de las cuencas hidrográficas y, esto lógicamente, constituye una serie de desastres. A continuación se dice: "En las tierras áridas y semiáridas donde era el viento y no el agua, el principal agente de erosión, la vegetación leñosa no sólo atenuaba los efectos del viento y ofrecía mejores reservas" (así continua la frase). Mi país, como país de la cuenca mediterránea tiene grandes áreas de su territorio y usted, Sr. Presidente, lo sabe porque su país también está en la misma cuenca, tiene grandes partes del territorio con zonas áridas y semiáridas. Y aquí los efectos de la deforestación producen las causas que se le atribuyen a las zonas tropicales. En muchas ocasiones a lo largo de nuestra historia hemos tenido graves, gravísimos incidentes, ocurridos precisamente por las lluvias torrenciales que arrastran no sólo grandes cantidades de agua, sino también el lodo y las piedras. Los últimos desastres, por ejemplo, están aun muy recientes en la zona valenciana. Por eso creo que era interesante que este punto se corrigiera en el Documento porque a cualquier profesional que lo lea le creará ciertas dudas su redacción.
Por otra parte en el punto 76 se dice que: "Había que mantener un equilibrio entre los valores ecológicos y económicos del bosque". Después se continua diciendo: "El olvido de estos últimos", se refiere a los valores ecológicos "era una de las razones de la insuficiencia de las inversiones en el sector forestal".
Nuestra opinión, Sr. Presidente, es todo lo contrario, es precisamente el saber que el monte no es rentable por lo que no se repuebla, como no se repuebla por valor ecológico, mucho menos se repuebla por valor económico. Por esta razón creo que también este párrafo sería interesante revisarlo. Para nosotros la importancia del sector forestal en la seguridad alimentaria sigue siendo de enorme trascendencia.
G. FRADIN (France): Monsieur le Président, en demandant la parole tardivement, ma délégation ne souhaitait pas allonger le débat qui s'est déjà un peu éternisé, mais il m'est difficile de ne pas intervenir sur ce point de l'ordre du jour.
Toutefois, compte tenu des retards que nous avons pris, je m'abstiendrai de vous faire part de la totalité des commentaires que nous avions préparés à ce sujet.
Comme vous le savez, nous approuvons dans l'ensemble le document qui nous est soumis et qui constitue, à notre sens, une bonne illustration du concept élargi de la sécurité alimentaire. Je me contenterai de me référer à la déclaration de ma délégation lors des travaux du Comité de la sécurité alimentaire mondiale, ainsi qu'à celle que nous avons faite sur le point 6 de l'ordre du jour.
J'insisterai seulement rapidement sur deux points qui nous apparaissent très importants:
1. Les opérations d'aide triangulaire: Le paragraphe 40 du document rappelle leur intérêt et
ma délégation en est intimement persuadée. Mon pays s'efforce de favoriser ce type d'opérations, pour mobiliser les productions céréalières et, là où elles sont disponibles, aider à leur redistribution. C'est pour nous un moyen privilégié de participer au renforcement de la coopération régionale à laquelle nous avons déjà exprimé notre attachement.
2. Les forêts: Je tiens à confirmer notre satisfaction d'avoir vu traiter le thème du rôle des forêts dans la sécurité alimentaire. Ma délégation espère que les travaux du prochain Congrès forestier mondial permettront d'affirmer à nouveau l'importance du secteur forestier et surtout la nécessité
de mettre en place des politiques intégrées de manière optimale au développement du secteur forestier, à celui de l'agriculture et de l'élevage.
A.Y. BUKHARI (Saudi Arabia, Kingdom of) (original language Arabic): Allow me first of all, Mr Chairman, to apologise: we are very sorry that we were unable to attend the meeting yesterday because we were celebrating the end of Ramadan: Al Fitr. This is a very important celebration for all Moslems, as 1 am sure you realise. So we regret our absence yesterday and we believe it is our duty today to briefly submit our remarks on what was debated yesterday. Especially, we would like to refer to the Compact.
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia gives its full support to all the points listed in this World Food Security Compact. We consider this Compact to be of great importance, especially as the food and agricultural situation is deteriorating day after day in many countries of the Third World, and particularly in Africa.
It is our view that such a Compact can provide firm grounds for world food security. We are absolutely convinced that this Compact will provide an important framework for the sharing of responsibilities between developed and developing countries, with the participation of intergovernmental, governmental and other organizations and individuals as such. That is why 1 take this opportunity of offering my congratulations and thanks to the Director-General for this document, which we believe to be a very interesting and excellent document. We fully agree that this Compact should be forwarded to the general Conference for adoption. We are convinced that national efforts, are the basis of world food security, even if these efforts are inadequate and insufficient. Therefore it is necessary that they be completed by international efforts and contributions. 1 apologise for having to say this at this late stage.
R.G. PETTITT (United Kingdom): Mr Chairman, 1 wish to emphasize the value that we place on FAO's Global Information and Early Warning System. We were glad to have been invited to participate through an expert consultation in March of this year. Our views on technical matters remain known in other fora.
As we have said elsewhere, famine prediction can only operate effectively at national level. It requires the output of the Early Warning System as we presently know it and observation on the grounds of other factors of food production, such as distressed sales of livestock and local migration.
We welcome the assistance which FAO is giving to the establishment of national early warning systems. We regard the Early Warning System as a first priority in the allocation of resources.
May 1 be permitted to refer to the remarks that the delegate from Zimbabwe made recently about the provision of experts. The Overseas Development Administration places particular importance on understanding the relationship between recruiting sections and the manpower or user department of overseas governments. Our recruitment department and our personnel department have recently been reorganized on a geographic basis specifically in order to ensure that they are sensitive to the requirements of overseas partners, particularly in relation to skills and sophistication required. Training is also being expanded so that potential staff may gain overseas experience in junior capacities so that the experience is already there before they take on appointment as experts.
As regards the engagement of firms of consultants, 1 think the general experience is that this has to be done on a functional basis so that the user country is assured of having a firm of consultants with the best available skills and expertise in the discipline required, as well as that of considerations of equity. However, the wishes of the overseas government and the track record of the consultant firm in overseas assignments is an important factor in the selection process.
J.C. CLAVE: (Philippines): Mr Chairman, may 1 congratulate you on your elevation to the post of Vice-Chairman of this Council.
I wish to start my remarks today by reiterating my congratulations and great satisfaction with the Report prepared by the staff and the Director-General on food security. My comments on this point reflect my country's feelings and attitude towards the Report.
