Dorina Minoiu
Policy Officer, SEUP, Budapest
From Rio de
Janeiro onwards: paving the road towards sustainable development
Positive
trends towards increased sustainability
FAO challenging
key issues of sustainable development
The concept of
sustainability from the FAO perspective
FAO guiding criteria
for the concept of sustainability
Commitments
of promoting sustainable agriculture and food security in CEECs
Concrete
achievements of the FAO in policy advice in CEECs
Practical remarks
for a more SARD-oriented agricultural policy in CEECs
References
During the second half of the 20th century, a period
in which the growth of national income has been given top priority in economic
policy, a considerable increase in production has been duly accompanied
by an alarming destruction of environmental assets. Environmental degradation
has, for the most part, been a consequence of a significant growth in production,
a growth resulting largely from increases in productivity, and one in which
the loss of scarce environmental assets has not been taken into account.
This has led to an uncontrolled degradation of natural resources, such
as deforestation, desertification, erosion, flooding, ozone depletion,
landscape deterioration and a loss of biological diversity coupled with
various forms of pollution and contamination. Not surprisingly, the risk
of conflict between agricultural development and environmental protection
has thus exacerbated.
The close but quite often detrimental link between economic growth
and the environment brought to the forefront of development thinking at
the beginning of the 1990s1, has lead many
countries to recognize the need to pursue policies that promote Sustainable
Agriculture and Rural Development (SARD). An unprecedented world-wide consensus,
Agenda 21, was reached on the complex programme of working towards sustainable
development into the next century. Toward this end, the FAO was designated
as the task manager for five key chapters of Agenda 21: planning and management
of land resources (chapter 10), combating deforestation (chapter 11), combating
desertification and drought (chapter 12), sustainable mountain development
(chapter 13) and sustainable agricultural and rural development (chapter
14).
Agenda 21 states that SARD’s aim is threefold: (i) to increase production
in ways that ensure access by all people to the food they need; (ii) to
help people satisfy their social and cultural aspirations; and (iii), to
protect and conserve the capacity of natural resources with a view to,
on the one hand, providing consumer goods and, on the other, environmental
and cultural services. It thus appears that the long-term objective of
food security2 can be attained through enhanced
food production coupled with the sustainability of the natural resource
base, with no conflict seeming to appear between these major goals. In
the short-term, however, there may well be trade-offs between growth in
agricultural productivity and the preservation of the environment. Currently,
therefore, a major challenge is to find appropriate policies, effective
institutions and feasible technologies to reconcile this towards increased
food security.
Chapter 14 makes it clear that achieving SARD is not a "big bang"
process but rather one of making necessarily slow, incremental steps over
a wide range of social, economic and technical issues. Hence, it should
be continuously monitored, evaluated and, if needs, be adjusted. Both the
world community and its individual nations thus regularly monitor the status
of Agenda 21’s implementation and progress reports following from Rio have
consequently been prepared3. The two following
trends become better and better shaped:
According to the FAO Agenda 21 Progress Report of June 1997, there
is a growing awareness, albeit uneven, among both developed and developing
countries, including economies in transition, of the need to integrate
environmental concerns in agricultural and trade policies. Indeed, the
need to meet consumer demands and to open new food markets makes agricultural
trade issues an important factor in this process4.
In the area of people’s participation, there is now a better understanding
of civil society institutions and a concomitant recognition of the need
to strengthen their involvement in the decision- and policy-making processes.
Coalitions and networks need to be formed in order to facilitate and effectively
support the process of consensus-building with regard to the achievement
of sustainable development.
Due to the ongoing processes of economic and political liberalization,
agricultural systems are changing, not only at the regional and/or sub-regional
levels, but on a world scale also. Consequently, these changes have resulted
in the recognition of a new role for the functionality of the state alongside
a new theoretical advocacy regarding the institutional structure of the
agricultural system. Governments are now beginning to accept that effective
policies can only emerge from a pluralistic decision-making process rooted
in the participation of the key actors: stakeholders, coalitions and civil
society representatives. Considering this crucial trend, governments should
thus devote time to creating an appropriate institutional framework in
order to facilitate the realization of this new participatory decision-
and policy-making.
