CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): Spain, Nigeria, Zambia, Uganda, Austria have handed in their statements to the Secretariat so that they may be reproduced in the verbatim records.
Ntigor SIANGIAN (Indonesia): I should start my intervention by expressing my delegation's appreciation to Dr Dutia for his, as always, concise and clear introductory remarks on the substantive document and for his remarks which were conveyed to this Commission yesterday.
My delegation has read document C 91/14 regarding the Integration of Women in Agricultural Development and we congratulate the Secretariat for having prepared such valuable information. You may wish to note that the expert consultations on Women in Agricultural Development and Population in Asia held in Penang, Malaysia last February had also made an in-depth deliberation on this agenda item.
My Government is very pleased to note that more and more activities are being currently implemented and we expect more WID element or component could be integrated or injected into various FAO projects in the future.
We highly appreciate the Director-General's firm belief on the urgent need to successfully implement the WID programmes. In this connection I wish also to express my Government's thanks to FAO for its assistance to Indonesia on this project. I specifically refer here to paragraphs 27 and 37 of the document. It is our expectation that the projects on integrating gender issues in the Ministry of Agriculture of Indonesia and the follow-up activities as we started from the workshop, referred to in paragraph 37, could proceed smoothly.
My delegation followed with attention the progress report on the Plan of Action. We think it may be helpful to think on the possible setting-up of a monitoring system on Women's Integration in Agriculture and Rural Development at least to monitor the progress of the following three important points: first, mainstream programmes; secondly, analysis of data base on gender analysis using households as unit of analysis; and thirdly, the issue of integration means "integration of gender factors in the objectives and activities, inputs and output of all mainstream FAO projects". In this connection, we wish to request FAO to assist member countries in implementing activities as mentioned in paragraph 114.
In Indonesia, the principle of equality between men and women is incorporated in the 1945 constitution, and also various legislative acts provide for equal rights in the fields of education, labour, health, politics and laws. Despite a very favourable legal system, however, there is still a gap within the full and equal participation of women in the economy in particular. This is perhaps due to pervasive influence of traditional social attitudes and customs - deeply rooted in the history and culture - regarding the separate domains of privilege and responsibility of men and women.
In Indonesia most of our households in rural areas and agriculture depend on their control over - or access to - land, labour and capital. With agriculture absorbing a declining share of the growing labour force, off-farm sources of income are increasingly important to household income. Given the generally low levels of income capital accumulation is extremely difficult, and access to credit is closely associated with the ownership of land. For the majority of rural households who do not own land, therefore, income depends primarily on the availability of family labour and its allocation to different opportunities for gainful employment especially in the trade and services sectors. It is evident that there is significant demand among rural women for working capital and investment credit for their businesses.
The establishment of the State Ministerial's Office for the Role of Women in 1983 in Indonesia could also be seen as an indication of the full awareness of the Government of Indonesia of the highly important issues of WID. This Ministry has already incorporated in its official policy the most important principles for enhancing the role of WID.
The Government is strongly committed to the efforts to maintain the successful achievement regarding the improvement of women's social welfare, through family planning, health and safe motherhood initiatives, and education. The results of past investments in these sectors are clearly evident.
With regard to the progress report on technical training for women, we are pleased to note paragraphs 24-29 of the document.
We also note with appreciation the progress of activities in data collection, research studies, communication and public information. In referring to paragraph 79, we look forward to the successful implementation of the workshop/round table meeting on women in fisheries which, as reported, will also be held in Indonesia.
We fully support the proposal of the Ambassador of Colombia as expressed yesterday, that is regarding the importance of launching at the earliest possible time short training course activities or exchange of visits for young women farmer leaders.
This is very important for developing countries in their efforts to promote programmes on women leaders for the country.
We recognized that much had been done by FAO on WID and again, it is remarkable. However, much more needs to be done in the future. In this connection, we wish also to refer to the proposals of many delegations who spoke before me, including Brazil, Canada and others, that it is time now
for FAO to concentrate or maybe to concentrate more on a more systematic approach to integrating WID in all its programmes and activities. Once again, we commend FAO and we encourage them to move toward the above objectives.
R.C.A. JAIN (India): At the outset I intend to compliment the Secretariat for the comprehensive Second Report on the progress achieved in the implementation of the Plan of Action for Integration of Women in Development. The document has very competently brought out the FAO activities with regard to the general assessment and monitoring of women in development activities; promotion of suitable policies, in preparation of support and implementation of appropriate programmes in development.
We endorse the inclusion of sustainable development, resource management and environment as programmatic priorities in the list of seven identified priorities for WID focus in the period 1989-1995. We trust the five administrative priorities adopted by FAO for strengthening its institutional support for Plan of Action would enable the Organization to pursue its objective more effectively.
We are happy to note that FAO programmes and project efforts are assisting women in a number of developing countries in the critical areas of extension services, access to credit, improved markets, inputs and technology for increasing productivity of women in agriculture. We specially laud FAO's efforts in playing a leading role in the identification of statistical indicators relevant to women in agriculture and rural development and in the incorporation of necessary revisions in the census and survey forms. While guidelines are being formulated and technical assistance is being provided to Member Governments for developing necessary data needed to perform general analysis at the project and national level for purposes of project formulation, monitoring and evaluation, I would like to mention that in India concerted efforts are already afoot to address the vital issue.
Information on women in agriculture is being collected from various sources like Population Census of India, National Sample Survey Organisation, Central Statistical Organization and Agricultural Census. The Population Census of India 1991 has included women as a special category and information regarding occupation status of all individuals cover their status as cultivators, agricultural labourers, workers in household industries and other workers.
The census also collects data on the number of days spent in agricultural work. The 1991 census introduced certain improvements such as plans for female-headed households. Enumerators have been instructed to ask probing questions so that women marginal workers are not overlooked.
Efforts are also being made for the development of data banks on women. Many micro-level studies have been undertaken on women in agriculture. All the agricultural universities have done studies on women's contribution in agriculture. In addition, the Centre for Women's Development has prepared a bibliography for all studies in this field.
I dwelt in some detail on the efforts being made in India with regard to the development of data on women's contribution to India's national economy as we attach the greatest importance to the development of statistical indicators relevant to India in agriculture and rural development. We also share the emphasis being given by the FAO to the training programmes for women in development.
The Government of India is implementing a number of training programmes for women in agriculture and allied fields. The projects being implemented with the assistance of the Government of Denmark and the Government of the Netherlands for the training of women in agriculture are in the states of Karnataka, Tamilnadu, Orissa and Gujarat.
The training of farm women through 188 farm training centres is also being undertaken systematically to meet the training requirements of farm women. To bring women farmers into the mainstream of agriculture, efforts are being made to gear the training and visit system of agriculture extension to meet the technological needs of women farmers. Training programmes are also being organized in the dairy sector, especially in the field of animal nutrition, scientific animal heath care and the use of new technology for women for urea molasses blocks for cattle. More and more women are going in for agricultural education. In certain agriculture universities, the number of girls is more than boys. Not only this, there are certain agricultural schools in some of the states, like Gujarat and Maharashtra, which give two-year training to women in agriculture after school level. Forestry, soil conservation and land development, etc., are also included in the curriculum for training.
Since women play an important role in the conservation of the environment and natural resources, they are being involved actively in the social forestry programme. Women collect fuel and fodder for which sometimes they have to travel long distances, and, for this reason, they are keenly interested in planting quick-growing trees around the house and on the bunds of their fields.
Similarly, in the development of waste land women play an important role. In Rajasthan, where waste lands have been allotted to women's groups, they have turned them into beautiful forests. The Chipko Movement of Uttar Pradesh has created a sensation. Women have taken a great lead in this movement to conserve the forests and plant more trees.
My delegation expresses the hope that FAO, as a result of the implementation of the Plan of Action on Women in Development, and also working under the aegis of the Nairobi Forward-looking Strategies and the System-wide Medium-Term Plan on Women, and in coordination with other UN agencies and international NGOs, will continue to strive for the greater integration of women in development.
P.A.D. TER WEEL (Netherlands): Mr Chairman, I have forwarded the statement of the Netherlands to the Secretariat for inclusion in the verbatim and in the interests of time I will at this stage merely put forward two questions. One concerns training and the other the integration of gender issues.
Since WID training in the FAO remains an important activity, I would like to ask whether the quality of that training could be improved on an on-going basis? Could you bring the training closer to the work of the divisions and the units within FAO. We would appreciate very much knowing whether you can pay more attention to this qualitative aspect of training in your next report.
My second question is whether it is possible - and this relates also to the points that have been raised by Canada and the Finnish delegate on behalf of the Nordic countries - to look forward to a more systematic integration of gender issues and Women in Development expertise in ongoing and new FAO programmes and projects, including the use of participative rural appraisal methods to involve rural women and women's organizations in rural and agricultural development programmes and projects?
Mr Chairman, the second progress report on the implementation of the Plan of Action for the Integration of Women in Development gives a good overview of the number of actions taken by FAO in pursuit of the priorities of the plan. It shows that the former old approach of supporting mainly specific projects for women has now definitely been left. The emphasis is now on the integration of women into the mainstream of agricultural development.
Experience teaches us the complexities of this process. To include gender specific issues in our work requires a reorientation of values and attitudes, of structures and procedures within our institutions. The report and Mr Dutia's introduction shows that FAO makes some progress but there is still much work to do.
Although the report gives a good description of the number of activities undertaken - especially the gender training of FAO staff - it fails to substantiate to describe the changing process that is taking place. I regret to say so, the Netherlands at this very moment is still being approached by FAO and its Member Governments to support technical projects lacking adequate information about the role of women, women farmers, women's organizations in the specific field the project is addressing.
This concerns projects submitted for financing by the Netherlands government. But how about the work done by the different sectoral Divisions and Services in their information gathering, studies, policy advices, project identification, agricultural sector policy surveys? Has Women in Development expertise got a full and equal position in new activities taking place? The reporting needs to be more analytical, and straightforward in this respect. We really look forward in the next report what changes in the work of the respective Divisions and Services have taken place. This should not just be the task and be a burden to the Unit dealing with Women in Agricultural Development but should be an integral part of the reporting and internal evaluation of the Divisions or Services concerned.
Questions to be addressed should be: (in the perception of the coordinating unit or the interdepartmental WID group mentioned):
how far gender issues have been included and have become an integral part of the policy advice and programmes of these divisions;
- what are the bottlenecks and barriers to include gender issues and how could these be overcome
- conflicts of interest should be mentioned and discussed
Let me mention a few points regarding the integration of women within the work of FAO as perceived by the Netherlands. Due to the sectoral way FAO is organized it is difficult for a coordinating unit to influence the activities of other services. The work is organized in such a way that the services identify, design and monitor their own field activities. This historically grown structure hampers a more integrated approach in rural development. Interdepartmental task forces have been set up to counteract this tendency and ensure better coordination and multi-disciplinary input. We would be interested to get a better insight on the effectiveness of task forces as an instrument for integration of the gender dimension into programmes and projects.
Another related point is the fact that still most of FAO's services, most of all the Agriculture Department have a mainly technical approach to development, whereas the integration of gender essentially implicates thorough attention of social and cultural dimensions of development especially when it comes to the question of involvement of women and women's organizations in decision making, and carrying out participatory rural appraisal methods where women are equally involved in identifying and articulating their own needs.
Also in ongoing activities women and WID expertise should be strongly present in reformulation and adjusting these activities explicitly including gender issues.
A third point is the important task of strengthening the gender knowledge within Ministries of Agriculture. This dimension should play a major role in policy advice on agricultural programmes that is given to Member Governments.
Let me conclude with two concrete requests:
(1). Since WID training remains an important activity will the quality of that training be improved on an ongoing basis? Can you bring the WID training closer to the work of the Divisions and Units within FAO. Can you pay more attention to the qualitative aspects of the training in your next reporting.
(2) Will there be a more systematic integration of gender issues and WID expertise in ongoing and new FAO programmes and projects including the use of participative rural appraisal methods to involve rural women and women's organizations in rural and agricultural development programmes and projects?
Thank you, Mr Chairman.1
1 Statement inserted in the Verbatim Records on request.
Mme Josefa Coelho DA CRUZ (Angola): A l'issue de la vingt-cinquième session en 1989, la Conférence, après avoir entériné le Plan d'action et les priorités identifiés dans le Rapport d'activité sur la mise en oeuvre du Plan d'action pour l'intégration des femmes dans le développement, avait confié au Directeur général un certain nombre de tâches et avait demandé aux gouvernements des Etats Membres à travers la Résolution 7/89 de déployer tous les efforts possibles afin de mettre en oeuvre ce Plan d'action et de fournir périodiquement des informations sur les progrès réalisés dans ce domaine au niveau national.
Le document C 91/14 que le Secrétariat a soumis à notre appréciation nous montre les priorités qui ont été tracées tant dans le domaine de la programmation que dans le domaine administratif. Une description intéressante et utile est faite sur la mise en oeuvre des trois fonctions fondamentales de la FAO en ce qui concerne le rôle des femmes dans le développement. Nous félicitons le Secrétariat pour ce travail combien louable et M. Dutia pour son exposé.
Parmi les huit priorités identifiées, la délégation angolaise considère que la formation et la vulgarisation sont la base de tout développement de l'agriculture d'un pays comme le sien. Depuis plusieurs années, le gouvernement de mon pays a déclenché une bataille de grande envergure pour combattre l'analphabétisme dans le milieu rural et même dans les grandes villes.
Dans le secteur de la santé, par exemple, puisqu'il n'existe pas assez d'hôpitaux ni de maternités par manque de fonds, le Ministère de la santé, avec l'appui de l'OMS, organise régulièrement des cours de formation pour les sages - femmes, leur enseignant les premiers secours à donner aux femmes enceintes et parfois comment les aider à accoucher. Des résultats positifs ont déjà été enregistrés.
Dans le souci de l'intégration de la femme dans tous les secteurs de développement, mon gouvernement vient de créer un secrétariat d'Etat pour la promotion de la femme. Ainsi, mieux que quiconque, les femmes doivent prendre conscience de leur force et participer activement au développement de notre pays. Ainsi, toute mise en oeuvre d'un plan d'action ou d'une stratégie dans nos pays en voie de développement doit se baser sur la réalité du milieu et utiliser des technologies intermédiaires. Toute technologie sophistiquée, quelle qu'elle soit, est vouée à l'échec si elle ne prend pas en considération ce que je viens de dire.
Je crois que nous devons féliciter la FAO pour toutes les mesures fondamentales et administratives prises en vue de la mise en oeuvre du Plan et des recommandations de la Conférence. Les chapitres III et IV du document C 91/14 sont là pour le témoigner et pour nous fournir une multitude d'informations. A la lecture de ce document, nous pouvons conclure que la FAO a du pain sur la planche. Mais je voudrais faire une observation au sujet du paragraphe 24. On constate que le pourcentage des femmes ayant participé aux programmes de formation organisés par la FAO au Siège, dans les bureaux régionaux et dans les Etats Membres est très bas puisqu'il ne représente qu'une moyenne de 9,5 pour cent. Les paragraphes 26 et 33 viennent d'ailleurs confirmer mes propos. Dans l'ensemble, ce pourcentage ne dépasse par 15 pour cent. Existe-t-il une justification à cela?