To elaborate my thoughts as an adviser on agricultural and other related facilities, I think that FAO has done a job par excellence. However, FAO has embarked through its technical and economic programme on the role of a field worker, and organization in the field. 1 am happy about this development because I think we all agree that ideas could be restless and until they are properly tested and implemented in the field, they will not rest.
1 wish to state that perhaps I have been very lucky in the sense that I was an early believer of the great leader Gandhi, who 1 think at one time said: "Open all your windows so that fresh wind may come in from all directions". It is for this reason that 1 wish to state that my remarks are inspired not only by the report but by my colleagues in this hall as well, because 1 have been greatly benefited by their observations.
Our general focus as a nation is on providing food security for all mankind, and we join all of you in this concern. Somehow, however, I feel that as 1 make these observations on food security and on other matters, 1 wish to focus on some concrete aids to the situation in Africa.
My country is concerned with the food problem in Africa. I wish we could help but, obviously, we are in the same predicament, although not as seriously.
I should like to invite the attention of my colleagues once again to paragraph 11 of the report on the Food Situation in Africa. It is pointed out in this Report that FAO invited attention to the developing crisis in Africa as early as 1976. It is now 1985, and it appears that the situation has become one of emergency proportions. 1976 to 1985 is a period of ten years, and 1 wish to invite the attention of my colleagues to the time that has elapsed, because ten years in the face of an emerging food situation is a long period of time. A lot of people could have died during that time.
1 would like to ask if it was the media or was it FAO that finally brought international attention to the food problem in Africa. If it was the media, then perhaps we should have programmes to coordinate our efforts of bringing emergency food situations to the attention of the international community. Perhaps we must forge some agreement. Was it our own media organization in FAO that did it? How effective are they?
For my second point 1 must refer to some of the observations in the report as well as the statements of some of my colleagues, not in a contentious manner but to contribute our views.
Firstly, there have been voices here which would call upon the developing countries such as mine to first put our houses in order so that aid may be given. There are those who would advocate structural changes, and there are those who would advocate breaking away with the past. These are beautiful words, but if we insist on them, we might be establishing some kind of obstacles to helping the development of underdeveloped countries. What do 1 mean?
Firstly, what do we mean by putting our houses in order? One of our colleagues pointed out that some developing countries are not only facing agriculture or food development problems, we also have some political problems, security problems, and other problems. What is really meant by asking developing countries to put their houses in order? Is it our economic development, is it our eagerness? Is our skill properly to develop our economy part of putting our house in order? Secondly, when developing countries are asked to put their house in order, perhaps they could say, precisely, but our house is not in order because there is international disorder.
This Organization and other United Nations Organizations have made outcries for a new economic order, new legal order, new information order, and other things. Perhaps we should really re-examine this because I am afraid that it is serving as an obstacle rather than an aid to hasten development.
Structural changes also will be difficult because many of us from the countryside know that our traditional societies would rather preserve their traditional values, most of which are morally, ethically and philosophically based, rather than have a piece of bread or butter. Perhaps I have pointed out the need for a balanced spiritual and economic development. Breaking away from the past is the same.
Some of our colleagues have pointed out the fact that some of the things that the world community is doing in Africa are disjointed activity. Some complain - and I do regard the views with the highest respect - that some of the experts who are sent to Africa are not really experts. I think we should listen to these voices. Therefore, in the light of these observations, I was thinking that instead of piecemeal projects of having a total project, something like an Africa to feed Africa plan or an Asia to feed Asia plan, or a South America to feed South America plan.
If I remember my history correctly, after the war in Europe the United States set up what they called the Marshall Plan. I think the Marshall Plan contributed greatly to rehabilitation of Europe. I feel that many of my colleagues from developing countries share my view that what we really need is an integrated, coordinated plan for our development, because the piecemeal efforts of so many agencies do not really converge sometimes and do not integrate well into the national plans of the governments.
Finally, Mr Chairman, I wish to believe, as stated in the report, that this plan for Africa has been discussed and considered with the concern of national governments. I feel that it is important that any plan in any given country must be coordinated with that country, must be integrated into the national plan. I have been an administrator in my country of a national plan, but notwithstanding the proximity of the national government to the local government and the people, any plan that was conceived at a top level without the consultation and participation of the people below has not been very effective. I think it is necessary for us to consult more thoroughly with the people who are affected. When I say consult, I do not mean the consultation that we sometimes see taking place in some international organizations where a plan is prepared by an international organization which then approaches the national government saying that this is the plan that they have for that government.
This has happened where the recipient country has just been, shall we say, an entity which stamps approval onto a plan conceived by higher international organizations. I think that experience shows that this has not been well appreciated by developing countries. I base that conclusion on the observations I have made, where certain delegates have said "some of the plans brought to us were disjointed plans", or "some of the experts sent to us are not relevant to what we need".
LE PRESIDENT: Je remercie le représentant des Philippines. Je trouve ses remarques et ses observations très justes et je les partage en grande partie, sinon comme président, mais en tant que représentant de l'Italie.
Mme M. LOURDES DUARTE (Observateur du Cap-Vert): Je vous remercie, Monsieur le Président.
Tout d'abord, ma délégation voudrait vous féliciter, M. le Président, pour votre nomination. Elle voudrait également féliciter le Secrétariat et le Prof. Islam pour la présentation du document CL 87/10.
Dans l'évaluation de la sécurité alimentaire mondiale on note que de graves pénuries alimentaires persistent dans plusieurs pays africains dont les besoins en aide alimentaire sont estimés à plus du double de l'aide reçue en 1983-84. D'où l'urgence de secours pour les aider à relancer au plus vite leur agriculture et leur elevage afin de réduire les dépenses à l'égard de l'aide alimentaire.
On a évoqué les efforts du Directeur général pour appeler l'attention du monde sur la crise alimentaire de l'Afrique pour mobiliser l'aide de la communauté internationale qui a réagi positivement et aussi les efforts des pays touchés pour faciliter la distribution des vivres. L'objectif annuel minimal de la RAIU devrait être porté à deux millions de tonnes mobilisables à la demande. Les politiques de stabilisation des prix agricoles et d'autres mesures de soutien, telles que l'aide aux organisations de producteurs, crédit, systèmes de commercialisation, moyens de transport et de stockage, devraient encourager la production.