Most aspects of the old development model have been drastically changed,
but the main feature of this period is the transition from a state-oriented
agricultural and rural development model to one in which other driving
forces will be present. It is broadly recognized that one of the prerequisites
for successful (with regard to sustainability) agricultural and rural development
is the formation of local self-help co-operatives, alongside various types
of professional associations. Field evidence has shown that these bottom-up
building processes create more sustainable and self-reliant organizations
than those which are state-imposed. Autonomy allows every association or
co-operative the ability to decide internally its choices and its policy5.
It appears that the greatest contemporary challenge facing the actors in
agricultural and rural development is the creation of the necessary institutional
support and workable conditions for an effective articulation between states,
markets, communities and associations.
In managing the move towards sustainable development in a changeable
global arena, the international community has identified several key issues
requiring urgent consideration by FAO. They are summarized below.
At the international level, priority is given to developing a new
approach to land resource conservation and management. In collaboration
with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the FAO has been
developing an improved framework for rural resource development and management7
that
addresses the major weaknesses in present approaches. The new approach
combines public participation in the management of local resources with
appropriate information technology and extension services, the provision
of incentives and an improved institutional and policy framework. More
emphasis is placed on rural workers’ organizations and farmer-centred participatory
approaches, while carefully recording and assessing indigenous knowledge
and technology. Besides developing new concepts and approaches for natural
resource management, in practice the FAO actively supports the thorough
use of agricultural resources and aids member nations in improving their
management of land and water resources through numerous ongoing programmes.
The FAO has developed land use data bases, a methodology for classifying
and mapping agro-ecological zones, a land evaluation framework and methodologies
for matching climate and crop environmental requirements. Moreover, it
has developed a land-cover and land-use classification system in collaboration
with other relevant UN agencies (i.e. the major project to map land cover
and use on African continent).
Complying with Agenda 21 requirements, the FAO policy assistance
division is undertaking the crucial task of disseminating existing knowledge
and methodological tools by providing technical assistance and training
to its member countries. There have been considerable achievements in terms
of strengthening the capacity of governments to analyse the impact of agricultural
policy on the environment and consequently to design sectoral development
policies conducive to a wider use of environmentally friendly farming practices.
In this area, the FAO is strengthening national research institutions,
assisting in the development of regional co-operative networks for research
and technology and helping to ensure that SARD objectives reflect the views
and concerns of all stakeholders concerned: rural organizations, local
governments, the private sector and NGOs.
According to the FAO definition of sustainable development8
(1988),
three targets can be identified as the core of SARD strategy. These are
equity, efficiency and resilience.
Equity: Presumably, if the needs of the poorest communities are not satisfied, in consequence, there will be a growing pressure on the natural resource base arising from attempts by the disadvantaged to overexploit common (community or public) resources (i.e., forests, pastures, etc.). For the most part, this is an issue of property rights and management of the common resource base, and such practices should not, therefore, necessarily be confined to the poorest elements in society. A more balanced redistribution of the incremental income from economic growth, inter alia the creation/enhancement of basic services for the poor and the creation of opportunities for a better life (access to education and investment) are all more appropriate to market-oriented systems than direct wealth redistribution.
Efficiency: This implies the use of available resources in such a way that while an acceptable (in economic terms) level of production is firmly maintained, such a process nevertheless remains (relatively) harmless with regards to the environment. This certainly requires a coherent policy package, including adequate economic incentives coupled with the required environmental instruments.
Resilience: The resilience of the system is measured in the face of the external stresses against it. This relates to the capacity of the system to maintain its structure and patterns of behaviour and its ability to cope with and to adapt to external disturbance. The collapse of the system may arise when stress (such as overgrazing) reduces resilience to the point where normal fluctuations (e.g., drought) threaten its collapse (e.g., desertification, inability to sustain population, etc.). Monitoring the extent of system resilience and its consideration in policy development is, therefore, highly important.
With a view to making the concept of sustainability more operational, the FAO has defined several guiding criteria to support of SARD policy formulation. A brief interpretation of each of these criteria is presented below.
Meeting the basic nutritional requirements of present and future generations, quantitatively and qualitatively, while providing a number of other agricultural products
The provision of basic nutritional needs does not necessarily mean self-sufficiency in all staple food products. Food security considerations certainly do not exclude trade relations among countries. Trends in the world trade of agricultural and food produce increasingly emphasize the role of comparative advantage. While producing in accordance with its comparative advantage, food security should be attained through a balanced policy of domestic production and imports financed by export sales.