La délégation angolaise reconnaît le rôle et les efforts de la FAO qui a engagé la majorité de ses organes directeurs dans tous les programmes d'activité qui intéressent l'intégration de la femme dans le développement. Ma délégation encourage la FAO dans ces activités mais elle croit que, pour réussir, l'Organisation a besoin de ressources extrabudgétaires. C'est pourquoi ma délégation lance un vibrant appel à tous les pays membres qui croient fermement que le Plan d'action pour l'intégration des femmes dans le développement n'est pas un document de plus, à oublier dans les tiroirs de nos bureaux, pour qu'ils fournissent des ressources budgétaires. Le Chef de la délégation angolaise l'a bien souligné dans la déclaration qu'il a prononcée en séance plénière.
Hier, en prenant la parole, la représentante du Venezuela a exprimé d'une manière spontanée ce que ressentent les femmes travailleuses, les femmes du monde rural, les mères de famille. Elle a longuement parlé de la situation de la femme au Venezuela. Il existe une similitude entre les femmes de son continent, de l'Afrique et d'autres continents.
En conclusion, j'appuie tout ce qu'elle a dit et sa suggestion de faire convoquer par la FAO une réunion de femmes des pays en voie de développement dans le cadre du Plan d'action pour l'intégration des femmes dans le développement. J'appuie également la suggestion de la représentante d'El Salvador.
Morad Ali ARDESHIRI (Iran, Islamic Republic of): First, I would like to thank the FAO Secretariat for the preparation of document C 91/14 concerning the Plan of Action for the Integration of Women in Development.
Second, my delegation would like to mention some points on this matter. I will do my best to keep my statement brief, as you require.
Women, through history, have generally participated in production and have particularly taken part in agricultural production. In our country, like other developing countries, women still undertake considerable work in agriculture, livestock, fishery, forestry, processing, industry and handicrafts.
The structure of traditional agriculture puts a heavy burden on women's shoulders. Women make up a vast part of the agricultural labour force and are carrying out responsibilities in small agricultural units, livestock production, marketing and handicrafts.
However, regrettably, the economic role of women in agriculture and rural activities is not highly appreciated in economic terms.
Through policy making and planning, the economic roles of women in agricultural and rural activities should be provided with the appropriate status, and through education and extension plans the position of women should be identified and recognized.
Extension services provided for rural women are of significance, and their roles in agricultural development should be taken more seriously.
Regarding women and Sustainable Development, Natural Resources Management and Environment, we fully support the statement presented by Mr Dutia yesterday, as well as mentioned in Item 8 of the document before us.
The Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran intends to formulate and implement some projects in cooperation with FAO on Participation of Women in Agriculture and Rural Development, and we hope to present a report to the next Conference in this regard.
Ms Ioanna EFSTATHIOU (Greece): We thank the Secretariat for the excellent paper in front of us, dealing with the progress of the implementation of the Plan of Action for Integration of Women in Development.
There is no doubt that the role of women in development is of great significance. The social and cultural activities of rural women must be promoted further, side by side with the economic and cultural development of the rural areas, so that rural women can seek appropriate recognition by the society in which they live.
In this context let me express some of my ideas about the issue that we are discussing.
The importance placed upon this issue clearly indicates the bad situation in which women, especially those in rural areas, are found, despite their significant role within our societies. Undoubtedly, if there were any serious improvements of their situation, there would be no need for a specific reference on this matter. Under these circumstances any effort toward the improvement of the conditions for women in social and economic life is welcomed.
In my country, considerable efforts are being made for an increase in the role of women in raising agricultural productivity and income-producing capacity, as well as of their contribution to forestry and fishery development.
Greek women, according to law, have equal rights and opportunities. However, many times local habits and traditions are stronger. For this reason our extension services encourage rural women to participate in educational and training programmes and provide them with the necessary information related to the use of the appropriate technology as well as with adequate consultation on nutritional matters.
Furthermore, my country, by supporting cooperation between countries, participates actively in a training programme under the Lomé Convention within the framework of the CTA (Centre technique d'agriculture). In this context a training course has been organized in the Mediterranean Agronomic Institute on the island of Crete for trainers of rural women from selected African countries, providing useful information about technologies still existing in Greece, which could be very well adapted in the social and economic conditions of African and other developing countries, with special attention to home economics.
We support the eight programme priorities cited in paragraph 8 of the document. We believe that more attention should be given to administrative
priorities because organization and financing are the basis of the Plan of Action.
Mme. Maria DE LOURDES MARTINS DUARTE (Cap-Vert): L'intégration des femmes dans le développement mérite une attention particulière de nos gouvernements. Les femmes constituent la majorité de la population du monde et participent à la vie économique de nos pays mais leur rôle dans le processus de développement est sous-estimé du fait de contraintes économiques, sociales, politiques et culturelles.
Nous reconnaissons le rôle du système des Nations Unies, notamment la FAO, le PNUD, le FNUAP, l'UNIFEM, l'UNICEF et l'OIT, dans la coordination des actions concernant l'intégration des femmes dans le développement.
En ce qui concerne la FAO, nous estimons qu'une attention particulière doit être accordée aux domaines de la planification familiale, de l'eau, de l'énergie et du transport.
Le paragraphe 56 du document à l'examen met en évidence la participation des femmes cap-verdiennes à la lutte contre la désertification, aux activités de plantation d'arbres, d'agro-foresterie et de développement sylvopastoral.
Au Cap-Vert, la femme participe à égalité de droits à tous les niveaux car les lois fondamentales lui accordent une attention spéciale en prévoyant des mesures qui sauvegardent ses droits et intérêts légitimes. Elle est un partenaire inestimable du développement de notre pays, participant aux activités des divers secteurs de l'économie tels que la pêche, l'agriculture, l'industrie, le tourisme et la fonction publique. Au Cap-Vert, pays insulaire parmi les moins développés, avec une situation socio-économique difficile, caractérisé par le manque de ressources naturelles, par un régime pluviométrique irrégulier et une insuffisance de ressources hydriques, où l'homme, dans la recherche d'une vie meilleure, se voit obligé à émigrer, la femme devient chef de famille avec une responsabilité accrue dans l'éducation des enfants et la subsistance du foyer.
Dans la perspective de l'insertion de notre pays dans l'économie mondiale, la femme aura, à l'instar de l'homme, une participation plus effective dans ce processus.
Nous souhaiterions exprimer notre voeu de voir réaliser dans les meilleurs délais la mission FAO/PNUD chargée d'identifier des activités rémunératrices que pourraient exercer les femmes, tel que décrit au paragraphe 52 du document.
Nous nous félicitons des efforts de la FAO et appelons au renforcement de la coopération de l'Organisation avec les autres organismes des Nations Unies, les ONG et la communauté internationale dans la poursuite des activités et l'identification et la mise en place des nouvelles actions permettant une intégration des femmes véritable et systématique.
Carlos BASCO (Argentina): La delegación de Argentina expresa su acuerdo con el contenido del documento. Asimismo, agrega que la mujer no sólo debe ser
presentada como beneficiaria y/o usuaria de los proyectos de desarrollo, sino como un agente más del mismo.
Con respecto a las prioridades programáticas expuestas en el documento, mi delegación manifiesta su coincidencia con las prioridades alli destacadas y expresa que la Argentina ya está trabajando dentro de esas categorías, fomentando microemprendimientos de mujeres rurales, con el objetivo de promover la organización y capacitación de las mismas, a fin de incorporarlas de manera continua a la actividad económica, ya que la situación de las mujeres que viven en áreas rurales y bolsones de pobreza es más precaria y discriminatoria que la de otras mujeres.
Coincidiendo con la distinguida delegación de Canadá, apoyamos su iniciativa respecto al tratamiento de la mujer en el desarrollo de una manera sistemática en todos los programas y actividades.
Por último, esta delegación vuelve a expresar su apoyo a la convocatoria de FAO para participar en la Red Regional de Apoyo a la Mujer Rural de América Latina y el Caribe y a las iniciativas presentadas por El Salvador, Honduras, Panamá y Venezuela en esta Conferencia.
Mirza Tasadduq BEG (Bangladesh): The FAO Secretariat deserves appreciation for presenting a fairly comprehensive picture on the status of implementation of the Plan of Action for Integration of Women in Development.
The increasing awareness of the development planners in the developing countries on the potential role of women in augmenting agricultural productivity and other income-generating activities is indeed a positive development. The realization that balanced socio-economic development is impossible without fuller participation of women is evidenced by profound changes unfolding in the area of women in development. The progress reported in the document under discussion provides a good overview of the developments that have taken place with regard to the implementation of the Plan of Action since the Twenty-fifth FAO Conference.
In spite of a good number of interventions by FAO and in some cases by other UN agencies in various programmes toward bringing women into the mainstream of development, overall progress does not appear to be significant. Paragraph 10 of the report highlights some of the constraints that women face in regard to their integration into development activities. Nevertheless, my delegation notes with satisfaction the wide range of specific programmes and projects through which FAO has assisted Member Governments in their efforts toward gradual integration of women in productive sectors of their economies.
We congratulate FAO particularly for its special efforts in organizing training programmes on women in development, and the integration of women in development concerns in FAO's Regular and Field Programmes, project development and monitoring, data collection, research studies, communication, and public information.
Here I would like to make a brief reference to the state of women in development efforts in Bangladesh. Recent years have witnessed some significant policy reforms and government interventions aimed at making
women beneficiaries of development. A full-fledged Ministry of Women Affairs has been in existence for nearly a decade, with subordinate departments, to cater to the welfare of women in various fields. Employment opportunities for women in the public sector have slowly but steadily increased. The Government has undertaken a series of measures to protect the legal rights of women against violence and repression. Specific credit and skill development programmes are in operation which are generating non-farm employment. The Bangladesh Rural Development Board has had remarkable success in organizing rural women through cooperative societies and engaging them in various income-generating activities. The Government is also implementing a number of population-related projects with the assistance of bilateral and multilateral donor agencies which seek to improve the status of rural women through family planning, maternal and child health care and specific vocational training activities. The Grameen Bank and several NGOs are particularly active in providing an alternative institutional framework to improve women's income-generating capacity. The number of public sector projects targeting women as beneficiaries in agriculture, fisheries, rural development have been on the increase.
With a very large population, illiteracy and limited resources, the task of integrating women in development is obviously a daunting one, and involves a long process.
Before I conclude, my delegation would like to make a small observation. We have noted that the progress reported in the document relates mainly to the specific FAO programmes and projects assisting women in the different fields of development activities. We feel that since Resolution 7/89 of the Twenty-fifth FAO Conference also requested Member Governments to make the necessary efforts to contribute to the implementation of the Plan of Action, we feel it would have been more useful and informative if the Report also contained some information on the initiatives and progress made by Member Governments in this direction on their own, or through programmes supported by agencies other than FAO.
Ms Leela PATHAK (Nepal): The Nepalese delegation very much appreciates the Report contained in document C 91/14 and FAO's Plan of Action for the Position of Women in Agriculture and Rural Development. The newly elected Democratic Government of Nepal has duly recognized the important role played by women who constitute almost half of the country's population, and their potential in the overall development of the country.
However, a few basic problems exist in the WID issue - which I would like to share with you and with my fellow delegates.
At present several activities relating to women are being launched in the country both at government and non-governmental level. However, there are serious problems of linkage and coordination between the various activities undertaken. At present the NGOs in my country are actively engaged in various WID activities. Consequently, a major portion of our investment - donors' assistance - is directed to these NGO programmes resulting in "unsustainability" in project implementation in most cases. The reason is that the NGOs have less influence in government policy formulation. With regard to sustainable WID programmes the Nepalese delegation firmly believes that government sector efforts and political commitment would be equally important.
The United Nations Decade for Women has helped significantly in creating awareness of women's roles and their rights in society. As a result, all the major sectoral ministries have set up a separate WID cell in order to help the integration of women in their respective sectoral plans and programmes at maximum level.
At present, target-group-oriented programmes like the small farmers' development programme, the intensive banking programme and the special credit programme for women are being implemented and monitored so that only the targeted beneficiaries are served by these programmes. This year, the Government of Nepal has also planned to establish a women's cooperative bank in order to raise the economic position of rural women.
We in the Ministry of Agriculture have realized our duty to help women, who constitute a major part of our farm labourers and agricultural producers. Studies have shown that Nepalese farm women, as in other developing countries, contribute almost 50 percent of total agricultural produce. Equally they spend more hours working in the field compared to men. Women are also the main decision makers in the household.
Considering these realities, the Ministry of Agriculture is proposing to establish a separate Women in Development Division at Ministry level headed by a Joint-Secretary-level officer in order to intensify WID activities in all our sectoral programmes.
Finally, in order to facilitate the maximum integration of women in mainstream development, the Nepalese delegation would propose to FAO that some arrangement be made so that some fixed portion of FAO's total country allocation should compulsorily go to WID areas, which we think would help to promote activities and improve the economic status of Nepalese women.
Mile Aicha RHBIB (Maroc) (Langue originale arabe): Je suis heureuse de prendre la parole sur cette question de l'intégration des femmes dans le développement agricole et rural et j'adresse mes félicitations au Secrétariat pour l'excellent rapport qu'il nous a soumis. Le rapport est extrêmement complet et couvre tous les aspects de la question.
Dans toutes les sociétés, le rôle des femmes et leur impact dans tous les secteurs a toujours été d'une grande importance en dépit des disparités et des horizons différents. A notre époque, de nombreux défis sont lancés. Nous avons relevé le défi de la malnutrition, celui de l'environnement. Mais il est essentiel que toutes les sociétés veillent à sauvegarder le rôle des femmes dans le développement. De nombreuses organisations internationales se sont penchées sur cette question, y compris la FAO qui a joué un rôle de premier plan dans ce domaine. C'est pourquoi le Maroc souscrit à cette action et fait siennes les huit priorités qui figurent dans le plan d'action.
Toutefois, la délégation marocaine souhaiterait demander à la FAO de préparer à l'avenir des rapports plus complets faisant état des conclusions et des résultats des actions mises en oeuvre dans d'autres pays dans ce domaine, de façon à donner une idée plus complète de ce que l'on peut tirer des expériences relatives à la mise en oeuvre de ces projets.
Kiyoshi SAWADA (Japan): My comment will be brief as usual. My Government really appreciates the efforts made by FAO in challenging the subject of women in development. We understand that women in developing countries suffer from heavy work, malnutrition, illiteracy, and so on because at one time Japan had an old-fashioned feudal society which, however, still exists in local areas.
It is obvious that women, who make up half the population, play a very important role in every society. Improvement of their position needs an integrated approach which includes not only agriculture, but education, sanitation, etcetera. Fundamentally there is a need for the development of the total social condition and of the self-consciousness of people. Therefore, the activities of FAO should be conducted with other UN agencies and relevant organizations.