La contribution de l'aide alimentaire à la sécurité alimentaire a été minutieusement appréciée à la dixième session du CSA. Elle peut jouer un rôle important à l'appui des trois volets de la sécurité alimentaire mondiale et son effet global dépend surtout de la façon dont elle est fournie et utilisée. Il est important qu'elle soit intégrée dans les stratégies et programmes nationaux de sécurité alimentaire. Des programmes nationaux de prévention des catastrophes et des systèmes d'alerte rapide doivent être créés. La FAO est en mesure d'aider à cet effet les pays intéressés.
Une assistance technique et financière devient prioritaire pour faire face aux problèmes d'infra- structure, notamment l'entreposage et la distribution.
L'efficacité de l'aide pourrait être accrue par des apports de ressources tels que des contributions en espèces et l'assistance technique. Le Secrétariat de la FAO a été invité à étudier la proposition de mise en place anticipée de stocks alimentaires dans des zones sujettes à des catastrophes ou dans des points stratégiques.
L'accroissement des opérations triangulaires a été déclaré important afin que des produits conformes aux habitudes alimentaires traditionnelles puissent être fournis et nous soutenons fortement ce point.
Tout en reconnaissant le rôle des forêts dans la sécurité alimentaire, ma délégation aimerait présenter son plein appui à la proposition du Directeur général de renforcer le Système mondial d'information et d'alerte rapide pendant l'exercice 1986/87 tel que cela est proposé au paragraphe 84.
H. CARRION (Observador de Nicaragua): Deseo unirme a la felicitación de los demás delegados por haber sido usted, señor Embajador, electo como Vicepresidente de esta sesión del Consejo de la FAO.
Especialmente nuestra delegación, a nombre de nuestro Pueblo y Gobierno, desea agradecer la solidaridad expresada por distintas delegaciones del Consejo en relación al embargo comercial decxetado contra Nicaragua. Es solidaridad basada en principios contenidos en la declaración 222 del 5° Consejo extraordinario del Sistema Económico Latino Americano y la Resolución 39/210 de la Asamblea General de las Naciones Unidas. Ambas deploran el uso de medidas económicas coercitivas por motivos políticos.
Sin embargo, deseo mencionar que aquí no tratamos, ni mucho menos, de tener una confrontación con ninguna delegación, simplemente señalamos un hecho de carácter concreto que viola el concepto de la seguridad alimentaria adoptado por la Conferencia de la FAO.
El impacto de este embargo contra Nicaragua tiene un doble efecto negativo; en primer lugar se limita un mercado a nuestras exportaciones agrícolas de carácter tradicional, por lo tanto limita también nuestra adquisición de divisas para la compra de insumos agropecuarios y afecta el poder adquisitivo de miles de familias que trabajan en el sector de la producción agrícola de exportación.
La segunda fase de este impacto negativo es que también se nos cierra un mercado para la compra de insumos agropecuarios incluyendo en particular maquinaria agrícola, puesto que ese mercado que se nos cierra era el que tradicionalmente nos suplía de maquinaria y repuestos para la producción agrícola y afecta a nuestra seguridad alimentaria.
Finalmente, para ser conscientes y consecuentes, como mencionaba en la primera intervención relacionada con el tema del Pacto de Seguridad Alimentaria Mundial y la crisis alimentaria en Africa, deseamos apoyar el informe y las recomendaciones contenidas en el mismo, del 10° CSA, en virtud de que participamos (de sus debates y en su Comité de Redacción.
A. YILALA (Observer for Ethiopia): The Ethiopian delegation is pleased to see you in the Chair and would like to congratulate you on your election. It would also like to thank Professor Islam for his excellent presentation, and the Secretariat for the preparation of the document and the report of the Tenth Session of the Committee on World Food Security. The continued critical food situation of the world, particularly Africa, makes discussion of world food security very relevant and appropriate, and we consider that the document has pointed out most of the serious issues in this regard.
The serious food supply problem encountered by a number of African countries which has lead to deaths from starvation has diverted the attention of the international community to increased emergency operations and rehabilitation of agriculture. The efforts of the Director-General to draw the attention of the international community to the African food emergency and the rehabilitation of agriculture is both commendable and noble. We therefore join others in congratulating the Director-General, and we convey our due regard for his achievement and effort. The positive response of the international community to both of these matters is remarkable, and we consider that this will contribute towards international understanding and peace.
The report indicates that production of food in most of the African countries was below that of the previous year in 1984, and that for 1985 has yet to be seen, though some signs of improvement are being reported. Ethiopian food production for 1985 depends on the rain which is expected during June to September of 1985. This directs our attention towards consideration of increased food production as a means of long-term solution to world food security. In this regard the need to develop supporting services for increased food production deserves our attention. Among these, service and development for the forestry component is one area which we consider very important and essential, and which will lead towards long-term food security objectives. The inter-dependence between forestry and agriculture requires greater integration therefore, further damage of existing forestry resources should be averted. As we have gone too far in the destruction of forest resources and in creating an imbalance of nature, the afforestation reclamation process will require the greatest attention. In this regard, research, training and the actual afforestation programme will require the utmost consideration.
The Ethiopian delegation is pleased to note the interest of many countries to assist in this regard, and would like to see further development and cooperation. We anticipate that the present land use practice and an increase in the area of cultivable land is one of the principle causes for the deterioration of food production, and could be improved through the conservation process. For this, forestry becomes one of the major actions to be considered.
We therefore would like to support the idea of FAO's increased participation in the area of joint forestry, crop and livestock production systems and strengthen the related information base and increasing resources for it.
The food aid requirement for 1984-85 estimated at 6.9 million tons is short by 1.2 million tons at a pledging stage and therefore the need for additional food aid requires further attention.
While appreciating the response and also the request for further pledges, the need of facilitating the distribution of the food aid which has been delivered to affected countries, and its urgent dispatch from the source needs urgent attention and action.
The need of a logistic support so that the food could reach those in need as fast as possible will assist the effort of saving lives of those endangered by the horrors of hunger.
The Ethiopian delegation considers that the raising of the level of the International Emergency Food Reserve from its present level of 500 000 tons to 2 million tons will improve the timespan for responding to the food needs in an emergency situation. Further improvements in this regard could be made through the prepositioning of food in drought-prone areas.
Contribution of food aid and the important role that it could play in food production, stabilizing supplies and improving access to food is significantly important if used in a planned manner. The Food-for-Work Programme that is being carried out in Ethiopia has indicated its potential contribution in the development of forestry, soil and water conservation schemes and its continuation therefore is supported.
