FAO : SD Dimensions : Environment : Environmental policy and integrated management

's-Hertogenbosch, The Netherlands
15-19 April 1991

FAO/Netherlands Conference on Agriculture and the Environment

Introduction

Background

The FAO/Netherlands Conference on Agriculture and the Environment was held in 's-Hertogenbosch, the Netherlands, from 15-19 April 1991 to discuss the strategies and tools for sustainable agriculture and rural development, with particular reference to the developing countries. Senior experts from 119 countries, 17 intergovernmental organizations, 20 non-governmental organizations and 26 independent experts attended.

The experts reviewed the issues and perspectives facing agriculture today and into the 21st century, the technological options, the strategies for areas with different natural resource endowments, and the instruments and tools for sustainable agriculture and rural development (SARD).

The specific problems of SARD and elements of strategies were examined by Working Groups in relation to the four major developing regions: Africa, Asia and the Pacific, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Near East.

The problem

World wide, and for thousands of years, agriculture is the activity which is the most essential to human survival and well being. It has also been the economic sector which most affects and is most dependent on the natural environment. With the acceleration of demand due to population growth, technological change as well as lack of alternative employment opportunities in rural areas, the conflict between agriculture and the environment has grown. This has led to accelerated natural resource degradation, including deforestation, desertification and loss of biological diversity, as well as various forms of pollution and contamination.

In many parts of the world, agriculture is not fulfilling its vital function of feeding people, providing other basic agricultural commodities and generating stable income. More than 500 million people are undernourished and the vast majority of the 1.2 billion of poor people in the world live in or come from rural areas. Developments such as a fast-growing population and accelerated urbanization bring along a pressing need for more and more agricultural output. By the year 2025, 57% of the developing countriesípopulation is expected to live in urban areas (as against 34% at present). This would amount to 4 billion people, many of whom will be living in mega-cities. In other parts of the world, increasing productivity in agriculture contributes to the generation or surpluses, unemployment and wastes, and causes pollution and other forms of natural resource degradation and environment deterioration.

Ecological, economic and social imbalances not only affect the viability of the agricultural sector for the present generations, but also for future generations. This is partly due to the fact that prices of agricultural commodities may not fully reflect the cost of producing them sustainably. Bearing in mind the expected role of agriculture in society and the economy, the relationship between agriculture and the environment must be reconsidered so that this vital activity can be maintained on a sustainable basis. To the extent that life styles of the rich imply excessive claims on global resources, they are unsustainable and will have to be modified.

Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development - The new concept of SARD

Sustainable agriculture and rural development has been defined by FAO as:

"...the management and conservation of the natural resource base, and the orientation of technological and institutional change in such a manner as to ensure the attainment and continued satisfaction of human needs for present and future generations. Such sustainable development (in the agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors) conserves land, water, plant and animal genetic resources, is environmentally non-degrading, technically appropriate, economically viable and socially acceptable."

The FAO/Netherlands Conference aimed at formulating the principles and launching a process by which this concept can be translated into an operational reality that works to the environmental, social and economic benefit of all countries. The Conference recognized that the elements of the concept of SARD are not new in themselves, but the Conference was distinctive in striving to link all these elements systematically in a comprehensive framework for agriculture and rural development.

In trying to identify the elements for a common global strategy and agenda for action for SARD, the participants in the 's-Hertogenbosch Conference acknowledged and underlined the wide diversity of ecological, cultural, social and economic conditions under which agriculture is practised on the planet. However they recognized the primacy for agriculture to ensure first and foremost food security for all, both in terms of quantity and quality of food, to provide employment and to improve livelihoods and security of income in rural areas. Sustainable agriculture should be achieved as part of a dynamic process of rural development.

In trying to identify the elements for a common global strategy and agenda for action for SARD, the participants in the ës-Hertogenbosch Conference acknowledged and underlined the wide diversity of ecological, cultural, social and economic conditions under which agriculture is practised on the planet. However they recognized the primacy for agriculture to ensure first and foremost food security for all, both in terms of quantity and quality of food, to provide employment and to improve livelihoods and security of income in rural areas. Sustainable agriculture should be achieved as part of a dynamic process of rural development.

The report and its follow-up

Each regional Working Group produced a report which was presented to and discussed in a Plenary session. As to the first part of the Report, it was first discussed in draft by the Plenary, amended and resubmitted for final adoption. During this process different emphasis was placed by the participants on some aspects of the Report. Several participants stressed the need to give primary consideration to the eradication of poverty and to the provision of international aid to this effect. Others recommended an immediate ban of the use of dangerous pesticides. After wide-ranging discussions, the consensus was to endorse the following declaration and recommendations for an agenda for action. While this consensus should not be construed as committing the governments, intergovernmental institutions and NGOs whose experts participated in the Conference, these results of the Conference represent the best collective judgement drawn from a wide range of experience and competence.

The participants requested FAO and the Government of the Netherlands to bring the conclusions and recommendations to the attention of FAOís intergovernmental bodies, including the FAO Conference in November 1991 and the Preparatory Committee of the UN Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), and to the Conference itself to be held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in June 1992, for their endorsement. The participants also agreed to call the attention of their respective constituencies and authorities to the results of the Conference.

Acknowledgements

The participants expressed their appreciation to FAO and to the Government of the Netherlands for the organization of a Conference on such an important subject. They also thanked the Government of the Netherlands and the authorities and people of the Province of Noord-Brabant for their generous and warm hospitality.