In response to the Action Plan presented by the United Nations and the FAO, my Government has established a guideline which takes into account women's participation, their benefit in planning implementation and the evaluation of projects. Also, the Japanese Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries has begun three types of training courses for women in development. In plain language, one is for government officials, one is for cooperatives officials and another is for leaders of rural women's groups. However, in my personal opinion these courses are still a kind of case study in Japan. It is necessary to train trainers. We do hope FAO will continue to take the initiative in this field based on its expertise.
Ulrich D. KNÜPPEL (EEC): We would like to thank the Secretariat for an informative Report and Dr Dutia for his useful introduction. Both have paved the way for an extremely productive discussion and obviously we also welcome the proposed addition to FAO's programme priorities.
The actions taken by the European Community in support of women's integration in development clearly follow FAO's orientation in this field. Women in Development (WID) has become an increasingly important development issue, not only because of equity concerns, but also as a result of the recognition that the integration of women in development operations is of vital importance for the chances of economic success and sustainable development. Indeed, the fourth Lomé Convention between the European Community and 69 countries from Sub-Saharan Africa, the Caribbean and the Pacific, underlines the important economic role of women and stipulates the need for both men and women to participate and benefit on equal terms from development operations. With the priority under Lomé IV continuing to be on rural development, the need to recognize and support women's role in the sectors of agriculture, livestock and fisheries is given particular attention.
Also in cooperation agreements between the Community and other development partners in Asia, Latin America and the Mediterranean countries, the women's dimension is increasingly incorporated. The Commission has undertaken a number of activities with the aim of producing tools and instruments to assist its staff in implementing the policy. Some examples include financial support for the production of a package of training materials on gender and development, finalized early in 1991 and which now serves for staff-training purposes. A further activity in this field was to carry out a thematic evaluation of nine mainstream projects in eight
African countries covering four sectors of rural development. In particular agriculture, animal husbandry, forestry and village drinking water supply. The aim was to assess the extent to which women had been taken into account and benefited from these projects, with the ultimate objective of arriving at a set of operational guidelines for the integration of women in development projects and programmes. This evaluation was concluded at the end of 1990 and, on the basis of the results, staff instructions and guidelines have been formulated as to how to ensure that women participate and benefit from future development operations financed by the Community.
Another activity being planned this year as a follow-up to this evaluation, is the organization of a training seminar in Africa for high-level development administrators from the eight African countries where the evaluation took place. In addition, the Commission is financing the production of country-profiles on the situation of women in a number of African, Caribbean and Pacific countries which will describe the cultural position and the economic role of women in these countries and will serve as a tool for staff responsible for development planning in the countries concerned.
Another injection to enhance the inclusion of women in mainstream development planning is the provision of short-term WID programming consultancies to the Commission Delegations in a selected number of countries with the aim to assist Delegation staff and the relevant national authorities to incorporate the gender dimension in ongoing and planned EC financed projects and programmes.
As a result of these initiatives the national indicative programmes, which have now been formulated for the Lomé IV Convention, as well as programmes with Asian and Latin American countries, show an increasing awareness of the need to plan for measures to enable women to participate in and to benefit from projects financed by the Community.
This in turn has resulted in an increasing number of projects being prepared on the basis of gender-differentiated baseline data. This is the case, for example, in the Podor irrigation project in Senegal, which addresses, inter alia, women's need for irrigated fields, extension information and labour-saving technology.
In other projects, female technical assistance and/or local project staff has been appointed in order to make agricultural services accessible for women. This is the case in the Mono rural development programme in Benin, the Sekoto anti-desertification programme in Nigeria, the Savannes rural development programme in Togo and Punggur Utara irrigation project in Indonesia. In the artisanal fisheries sector, the Community-financed interventions usually include support for women's processing and marketing tasks through provision of credit, improved technology and training.
Also, specific actions for women are being financed such as the provision of technical assistance to the Ministry of Women's Affairs in Cameroon, the financing of support to 70 women's groups in Niger, etc.
Apart from such official cooperation, the Community has a large programme of co-financing in the field of NGO activity and, in this context, conditions are stipulated that project proposals have to provide information on how the women's dimension will be incorporated. The NGO
system of cofinancing is also a means of supporting innovative activities for improving the status of women, such as actions which address the issue of sexual violence, the legal status of women, awareness raising and networking.
We trust that our statement has shown that the Community and this Organization are following largely the same approaches. We are, therefore, confident that FAO and the Community in their cooperation in development projects will be able to include the dimension of women's participation to the largest extent possible.
Igor MARINCEK (Suisse): Nous avons pris connaissance du rapport du Secrétariat avec très grand intérêt et tenons à féliciter ses auteurs pour l'analyse très pertinente et critique (dans le sens constructif) de la problématique en question.
Le rapport 1991 englobe d'importants éléments nouveaux relatifs à l'environnement, les problèmes de population, l'ajustement structurel ainsi que l'introduction d'une nouvelle approche "Gender Awareness". Il ne s'agit pas d'une version simplement remaniée des années précédentes répétant les mêmes discours d'intention et les propos justificateurs de ce que l'on n'a pas pu faire.
Le rapport évite tout ton "misérabiliste" que l'on retrouve souvent dans la littérature sur le sujet pour adopter une position positive vis-à-vis des femmes. Il met en évidence "la place de premier plan qu'elles occupent dans le processus de production, de transformation et de distribution, et le rôle vital qu'elles jouent dans la gestion de l'environnement. La plupart d'entre elles n'ont cependant pas accès aux ressources et aux services qui en feraient des partenaires sur un pied d'égalité". Le rapport ne s'arrête pas là mais cherche aussi à analyser les difficultés, obstacles et mécanismes du "cercle vicieux féminin", et en tire les conséquences qui s'imposent.
Nous soutenons pleinement la stratégie qu'entendent poursuivre à l'avenir les auteurs du rapport et souhaitons qu'ils (et elles) soient non seulement entendus mais également suivis dans leurs efforts par l'Organisation tout entière.
Nous souhaitons vivement que la formation en "Gender Analysis", que nous approuvons vivement, aura l'effet d'un catalyseur d'un réel changement dans les esprits et dans les interventions de la FAO et ne deviendra pas une simple mesure administrative obligatoire appliquée sans conviction.
Nous avons confiance que la direction de la FAO y veille, nous attendons d'ores et déjà avec intérêt le prochain rapport sur cette importante question qu'est l'intégration des femmes dans le développement.
Il est bien connu que les femmes qui ont la possibilité et la chance d'avoir pu profiter d'une bonne éducation et formation professionnelle, de participer sur un pied d'égalité au développement, de prendre leur sort en mains en tant qu'individu souverain, que ces femmes sont aussi mieux préparées pour contrôler leur fertilité et pour aborder la question d'égale à égal avec leur mari.
La participation des femmes au développement contribue ainsi à assurer que les enfants mis au monde soient des enfants effectivement désirés, des enfants aimés et des enfants qui ne sont pas laissés à leur sort, des enfants qui étaient véritablement susceptibles de pouvoir participer à leur tour au développement en tant qu'individu responsable de leur sort. Il y a là un lien important entre le problème des investissements insuffisants dans le capital humain, en particulier dans le capital humain des filles et des femmes, et la valorisation insuffisante de ce capital humain d'une part, et les problèmes démographiques et le défi d'assurer une alimentation suffisante pour les générations futures dans un monde de ressources limitées d'autre part. Ma délégation tenait à rappeler cet aspect de la question qui n'est pas apporté dans ce document.
Jaime GARCIA Y BADIAS (España): Señor Presidente, queremos agradecer al Dr. Dutia por su completa exposición del documento C 91/14.
Mi delegación ha leido con mucha atención el documento elaborado por la Secretaria y deseamos indicar que apoyamos el Plan de Acción indicado en el punto 7. Igualmente nos complacen las prioridades para la ejecución del Plan de Acción. En este sentido, creemos que se debe apoyar a la FAO, en todas sus iniciativas, que tienden a lograr los objetivos propuestos.
En conclusión, desearíamos indicar que, para España, debe hacerse un esfuerzo suplementario en el capítulo Formación y Capacitación, con procesos permanentes de reciclaje que le permita a las mujeres, igualar en sus oportunidades a los hombres, evitando en lo posible la pérdida del nivel alcanzado.
Apoyamos las propuestas de Colombia y Canadá, por su visión global y permanente en pro de la mujer.
Aplaudimos la integración del punto 8 de las prioridades que incorpora el "Desarrollo sostenible, gestión de recursos naturales y medio ambiente".
Muchas gracias, Señor Presidente.1
Samuel OGIDI (Nigeria): Women have been recognized as essential in our National Development a long time ago. Their recognition has been increasing steadily up to the present high peak, thanks largely to the dynamism of Nigeria's First Lady, Marian Babangida.
Thus Home Economics (HE) was taught at both secondary and tertiary institutions for educational, health and agricultural purposes.
The role of women particularly in Agricultural (Rural) Development was recognized at the Federal, State and Local Government Area (LGA) levels where Home Economics Division/Sections were created in their respective Ministries of Agriculture and Natural Resources (MANR).
1 Texto incluido en las actas a petición expresa.
With the present administration's emphasis on Rural Development the HE Division of the Department of Rural Development was (in 1990) merged with the Directorate of Food, Roads and Rural Infrastructures (DFRRI).
It was assumed that the organizers of this Conference invited DFRRI hence our coming unarmed with hard statistics to support this response. Organizers are requested to note the above information for follow-up action just as the speaker will take it up back home to keep FAO abreast of development in the area.
Effort to bring women fully into the mainstream of National Development in Nigeria is being made at both the political and institutional level currently.
At the political level the Nigerian First Lady has spearheaded and ably brought the gender issue to the limelight. She tagged her crusade "Better Life for Rural Women". It has gained wide acceptance and recognition both nationally and internationally. Better Life concept has now been established at the Federal, State and LGA levels.
Objectives: The Better Life objective has been to create awareness within the nation of the role women have been playing and could play in national development.
Sensitize women at all levels to their role and importance in national development politically and practically.
Facilitate their effective participation through:
More effective extension which recognizes cultural differences nationwide; supply of agricultural input; training; employment; encouragement of more interaction among women through workshops, seminars, and organization at village level of women cooperatives.
Results: As a result there is now:
A very positive political will to fully involve and harness our female human resources in development.
Women have organized and are organizing formally and informally down to the grass roots throughout the nation.
Better Life programme and HE have been organized at Federal/State and LGA levels.
Both Better Life programme and HE are receiving budgetary allocations.
Women in Agriculture is part of our Agricultural Development Programme nationwide.
In closing, while congratulating FAO for its commendable achievement so far, this delegation will like to support fully the action plan contained in the "Second Progress Report on Implementation of the Plan of Action for Integration of Women in Development".
Strongly endorses the Nordic Countries' position, namely to include "more information on the results achieved in the various developing country projects and programmes, constraints experienced in implementing them, lessons learned".
This will not only justify FAO's expenditure on the WID programme but will also help in the cross-fertilization of ideas and experiences.
Thank you Mr Chairman.1
Mrs Marasee SURAKUL (Thailand): Thank you, Mr Chairman. It is a great pleasure for me to have this opportunity to address this Commission, on behalf of the Thai delegation, and to voice our view on this important item.
At the outset, I would like to take this opportunity to express our appreciation to the secretary for his report on the Plan of Action for the Integration of Women into Agricultural and Rural Development. It is no doubt that women, who make up half of the world population, have a development process at the national, regional and international level. My delegation strongly supports the Conference Resolution 7/89. My delegation appreciates that FAO has put forward their endeavours to the Integration of Women in Development into FAO Regular and Field Programme Activities for the Present Biennium 1990-91. We also support the idea that FAO urge member countries to support the Technical Training for Women and Training in Women in Development. My delegation is gratified with the fact that Thailand has been actively involved with UN activities in the field of women in development, such as the International Women's Year in 1975, the UN Decade for Women between 1976-1985 and the Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies for the Advancement of Women. In this connection, we would like to reiterate our support to the Second Progress Report on the Implementation of the Plan of Action for Integration of Women in Development.2
Russell MULELE (Zambia): Mr Chairman, my delegation would like to make a brief intervention on the topic under discussion now.
In the first instance we would like to compliment Mr Dutia for his very brief and clear introduction of the subject.
In the same vein, we wish to commend the Secretariat for the high quality of the report we are now discussing.
Mr Chairman, the Zambian delegation is very pleased to note the steps taken and being taken by FAO in implementing the Plan of Action for the integration of Women in Development. In particular, we note with satisfaction the achievement made in the area of training FAO staff members in Women in Development and Gender Analysis.
1 Statement inserted in the Verbatim Records on request
2 Statement inserted in the Verbatim Records on request.
We have no doubt that this reorientation will give FAO a balanced approach in its endeavours to assist Member Nations in the programme of integrating Women in Development.
While, we note the laudable efforts FAO is making in filling some professional posts with women, we would like to caution that such an exercise should not be at the expense of the essential ingredients of requisite professional qualifications and experience.
Mr Chairman, we in Zambia, like many other countries truly appreciate the important role of our women folk in national development. For we cannot ignore the contribution of 50 percent of the population. Doing so would seriously slow down the process of development if not curtail it.
In this regard, Government intervention aims at giving women equal opportunities in the spheres of economic, social and political development, amongst others.
Mr Chairman, you may wish to know that in our efforts to continue to integrate women in development, the Government set up, early this year, a special fund targeted at women (especially the disadvantaged ones). From it, women can borrow money to start their small businesses, especially those related to agricultural and rural development. I should, of course, indicate that only viable project enterprises are funded. This fund is administered by one of the Agricultural Credit Banks - the Lima Bank. Following Government sensitization of women to this fund, an overwhelming response has been received. It is hoped that a number of women small-scale entrepreneurs will benefit from this Government effort and positively contribute to the development in Zambia.
Mr Chairman, in concluding, we would like, once again, to thank FAO for the actions and steps taken to facilitate the implementation of the Plan of Action for integration of Women in Development. We heartily welcome the inclusion of the item of "Sustainable Development, Natural Resource Management and Environment" to the list of Programme Priorities for implementation in the Medium Term, 1992-97. This is very much in line with the increasing emphasis on matters pertaining to sustainable agriculture and development.1
Wilberforce SAKIRA (Uganda): Women are an important cog in the development of agriculture and rural development the whole world over. In most countries with developing economies it is women who comprise the largest percentage of the population engaged in Agriculture. Our delegation noted with concern that farm women are faced with the lack of access to land and fewer opportunities to obtain credit, training extension and marketing facilities. However, it was pleasing to learn that FAO had addressed itself to these constraints in various member countries. We urge FAO to continue tackling giving necessary assistance and technical expertise in this regard.