Mr Chairman, the need for establishing a national preparedness plan by organizing a food reserve for emergency purposes was recognized by my country and plans to stock 180,000 tons over a period of five to six years was considered and planned. However this could not go beyond the existing 17,000 tons due to the emergency situation of food over the last 3-4 years, and most of the resource had to be diverted for the situation that was facing us. While we do support the need of establishing a national preparedness plan we sould like to indicate that the realization of it depends on easing up of the present food shortages and the assistance that we get in this regard.
Mr Chaman, in talking about food security, the setting up of national early warning is another area that we consider extremely essential and preparation of strengthening the existing organization has already been considered by FAO. We hope that the present study made by FAO will get its final implementation phase and completion.
Along with this, the development of infrastructures, which will include storage and inland transport network, will increase the use of food aid and cooperation in this regard is of great importance.
In this connection we would like to indicate our recognition and support of the Global Information and Early Warning System on food and agriculture because of its contribution over the last ten years, and its further contribution will depend on the extent of its further strength, with the resources required, for its effective functioning of the international undertaking on world food security, and we would like to express our willingness to participate in the system.
The Ethiopian delegation would also like to indicate its support for triangular transaction and FAO's role in identifying and disemminating information about availabilities of food surplus in developing countries.
Finally, we would like to raise a point that we should have raised yesterday in the discussion on the World Food Security Compact. We express our pleasure in joining those who supported the endorsement of the World Food Security Compact in its present revised form, and due regards to the Prime Minister of Italy for his support and the Swiss Government for withdrawing their reservation.
R.D. KAUZLARICH (United States of America): Since this is the first time I have had the opportunity to speak with you in the Chair, I want to thank you very much for your efforts to keep the discussion on this agenda item related to the issue at hand, and intend to do so myself in terms of my intervention.
On the report of the Tenth Session of the CFS,I think that Dr Islam has presented an accurate summary of the areas of agreement and disagreement by the Committee. I would like to make several observations about particular chapters in that report.
We agree that the various ideas for food insurance schemes as discussed in paragraphs 23 and 48 require further study and clarification. The Secretariat should submit a more developed proposal to future sessions of the CFS. Similarly, we support the Committee's request to develop the proposal for prepositioning of food stocks described in paragraph 39, again for futher consideration at a future session of the CFS. This, of course, should take into account the experiences that donor countries have had in this regard.
While the United States opposes increasing the target for IEFR, as I mentioned on Monday, because we see no need for standby pledges in view of the facility's existing flexibility, we accept the Committee's recommendation,however, to the CFA to consider the proposal as reported in paragraph 46 bearing in mind the views that were expressed by various delegates at the Committee on Food Aid Policies and Programmes.
We also accept the Committee's reiteration of general support for an interim system of national food reserves as reported in paragraphs 52 and 56, and indeed agree with the Committee's view that such a system does not require the adoption of a uniform set of measures by all countries. We underscore again that US food reserves are governed by specific statutes which do not permit a linkage to other country's reserves with respect to release provisions. Nevertheless, we are willing to share information on US reserves and to work towards improved coordination among all food donors.
The report of the CFS notes that the Committee did not reach agreement on several measures including the following: first, the International Wheat Agreement with economic provisions, paragraph 20$ while the United States opposes those economic provisions,we believe that other improvements can be made in the International Wheat Agreement. There are a number of proposals in paragraph 44 regarding the FAC: to increase FAC commitments to 10 million tons; mandating that FAC aid to low-income countries should be in the form of grants; asking for a separate FAC financing window
to provide minimum cash commitments by donors; the proposal in paragraph 45 to de-link FAC from the International Wheat Agreement, and in paragraph 47 to revise FAC Article IV to trigger semi-automatic responses in the event of large-scale food shortages. We believe that such mesasures as I have noted could be counter-productive, and that we must maintain existing FAC flexibility.
Mr Chairman, I have waited until this point in the discussion to try to cover all the points that many delegates have raised. I know that a number have mentioned or complained that the large budget deficits in some developed countries, and I take that to include the United States, have led to high interest rates and movement in exchange rates, and have been detrimental to the economies of some developing countries. I was happy to note as I read yesterday's International Herald Tribune that the prime rate in the United States had dropped to its lowest level since 1978, and this should indeed be of some assistance to those countries who have a large international debt.
We want also to point out that governmental expenditures on agricultural price and income support programmes have been for many years among the largest contributors to the US budgetary deficit. We, indeed, take the concern of our own budget, deficit as our first priority in setting our house in order. We do think that that reducing deficit and the curtailment of expenditure on agricultural programmes is an essential and indeed a primary goal of US economic policy. We believe that the unintended effect of such domestic agricultural policies has been to help support the price of cereals in international trade at a higher level than they would be otherwise and that this has been at the expense in the first instance of the US taxpayer, and in the second of food consumers all over the world. It should be clear that the ability of the US Government to gain support for expenditures on food aid and agricultural development overseas is directly related to the size of that tax burden, so to the extent that we are able to reduce the burden of expenditure under our domestic agricultural policies we may indeed be able to do more in the areas we have heard so much comment on over the last two days.
I might add that the United States has no objection to the proposals that several delegates have mentioned for FAO to conduct an analysis over the potential impact of changes in US agricultural policies on the economies, the agricultural economies of other countries. Indeed we would hope and expect that the Secretariat would investigate such matters in other economies as well. We presume that the FAO agricultural price study to be presented to the Conference this November already gives consideration to some of these matters, to the extent that the Secretariat, perhaps better than ourselves, can foresee the actions of the US Congress, and we would be happy to cooperate in any way we can with the Secretariat in this effort.
Finally I do want to come back to the issue that has occupied the interest of a number of speakers this morning and yesterday afternoon. I do intend very much to abide by your often repeated desire to keep any comments on certain political issues that have been discussed at a general level and of relevance to the issues at hand. Mr Chairman, I would note in starting that the United States is not the only country today or in the past to have had trade embargoes, and I believe indeed that some members of this Council today have trade embargoes. I would make three very general points in response to issues that have been brought to our attention in this unfortunate debate. First, customary international law does not require that a State trade with any other State. My second point: nothing in the UN Charter prevents a State from exercising its right to terminate trade. My third point, Mr Chairman: Article 21 of the GATT expressly permits measures that a party - and here I quote - "considers necessary for the protection of its essential security interests taken in time of war or other emergency in international relations". I would note, Mr Chairman, that this Article has been cited by other countries in imposing similar trade boycotts.
