Posted June 1996
Summary of the Consultation
Technical Consultation of South Pacific Small Island Developing States
on Sustainable Development in Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries
Apia, Western Samoa, 6-9 May 1996
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations
and South Pacific Regional Environment Programme
The Consultation defined a framework for collaborative, joint action in
agriculture, forestry and fisheries, and identified priority areas requiring
investment support.
Policy reforms and legislative framework
- Participants recognized that policy reforms in the agriculture, forestry
and fishery sectors require a solid legislative framework and other legal
mechanisms to be in place for the effective conservation, utilization and
management of natural resources at national and regional levels, in particular
plant protection, environmental management, and indigenous ownership rights.
- The Consultation stressed the need to create mechanisms to facilitate
the active involvement and participation of communities and people at local
level, and called for more logical decision making, and improved institutional
structure and partnerships to integrate resources owners and resource users
in the collective management of natural resources.
- The Consultation encouraged national leadership to advocate a more holistic
approach to the management of natural resources by integrating issues at
the level of policy and strategy formulation, programme development and
implementation and to improve mechanisms for regional coordination.
- The Consultation urged development partners to explore the scope for
enhancing trade through regional cooperation, to accelerate the formulation
of a regional strategy and mechanisms supported by an effective market information
system in response to international trade reforms, particularly with regard
to the potential loss of preferential arrangements, and for other policy
adjustments to align private incentives with comparative advantages.
Human and institutional capacity building
- The Consultation urged development partners to expand commitments for
long-term and short-term professional and vocational training programmes
coupled with efforts to strengthen the capacity of public administrators
and management in the planning, execution and monitoring of all activities
related to the agriculture, forestry and fishery sectors. Identified human
resource priorities include markets and marketing systems, and environmental
conservation and management.
- The Consultation also urged national administrations to review procedures
concerning human resource development needs to assess and identify infrastructural
requirements for training and capacity building at both the national and
regional levels.
Research, information, technologies and infrastructure requirements
- The Consultation encouraged the establishment of partnerships between
public and private sector enterprises in determining priorities for production
systems development and research, and to adopt a more integrated approach
to land-use planning and land resources management.
- The Consultation stressed the need for improved application and dissemination
of information to enhance decision making through the coordination and integration
of national and regional information systems on natural resource management.
- The Consultation urged that more resilient production and harvesting
practices be developed and introduced in the conservation and utilization
of natural resources at the national and regional level.
- The Consultation encouraged importing countries to assist the upgrading
of facilities to strengthen animal and plant protection services in line
with international protocols, supported by appropriate legislation and training.
- The Consultation stressed the importance of regional technical cooperation
in establishing national inventories and assessing natural resource bases
for ecosystem and germplasm conservation and use.
- The Consultation called for investment in appropriate infrastructure
for production, processing and marketing of agriculture, forestry and fishery
products and to strengthen mechanisms to enhance coordination of national
and regional natural resource management programmes, including the promotion
of business opportunities and trade.
- Identified human resource priorities include markets and marketing systems,
and environmental conservation and management.
- The Consultation also urged national administrations to review procedures
concerning human resource development needs to assess and identify infrastructural
requirements for training and capacity building at both the national and
regional levels.
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