1 Statement inserted in the Verbatim Records on request
Mr Chairman, our delegation had the opportunity to participate in the Council Session held in June this year. Council recommended that research and technology should take into account women's special needs, particularly the reduction of the time spent by women on their agricultural production activities as well as on their household work. In this respect we call upon FAO to assist in the generation of technology related to the processing of crops and fisheries products and technologies which will reduce the drudgery of women in the preparation of food for their families. Mr Chairman as you might be aware, in developing countries, in a home, women do almost everything such as digging, fetching water, collecting firewood in addition to preparing meals. However, the technologies used are rudimentary making work very tedious. Thus the need to develop technologies for food processing and preparation. Our delegation commends the efforts so far made by FAO in reducing drudgery in this respect. We urge FAO to spread the technology developed in Burkina Faso to other areas of the African Continent and possibly other areas of the globe where millet is part of their diet.
We strongly commend the efforts taken by FAO in increasing the number of women professional staff on its payroll. However, we urge FAO to consider the possibility of introducing more preferential measures in favour of women candidates as was voiced during the Council Session in June this year.
Our delegation noted with satisfaction that "gender concerns are being addressed in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of projects" as indicated in paragraph 38. We urge FAO to continue giving preference to women in some specific project resources like those indicated in paragraph 40 because such projects create meaningful impact. In this regard we suggest that whenever possible resources should be channelled through village women groups rather than individuals. In Uganda we have women groups involved in vegetable growing, pineapple production and fish marketing. Our experience shows that in groups of that kind, it is relatively easy to effect coordination and management and the members can easily get access to credit.
We earnestly recommend that FAO continues encouraging women in carrying out income-generating activities as indicated in paragraph 52.
My delegation strongly supports the notion that assistance is needed in developing training materials and in redesigning curricula to reflect WID concerns in Home Economics and Agriculture at training schools and higher education institutions as revealed in paragraph 58. My Government has already taken initiatives in this direction. Agriculture is now a compulsory subject at all levels of education. Secondly it is because of the vital role of women in development that my Government recently created a whole faculty in one of our leading universities known as the Faculty of Women in Development to address the issues related to women-folk.
Last, Mr Chairman, we support the seven priority areas specified in the document and also endorse that FAO should address WID in sustainable development, natural resource management and environmental activities.1
1 Statement inserted in the Verbatim Records on request
Hermann REDL (Austria) : My delegation is pleased to note that the second progress report, as pointed out in document C 91/14, once again provides a comprehensive review of the efforts made to improve the situation of women in agriculture and rural activities. There is hardly any other walk of life in which success in work and the family depends more on women than agriculture. But there is hardly any other in which the burden placed on women, in the family, in the home and at work, is heavier, particularly if - as in many developing countries - the main part of the burden of agricultural work lies on their shoulders.
Thus when we speak of women in rural development, my delegation believes that we must no t forget the rural family.
Very often stock-breeding is also largely the responsibility of women. In part-time farming, which is widely practiced in Europe, they also act as head of the enterprise. In addition, the training and further training of girls and women lag far behind those of their male counterparts, so that women have a long way to catch up in this sphere.
It is heartening to note that training in home economics as an essential means of training for rural families is once again gaining importance and the FAO supports this development.
Special emphasis must also be given to the intensive technical training programme for women in Women in Development and the training programme for FAO staff.1
W.D. MAALOUF (Officer-in-Charge, Human Resources, Institutions and Agrarian Reform Division): I wish on behalf of the Secretariat to thank all delegates who spoke on this important subject, integration of women in agriculture and rural development. I thank them for their keen interest and discussion in commenting on the Second Progress Report on the Implementation of the Plan of Action. I also wish to thank the delegates who have commended FAO for the progress made in the implementation of the Plan of Action.
I would like the first to stress the point that this subject, the integration of women in agricultural and rural development, continues to have high priority in FAO's Programme of Work.
This is clear from the increase in the budget allocation for this sub-programme and the strengthening of the coordinating unit, the Women in Agricultural Production and Development Service, by the appointment of qualified specialists in this field.
Having said that, I would like now to attempt to answer some of the questions from the delegates.
The delegate from Canada asked four important questions, and several delegates made reference to these questions in their interventions. In attempting to provide answers to these questions I hope that I am also responding to the points raised by these delegates.
1 Statement inserted in the Verbatim Records on request
The first question was: What tools or mechanisms exist to consider the gender concerns in the planning, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of projects? Several instruments have been designed to integrate women in development issues in FAO's programmes and projects, and a discussion of these addresses several points raised by the Netherlands and the United States of America, and other delegations.
The first of these instruments is that the nearly completed gender analysis training programme for FAO staff has given tools and skills to integrate WID concerns throughout the project cycle.
On behalf of FAO I would like to thank Canada for its assistance in funding the second pilot gender analysis training course, which was important for development training methodology. We also thank Canada and Finland for supporting this service, Women in Agriculture and Rural Development, through the provision of assistance professional officers, and we would be happy to accept a list of potential consultants in women in development from Canada and other countries that may have such candidates.
Another means in this direction is the production of manuals and guidelines being developed in many technical areas. I will talk more about this in a moment.
The technical staff who have completed the gender analysis training programme serve on many project task forces and, therefore, technically backstop many projects from the formulation stage.
The staff of the Women in Development of Agriculture and Rural Development Service and members of the interdivisional working group are also on these Task Forces and can offer more detailed gender information as required. They also brief missions on a project-by-project basis.
Another means to integrate WID issues is carrying out research and studies to improve knowledge and data on women. The results are disseminated, and their use by planners, decision-makers and development agents is promoted in order to improve project efficiency in women in development. On this last point I should say that FAO welcomes any Member Government's collaboration on methodologies for collecting and utilizing gender disaggregated statistics and data bases.
I would like now to respond to the second question by the delegate of Canada. The question was as follows: What progress has been made in producing guidelines and manuals to integrate WID and what is the near-term plan in this regard? What progress on sectoral guidelines has been made? Some examples of these publications are found in paragraphs 63 to 68. I would like to add that several meetings have taken place with the Technical Divisions to identify priority technical areas and to define the modalities for the elaboration of the guidelines in several other areas. These include, inter alia, guidelines/manuals in population, in environment and sustainable development, and agricultural mechanization and technology development and transfer. These guidelines are meant to be used both by FAO specialists and their national counterparts.
The Women in Agriculture and Development Service is also working on a general design or format for guidelines and reviewing existing ones from other international organizations so as not to repeat work already done. It
is also planning work on a field manual for the incorporation of gender parameters and project formulation exercises.
A further question from the delegate from Canada is: What is the role and mandate of the WID divisional working group on Women in Development? It is a senior level structure that governs the process of integration in FAO. The WID divisional working group on Women in Development was created in 1986 as an advisory body to the Director-General on policies and strategies for integration of Women in Development.
This group is chaired by the Assistant Director-General of the Economic and Social Policy Department who reports directly to the Director-General. Since the action of the Plan of Action on Work this Assistant Director-General has been responsible also for monitoring the follow-up of the Plan. In recent years the membership has been upgraded by the addition of senior officers and this has increased the commitment of the senior level management structure for securing the implementation and follow-up of decisions. The interdivisional working group on Women in Development, members also act as focal points within their divisions and they maintain close contact with the Women in Development Service for the implementation of the service. For example, they are the contact points for the ongoing planning and development of guidelines and manuals. They also review their own programmes and projects for content and they assist the service in the preparation of periodic reports to Council, Conference and the Committees.
The fourth question, also by the delegate of Canada and referred to by several delegations, is the following: what progress has been achieved on screening projects for content and measuring impact. In April 1981 the post of Senior Officer onward was created with extra-budgetary funds from the Netherlands and I take this opportunity to thank the Netherlands for its assistance. The post is to assist in screening all FAO pipeline projects in order to check content. This is done in close collaboration with the Field Liaison Division and other Divisions as regards the measuring of impact, there are two main measures; one, we have designed a computerized system of all gender analysis training.
We plan to collect the first responses from trainees by 1992 on how they have used the training in their day-to-day work and the second is the coding system which has been developed this year with the active participation of the IDWG where the coding is proposed to be done three times in the project's life; the first time is the pipeline and the approval stage by the formulation mission and lead technical division, that means the task force which is in charge of formulation of the project is responsible for the coding.
The second time is the implementation stage through three tripartite review by the project task force. The third time is on the completion also by the project task force. There are three variables to be taken into consideration in this coding system. The first one is the potential of the project to include work; secondly the work targeted in work documentation, that means the project document itself; third, personnel participants and beneficiaries of the project. In addition evaluation missions receive the appropriate briefing from the service on agricultural development on how to measure the impact of the project on women using appropriate guidelines. We hope that through the system it will be possible to develop objective measures for the evaluation of the impact of the staff training.
Several delegations stressed the importance of staff training. I should like to provide some information about this activity. As pointed out by several delegations training remains crucial to the whole programme of integration of women in agriculture and rural development. FAO will continue to focus on that aspect and is envisaging the following measures for the future; gender analysis training for FAO staff at Headquarters and Regional offices. As mentioned by Dr Dutia in his introduction by the end of this year about 750 Professional Staff at Headquarters and Regional Offices will have completed their gender analysis training. The remaining number, 20/50, should complete their training within the first quarter of 1992. For this coming biennium training will concern new staff members, including FAO Representatives and Field Staff who have not yet attended the course. The training of the staff of the FAO Office in the Near East will be carried out early in 1992.
Now we will come to the second activity, which is with training at national level. The major thrust of the second phase of the training programme will be the training of key officers and the Ministries of Agriculture and the relevant national institutions of Member Governments. Upon request and depending on the availability of financial resources we intend to train national teams of trainers for country level training. FAO is continuing its efforts to encourage governments to include women in its training courses at all levels so that the number of women receiving fellowships, attending workshops, receiving training in the field could increase.
I wish briefly to respond to a question from the delegate of the Netherlands regarding the possible improvement of the training course. I wish to give a briefing on how this programme was developed and wish to mention that we have been privileged to have the assistance of four highly qualified institutions to their consultants; we had consultants from the London School of Economics; consultants from the Tropical Research and Development Centre in the United States and CIDA from Canada and also from the Royal Tropical Institute in the Netherlands. They helped us in the operation of this training course. Of course, improvement is always possible and we are thinking of reviewing the basic context of this programme. It has been only done in 1990 so it is a short time really but we intend also to have this review.
The second point of the question, of maybe the second question, is the training too general or can it be done more specifically by technical divisions. Well, the answer is that we have trainees in each course belonging to several technical divisions. It is costly, it is not even feasible, you would not find it possible to train the staff division-by-division; you could not stop the work of the division so in this respect we have to follow to some extent general topics but we also try to develop case studies by divisions so the participants from particular divisions can benefit. So we develop the exercise from various technical divisions but with regard to training of our colleagues in the regional offices we have developed case studies from that region. For example, from the region of Latin America we developed case studies of projects implemented in Latin America and Africa the same thing and the Far East the same thing and also the Near East. So this is the extent, the training becomes more specific in the regions than it is at Headquarters.
I would like to respond to comments from the delegate of India regarding the agricultural census and I would like to give the following information that as far as the programme for the 1990 World Census on Agriculture recommends all countries to collect data on gender of agricultural holders. This information is helpful to study the operational characteristics of smallholding run by women who are just starting preparations for the programme for the 2000 World Census for Agriculture where this subject will be further emphasized.
I would like to respond to some comments made by the delegates from regions of Latin America concerning the workshops which were held in El Salvador to define strategies and mechanisms for the implementation of the Plan of Action and I really thank them for commending FAO for holding these workshops.
With regard to the network, I would like to mention that FAO through the Regional Office in Latin America and FAO Headquarters provide assistance for holding the round table where this idea was endorsed and I am sure that our technical assistance will continue for this network but I would like to mention that it is up to the countries to give their assistance to this network for it to function.
I come to the last point which has been mentioned by several delegates concerning the employment of women in FAO and those delegates urge FAO to employ more professional women and they also requested Member Governments to present women candidates for vacant posts in the Organization. I wish to assure the delegates that FAO is doing its best to select five women candidates for vacant posts and certainly FAO encourages Member Governments to provide us with the women candidates for vacant posts as well as for consultants.
I hope that I have responded to most of the points of the question raised. Certainly I would be glad to provide more responses if the delegates wish me to do so.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): Are there any further comments? If there are no further comments then I would like to sum up briefly the discussions of this particular item.
I would like to make four points particularly; first of all, you agree with the efforts developed by FAO to implement the Plan of Action for integrating women. These balanced efforts have been successful under the certain priorities set out in the Plan of Action. You have also agreed to adopt the eighth priority concerning sustainable development and the management of natural resources and all of the delegations have paid tribute to the training activities carried on by FAO.
Delegations have expressed their satisfaction at the various activities carried on by FAO and the implementation of the other priorities.
Secondly, delegations have stated that member countries, with the assistance of FAO, should pursue the implementation of the Plan of Action because no success can be achieved in development without the act of involvement of women, particularly considering that women represent half, if not more, of the labour force throughout the world.
Thirdly, the majority of speakers have stressed the fact that knowledge and education are the basis for effective participation. That is why it is essential that training should be made available at all levels and that it should be made available to women.
Most of the speakers recommended to the countries concerned that they should promote women's access to these training programmes and that every measure should be taken with a view to integrating women into the development process, taking account of the specifics of each country and the cultural and social values of individual countries.
Fourthly, amongst the points that have been most emphasized, there is the matter of cooperation between FAO and other intergovernmental organizations with a view to pooling skills. This is a very important feature of development. Delegations have also stressed the importance of pursuing the dialogue at a regional level with a view to achieving the best possible results in the implementation of the Plan of Action, and we hope that it will be possible to achieve the objectives that were established for the Plan of Action.
In conclusion, allow me to thank all of you for your very useful contributions. We now close the discussion on this item of the agenda.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): We now resume our work on Item 6.4 concerning the forests, a draft resolution presented by Germany, Malawi and Tunisia. This draft was adopted by the World Forestry Congress. There are three documents submitted for consideration: C 91/LIM/42, C 91/LIM/41 and C 91/LIM/41-Sup.l.
We shall now be looking at this draft resolution. Does anyone wish to take the floor on this draft?
Hermann REDL (Austria) (Original language German): At the plenary, my delegation spoke out in favour of the results of the Tenth World Forestry Congress being introduced into the work programme of FAO. It was thus with special interest that we have followed the discussion concerning the World Forestry Congress here in Commission I.
My delegation supports the resolution text we have before us. As a co-sponsor, we would like to be included in the list of presenters.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): I thank the representative of Austria. Of course, we shall include Austria as a co-author of this draft resolution. May I call attention to the fact that this draft resolution is set out in C 91/LIM/41. Switzerland has made a proposal concerning paragraph 5 of this draft resolution, and therefore those of you who speak are invited also to give us your views on the draft amendment.
Paul Neville ROSS (Australia): Australia has had an opportunity to look in detail now at the draft resolution before us in C 91/LIM/41 and the amendment proposed by the delegate of Switzerland in document C 91/LIM/41-Sup.l.
We are supportive of the general intent of the resolution which urges the Conference to endorse the Paris Declaration of the Tenth World Forestry Congress. However, because this is the intention of the resolution, we feel that the wording of the resolution should accord more closely with that of the Paris Declaration. We would, therefore, like to propose the following amendments to the resolution.