In addition, I believe that discussion of UN Resolution 39/210 belongs in New York where it has been discussed, and is inappropriate for a meeting of the FAO.
Finally, I would add my deep personal regret, since this is the first time that I have had an opportunity to participate in a meeting of this very important and vital institution, that we have had such unhelpful discussion as we have heard in the last few days on certain issues, and that we have had countries named by name, as my country has been. I think, Mr Chairman, we have all been diminished by that.
LE PRESIDENT: Je pense qu'il serait sage maintenant de demander au Dr Islam de bien vouloir répondre aux remarques, aux observations, aux questions qui ont été posées par les délégués.
N. ISLAM (Assistant Director-General, Economic and Social Policy Department): The Secretariat has carefully noted the various comments and suggestions made by the delegates in the course of the debate. We note that the Council has agreed with the analysis made by the Committee on World Food Security on the current world food security situation, which has further been elaborated during the discussions of the last three days in this Council.
The delegate of the Philippines raised the question whether it was FAO or the media that brought the emergency situation in Africa to the attention of the World community.
As the members of the Council are aware, the Director-General of FAO has on many occasions at intergovernmental meetings and press interviews stressed the emerging African food problem over a period extending for more than a decade.
As regards the current emergency, FAO through its Global Information Early Warning System alerted the international community as early as 1983. Following this the Director-General convened meetings of donors and affected countries in order to mobilize the necessary relief action in time. These meetings, started in mid-1983 with the representatives of both donors and recipient countries, weve followed by ministerial level meetings during the 1983 FAO Conference here in Rome, and subsequently in 1983/84 the Director-General also drew attention to this at various international meetings, at United Nations meetings, ECOSOC, FAO Council and Conference, as well as special meetings called in this direction. Indeed some action did follow these efforts. Unfortunately it was too little and in some cases, such as in Ethiopia, not only too little but also too late. Regrettably this lack of adequate attention coincided with another poor crop year in Ethiopia leading to starvation and deaths.
It was at this point in time that the media intervened, beginning with the now well-known BBC TV coverage of the Ethiopian situation. By that time the situation had worsened to a great extent, but the powerful media in mobilizing public opinion did succeed in prompting a response from the donor community.
This chronology of events shows one thing very clearly, that FAO through its Early Warning System was and is in a position not only to detect but also to alert the international community in time of impending emergencies. However, actual action, at least on the scale needed, requires increased pressure of public opinion, which the media can help build up.
Coming to other items on the report of the Committee on World Food Security, the Secretariat has also noted the Council's agreement with the comments of the Committee on World Food Security on the report of the symposium on world food security. We have carefully noted that the Council endorses the recommendations made by the Committee regarding the need for analysis of the work of the International Monetary Fund's real financing facility and the proposals for food aid insurance scheme.
The Council recognizes the contribution which food aid can make to the promotion of world food security. It endorsed the action proposed by the Committee to be taken by recipient countries in order to make the contribution of food aid for food security more effective. It also supported most of the proposals for action by the donor countries to enhance the contribution of food aid to food security, including the need for a systematic approach to the programming and management of food aid in order :•• to increase the stability and predictability of food aid as well as timeliness and better donor coordination of food aid shipments.
The Council agreed with the Committee's suggestion that the proposal for pre-positioning of stocks in disaster-prone areas or strategic locations be further developed by FAO Secretariat for further consideration at a future session, taking into account the experience of some donors in this respect.
The Council also agreed with the Committee's recommendations or proposals for multilateral action for increasing the dependability of food aid as well as improving its responsiveness to large-scale shortages, including the proposal to invite the CFS to make a study of a proposal for a stand-by reserve for IEFR, bearing in mind the views expressed by the delegates at the Tenth session of the CFS.
The Council also endorsed the Committee's general support for an interim system of national food reserves and agreed that the Secretariat be requested to continue to monitor and report on the progress in this regard.
The Council also endorsed the need for triangular transactions for effective utilization of food aid.
The Council further recognized that forestry contributed to food security through its multiple roles and recommended and supported FAO's work in this area of agro-forestry systems which integrate trees, crops and livestock production at the farm level.
Finally, the Council expressed its strong support for the work of the Global Information and Early Warning System and appreciated that during the last ten years of its operation it has worked effectively and flexibly in its unique role of continuously monitoring national and global crop developments and in providing timely warning to the international community.
The Council also fully supported the proposals of the Director-General for strengthening the System in the next biennium, which it considered to be high priority.
LE PRESIDENT: Je pense M. Islam que votre remarque constitue un excellent résumé de nos discussions. Je me limiterai à souligner certains éléments de notre discussion. J'ai vu que le Conseil, en général, approuvait les suggestions et analyses du Comité de la sécurité alimentaire mondiale; le Conseil s'est montré vivement préoccupé par la situation alimentaire mondiale, surtout en Afrique,et par le déséquilibre qui continue dans la situation alimentaire mondiale, caractérisée, d'un côté par des excédents, et de l'autre par la famine. On a beaucoup insisté sur l'intégration de l'aide au service du développement. On a aussi noté la grande utilité des opérations triangulaires, le rôle des petits pays qui doivent être mis dans les conditions, non seulement de produire, mais de vendre, ce qui comporte aussi des problèmes de caractère plus général, de l'environnement, de l'économie mondiale, naturellement de la commercialisation et pas seulement de la production. Le Conseil a aussi noté le rôle fondamental des forêts dans la sécurité alimentaire, l'insuffisance de l'aide alimentaire au développement et l'insuffisance de l'aide publique. Il a noté aussi que beaucoup dépend, pour la sécurité alimentaire, des structures et pas seulement du volume de l'aide mais de la possibilité de la faire arriver a temps, à ceux qui en ont besoin.
Donc je pense que nous pouvons conclure ici nos travaux sur ce point de l'ordre du jour et nous pouvons passer au point suivant, le point 7 :
LE PRESIDENT: A ce propos je voudrais dire que pour faciliter nos travaux et pour tenter de les accélérer, je suggérerais que l'on aborde les arguments du document CL 87/9 en trois phases :
1. Je pense qu'il faudrait d'abord s'occuper du code de conduite pour la distribution et l'utilisation des pesticides;
2. passer à d'autres arguments qui sont les plus importants dans ce rapport, c'est-à-dire le rôle des cultures vivrières dans la nutrition, la sécurité alimentaire et la politique agricole des prix;
3. Voir finalement la transformation des produits agricoles alimentaires et non alimentaires.
Je pense qu'en acceptant cette méthode de travail on pourra faciliter nos travaux et éviter une répétition des intervent ions parce qu'il y a beaucoup d'arguments qui pourraient être discutés ultérieurement dans les jours qui viennent, peut-être demain dans le contexte du sommaire du programme d'action budgétaire.
