News Highlights
World Day Against Child Labour - Focus on Education
12 June 2008 The focus of the 2008 World Day is “Education: the answer to child labour”. A strong and sustained global effort is underway to eliminate child labour in agriculture, especially hazardous child labour, in which FAO, ILO, IFAD and others are playing leading roles. The partnership promotes policy coherence, raises awareness, and promotes action and cooperation to diversify livelihoods, improve occupational health and safety, and generate employment opportunities for rural youth. FAO, UNESCO and others are also working together in the Education for Rural People partnership to help enable countries to formulate strategies to address basic education needs and to advocate and exchange good practices and knowledge for education for rural people. FAO is hosting a small event to commemorate this day
Sustaining Cultural and Biological Diversity in a rapidly changing world
18 April 2008. A concerted effort was made to support Indigenous Peoples’ efforts to explain the meaning that land and natural resource access has for their survival and for maintenance of cultural and biological diversity over space and time. To promote greater global understanding of the importance of culture for Indigenous Peoples’ food and agro ecological systems, the SARD Initiative supported an Indigenous Peoples’ survey of cultural indicators (2002) and then (with financial assistance from the Governments of Italy and Norway) the preparation and peer review of a paper entitled “Cultural indicators of Indigenous Peoples' food and agro-ecological systems”. The paper was the focus of the ‘2nd Global Consultation on the Right to Food and Food Sovereignty for Indigenous Peoples’ (organized by the SARD Focal Point of the Indigenous Peoples’ Major Group, the IITC, with funding from the Christensen Fund, in Puerto Cabezas, Nicaragua, 7-9/9/06), of a Session on Indicators of the Inter-Agency Support Group for Indigenous Peoples (15-18/9/06), and a Side Event of the UN Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues (New York, 4/2008). The paper represents a landmark in the development of agricultural, rural, and food security relevant indicators through collaborative efforts with Indigenous Peoples’ organizations.
World Day Against Child Labour - Focus on Agriculture
12 June 2007, Rome, Italy. A series of events are being jointly organized by FAO, ILO, IFAD and other agencies, to celebrate the World Day Against Child Labour (WDACL) on 12 June 2007. This year’s WDACL will focus on Agriculture and highlight the magnitude of the social and economic costs of the worst forms of child labour in agriculture and also address the necessary remedial action.
An event relating to the World Day Against Child Labour will take place from 9:00 to 17:00 hours on 12 June 2007 at FAO Headquarters (Red Room).
Further information on the WDACL can be found here.
Natural Resources Forum Invitation to Contribute to Viewpoints Sustainable Development Journal
The Natural Resources Forum invites your views on agricultural subsidies for the Viewpoints section of the journal, a series of policy debates to help stimulate and advance the dialogue on critical issues of sustainable development. The November 2007 issue of the NRF will be a special issue on Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development. Its Viewpoints section will address the following question: “In your view, do agricultural subsidies in developed countries benefit or harm the majority of the poor in developing countries?” Each entry should be 200 words or less, including author's name, title, affiliation and contact details. The deadline for submission for the November 2007 issue is: June 30, 2007. They encourage responses from different regional perspectives and from a broad range of disciplines, ensuring the right balance of perspectives.
MG and SARD Resource Facility Consultation
May, 2007 Major Groups and SARD Resource Facility consultation took place at CSD in New York in May 2007.
The International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD) developed and presented a Resource Facility Option Paper for consideration by Major Groups and SARD partners.
SARD-Kenya Livestock Working Group Meeting
23 April, 2007, Nairobi, Kenya. The SARD-Kenya Livestock Working Group (KLWG) held a one-day meeting on at the Heifer Kenya Conference Room in Nairobi, Kenya. Members agreed to include SARD in the name for the working group, and that their new website (currently under construction) will contain cases of best practices that members are involved in (e.g. Heifer Animal Health and Livestock Marketing Project, Keekonyoike Community managed abattoir). The KLWG will make an effort to expand its membership and include more community members, organizations and government representation. The KLWG has also started discussion and preparation for CSD 2008-2009.
Interview with Mr Omara Amuku on agricultural health and safety
13 March 2007, Washington, USA. Voice of America interviewed Mr Omara Amuku our workers' focal point as a part of series of five reports on Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) in Africa. Mr Amuku emphasized on the impact of Toxic Pesticides on Health and Safety Concern
To listen to interview with Mr Amuku please go to Voice of America
Mission Sustainability, We face the challenge
March, 2007 Mission Sustainability is the title of the competition being run by the German Council for Sustainable Development until the 31st of August 2007.
People of all ages are invited to present ideas that will make their everyday lives more sustainable, simple little ideas that will have a big impact. Only if our day-to-day lives meet the criteria of sustainability, we will be able to bring about change and make sustainability an aspect of everyday life.
Read the first entries and download further competition details.
The World Social Forum
20 – 25 January,2007, Nairobi, Kenya. The world social forum is unlike any other forum. Missing from this gathering are the usual power point presentations, suits, ties and rigid formats characterized by so many development meetings. Instead, it is a unique forum that brings together an energetic mix of actors from around the world including activists, lobbyists, NGOs, CBOs and women and men from the grass-roots such as pastoralists and indigenous peoples. The SARD Initiatives participation in the forum is another innovative spin-off activity from its support for pastoralist groups in their struggles for land rights in Kenya. This year, the SARD Initiative supported men and women from pastoralist and indigenous people’s communities, including the Maasai, Samburu, Pokot, Borana, etc. to participate and make their voices heard in the forum. The forum also gave our partner organizations working at the grass-roots (such as the Mainyoito Pastoralist Integrated Development Organization – MPIDO, and the Centre for Minority Rights and Development – CEMIRIDE) the opportunity to host three seminars on land issues, marginalization and the way forward in terms of addressing pastoralist and indigenous people’s concerns. Ritu Verma, an FAO consultant working on this activity, was invited to give a presentation on FAO’s role in supporting pastoralists’ issues, as well as the gender dimensions of pastoralists’ struggles for land rights. A lively and colorful procession followed the seminar series, which drew attention from many participants, journalists and photographers from around the world.
Seminar on SARD and Good Agricultural Practices (GAP)
9 January, 2007, Rome, Italy. The seminar, organised by the SARD Initiative, was presented to more than 30 FAO professionals at FAO headquarters. The concepts behind SARD and Good Agricultural Practices (GAPs) were explained, as well as the influence they could have in achieving sustainable agricultural and rural development for vulnerable groups of developing countries. A lively discussion followed which analysed the benefits and shortcomings of GAPs in the context of SARD and discussed possible roles for FAO to play in their improvement and implementation. Examples of issues regarding workers' health and safety in agriculture were presented and will be further developed as part of FAO's contribution to the SARD Initiative.
To learn more on GAP see Good agricultural practices: challenge and opportunity for developing countries.
Coming Soon
The third set of the SARD and ...Policy Brief series will be released in December. The briefs outlines policy responses to promote sustainability in agriculture and rural development (SARD) and removing barriers to its achievement. The upcoming series will include the following: SARD and Women, SARD and Upscaling Local Innovation, SARD and Agricultural Biodiversity, SARD and Conservation Agriculture, SARD and GAP, SARD and Livestock.