In paragraph 3, we suggest that the words "forestry development efforts" at the end of the paragraph be replaced with "forestry management efforts" as appears in the Paris Declaration. This would also then be consistent with paragraph 2 of the draft resolution which refers to "sustainable management" of forests.
In paragraph 4, we propose that the words "sustainably produced" be inserted on the first line before "forest products". We also propose that the words "not in conformity with the GATT" be added at the end of the paragraph.
The paragraph would then read: "Exhorts all countries to promote the sound utilization of sustainably produced forest products and to work towards harmonious development of international trade in these products free from the imposition of unilateral restrictions not in conformity with the GATT".
The inclusion of the words "sustainably produced", we feel, reflects more accurately the intent of the Paris Declaration which speaks out strongly for sustainable management of forests.
The conclusions and recommendations of the World Forestry Congress, which the Secretariat has provided for our consideration, also gives due emphasis to the sustainable management of forests and the sustainable production and utilization of forest products.
The second change to this paragraph again we feel more accurately reflects the wording of the Paris Declaration which mentions the prohibition of any unilateral restriction not in conformity with the GATT. This change would also make the paragraph accord with paragraph 23 of the Draft Report of Commission I on the Tenth World Forestry Congress, which we are to consider today.
We hope that the Commission will agree to these amendments to the Resolution.
Finally Australia is happy to support the proposal by Switzerland to strengthen paragraph 5 of the Resolution.
David JOSLYN (United States of America): My delegation was one of the delegations that welcomed this draft resolution when it was proposed by the distinguished delegate of Tunisia, but at the same time asked for more time to look at the specific language.
We thank you for that time. We have looked at the language of both the original Draft Resolutions and the amendment proposed by Switzerland. We have also listened to the suggested wording changes of the distinguished delegate of Australia to bring the language of numbers 3 and 4 of the draft Resolution into conformance with the Paris Declaration, and we fully support the Draft Resolution as it now stands amended.
David DRAKE (Canada): I would like to echo the words of my American colleague, and support the amendments which Australia has just made in their entirety, and the amendment submitted by Switzerland.
Igor MARINCEK (Suisse): Quelques mots pour expliquer l'amendement proposé par ma délégation.
La délégation suisse propose l'amendement du paragraphe 5 afin de le rendre vraiment opérationnel, pour que notre Conférence donne un mandat clair à l'Organisation en ce qui concerne le suivi du Congrès forestier mondial de cette année. C'est là l'intention de l'amendement de ma délégation qui se trouve dans le document C 91/LIM/41-Sup.1.
D'autre part, ma délégation a été approchée par d'autres délégations qui ont demandé de proposer un court ajout au paragraphe ii). Nous proposons d'ajouter après les mots: "Programme d'action forestier méditerranéen", "ainsi que dans les régions où les forêts sont les plus menacées."
Hans-Dietrich VON BOTHMER (Germany) (Original language German): We too support the suggestions of the Australian delegate, because we were involved in both the Resolutions Committee and Drafting Committee in Paris, and the Paris Declaration must be brought as closely as possible into alignment.
Furthermore, we take the view that through the extension of the proposal as suggested by Switzerland this Draft Resolution has gained substantially.
I would also like to suggest that the first line of Number 3 in document C 91/LIM/41 should read: "Appeals to the international community to provide assistance to developing countries...", thereby deleting the words "financial and technical". This is to avoid possible difficulty with Finance Ministries at home.
I would again be grateful if we could have the amendments read out, please.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): We have many amendments before us now and I hope that this will not add to the general confusion.
Paulo Estivallet de MESQUITA (Brazil): As you have said, we have quite a few amendments now, in addition to the original proposal, upon which we would also like to comment.
Let me start by referring to the proposals put forward by the distinguished delegate of Australia who said that we should adhere as closely as possible to the wording of the Paris Declaration. However in some unaccountable way he then proposed the addition in number 4 of the words "of sustainably produced products". That was not mentioned in the Paris Declaration. I do not have strong feelings against this, but I think he has gone somewhat beyond the Paris Declaration in trying to interpret it when, of course, his intention is to improve on the Paris Declaration.
In the same spirit of trying to improve on the Paris Declaration, I think we should leave in the words "forestry development efforts" there. I do not think there is an exact parallel between the use of the word "management" in that sentence, and the second paragraph of this Draft Resolution. The first wording is more restrictive. I also was there - I also was in the Drafting Group of the Paris Congress, and I think that the idea was to assist developing countries to develop their forestry sectors. I am here again referring to the spirit of the Paris Declaration. On this point therefore I would like to make a linkage between these two amendments - the one on "development" and the one on "sustainably produced" - that is, the two amendments proposed by the delegate of Australia in numbers 3 and 4.
On the other amendment, "free from the imposition of unilateral restrictions not in conformity with GATT", I find it unnecessary. I have always believed that it goes without saying. However, if there is insistence on it, I have no objection.
If I may now refer to the proposal submitted by the delegate from Switzerland concerning paragraph (i): I think that here we have a proposal which is a little too ambitious to be accepted without further in-depth discussion. I do not want to say that we should not have an international programme for monitoring the status of the world's forest resources, but I think it is premature at this stage to have the Conference endorse, or request the Organization to formulate, such an international programme. My suggestion is that this sub-paragraph just be deleted - completely deleted.
In sub-paragraph 5(iii) I suggest that the words "the uncontrolled destruction of forests" be deleted and replaced with the word "deforestation". I make this proposal with the goal of contributing to a more sober examination of these issues.
In sub-paragraph 5(iv) the reference to participation "in the formulation of related international cooperative agreements and arrangements" seems to me somewhat vague. We all know that agreements and arrangements are usually synonymous with legally binding instruments, and, since we do not have consensus on this, I think that we should end the paragraph with the word
"strategies", so that the words "and to participate in the formulation of related international cooperative agreements and arrangements;" should be deleted.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): As I said before, amendments are now coming in thick and fast. We have amendments now from Australia, Switzerland, Germany and Brazil.
Miss Ting WEN LIAN (Malaysia): I requested the floor to make some comments on the Australian suggestion, but my Brazilian colleague has almost taken the words out of my mouth. I agree with him that if, as the Australian delegate was at pains to say, the wording of this Resolution should be harmonious with, or in conformity with, or close to spirit of, the Paris Declaration, then for instance the words "sustainably produced" were certainly not mentioned there. I also attended the World Forestry Congress, and, like Brazil, I was personally in the Drafting Group. I would therefore suggest that the words "sustainably produced" should be deleted. Regarding Australia's other amendment, on forestry development through management, I think we would prefer the one word "development" because, as Brazil said, that has less restrictive connotations.
As for the other amendments suggested by Australia, "not in conformity with GATT":' my delegation can live with that, because during the discussions concerning the phraseology to be used in the Paris Declaration, we did indeed come across the phrase "not in conformity with GATT".
Coming now to the proposal of the delegate of Switzerland: we also agree that 5(i) should be deleted, because this is a new programme which merits a more profound discussion. For it just to appear in a resolution is not giving it the attention which it should have.
My delegation has no objection whatever to monitoring, especially as FAO has the World Forestry Assessment. Perhaps at the end of it all, if there is a necessity to continue, we should discuss this at greater length, and we would certainly give it our favourable attention. So I agree that 5(i) should be deleted.
As for 5(iii) I am also in agreement with the delegate of Brazil that the phrase "the uncontrolled destruction of forests" be deleted and replaced with the word "deforestation", because I think the phrase "the uncontrolled destruction of forests" is unnecessarily emotive and we certainly need to discuss the subject of deforestation or any forestry issue with a great deal of calm.
As for 5(iv) my delegation agrees with the delegation of Brazil that we should delete the last phrase beginning with "and to participate in the formulation of related international cooperative agreements and arrangements", not only because it is rather vague, but because of what FAO has been asked to do in (iv) if the outcome is such that it would lead to the formulation of whatever. That would follow quite logically, and there is no need to pre-empt what we are asking FAO to do, and to pre-judge the outcome with this phrase. So my delegation would like to have that phrase deleted.
Those are my delegation's preliminary comments at this stage. Of course, we will take the floor accordingly when we hear other comments.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): I would like us to go through the Draft Resolution paragraph by paragraph, so we will begin with the first paragraph of the operational part. This is obviously preferable to amendments being made here and there to the whole Draft Resolution which are then difficult to assimilate. So would delegates agree that we should go through paragraph by paragraph?
May I remind delegates that we are looking at the Draft Resolution on the Endorsement of the Paris Declaration of the World Forestry Congress presented by the delegations of Germany, Malawi, Tunisia and Austria. Are there any other co-sponsors?
Tadeusz STROJWAS (Poland): Briefly, if the amendment of the delegate of Switzerland is acceptable, then Poland would also join the co-sponsors or co-authors of this Resolution.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): As far as the amendment of the delegate of Switzerland is concerned, there are those who approve it and those who reject it. We might reach a compromise, but would you like to be one of the co-sponsors, or not?
Tadeusz SROJWAS (Poland): I understood you asked if we would like to be a co-sponsor of the whole Resolution, or do you have in mind only one paragraph?
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): Of course I am asking you to co-sponsor the whole Draft Resolution.
Tadeusz STROJWAS (Poland): Poland generally is very, very much in favour of approving this Resolution. I asked earlier for the floor to support wholeheartedly the amendment proposed by the delegate of Switzerland. If, now, we are going to discuss the text of the Resolution paragraph by paragraph, I have nothing to say at this moment, but I shall, with your permission, ask for the floor when the amendment of the delegate of Switzerland is discussed.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): We will start with the first paragraph. "The Conference, considering the importance of the Tenth World Forestry Congress held in Paris, France in September 1991 on the theme "Forests, a heritage for the future" as a means to renew the commitment of mankind to sustainable management of this vital natural resource."
That is adopted.
Second paragraph - "Recalling that it had on many occasions in the past drawn attention to the threat posed by the rapid disappearance of forests and that conservation and rational use of forests has become imperative." Are there any comments? Adopted.
Third paragraph - "Convinced that the present generation has an obligation to act as a responsible trustee of forests as resources of vital importance for future generations." Any comments? Adopted.
Fourth paragraph - "Noting with satisfaction the recognition given by the Congress to FAO's work in the field of forestry." Any comments? That is adopted.
Paragraph 1 - "Fully endorses the Paris Declaration;". Any comments?
P. Natigor SIAGIAN (Indonesia): During our interventions three or four days ago we called attention to the fact that the recommendations and conclusions of the Paris Conference were not made very clear. May I propose, perhaps with the help of the Secretariat, an improvement in the language so that this paragraph would say in English, "Fully endorses the Paris Declaration and the recommendations and conclusions of the Tenth World Forestry Congress in Paris".
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): We have a proposal from the delegate of Indonesia to amend the first paragraph to read as follows: "Fully endorses the Paris Declaration and recommendations and conclusions of the Tenth World Forestry Congress in Paris". Are there any comments?
Vishnu BHAGWAN (India): Perhaps we could amend it to say, "Fully endorses the conclusions and recommendations of the Paris Congress". I think the Paris Declaration is included in one of the conclusions and recommendations of the Paris Congress. If that is correct, we can amend paragraph 1 as I am suggesting.
C.H. MURRAY (Assistant Director-General, Forestry Department): With respect to the amendments being proposed, the Secretariat would be quite happy to support the idea of referring both to the recommendations and conclusions as well as the Declaration. In fact, these are two separate documents. The process, so to speak, of the conclusions and recommendations distributed a couple of days ago shows clearly this document referring to conclusions and recommendations complements the final Declaration of the Congress. These are two separate things - one is directed to administrators, professionals and the like, and the other is directed to policy makers. So I suggest you refer to them both so that the phrase can read, "Fully endorses the conclusions and recommendations of the Congress and the Paris Declaration".
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): Do you insist on your proposal, delegate of India?
Vishnu BHAGWAN (India): No.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): So we now have the proposal put forward by the delegate of Indonesia. If there are no objections then we can adopt this amendment proposed by the delegate of Indonesia. Adopted. It is adopted with the amendment of Indonesia.
Paragraph No.2: Calls upon Member States, institutions and individuals to heed the solemn appeal of the Tenth World Forestry Congress for actions to green the world through afforestation, reforestation and sustainable management of the multiple functions of trees and forests and to implement programmes in pursuit of Congress recommendations.
Are there any comments on paragraph 2? I hear no comments. It is adopted.
Paragraph No. 3: Appeals to the international community to provide financial and technical assistance to developing countries and to countries with economies in transition in support of their forestry development efforts.
For this paragraph we have two amendments, one tabled by Germany for the deletion of the words "financial and technical", and another one from Australia to say, instead of forestry development, the management of forestry. Two countries have rejected this amendment.
May I ask the delegate of Australia if he insists on his amendment?
Paul Neville ROSS (Australia): Mr Chairman, I still feel that the word "management" more closely reflects what is in the Paris Declaration. There are a number of references throughout the wording that comment on sustainable management. I have not found the word "development" anywhere in the Declaration.
Paulo Estivallet de MESQUITA (Brazil): Just a word to help the delegate of Australia. In the Paris Declaration it is affirmed that the real challenge is to reconcile the economic use of natural resources and protection of the environment through an integrated and sustainable development approach.
The next sentence of the Paris Declaration says that the solution to forest problems requires combined effort to reduce poverty, increase agricultural productivity, etc., and promote development. There are other references that, if necessary, I could point to.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): Iran and India have asked for the floor, but may I give the floor first to the Secretariat because it seems that Mr Murray has a compromise solution.
C.H. MURRAY (Assistant Director-General, Forestry Department): In order to take into account the views expressed by the delegates for Brazil, Malaysia and Australia, may I suggest that we use the expression that has been worked out and is being employed in the UNCED process. That declaration is deposited in the Declaration to which you are referring. Instead of simply referring to "development" or simply referring to "management", we might say "management, conservation and sustainable development". If that were to
be accepted, the clause would then read: "Appeals to the international community to provide assistance to developing countries and to countries with economies in transition in support of the management, conservation and sustainable development of their forests".
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): We now have this compromise put forward by the Secretariat. Are there any comments on this compromise?
Morad Ali ARDESHIRI (Iran, Islamic Republic of): I just want to support the amendment proposed by Mr Murray because his terminology from a technical viewpoint is somehow different. We need conservation of forests and we also need management of forests. We also need sustainable development concerning the forest issues. Therefore, from a technical viewpoint I strongly support the amendment proposed by Mr Murray.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): Perhaps we can now adopt the amendment proposed by the Secretariat. As far as the first amendment tabled by Germany, which asks for the deletion of the words "financial and technical", are there any comments?
Samir ABU-JAWDEH (Liban) (Langue originale arabe): Nous ne souhaitons pas soulever une polémique. Malheureusement nous ne pouvons pas demander à une organisation, à un pays ou à une société de faire quelque chose, et ensuite se retourner contre eux. Alors comment pouvons-nous demander à la communauté internationale de fournir une assistance sans parler d'assistance financière et technique? C'est pour cette raison que nous lançons un appel à la communauté internationale pour une assistance financière et technique, sinon cet appel n'aurait plus aucun sens. A mon avis, nous préférerions ne pas supprimer les termes "assistance financière et technique", bien au contraire, nous ne devrions pas modifier cette partie de la phrase.