D.F.R. BOMMER (Assistant Director-General, Agriculture Department): Mr Chairman, distinguished delegates, I would like to mention that this introduction is also on behalf of Dr Islam. We both take responsibility to the Director-General for the COAG meeting.
You might recall that at its previous session the agenda of the Committeee on Agriculture included three main parts: (1) review of FAO's Programme of Work in the food and agriculture sector, (2) food and nutrition, and (3) selected development problems. This year's session included an additional major item, namely the proposed International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of pesticides.
Following its review of the implementation of the activities during 1983 to 1985 by the Agriculture Department and the Economic and Social Policy Department and the joint activities with the regional offices and joint divisions which fall under the Major Programme 2.1 Agriculture, the Committee had expressed its appreciation for the comprehensive overview of FAO's work. It welcomed under this major programme the further increase in direct support to member countries through FAO staff and consultants and commended the greater proportion of technical staff time, over one-third, devoted to backstopping of food projects under the major programme of 1984.
As in the past, the Committee discussed jointly the medium-term and long-term outloook for food and agricultural development and the Summary Programme of Work and Budget 1986/87. It agreed that the objectives and strategies proposed under Major Programme 2.1 - Agriculture fully covered the problems of the food and agricultural sector and were designed to support the efforts of developing countries to improve rural incomes, levels of nutrition, security of food supplies, and the balance of trade.
The Committee approved the priorities submitted under the proposed Programme of Work and Budget for the 1986/87 biennium and agreed in general with the balance and priorities of the various programmes.
Many comments were expressed on each of the eight programmes contained in the report submitted to the Committee. It fully endorsed the priority activities of the natural resources programme. In particular it approved the focusing on improved assessment of data on land and water resources, greater use of renewable resources of plant nutrients combined with fertilizer use, improved water in irrigation systems and organizations and supported soil conservation programmes.
The Committee also agreed with the reorientation of farm management activities towards strengthening farming systems development, especially for small farmers. The Committee recognized the important contribution made by FAO in its crops programme in increasing food crop production. Stressing the paramount importance of the programme the Committee supported the established priorities which focused on increasing crop production in food-deficit countries and encouraging member countries to adopt modern production processing and marketing techniques, especially in the small farm sector.
It also adopted the proposed activities to assist member countries in crop production and in the development of comprehensive agricultural mechanization strategies.
Concerning the livestock programme, the Committee endorsed the proposed priorities of that programme with its major components on animal disease control, animal production improvement and meat and milk development. The Committee fully supported the actions regarding the important socio-economic role of livestock development in the farming pattern of developing countries, and commended FAO for the prompt action taken in regard to rinderpest in Africa and the Near East, as well as for the assistance provided in the preparation of the Pan-African Rinderpest Campaign.
The Committee reiterated its support for the International Meat Development Scheme and the International Scheme for Dairy Development. It welcomed the assistance provided for those schemes to a large number of developing countries. The Committee endorsed the role of the newly established Division on Research and Technology Development as a focal point of FAO activities in this important area.
It supported the emphasis given to research management and training in this area and approved the active role of FAO in the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, and the support provided through its Technical Advisory Committee.
The Committee stressed the need to intensify efforts to develop appropriate technologies for crop production, particularly for integrated dryland farming systems. It endorsed the efforts of FAO in collaboration with the World Health Organization and the International Atomic Energy Agency in furthering the use of irradiation for food conservation and disinfestâtion.
With reference to the rural development programme, the Committee supported the emphasis given to programmes towards the alleviation of proverty and hunger in rural areas, and agreed that such orientation should continue. It therefore welcomed the efforts of FAO in assisting countries in the implementation of the WCARRD Programme of Action, and endorsed the importance given to projects for people's participation, and emphasized the need for collaboration with non-governmental organizations in this regard.
The Committee welcomed the importance given to the programmes concerning women in development and the promotion of activities supporting women as agricultural producers and active participants in development. The Committee stressed the importance of continued work to ensure the access to rural women of agricultural credit.
The Committee endorsed the nutrition programme and its priorities. It recognized the importance of integrating nutritional aspects into strategies for agricultural and rural development, and also the fisheries sector. The Committee supported the assistance given to countries in nutrition planning training and food quality control. The work of the Codex Alimentarius Committee was appreciated, and the need for dealing with the nutritional issues concerning urban populations highlighted.
Regarding food and agricultural information and analysis, the Committee commended FAO for issuing timely early warning of widespread food shortages in Africa in 1983/84. It agreed with the high priority given by the Director-General to a substantial strengthening of the Global Information and Early Warning System in 1986/87.
The Committee also agreed that governments needed assistance in setting up national and regional early warning systems. The Committee supported the effort being made for the improved collection and analysis of food and agricultural data. It urged additional emphasis on training in data collection processing and analysis. The Committee concurred with the objectives of the food and agriculture policy programme in the medium-term and appreciated in particular the fact that two of the Director-General's priorities, namely, increased food security and enhancement of economic cooperation between developing countries, were reflected in the major activities of the programme, and it supported activities planned for 1986/87 in both of these areas.
The Committee also supported the proposal to maintain as operational the "Agriculture: Towards 2000" system, and endorsed the programme of activities planned in the area of commodity policies and trade. The Committee has supported the proposals made regarding agricultural policy analysis and planning assistance, including training.
Turning now to the standing item on nutrition, the Committee considered the topical role of minor crops in nutrition and food security. The Committee welcomed the emphasis on minor crops as essential for improving nutrition and food security, as income-earning crops for rural women, and for relieving pressure on food imports. It stressed the need for more information on their nutritional and socio-economic significance, and in this respect welcomed the preparation of two FAO manuals.
The Committee emphasized the need for more agricultural research and recommended urgent action be taken for the promotion of these crops by various means. It further recommended that governments should develop appropriate agricultural policies for possessing technologies to increase production, improve storage, marketing, and better utilization of these crops.
