http://sdin-ngo.net/forum/ Tue, 06 Jan 2009 01:01:10 +0100 MyBB http://sdin-ngo.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=15 Mon, 26 May 2008 14:27:56 +0200 http://sdin-ngo.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=15
Distinguished delegates,

The CSD was established to monitor and improve on the Rio commitments. However as a number of delegates have said, it is failing to do so, and is in danger of becoming irrelevant to the challenges we face.

We need to move from talkshop to workshop.

We need concrete outcomes at CSD 17, not just outputs of talk.

We want CSD 17 to result in action orientated policies on the most important issues identified at CSD 16 such as: strategic environmental assessment of biofuels, GMOs and nanotechnology, water and sanitation.

If we do not commission these now in this Review year we will not be in a position to make informed policy in the Policy year.

Closing Poem

L'Afrique :
Terre des Nations ! de Couleurs ! de Biodiversité ! de Ressources !
Tu fais aussi partie du monde.

Africa : Land of Nations ! of colours ! of biodiversity ! of resources !
You too are part of the world

Oh Afrique !
Protégeons nos Eaux, Forêts, Terres !
Mobilisons les moyens de les valoriser !

Oh Africa !
Let’s protect our waters, forests, and lands !
Let’s find the ways to empower them !

Entendez les cris des mères et des filles d'Afrique
Entendez les cris des femmes et des enfants du monde … HUM - OHO !
Voyez en l’Afrique un partenaire!
Un autre monde est possible.

Hear the cries of the mothers and daughters of Africa
Hear the cries of the women and children of the world… HUM – OHO !
Please see a partner in Africa!
Another world is possible.

Oh Délégués, et Décideurs !
Pensez à vos Enfants,
Demain est déjà là !
Luttons ensemble contre la Sécheresse, contre la Désertification !
Nous pouvons surmonter la Crise Alimentaire !
Nous pouvons amorcer le Développement Durable !
Nous ne pouvons pas attendre la Crise prochaine.

Oh delegates, and deciders !
Please think about your children,
Tomorrow is already there !
Let’s fight together against Drought, against desertification!
We can overcome the food crisis!
We can be the origin of Sustainable Development!
We cannot wait for another crisis!

Réveillez-vous, Réveillez-vous, Réveillez-vous !!!

Please, Wake up, wake up, wake up !!!]]>
Distinguished delegates,

The CSD was established to monitor and improve on the Rio commitments. However as a number of delegates have said, it is failing to do so, and is in danger of becoming irrelevant to the challenges we face.

We need to move from talkshop to workshop.

We need concrete outcomes at CSD 17, not just outputs of talk.

We want CSD 17 to result in action orientated policies on the most important issues identified at CSD 16 such as: strategic environmental assessment of biofuels, GMOs and nanotechnology, water and sanitation.

If we do not commission these now in this Review year we will not be in a position to make informed policy in the Policy year.

Closing Poem

L'Afrique :
Terre des Nations ! de Couleurs ! de Biodiversité ! de Ressources !
Tu fais aussi partie du monde.

Africa : Land of Nations ! of colours ! of biodiversity ! of resources !
You too are part of the world

Oh Afrique !
Protégeons nos Eaux, Forêts, Terres !
Mobilisons les moyens de les valoriser !

Oh Africa !
Let’s protect our waters, forests, and lands !
Let’s find the ways to empower them !

Entendez les cris des mères et des filles d'Afrique
Entendez les cris des femmes et des enfants du monde … HUM - OHO !
Voyez en l’Afrique un partenaire!
Un autre monde est possible.

Hear the cries of the mothers and daughters of Africa
Hear the cries of the women and children of the world… HUM – OHO !
Please see a partner in Africa!
Another world is possible.

Oh Délégués, et Décideurs !
Pensez à vos Enfants,
Demain est déjà là !
Luttons ensemble contre la Sécheresse, contre la Désertification !
Nous pouvons surmonter la Crise Alimentaire !
Nous pouvons amorcer le Développement Durable !
Nous ne pouvons pas attendre la Crise prochaine.