Hans-Dietrich VON BOTHMER (Germany) (Original language German): Mr Murray mentioned the wording from UNCED, and in the Paris Declaration it says increased national and international provisions. I would plead that we should adopt a similar formulation and, therefore, I will withdraw my reservation. I agree with the current form.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): Can we then adopt paragraph 3 with the amendment proposed by the Secretariat? I hear no objection. It is adopted.
We move now to paragraph 4: Exhorts all countries to promote the sound utilization of forest products and to work towards harmonious development of international trade in these products free from the imposition of unilateral restrictions.
On this paragraph there was an addition to be added at the end of the paragraph, "especially those that are in contradiction or who do not agree with the deliberations going on at the GATT". Is there any objection to this addition? I hear no objection.
There was a proposal to add after the word "forest" the word "sustainability" or "sustainable". Are there any comments?
Paul Neville ROSS (Australia): I made the suggestion earlier that the words sustainably produced" be inserted before the words "forest products" on the first line. Having heard the comments of the delegates from Brazil and Malaysia, in the interests of compromise I am prepared to withdraw that suggestion.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): May I take it that the Commission adopts paragraph 4 with the addition of "especially those that are not in agreement with the negotiations going on at the GATT"?
Jaime GARCIA Y BADIAS (España): Solamente desearía rogarle nos pudiera leer cómo ha quedado definitivamente el punto 4 con las modificaciones introducidas.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): Paragraph 4 remains as it is without any change but at the end of the paragraph we add the following "especially those that do not agree with the deliberations going on at the GATT".
David JOSLYN (United States of America): My only problem on that is with the English translation we are receiving. I believe the original proposal was in English and was something like "not in conformity with the GATT". If that is how this is recorded I have no problem with it.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): Yes, this is the amendment "not in conformity with the GATT". I hear no objections. It is adopted.
On paragraph 5 we have a proposal tabled by Switzerland but firstly I have a question to put to you. Would you like to have the paragraph as it is in the draft resolution or do you prefer the paragraph put forward by Switzerland?
Samir ABU-JAWDEH (Liban) (Langue originale arabe): Je voudrais tout d'abord remercier la délégation suisse car son amendement est beaucoup plus clair que le texte initial. Je pense que nous devrions étudier ce texte en détail car, à une seconde lecture, nous constatons qu'il est bien plus clair. C'est pourquoi nous appuyons la proposition faite par la délégation de la Suisse; et je demande à la Commission de faire de même.
Tadeusz STROJWAS (Poland): I would strongly endorse what has just been said by the representative of Lebanon. This amendment proposed by the delegation of Switzerland brings more clarity to the whole resolution the aim of which, as we understand, is to endorse the Paris Declaration and all the resolutions of the World Congress from Paris.
Morad Ali ARDESHIRI (Iran, Islamic Republic of): Concerning paragraph 5-Sup.1 I would like to support the amendment made by the delegates of Brazil and Malawi but in some part of this paragraph "we will fully support" that means to promote completion of 1990 World Forestry Resources Assessment. Delete sub-paragraph 1 and change it to this sentence if possible, "promote the compilation of 1991 World Forest Resources Assessment". Sub-paragraph 2, we fully support sub-paragraph 2 as is mentioned in the amendment made by the delegate of Switzerland. Subparagraph 3 my delegation would like to support the amendment made...
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): At the present time we are not discussing paragraph 5. We are discussing the amendments, whether we wish to adopt paragraph 5 as we had it in C 91/LIM/41, or the Swiss-proposed amendment.
Morad Ali ARDESHIRI (Iran, Islamic Republic of): If you are not going to discuss in detail I would like to support the amendment by the delegate of Malaysia.
Miss Ting WEN LIAN (Malaysia): I think you have made a very sound proposal, that is to ask us whether we would like to see C 91/LIM/41 paragraph 5 remain as it is and do away with the proposal submitted by the delegation of Switzerland. In that case my delegation would like to support the proposal that we retain LIM/41, paragraph 5 as it is and not deal with the proposals submitted by Switzerland.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): Would anyone care to second that proposal by Malaysia? I see no seconder for that proposal.
Vishnu BHAGWAN (India): I could live with the paragraph as in the original document C 91/LIM/41. In that case we can retain this paragraph 5 and not consider the other one.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): We have a balance here we have two delegations in favour of the Swiss proposal and two countries that would prefer us to maintain paragraph 5 as we have it in C 91/LIM/41.
Paolo Estivallet de MESQUITA (Brazil): I just wanted to say that I could also live without the amendment proposed by Switzerland and leave the fifth paragraph as it is.
Hermann REDL (Austria) (Original language German): I wanted to state afresh that we support the Swiss proposal and also the statements by Netherlands and Poland.
Frederik C. PRILLEVITZ (Netherlands): I have the impression that the amendment of the Swiss delegation is not necessary so I support Brazil, and, I believe, Malaysia. I do not think that added to what we already have in the other operative paragraphs, so it is more a practical reason that we can have the operative paragraphs. We could shorten the discussion.
David JOSLYN (United States of America): I am not sure I am going to be awfully helpful with this, except to tell you what I think about this. It seems to me that while, of course, my delegation can live with paragraph 5 as it is, like so many delegations have said, what had me so confused, is that if in fact the Conference, which is the ultimate body that makes the decision about FAO is going to the trouble of working on some sort of a resolution coming out of the Paris World Forestry Congress why would it stop in making recommendations, short of making recommendations to its own agency? So far this resolution only talks in general terms, only endorses the Paris Declaration which, of course, we do too, but now we are about to stop short of suggesting to the FAO what it might do. I have serious concerns as to why in fact we are even doing a resolution in that case. Why don't we just endorse the Paris Declaration and go about our business? I can live with paragraph 5 as it is but I do believe that the Swiss recommendation for amendment actually puts some substance to our work and might be worth ten or fifteen minutes to go through and see if we can make some sense out of it, for the institution that we are in fact governing at this time.
Srta. Martha VAZQUEZ (México): La delegación mexicana podria en principio aprobar el párrafo 5 del C 91/LIM/41 en su forma actual, uniéndose a lo expresado ya por algunas delegaciones.
P. Natigor SIAGIAN (Indonesia): We can agree with the proposal of Malaysia and then India. It is not because we wanted to see the more detailed explanation on the other papers but this ministerial conference should try to have a broad consensus on this matter and I think that Germany, Malawi and Tunisia proposed this, it has taken into account all aspects to get the successful approval of this Conference. We have committees on forestry; we will deal with this on details, so, I am so happy to see this paragraph 5, the old paragraph 5 proposed by Tunisia and Germany.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): May I ask the delegate of Switzerland if he wishes to press his proposal?
Igor MARINCEK (Suisse): Pour aider notre Conférence à continuer ses travaux dans les délais impartis, ma délégation est prête à retirer sa proposition d'amendement.
Nous espérons cependant que l'on arrivera à retrouver quelques idées opérationnelles dans le rapport de notre Commission sur ce point de l'ordre du jour.
Neil FRASER (New Zealand): I do not intervene on a matter of substance. I think there is a way in which one small part of the Swiss amendment could be retained, and is in the title of the resolution. If you look at the title of the resolution in C 91/LIM/41 it says "...of the X World Forestry Congress", whereas for stylistic reasons it should be spelt out as the word "Tenth".
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): In Arabic we have no problem in understanding that that means the Tenth Congress. Therefore, we will adjust the other languages and bring them into line with the Arabic.
Thanks to the cooperation of the Swiss delegation at this time, since the Swiss delegate has withdrawn his proposed amendment, may I take it that paragraph 5, as we have it in document C 91/LIM/41, is agreed?
Good. Then we have approved paragraph 5 and we can therefore consider that the whole document relating to the various declarations had been adopted. This is the draft resolution presented by Austria, Germany, Malawi and Tunisia. Does Poland wish to be added to the list of sponsors?
Tadeusz STROJWAS (Poland): Yes, thank you very much. Poland will endorse this resolution with great pleasure, and we of course support the resolution.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): May I thank the delegate of Poland for agreeing to become one of the co-sponsors.
May I thank all concerned. This draft resolution has been adopted.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): We can now move to Item 7 which is the draft relating to the Conference Resolution of FAO's Activities Related to Sustainable Development and Environment. We have before us C 91/LIM/44. We shall be taking this text paragraph by paragraph, beginning with the first paragraph "Recalling Conference Resolution 3/89 requesting the Organization to strengthen its activities related to sustainable development and environment and its cooperation with the UN system in the field ..." through to the end of the paragraph.
Are there any requests from the floor? If not, may we take it that this first paragraph is adopted?
We go now to the second paragraph "Welcoming the measures taken by the Director-General in response to Conference Resolution 3/89 as reported to the FAO Council at its Ninety-eighth, Ninety-and Hundredth Sessions", are there any comments? That is not the case, so the second paragraph is approved.
We move now to the third paragraph, "Noting the significant contributions made by FAO ..." through to the end of that paragraph.
Paulo Estivallet de MESQUITA (Brazil): Just a detail: I have the impression that the name of the FAO/Netherlands Conference in Den Bosch was on Agriculture and the Environment. If that is the case, I think it should be corrected.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): The delegate of Brazil is right, and we will correct the text accordingly.
Are there any other comments on the third paragraph? If not, the third paragraph is approved as amended by Brazil.
Turning to the fourth paragraph, "Welcoming the process of streamlining of FAO Special Action Programmes ..." through to the end of the paragraph, are there any requests for the floor? If not, that is agreed.
Then the next paragraph "Emphasizing the crucial roles to be played by the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors ...", are there any comments?
Paulo Estivallet de MESQUITA (Brazil): Again a minor comment. I suggest that we delete the word "protection" just so that it is not restrictive; I find the word a little restrictive. It might be better if we left it at "environment objectives" or perhaps "environmental objectives", deleting the word "protection".
R.C.A. JAIN (India): I agree with the distinguished delegate of Brazil that the word "protection" should be deleted, but could I suggest that we substitute "conservation" so that it would read "environmental conservation objectives".
Frederik C. PRILLEVITZ (Netherlands): I have worked for many years in the field of nature protection, and I know that many people are allergic to the word "protection" but it is a characterization of a certain activity. I think it is right as it is used here, but in a spirit of compromise we will accept the phrase "environmental objectives". That is no problem. I will try to convince you about "protection", but I will do that in the coming years; I will try to convince you that protection is part of the whole work of society.
Miss Ting WEN LIAN (Malaysia): Surprisingly my delegation can also agree with the distinguished delegate of the Netherlands at this time. We can accept "environmental objectives" without the word "protection" because "environmental objectives" would also embrace all protection activities.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): Brazil, do you agree to the words "environmental objectives"?
Paulo Estivallet de MESQUITA (Brazil): Yes, thank you.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): Thank you for your cooperation.
Igor MARINCEK (Suisse): Pour la traduction française ma délégation proposerait: "Objectifs environnementaux" plutôt que "Objectifs de l'environnement", ce qui en français ne veut rien dire, et peut être en anglais "Environmental objectives".
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): I think the French-speaking delegates approved what you said, Switzerland.
Can we now adopt this paragraph with the concession made by the Netherlands? We approve the paragraph.
We now move to the first paragraph of "Decides that:" which begins "(i) sustainable development ..."
Igor MARINCEK (Suisse): La délégation ne comprend pas tout à fait pourquoi nous utilisons le conditionnel, dans ce paragraphe et dans la seconde ligne du texte en langue française, on lit "devrait être un objectif" pourquoi ne pas dire, puisque nous sommes ici à la conférence, "sont un objectif" et de la même manière dans le même texte, les stratégies et les propositions présentées dans le document C 91/30 "devraient être précisées", mais "sont à préciser". Je pense que nous devons donner des mandats clairs et pas de mandats peu clairs. C'est un point peut-être mineur mais c'est pour la clarté que je fais cette proposition.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): I think that all this relates to the translation - that is why we are using this form, particularly in the French version. However, the Secretariat has taken note of what you have said.
E. Wayne DENNEY (United States of America): The concerns which we have arise in part from what has been said by Switzerland, but they go much deeper. It is our understanding that through the process whereby the programme budget outline, the Summary Programme of Work and Budget and the Programme of Work and Budget are adopted, it is determined that these are
high priority areas. If that is the case, it does not seem to me that a resolution should decide that these are high priority areas, being divorced as it is from the process which is ongoing elsewhere in the Conference.
We wonder therefore if it might not make more sense to have another preambular phrase which encompasses what is in the first four lines of the paragraph under consideration. We could perhaps start with the words recognizing that: sustainable development and protection of the environment is a high priority objective of the Organization for developing and developed countries in the field of agriculture", and then a slight alteration: "both in the next biennium and in the medium term". We would then strike out the next four words and we would then start with "Decides that: and continue with what is left - "the strategies and proposals ...” as it now reads, with the addition which has already been provided by Switzerland.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): I think that the Resolution. formulated before Commission II approved the Medium-Term Plan. Could I ask the United States delegate to give us his proposed changes in writing? -because I think the changes are in the formulation and not in the substance and meaning of the paragraph.
J.M. SCOTT (United Kingdom): I have a more fundamental point that I would like to raise which relates to (a) in this paragraph commencing "in the light of the observations, comments made and decisions taken by the conterence ...". As we have yet to agree the record of the discussions on these changes, I feel that we are being asked to accept what is in effect a blank cheque. I would like to look at the record of this changed item in parallel with this discussion.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): Thank you very much for your suggestion, but I would prefer to take this stage by stage. We will come back to your proposal when we have finished with the suggestion made by the United States. We would like the United States proposal in writing, please.
R.C.A JAIN (India): After hearing what the distinguished delegate of the United States has said, I am inclined to go along with his suggested changes, with one exception.
The phrase "medium term" should be replaced by "long term", because sustainable development in the long term is a high priority - not only for the next biennium or the next five or six years but in the long term. I therefore suggest that "medium term" be replaced by "long term".
I shall come to the latter part of this paragraph later, but as far as the United States proposal is concerned I limit my remarks to the above.
Morad Ali ARDESHIRI (Iran, Islamic Republic of): In this sub-paragraph, I would suggest adding after the word "agriculture" in the third line the words "forestry and fisheries", so it will read "... developed countries in the field of agriculture, forestry and fisheries in the next biennium ..."
I would like also to support the amendment made by the distinguished delegate of India, because we are talking about sustainable development, and sustainable development should be long term, not medium term.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): I would like to answer the question concerning medium term and long term. "Medium term" is terminology within FAO. It does not refer to sustainable development.