Under the agenda item regarding development problems, the most extensively discussed subject was agricultural price policies. The Committee emphasized the importance and complexity of agricultural price policies in countries at all stages of development. It drew attention to a number of issues of primary importance on price policies, for instance multiplicity and ranking of objectives, agricultural price policy and the economy as a whole, complementarity of prices and other policy measures, input subsidies, criteria for price support levels, consumer food pricing, regional pricing and implementation of price policies, and agreed with the proposed work programme of FAO and with price policies emphasizing the importance of its role in helping countries to improve these policies, giving particular importance to the training role of FAO in price policy analysis.
The Committee endorsed the intention of the Director-General to submit the revised Report on Agricultural Price Policies, taking into account its views and suggestions, to the FAO Conference in November 1985. It agreed that the document being submitted to the FAO Conference should be a basic guide to all countries, particularly developing countries, in their formulation and application of food and agricultural price policies.
In discussing the subject of processing of food and non-food agricultural products, the Committee agreed on the importance of the role played by agro-industries in the economic development of countries. It expressed appreciation for the efforts of FAO in assisting member countries in this area. The Committee emphasized that the successful establishment of agro-industries required that full attention be given to several factors such as relevant statistical data, infrastructure, sufficient raw material supply, manpower of appropriate skills, the respective roles of public and private sectors, the selection of appropriate technologies, and so on. It endorsed the proposed strategies in policies recommending that FAO continue to strengthen its activities in agro-industrial development.
The Committee examined the proposed International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides. The Committee unanimously agreed with the need for such a code in view of the continuing increase in the use of pesticides essential for agricultural production, and the risks involved. The Committee endorsed the basic objective of the Code, namely, to identify potential hazards in the distribution and use of pesticides, to establish standards of conduct and to define responsibilities for all those engaged in the regulation, distribution and use of pesticides. The Committee appreciated that the Code adequately covered such important aspects as training and instruction for users of pesticides. While not perfect, the Code was an important first step to further improvement.
The Committee gave broad general acceptance to the Code, agreeing that it should be submitted to the Council. Noting that it would be for the Council to consider and decide on the transmission of the Code to the Conference, the Committee recommended that the Director-General take into consideration the comments in its report and take such initiatives as he deemed favourable to achieving consensus in the Council.
Following the review of COAG, we have carefully re-examined the draft in the light of the comments and suggestions made by member governments. The Director-General considers that as a whole, the text should remain as it is. However, in order to meet certain preoccupations, to express certain points more clearly and to facilitate consensus in Council and Conference, a number of amendments have been incorporated in the text of the draft Code. Document CL 87/9-Sup.1 contains the revised text of the Code with the changes underlined, as well as the text of the draft resolution. The Director-General stresses that this revised version will find the support of the whole Council resulting in the agreement of all and a clear recommendation that it be adopted by the Conference.
In conclusion, I would like to draw the attention of all representatives here to the specific development topics selected by the Committee for possible inclusion in the agenda of the next COAG session in the Spring of 1987, namely, dryland farming systems, the effect of tenure and fragmentation of farm holdings on agricultural development, and requirements and strategies for improved production of roots, tubers, and plantains given in paragraphs 222 and 223 on page 28 of the English version of the report.
LE PRESIDENT: Je vous remercie, Monsieur Bommer, pour votre presentation exhaustive et très complète.
Je vous propose d'organiser nos travaux en deux phases: dans la première phase nous pourrions nous occuper du Code international de conduite sur la distribution et l'utilisation des pesticides. Nous sommes déjà à la huitième édition de ce texte, qui est contenu dans le document CL 87/9-Sup.1. J'espère que le Conseil pourra trouver un accord sur ce texte car la nécessité de la mise en vigueur de ce Code est ressentie par tout le monde. J'espère donc que ce texte, avec les amendements que certaines délégations retiendront nécessaires, pourra être approuvé par notre Conseil.
Dans une deuxième phase, nous pourrions aborder les autres problèmes d'importance majeure qui sont contenus dans le document CL 87/9, c'est-à-dire le rôle des cultures vivrières dans la nutrition et dans la sécurité alimentaire, la politique agricole des prix et la transforma tion des produits agricoles alimentaires et non alimentaires.
Si vous êtes d'accord, nous pouvons commencer nos travaux sur ce point de l'ordre du jour en concentrant tout d'abord nos interventions sur le Code de conduite sur les pesticides.
H. CARANDANG (Philippines): Mr Chairman, I should like to congratulate you on the fair and efficient manner with which you have been chairing the sessions of the Council yesterday and today.
I should also like to thank Dr Bommer for his clear and comprehensive introduction of the Report of the Committee on Agriculture.
Having chaired the COAG, the Philippine delegation is very much aware of all the conclusions and recommendations of the report, and affirms its support for such conclusions and recommendations.
There is, however, one matter which I should like to draw attention to which was of concern to many delegations when it was discussed in the Committee on Agriculture.
The Philippine delegation supports the Code as presented in document CL 87/9 Sup. 1. I believe the Code provides general guidance regarding the manufacturing, distribution and use of pesticides. More importantly, it creates an awareness among governments, traders, users, and the general public that pesticides are a two-edged sword. Used properly, they help to eliminate undesirable pests, but otherwise they can poison the environment and harm human beings. We believe that the Code should be regarded as a living code. If required by new developments and greater social consciousness, it should be updated and revised.
When the Code was approved by the Committee on Agriculture many delegations expressed concern over Article 9 regarding the provision of information on pesticides banned in exporting countries. The pertinent paragraph is 9.6: "It is the intention that, insofar as possible, the information should be provided prior to export, but it is recognized that this may not always be possible. It is also recognized that the procedure of the country of export might not be such as to permit delay or control the export of the product in question". I underscore the words "but it is recognized that this may not always be possible".
Mr Chairman, these pesticides are dangerous products; they can poison, they can do a lot of harm to the environment and to human beings. Why would it not be possible to provide the information? The paragraph goes on to say "that the procedure of the country of export might not be such as to permit delay or control the export of the product in question". I do not understand these provi-sions. I hope that they will not be used by traders to dump banned pesticides without providing the proper information, but the danger is there. Therefore, the matter deserves to be watched closely.
I believe that the matter could be handled in several ways. One would be to include in the report of our debate a request to the Secretariat and to all countries to monitor the implementation of the Code, particularly Article 9. Should implementation of Article 9 prove unsatisfactory, measures should be taken to incorporate appropriate provisions, including the provision of prior consent.
Another way would be to include in the Resolution a provision requesting the Director-General to review the provisions of Article 9 which relate to prior informed consent in order to take into account the concern of many countries, both developed and developing, which a view of incorporation of that principle in future editions of the Code, and further request the Director-General to report on the review at the Eighth Session of the Committee on Agriculture.