Providing durable employment, sufficient income and decent living and working conditions for all those engaged in agricultural production
Off-farm, non-agricultural employment is emerging as a necessary supplement to part-time farming activity and agricultural income for most small households irrespective of the particular domestic setting. Therefore, rural employment and the income of rural dwellers should not be restricted uniquely to agricultural production. This limited sectoral perspective stimulates the need for a wider approach to rural development. The decentralized regional/local development policies play a fundamental role into this integrated vision.
Maintaining and, where possible, enhancing the productive capacity of the natural resource base as a whole and the regenerative capacity of renewable resources, without disrupting the functioning of basic ecological cycles and natural balances, destroying the social-cultural attributes of rural communities, or causing contamination of the environment.
This complex criterion embraces a number of sensitive issues which should be addressed through an adequate package of economic and environmental policy instruments, including standards and regulations, the use of relevant technologies, as well as appropriate pricing policies. Any agricultural and rural activity damaging the environment should bear the cost of negative externalities.
Reducing the vulnerability of agricultural factors to adverse natural and socio economic factors and other risks and the strengthening of self-reliance.
This essentially promotes the issue of resilience, as well as that of self-reliance. Again, given the trends in international trade, self-reliance could be interpreted as self-management at the regional, state and local level, and not necessarily as self-sufficiency. Empowerment and community self-management concepts are thus being given greater consideration. A successful community needs to be able both to harvest the benefits and bear the costs of its own actions on the resources it has at its disposal.
The FAO’s initiative in Europe takes into consideration the major
economic challenges and constraints to sustainable agricultural and rural
development facing the region, as well as the post-World Food Summit strategic
framework and FAO Mission Statement for promoting sustainable food security.
Aiming toward creating favourable conditions for the growth of sustainable
agriculture and to the enhancement of food security and the welfare of
the rural population in developing countries, FAO committed itself inter
alia to:
The establishment of the policy assistance branch in the European
regional office (FAO HQ, Rome) and of the policy co-ordinating unit in
the sub-regional office for Central and Eastern Europe (Budapest), has
enabled the FAO to meet most of the increasing demands from individual
CEE countries for assistance in agriculture policy issues. Policy analysis
and advice focuses on the comparative advantage of national agriculture
and food industries, taking into account the status of reform in the private
sector, plus the degree of restructuring with regard to public enterprises.
Policy-makers are advised on price, taxation and trade policy options in
the context of global and regional trade agreements and their implication
for the agricultural sector. In this respect, special attention has been
given to training activities aimed at strengthening human and institutional
capacity building in agricultural policy analysis.
In 1997, the FAO prepared a number of national food security and
agriculture strategies, Horizon 2010, in close co-operation with CEE experts
from Ministries of Agriculture and Economic Development in their respective
countries. The underlying idea behind this initiative was that there is
still considerable scope for improved agricultural sector performance in
most countries in the CEE sub-region10. A
common feature is that all countries from CEE could contribute to a greater
degree in pursuing the goals of the World Food Summit: food-exporting countries
in the region could potentially export more, thus adding more substantially
to world food security. Acceptance into the European Union is also another
important goal for a number of CEE countries. Policy and other agricultural
sector adjustments needed to pave the way for membership are, therefore,
high priorities in these development strategies. National food security
and agriculture strategies were, in most cases, submitted to the donor
community as a basis for mobilizing resources for a country-level implementation
of the World Food Summit Plan of Action.
Nevertheless, some key issues were not treated fully enough in the
earlier mentioned national agricultural development strategies and will
thus require a more thorough analysis. Bearing in mind that the achievement
of food security involves more than just agricultural development and additionally
requires not only sectoral interventions, the following remarks are perhaps
deemed necessary:
The national agricultural development strategies did not attempt
to cover the regional dimension. Nevertheless, it has been recognized that
their harmonization within the regional framework is greatly needed, in
particular in those areas where regional economic groupings exist. It was
felt that issues such as research, trade, plant protection and animal health
as well as environment protection could benefit from regional co-operation.