R.C.A. JAIN (India): Within FAO "medium term" means six years, and it also broadly corresponds with what is understood outside the Organization by "medium term". The point that I was making was that when you speak of sustainable development, FAO is committed to the concept not only for the next biennium or the medium term, but also in the long term. It is possible that FAO has not taken the kind of decisions that they have taken in respect of the next biennium or the medium term - but FAO has prepared documents for the long-term strategy, such as "Agriculture: Towards 2000". I believe that the concept of sustainable development is integrated in those documents.
Therefore, when you refer to priority, you should be referring to the longest term for which FAO has made a commitment. I repeat my suggestion that "medium term" should be replaced by "long term".
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): In the medium term the Organization has a plan and it is called "Medium-Term Plan". Therefore, we will not be able to change its name because it is called the Medium Term Plan. The question is, shall we change the name and call it a long-term plan? The question relates to the name of the plan. However, we could put "long and medium term". Would you accept that?
R.C.A. JAIN (India): Thank you for that clarification. If the intention of the Secretariat is to record the high priority accorded to sustainable development only in the Medium-Term Plan perhaps what you are suggesting is right. But are we suggesting that FAO is not committed to sustainable development in the long term? If that is the case then yes, we can limit the period to medium term, and to be more precise to the Medium-Term Plan. But I think that is definitely not the case. FAO would like to maintain the position that they are committed to it in the long term as well as the short term. I still insist, with the permission of the House, that the word "medium" should be replaced by the term "long".
Paolo Estivallet de MESQUITA (Brazil): I think the suggestion in the "consideranda" is useful and the addition of "forest and fisheries" is also useful. Whilst I recognize that the reference you are making to the language used in FAO is to the reference to the budget process in FAO, I do not see why we have to refrain from making a reference to long term. The reason I asked for the floor was to say that whilst I agree with the change to the "consideranda" I wanted to change the word "protection" in this paragraph. I suggest we change it to "conservation" which, as the delegate of the Netherlands knows, is very much a synonym with protection and gives more the idea of moving away from the harmful acts and interventions of
mankind whilst "conservation" has a more dynamic connotation and makes a welcome link with the considerable contribution that thermo-dynamics have given to the environmental scientists. So my suggestion is that we put "conservation of the environment" in the first line of that sentence, and change the word "protection".
Frederik C. PRILLEVITZ (Netherlands): I think that the delegate of the United States has made a good proposal. If this is part of the Preamble starting with "Recognizing" and so on - perhaps now you have it in writing you could read it out again, but we fully agree with that proposal. I support you in your opinion about "medium-term" because if you use it here it was the first part of the operative paragraph of this Resolution and now it belongs to the Preamble. When we use it here we can review what is going on in these six years of the Medium-Term Plan, so it was on purpose we used the phrase "medium term". We fully agree with the delegate of India that we have to look at the long term. Of course, that is implicit, so we can agree with all the changes proposed, and especially that of our Brazilian colleague. "Conservation" is better than "protection". We have the World Conservation Union now which is the new name for the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, so it is better that we use that term.
Igor MARINCEK (Switzerland): This is to support what our Indian colleague said. I think sustainability is in the long term, and he is right in this. I do not see why we have a problem because on the one hand we note the reference to the medium term and also to the long term, so why not have one after the other? I suggest we say "in the medium term as well as in the long term", and then we have covered both important aspects.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): I am looking at the Resolution in the Arabic text, and we say "Medium-Term Plan". This is not as it is in the English text. In order to reach agreement we have suggested "the medium and long term". The delegate of India has nodded his consent and we thank him for that.
Morad Ali AREDESHIRI (Iran, Islamic Rep. of): I just want to support my neighbour. If you insist on "medium term" because the Secretariat is going to put in their budget and so on, we can say "Medium-Term Plan" as well as "long-term plan" - just long term.
E. Wayne DENNEY (United States of America): I am very sympathetic to the idea that sustainable development and conserving the environment are likely to be high priority items for FAO for some time to come. But to me that is different from recognizing that these have been identified already as longer-term priority items. To me what we know is that in the Medium-Term Plan and for the next biennium we have gone through a priority-setting process that is identified with this, a very explicit high priority item for the Organization to be pursuing. In that context, referring to the Medium-Term Plan would be our preference.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): I think everybody who wished to has made their comments on this paragraph. I will ask the Secretariat to read out the paragraph as amended and we will see what we will do with it.
P.J. MAHLHER (Special Adviser to the Director-General for Environment and Sustainable Development): We have noted the following: sub-paragraph (i) in the first four lines would be taken back into the Preamble and it would read instead "Recognizing that sustainable development and conservation of the environment are a high priority objective of the Organization for developing and developed countries in the field of agriculture, forestry and fisheries in the next biennium and in the Medium-Term Plan" - I go as far as this and then we have still the problem of whether we add or replace "medium" by "long term". If I may venture a suggestion, it would be, "in the next biennium and in the Medium-Term Plan and for the long term".
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): We thank the Secretariat. We have a proposal, "the Medium-Term Plan and the long term". I think this is a compromise solution and I hope it will be accepted. If no-one asks to speak, this part of paragraph 1 is adopted.
Now we move to paragraph (a) "in the light of the observations, comments made and decisions taken by the Conference as guidelines for future international and national action in this field".
Frederik C. PRIllEVITZ (Netherlands): I want to support what has been said by the delegation of the United Kingdom. If we take all the observations and all the comments made into account we do not know where we are, so it is better we take only "decisions" and delete the words "observations, comments made and", so that the sentence reads "in the light of decisions taken by the Conference as guidelines for future international action in this field" - I think that is simple, but it is better.
J.M. SCOTT (United Kingdom): I thank the delegate from the Netherlands for his suggestions. However, I still have a problem in that the United Kingdom delegation does feel strongly that sustainable agricultural and rural development criteria should be fully implemented within all of FAO's programmes. This is not made clear in the record of the discussion on this item. I cannot accept this clause (a) without either the record being clarified to make it plain that that decision has been taken or a specific clause being added to this paragraph to incorporate that.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): I would ask the delegate of the United Kingdom if he has an amendment to make, please present it.
Igor MARINCEK (Suisse): Dans sa déclaration, ma délégation avait fait exactement la même suggestion. C'est pourquoi nous soutenons la proposition du délégué du Royaume-Uni.
Nous avons proposé que le Secrétariat fasse un rapport sur l'ajustement des programmes de terrain de la FAO pour les mettre au service du développement durable. Nous avons suggéré que ce rapport soit présenté à la session du Conseil de l'année prochaine. Mais puisque l'on reviendra sur cette partie plus tard, dans le texte de la Résolution, je ne pense pas qu'il faille faire une phrase aussi longue. Il s'agit donc de "présenter un rapport sur l'ajustement des programmes de terrain de la FAO pour les mettre au service du développement durable".
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): The third paragraph of this Resolution talks about a report that should be made to the Conference at its Twenty-seventh Session in November 1993 on the implementation of this Resolution. I think that this covers your query. Thank you.
Paulo Estivallet de MESQUITA (Brazil): I somehow regret not having supported the delegation of the United Kingdom earlier because I was fully in agreement with his first comment. I now find that there is a certain contradiction between what he said and what the Netherlands has proposed, which is deleting observations and comments made in the course of our discussion here. Now the delegation of the United Kingdom wants to introduce its comments and observations in the Resolution.
I think we have to have a closer look at that, because in that case we could also make reference to our statement, just as the delegate of Switzerland has just done.
Going back to what the delegate of the United Kingdom said earlier on, he had expressed his concern at the possibility that we might be giving a blank cheque here in approving this Resolution without knowing exactly what the decisions are. That is not something that worries me because I suppose that the FAO Secretariat usually carries out the decision taken by the Conference, or, whatever the decisions may be, the Secretariat is supposed to be carrying them out. But his reference to a blank cheque has drawn my attention to sub-paragraphs (b), (c) and (d). In (b) it is said that the Secretariat should then go on and undertake close collaboration with other UN and non-UN institutions. Sub-paragraph (c) talks about close cooperation with NGOs. Here we are referring to the elaboration or further elaboration of the ICPF.
Then in sub-paragraph (d), through the greater use of inter-secretariat mechanism. This looks pretty much like a blank cheque to me. In fact, when I first read this proposal I almost had a feeling of jealousy. I had the impression that the Secretariat would listen to us during the Conference and then leave us behind to go on and further elaborate the ICPF in conjunction with other NGOs and other institutions, as well as the other Rome-based organizations.
Drawing on the reasoning first presented by the United Kingdom, we might perhaps drop these three sub-paragraphs.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): I would like for us to work paragraph by paragraph. For the time being we are focusing on sub-paragraph (a).
J.M. SCOTT (United Kingdom): I want to propose an amendment to be taken somewhere in this paragraph to the effect that C 91/30 should be further elaborated by FAO integrating sustainability criteria fully into all of its programmes and activities.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): May I ask the United Kingdom delegate to please read out the suggested amendment fairly slowly, if he would be so kind.
J.M. SCOTT (United Kingdom): At the end of the first four lines: Decides that strategies and proposals presented in document C 91/30 should be further elaborated by FAO (a) integrating sustainability criteria fully into all of its programmes and activities.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic) : May I ask the delegate of the United Kingdom for clarification. Do you mean that you want to add this text to that first paragraph and have this new suggestion replace the former subparagraph (a)?
J.M. SCOTT (United Kingdom): My suggestion is that it should be an additional sub-paragraph.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic) : We now have a proposal from the United Kingdom delegation to add a new sub-paragraph that would precede the present sub-paragraph (a). The new suggestion from the United Kingdom would be sub-paragraph (a); the present sub-paragraph (a) would become sub-paragraph (b), and the new sub-paragraph (a), would read: "Integrating sustainability criteria", etc.
Before I call upon the delegate of the Netherlands I will ask the Secretariat to read out this amendment once again.
P.J. MAHLER (Special Adviser to the Director-General for Environment and Sustainable Development): The operative part of the Resolution will start: Decides that the strategies and proposal presented in document C 91/30 should be further elaborated by FAO, and then (a) integrating sustainability criteria fully into all of its programmes and activities.
Paulo Estivallet de MESQUITA (Brazil): I have no substantive contention with what has just been proposed by the delegate of the United Kingdom. The problem is that I find it a bit confusing, that is, the addition of this particular sentence right here. Again, as I said, it seems as if it is trying to recollect observations of many delegations, but putting it somewhat out of context.
We are here dealing I think with the elaboration of the ICPF. In document C 91/30, which is the basis of our discussion, we have, for instance, in paragraph 51 the considerations made by the Secretariat on the different relationship between FAO programmes and activities to the ICPF, and the
part that sustainable development plays in it. If we add this sentence saying that the environmental or sustainability concerns should be fully incorporated into all activity, it somehow detracts from the nuances presented in that document. In the end we might end up going somewhat against the next sub-paragraph, which would read in the light of the decisions taken by the Conference.
As I said, I have no contention with the substance of that amendment. Perhaps it could be worked in the considerations or something like that. Right here I think it would be confusing.
Frederik C. PRILLEVITZ (Netherlands): I think my colleagues made a good proposal. Let us try to get the preamble. I have a proposal for the rest of the paragraph. May I read it out right from the beginning.
The operative paragraph starts with "Decides that: "strategies and proposals presented in Document C 91/30" and then starts with "as well as the decisions taken by the Conference". We use all the works already here but we make a new mixture, "as well as the decisions taken by the Conference are to be further elaborated by FAO into guidelines for all programme activities". That is the beginning of "Decides that:" and how to do it; by (a), (b), (c), (d).
P.J. MAHLER (Special Adviser to the Assistant Director-General for Environment and Sustainable Development): I well understand the intent of the proposal of the delegate of the Netherlands. However, the Secretariat would be somewhat embarrassed to elaborate the decisions of the Conference. I think we may take into account, or we may implement the decisions of the Conference, but elaborates the decision of our governing body, I do not think it would be proper, so perhaps we should say "taking fully into account the decisions of the Conference ... are to be further elaborated by."
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): It seems to me that this is perhaps a good way to handle it. It is quite clear because obviously the Secretariat must fully take into account the decisions taken by the Conference but they cannot elaborate for their body. They do whatever they do in the light of decisions.
Igor MARINCEK (Switzerland) : I think first of all we need to give to the Secretariat some leeway in what it is to do so there are not so many decisions by the Conference; it is more encouragement, suggestion, so on. So in fact I was a little bit saddened by the proposal by the Dutch delegation to delete this part. I think we should give the direction. Decisions are going to be taken in Rio de Janeiro I think, so I would suggest that one retains the United Kingdom's amendment but slightly changed and I would read out my proposal "Decides that: the strategies and proposals in document C 91/30 be further elaborated by FAO with a view to integrating sustainability criteria fully into all of its programmes and activities" and then we would go on with the (a), (b), (c), (d), as it stands originally in the Dutch text. So the operative part would be "Decides that: strategies and proposals in document C 91/30 be" - we could
delete this "should" because I think if we decide, "be further elaborated by FAO with a view to integrating sustainability criteria fully into all of its programmes and activities". Then we have (a), (b), (c), (d) without the deletion of observations, comments made and so on because there I think the Secretariat has taken note of it, it has to have a certain freedom, it has to work towards Rio de Janeiro.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): We have noted your proposal and indeed, as far as I understand it, you are proposing this change in the wording and then (a) through to (d) would appear exactly as in the printed paper. That is correct. You have all heard this very clear proposal from Switzerland and I would suggest that it is a very judicious proposal, a good proposal, it seems to me, so if there are no comments thereon, no objections, may I take it that this proposal from Switzerland is acceptable to you all. Can we adopt it?
Paulo Estivallet de MESQUITA (Brazil): You are now referring to adopting the whole paragraph. There may have been a problem with translation. Could we hear it again, this proposal about the beginning of this paragraph.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): No, I did not talk about adopting the whole paragraph. I talked about adopting the Swiss proposal. Could Switzerland read his proposal slowly.
Igor MARINCEK (Switzerland): The opinion of my delegation is that by bringing an objective into the whole thing we are admitting that there is a process, a process which certainly is not finished today, a process which will go further, to Rio de Janeiro and will go further and I think this would allow the Organization, it has got many suggestions; it has participated in PrepCom and so on, it would give it the leeway by saying it has a clear mandate. Sustainability is a very high importance and that is what we have adopted by consensus in the medium-term planning points of our agenda.
Hans-Dietrich VON BOTHMER (Germany) (Original language German): To do bits of drafting takes longer and longer, as the day gets later and later. What am I asking myself is what is the purpose of this resolution? Everything that we have in this draft here is in fact contained in the draft report C 91/I/REP/3 of our Commission. Now when Conference and Plenary adopts that REP/3, then surely this is just as binding on the Secretariat as this resolution we have here now. Why don't we forget about the resolution and stick to REP/3?
Frederik C. PRILLEVITZ (Netherlands): First of all, I would like to support the proposal put forward by Switzerland, I think it is a good proposal. Of course, we have to discuss the paras (a), (b), (c) and (d) because we have heard some objections from our Brazilian colleague so I would like to suggest that you will go paragraph by paragraph so that we can see what kind of problems we have. I wanted to say something else using the language of our colleague from Germany. I do not understand why he does not
understand, after all this resolution is the fruit of our discussions and a lot of things were said and a number of things that were said were in REP/3. This also is based on what Mr Mahler, ADG for this subject told us, what he is doing here inside FAO and we must understand it is important for the Organization to have something in the form of a resolution. We started quite a few years ago with this whole idea of sustainable development and it is good that we should give it more weight now by putting it in the form of a resolution.