A third way would be just to delete the words "but it is recognized that this may not always be possible. It is also recognized that the procedure of the country of export might not be such as to permit delay or control the export of the product in question".
These are my proposals to the Council. I hope that the Council will give these proposals due consideration so that we may take a decision on this important matter of a code of conduct on the distribution and use of pesticides.
HARTAWAN ADANG (Indonesia): Mr Chairman, at the outset my delegation would like to congratulate you on being Vice-Chairman of this session.
1 should like to make a short comment on the Report of the Committee on Agriculture, and in particular on the issue of an International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides, as my delegation considers that this is an important subject for all of us.
In the effort to increase food production so that we can provide enough food for our population of 150 million, we have rapidly increased the use of pesticides. As high yielding varieties of field crops are being planted by millions of our farmers over extensive areas, the danger of disease and pest explosion has become very large. As you personally are well aware, Mr Chairman, the explosion of the brown plant hoker in 1976 had a serious effect on our efforts to increase rice production. In order to avoid such catastrophes in the future, our farmers have had to use even larger quantities of pesticides. Also, they are required to handle increasingly varied and more specialized insecticides and pesticides, each of which is the product of multinational firms through the application of advanced technology. Therefore, out of necessity we have exposed our farmers, their families and the rural population, and they are in an unsafe position due to this rising use of chemicals. When we consider the effect on the environment, we are risking the health and well-being of our future generations as well.
It is in this light that we come to the formulation of an International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides. It is our opinion that in order for such a code of conduct to be useful, it should serve at least two main purposes: minimize the risk arising from the use of bad pesticides; and facilitate the channelling and distribution of effective but safe pesticides. Much has been said about the effects, however, my delegation feels that the second purpose, namely, to facilitate distribution is also important. We know that pest and disease control has to be dynamic. We are constantly faced with changing types of pests and diseases. Certainly there is a need that the most effective but safe pesticides should be made available in a timely manner to our farmers.
Coming now to the formulation of the Code of Conduct, we note that in its final form, particularly with regard to the exportation of banned pesticides, the Code of Conduct has lost some of its strength in comparison with the previous formulation. However, we also note that the present format is the result of much intensive deliberation by all parties concerned. Considering the importance of the timely distribution of these pesticides, as mentioned above, my delegation is willing to accept the Code in its final form. However, it will be necessary for all of us and the FAO Secretariat to monitor the implementation of this Code of Conduct accordingly.
It is also necessary for my delegation to invite the attention of the Council to paragraphs 205 and 211 of document CL 87/9.
Finally, my delegation would like to support the proposal that has been put forward by the delegate of the Philippines concerning the implementation of Article 9.
Mrs M. FENWICK. (United States of America): Mr Chairman, 1, too, welcome you here. 1 would also like to thank Dr Bommer for his outline this morning which was so careful, so explicit and clear.
1 believe the amendments 1 have are not controversial, as everyone will be happy to hear.
They start on page iii. We would like to follow item 4 with an added item 5. In other words, the Committee conclusion notes would consist of five items. "5. Notes that the activity by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations related to the Code should be funded within existing budgetary resources or through voluntary contributions.
The next amendment that we offer is on page 2, Article 1. On page 2, Article 1, paragraph 1.1, after the word "establish" in the first line we would like to insert the word "voluntary:" "... to set forth responsibilities and establish voluntary standards of conduct for all public and private entities..."
On page 3, Article 2, Definitions, the third definition, "BANNED": we would like to change the word in line 2 from "registration" to "regulatory". "Registration" is one thing, "regulatory"for us often has the import of law. So it would read "... regulatory action or when requests for all registration or equivalent action for all uses have not been granted because of health or environmental reasons." I have examples of how this would strengthen the definition if anyone questions the amendment in that regard.
Also on page 3, paragraph 1.6, "The Code is designed to be used...": we would like to add "within the context of national law", cutting out as far as the next comma. That would apply widely, both country, import and export - in other words, where there is national law, it must within the context of national law.
On page 6, Article 4, paragraph 4.1.1 we would like to change that a little. In line 3, following "efficacy" we would like to add "regions and countries of use". In other words, leave out "regions or countries", but insert at the end of that paragraph after "anticipated conditions," "comma regions and countries of use", and delete the underlined portion in lines three and four. It makes it a little clearer - instead of putting "regions or countries where the proposed use...", to say, "the safety, efficacy and fate with regard to the various anticipated conditions, regions and countries of use".
On page 10, paragraph 8.1.5, we think the third and last line of that section could read "consistent with requirements of the host country and of the parent company". Both must be satisfied - the host country must be satisfied and the parent country regulations must be observed.
On page 12, paragraph 9.6, we would hope that the whole of the last sentence could be eliminated. We share many of the queries concerning it which have already been expressed, and I think it would make it clearer and tighter if we cut the whole last sentence from paragraph 9.6.
On page 14, paragraph 11.2, "International organizations and public sector groups should promote the objectives of this Article", rather than "should call attention to departures from this Article".
Also on page 14, we would like to suggest a very minor change in paragraph 12.3, just to cut the last line "or to ensure observance by industry" - leaving the paragraph to read "irrespective of a Government's ability to observe the Code." In other words, where some governments have not the structure , the capacity, to observe the Code, the Code must be observed by everybody who can observe it, and not take cover under some government's inability to do so.
In paragraph 12.6, we would like to suggest that after the word "should " in the first line of that section, "review periodically with FAO and other competent international organizations progress towards achieving the objectives of the Code", because periodically it should be reviewed with FAO and other competent organizations.
I would like to say in conclusion that my Government and I do regard this as a most important and necessary piece of business. We are dealing with dangerous and yet essential chemicals and it is essential that they should be properly controlled.
Y.A. HAMDI (Egypt) (original language Arabic): We are very pleased to see you in the Chair, and we thank Dr Bommer for his very clear introduction to the report of the Committee on Agriculture. My Government has carefully studied the International Code of Conduct on the Distribution and Use of Pesticides. We handed our observations to the Secretariat, and we also participated in the debates which took place in the Committee on Agriculture.
We support this Code, and we think that this is the right time to have it put forward. We recommend that it be submitted to the Conference for adoption.
The meeting rose at 12.45 hours
La séance est levée à 12 h 45
Se levanta la sesión a las 12.45 horas