Consequently, the FAO is now preparing regional strategy papers. This process
will integrate the national strategy papers of those countries belonging
to the major inter-governmental organizations. In accordance with Horizon
2010, these regional papers will identify common problems and issues related
to agriculture and agricultural development, synthesize the resultant main
recommendations, as well as initiate lines of action required at the national,
regional and international levels in order to meet the targets of the World
Food Summit. This kind of co-operation with the Ministries of Agriculture
of the Central European countries is now underway.
In close co-operation with central governments, assistance has been
provided in the formulation of medium- and long-term strategies and national
programmes11 in making significant progress
towards sustainable agricultural and rural sector development and national
food security. Policy recommendations are based on a thorough diagnosis
of the characteristics of the agricultural sector, an assessment of its
macroeconomic environment, a review and analysis of agricultural policies
and an identification of binding constraints to development, of potential
opportunity and of priorities for agricultural development.
Advice on selected agricultural policy issues is also provided to CEE
countries on request; i.e., an assessment of the implications of the Uruguay
Round Agreements for agricultural trade was done for Turkey and Lithuania,
and policy options relating to EU accession were formulated for the Czech
Republic and Slovenia. Some other countries such as Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan
and Georgia are assisted in the formulation of policies and methodologies
for improving land registration, cadastre and the development of farmland
markets.
Taking into account that the CEE sub-region is comprised of a number
of Low-Income Food Deficit Countries12 (LIFDCs),
the FAO has initiated the formulation and implementation of the SPFS in
those concerned13. Drawing on Agenda 21, the
SPFS activities concentrate on the widespread adoption of technological
packages and institutional innovations aimed at increasing both the overall
availability and stability of domestic food production. They also focus
on generating income in agriculture and related activities. Placing a strong
emphasis on national ownership, the SPFS programme is organized mainly
at the village level, and is directly implemented in conjunction with farmers
in these communities. This is primarily to ensure that the direct beneficiaries
of the programme are the poorest rural people and that the profits of higher
production and efficiency are equitably shared.
Through direct participation, problems encountered at different levels,
in particular those impeding farm profitability and farmers’ access to
new, more productive technology, are identified by farmers themselves and
sustainable actions for their resolution are thus taken (also by the farmers).
In a more advanced stage of SPFS implementation, the analysis will also
include for an environmental impact assessment of proposed new technologies,
while the adoption of environmentally friendly farming practices will duly
be encouraged through adequate policy instruments.
Given SARD’s complexity, there is perhaps no single strategy employable
for its ultimate realization. For example, economists may choose to start
from the point of reformulating policy in order to create incentives for
SARD in the first place. Alternatively, agronomists may prefer to focus
on resource management, Integrated Pest Management, Integrated Plant Nutrition
Systems, or at improving the technical capacities of natural resources.
And sociologists would perhaps tend to look more squarely at human resource
development and grassroots actions. Undoubtedly then, for SARD there are
many potential entry points and where to start is really the question.
What is certain, however, is that with dwindling resources and increasing
demand, unless appropriate policies are designed, the agricultural practices
will continue to exacerbate environmental problems, leading inevitably
to food insecurity and poverty in the subregion.
SARD policies should be directed at the questions of access to credit,
to natural resources (like land tenure), to technologies, to education
and to information. The objective should be to improve livelihoods of rural
dwellers. In other words, to provide them with the necessary tools for
the successful management of their sustainable systems. It is all too often
realized that, as soon as intervention takes place, as soon as subsidization
is introduced, a grain of unsustainability takes root. To make SARD more
operational, participatory mechanisms, designed expressly to reach populations
right down to the village level, should both be instigated and strengthened
in those relevant national ministries. Moreover, investment in research,
technology and in human capital is often mentioned as essential policy
towards SARD.
A much larger programme of workshops is also necessary in order to
facilitate the exchange of knowledge and experience needed in promoting
SARD and its adequate consideration in agricultural development strategies.
These kinds of events should be organized at various levels: within and
among countries with similar natural resources and social-economic conditions;
i.e., mainly at the regional level and at the global level too. Individual
countries or groups of countries should establish action frameworks that
enable states and donor institutions to collaborate voluntarily in the
joint development and implementation of SARD-oriented policies and programmes.
That is why CEESA initiative is not only welcome but also promising.
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