R.C.A. JAIN (India): I would like to begin by saying that I have the highest regard for my friends from the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden and Thailand who have sponsored this resolution but at the same time I entirely agree with the Chairman of the Drafting Committee that what we are doing, trying to sort out in this resolution, is already included in REP/3 that we have worked out the day before and yesterday and if we could just go through that we would probably forget this resolution.
Igor MARINCEK (Switzerland): I do not like to disagree with my German neighbour, I just would like to recall certainly we do not find any new substance, but that is not the question. What we want is to have new quality, it is no new content and the new quality is by adopting the resolution we give another commitment to FAO's activities, another mandate to FAO as by just adopting the new report. That is the whole difference, what we would wish and what we have welcomed, I think there is a consensus on the priority given to sustainable development. We say there is a strong challenge for FAO and I think it would be a little bit weak in performance of our Conference if we would not have a resolution in this field. This would not give a clear mandate in this field and I think we should give this clear mandate.
Miss Ting WEN LIAN (Malaysia) : I support the comment made by our distinguished colleagues from India.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): Are there any other delegations wishing to express a view on the Swiss proposal? It is the Swiss proposal that we are now addressing.
Sra. Monica DEREGIBUS (Argentina): Gracias señor Presidente. Yo no me voy a expresar con relación a la propuesta suiza. Yo quisiera reflexionar con relación a lo que nos acaba de señalar nuestro colega de Alemania, que fue apoyado por India y por Malasia. Señor Presidente, cuando la delegación argentina miró este proyecto de resolución, se preguntó efectivamente, como lo hacen otras delegaciones, ¿cuál era el objetivo de este proyecto de resolución? Se nos dice aqui, señor Presidente, que el proyecto de resolución tiene como objetivo realzar, poner en relevancia, dar prioridad a la cuestión del desarrollo sostenible y a la cuestión del deterioro del medio ambiente.
Señor Presidente, yo creo que si la Conferencia tiene cuestiones de sustancia que hagan a las políticas de la Organización y a las políticas de los Estados Miembros que quiere poner de relieve, la mejor manera para
hacerlo es un proyecto de resolución, pero este proyecto de resolución es algo asi como mecánico, es un proyecto de resolución que lo único que hace es establecer procedimientos. No estamos aquí hablando de políticas, no estamos aquí hablando de sustancias, estamos hablando de procedimientos que ya están incluidos en el texto del informe, como ya fue señalado.
Por lo tanto, señor Presidente, mi delegación comparte las apreciaciones formuladas por Alemania, India y Malasia.
Nosotros no creemos necesario este proyecto de resolución en vista del informe que ya fue elaborado, y creemos que es una pérdida de tiempo seguir discutiéndolo en sus menores detalles. Creo, señor Presidente, que como fue sugerido por nuestro colega de Alemania, podríamos analizar el texto del informe y estar seguros de que en el texto del informe se da un mandato claro a la Secretaria, y con eso habremos cumplido con nuestro cometido.
Paulo Estivallet de MESQUITA (Brazil): Just a reference to procedure. Mr Chairman, you mentioned that you were expecting comments on the Swiss proposal. I think first we would have to decide on the German suggestion which has been supported by quite a few delegations.
Neil PIERRE (Guyana): The discussion has gone on somewhat since I first asked for the floor. I just wanted to say that my understanding of conference procedures is essentially that a report has its purpose and so does a resolution. In my delegation's understanding, very often the intent of a resolution is to reinforce the objectives of a report after it has been adopted. Therefore, I simply do not understand some of the arguments. It may be repetitive, but a resolution as I said, has a separate and distinct purpose from the adoption of a report, for the purpose of a report.
Hans-Dietrich VON BOTHMER (Germany) (Original language German): Thank you very much, Mr Chairman. I have another comment to make concerning this reference to mechanical procedure that Argentina used. In every report that is produced here in this Commission, every part of our report, we have not only a request usually, but a demand on the Secretariat. We give instructions to the Secretariat to avoid duplication and overlapping with other institutions, and so on. This is our standing instruction to the Secretariat: avoid duplication. Here in this Green Room we are all giving an example of duplication and overlapping. We are doing the same thing twice over. I am not a specialist in procedures, conference or otherwise, but surely if we have a report which has been blessed by the Conference then surely it carries as much weight for the Secretariat as a resolution.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): We were discussing the draft resolution. We now seem to have shifted the focus of our attention on to a subject as to whether we should have a resolution at all. It seems to me that there are a number of delegations now who would rather do without the resolution altogether. It is getting late. I have a long list of speakers. I see more and more name plates going up. I am asking you: what do we do? Do we go on discussing the resolution as we have been doing, or do we take
this new trend and do we now simply decide to do away with the resolution so as to avoid overlapping and duplication as the distinguished delegate of Germany has said?
As I say, I have quite a list of speakers here. I have the United Kingdom, Poland, Kenya, Uruguay and the Netherlands. We will hear these delegates. I would be grateful if they would address this point.
J.M. SCOTT (United Kingdom): When I first intervened, I did suggest that we took the reports and the resolution in parallel. Could I now go one step further and suggest that we consider the report and, having considered the report, we could decide whether we should go on and also consider the resolution.
CHAIRMAN: We have this resolution; we have to conclude with it. Then, if we need to go to the other item, we will do so after concluding with this matter. We are not going to start on the adoption of the report before we conclude with this resolution.
Tadeusz STROJWAS (Poland): I will answer your question straightaway. Yes, I think we should have this resolution, and in this connection I respectfully disagree with the distinguished representative of Germany. After all, we all know - we should know - that conferences are, inter alia, to exchange views, to analyse problems and to agree. If we agree with certain paragraphs, conclusions, commitments, and so on, we put them in resolutions. This is what we have. We have in front of us a resolution which, in the view of my delegation - and I hope not only in the view of the delegation of Poland - will be an expression of support on the very important problem, and the name of this problem is sustainable development and the environment. That is one thing.
Secondly, we have already travelled quite a long distance down the road of acceptance of the text of this resolution, and we could continue without interruption. In this connection, my delegation supports the very constructive amendment and proposal by Switzerland. We could do with this proposal and come to the next paragraphs, (ii) and (iii), if necessary.
Crispus R.J. NYAGA (Kenya): Thank you for giving me the floor to contribute in this fairly lively debate. My feeling is that FAO has been working fairly well within the guidelines laid down for Conference and Council meetings.
I fully support the suggestion of the honourable delegate from Germany. I think we could drop the idea of having the resolution. We have been working fairly well without resolutions and it is a bit early to talk about resolutions to do with the environment in this particular context. I would rather that we continue supporting the way the FAO is working in the area of sustainable environment, without the necessity of having to prepare a resolution. I see this resolution as quite different from the other resolutions that we have just adopted on forestry. This is quite a different thing altogether and there tends to be an overlap of the responsibility of FAO with the responsibility of another UN body.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): If the draft resolution is to be withdrawn, it should be withdrawn by its proposers, by its proponents.
Julio César LUPINACCI (Uruguay): Mi delegación, señor Presidente, comparte algunas observaciones que se han hecho en el sentido de que existe una diferencia entre un informe, un documento o una resolución. La Asamblea que estamos constituyendo, que es la forma más democrática de expresar la voluntad de todos los países miembros, puede adoptar una resolución en la que no solamente se ratifique lo que dice el informe, sino que da una orden, una instrucción que le da un respaldo politico muy importante de todos los paises miembros, por lo menos a los que la apoyan, a un documento o a un informe.
Por eso, señor Presidente, mi delegación piensa que ya que se presentó este proyecto de resolución debiéramos adoptarlo dándole, quizás, un mayor sentido sustantivo, como también se dijo aquí que le falta. En ese sentido creo, señor Presidente, que la propuesta de la delegación de Suiza contempla esa aspiración de dar un sentido más sustantivo al hablar de un criterio fundamental, el de la sostenibilidad, que lo adopta ahora la Conferencia como un criterio básico y una directiva fundamental para el trabajo futuro de la FAO. Por tanto, mi delegación estima que debiéramos aprobar una resolución en ese sentido con las enmiendas propuestas por la delegación de Suiza y quizás con algunas enmiendas más en el desarrollo del debate que hagamos sobre este proyecto de resolución.
Frederik C. PRILLEVITZ (Netherlands): To be brief, I shall simply say that Mr Tadeusz Strojwas of Poland has said exactly what I would like to say. We are half way - perhaps even further than half way - then suddenly the German representative says, "It is useless". Why has he not said that from the very beginning, when we started from the first paragraph? Now, he is supported by others! No. We will finish the work. If somebody has a dinner appointment and wants to get rid of this resolution - please, let him go.
David DRAKE (Canada): The hour is growing late, and many of the delegates here are growing tired. I think we all know that some delegates have spent a long time working on this resolution, but others are not convinced that this is the best way to go under the circumstances. I know that you are trying to make us work in the best way possible, Mr Chairman, but, if I may make a suggestion - and here, I seek your guidance - the hour is late, we have had a proposal from the United Kingdom which, I think, might satisfy us, and that is to put this item in abeyance for a short time. During the time that elapses, we could review what we actually have before us in terms of a report and come back to this and reflect on whether we actually need a resolution or not. I am not taking a position one way or another on that - I simply seek your guidance on this matter, Sir. I would certainly support what I think was a very constructive suggestion by the delegate of the United Kingdom which might help all of us in our work.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): Thank you very much. I still have Malaysia and Switzerland on my list, but, before giving them the floor perhaps I could make a proposal and see what you think about it. As I said before, I am not particularly keen on the proposal made by the United
Kingdom, but if the Commission feels that we should do it in the way that he proposes, the Chair shall of course do whatever the Commission thinks best. But I am not too happy about leaving something hanging up in the air, an item on our agenda - that is not an ideal way to proceed.
Perhaps we could establish a small working group to look at this resolution - this may be a way to make some progress. I would like to ask you if you agree that we set up a small working group which would meet tomorrow to make some progress on this resolution?
Hans-Dietrich VON BOTHMER (Germany) (Original language German): We may be
able to find a compromise on this. Perhaps the sponsors of this draft resolution could be asked to consider withdrawing this before we get to the adoption of the report in the light of this debate, and then we would not need to set up a working party which may only waste more time.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): Thank you for that suggestion but, as you know, there is a procedure which must be followed. How can we have a temporary withdrawal of a draft resolution until we have seen a report? Should we ask the sponsors to withdraw it, and then submit it again to the Resolutions Committee, and then bring it back to us here? There are procedures which we have to follow. This has landed our desk now - it has been responsible for this whole procedure and there it is.
My idea to try to achieve a compromise which would lead to a consensus on this is the one which I put to you just now - to have a small working group. I shall ask the sponsors of the resolution: Do you think it is a good idea to have a small working group to work out the final version of the resolution, and then come back to the full meeting of the Commission? I would suggest as members of that working group: Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, and Thailand - because they of course are the sponsors so all of them will have to be there - and then we would add India, Argentina, Malaysia, Brazil, United Kingdom and Germany. Of course if any one of these countries do not wish to take part in this working group, they can stand down and say that they do not wish to take part.
That is my proposal; but if you want to go ahead discussing the resolution here, I am quite happy to go on until we come to some decision. We might, of course, have to vote in the end if we cannot do it any other way -but I would not like to do that now.
Miss Ting WEN LIAN (Malaysia): I do follow your line of argument, that you have certain procedures to follow. I had intended to take the floor just now, to echo sentiments which the distinguished delegate from Canada has voiced. The United Kingdom proposal, as I understood it, seems to have been a good one but perhaps we will put this aside - I know you have some very strong objections to it. After looking at the report, the sponsors may feel that there is no necessity to proceed with it. However, you have answered my question on that score.
My second point is: Thank you for the honour of including us in the working group, but we would like to decline.
Igor MARINCEK (Switzerland): I think we have two discussions here. One is on substance, the other is on principle. Let me turn first to the principle.
One can discuss for a long time the role of a resolution - yes or no. I think delegations should be consistent. There is a delegation which is sponsor of the resolution which now says, in another context, that resolutions are not a useful instrument. I would like that delegation to make clear to us what its position really is.
Turning now to the substance: we have come quite a long way with this resolution, and we are probably not very far from the end if we give it enough time. I believe that a resolution should in a way condense the report and give it a clearer message. If we could perhaps end our discussion on this procedure that would comply with the efficiency which has been advocated by our German friend.
Paulo Estivallet de MESQUITA (Brazil): I have three points. First, regarding our being so close to the end of this discussion, I do not want to overestimate the difficulties, but I do have a number of other points which I would have to raise if we continue with the resolution.
That brings me to the point that of course I would be interested to participate in any group which may be set up to analyse this, but I would like to know when this group would be meeting. The problem is that if this group were to meet at the same time as the Commission is approving the report, then it would be difficult for us to take part in it.
My third point, Mr Chairman. You mention the possibility of voting. Here, I would like to address a question to the Secretariat: would we be in a position to vote if we had to do it now, tonight? What are the requirements necessary? What is the situation regarding a quorum? In fact, I would like to make it an open-ended question to the Secretariat: what are the requirements for approval of a resolution in terms of quorum?
Finally, I think the suggestion that we either leave it or leave it aside might be the wisest one.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): Of course, you are perfectly free to have your views. In response to your question about this small working party and when it would meet, if the Commission decides that it wants to set up such a working party, we would have to determine when it would meet, but I can assure you that it would not be meeting simultaneously with the proceedings of Commission I - that goes without saying.
As to the idea of a vote, I said that this would really be the last possible resort; but we will not do that today. We will have to wait until tomorrow, when we are sure that we have a quorum, if we do have to resort to a vote. I can tell you that at present we do not have a quorum, so there is no possibility of voting. But, as I said, that would be the last resort if there is no other solution.
Frederik C. PRILLEVITZ (Netherlands): I think your proposal about the working group is a good one. I think the group is too big, however. Some of them have no other ideas than talking about procedure and if we want to improve the resolution, it would be better to have a smaller group with those delegations who have expressed interest in the resolution.
CHAIRMAN (Original language Arabic): Malaysia has apologized for not being able to attend the working group; accordingly, it is smaller. However, I have put on the list the countries which either support strongly or are against the resolution, and that is in order to reach a compromise solution so as not to re-open the debate in Plenary. A group of ten countries is not a big group. Therefore, we hope that this group can reach a compromise solution.
Does the Commission approve the setting up and the composition of the working group? There is no opposition. We approve the setting up and the composition of the working group, which will include Germany, India, Argentina, Brazil, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Poland, Sweden, Thailand and the United Kingdom.
The meeting rose at 19.30 hours.
La séance est levée à 19 h 30.
Se levanta la sesión a las 19.30 horas.