Oh delegates, and deciders !
Please think about your children,
Tomorrow is already there !
Let’s fight together against Drought, against desertification!
We can overcome the food crisis!
We can be the origin of Sustainable Development!
We cannot wait for another crisis!

Réveillez-vous, Réveillez-vous, Réveillez-vous !!!

Please, Wake up, wake up, wake up !!!]]> http://sdin-ngo.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=14 Mon, 26 May 2008 14:26:46 +0200 http://sdin-ngo.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=14
For decades, NGOs work with rural communities to organize cooperatives, extend micro-credit, and provide extension services. But we can only do so much. Our resources and capacities cannot make up for the lack of basic support services that governments should deliver. The confluence of lack of support and indebtedness has driven farmers to commit suicides - taking the same toxicpesticides that buried them in debts.

We ask governments: What have you done to address the problems in agriculture that push farmers to take such desperate actions?

In Asia, we have seen how the Green Revolution formula of modern seeds, chemical inputs, irrigation, increased food production - but not without long-term costs: biodiversity loss, ground water pollution, soil degradation. Small-scale producers had to pay high price in providing cheap food for the world: suffering from the health effects of pesticides, and dependence on costly farm inputs.

We ask African Ministers: Why should you let African farmers suffer the same fate by repeating the same formula? Why don’t you invest on a Sustainable Agriculture Revolution in Africa instead? NGOs working with farmers in Tigray (Ethiopia) have already sown the seeds of this revolution.

As I speak, NGOs worldwide implement locally-adapted and culturallyappropriate solutions to hunger and malnutrition, using ecological approaches and traditional knowledge systems in improving livestock and crops.

Technologies such as GMOs that put the environment and human health at risks threaten the economic viability of organic agriculture and promote dependence on external inputs. We are alarmed that some governments and corporations are boldy using the current global food crisis as justification for the introduction of GMOs in poor countries.

We ask you, Ministers: How do you support the efforts of small-scale farmers in organic agriculture and protect their gains from the threats of GMOs?

We commend the effort to adopt sustainability criteria in agrofuels production, but we have serious reservations on whether criteria can address the long-term environmental and socio-economic impacts of industrial agrofuel production, beyond the level of plantations. Changing the unsustainable patterns of consumption and production, to drastically reduce fuel dependence and radically cut down greenhouse gas emissions, is the solution - not agrofuels.

We ask the Minister from The Netherlands: How will you assess these long-term impacts in the sustainability criteria for biofuels production?

Efforts of NGOs in sustainable agriculture in developing countries are undermined by unfair trade rules and the perverse paradigm of producing crops for export while importing food. NGOs are engaged in promoting fair trade, organic and short-chain models, and directly linking producers with consumers at different levels, but the potentials are hampered by the unequal playing field in the international market.

To the EU Ministers, we ask: How do you ensure coherence in your trade, agricultural and development policies to promote sustainable development?

Ministers, NGOs worldwide work to advance rural peoples’ rights to land and other productive resources. Our decades of struggles are embodied in the concept of food sovereignty, asserting the right of communities to make decisions on food production beyond just ensuring food security.

NGOs bring to the CSD our collective reflection from our decades of work WITH and FOR farmers and pastoralists: DEVELOPMENT WILL ONLY BE SUSTAINABLE IF RURAL PEOPLES LIVE IN DIGNITY.]]>
For decades, NGOs work with rural communities to organize cooperatives, extend micro-credit, and provide extension services. But we can only do so much. Our resources and capacities cannot make up for the lack of basic support services that governments should deliver. The confluence of lack of support and indebtedness has driven farmers to commit suicides - taking the same toxicpesticides that buried them in debts.

We ask governments: What have you done to address the problems in agriculture that push farmers to take such desperate actions?

In Asia, we have seen how the Green Revolution formula of modern seeds, chemical inputs, irrigation, increased food production - but not without long-term costs: biodiversity loss, ground water pollution, soil degradation. Small-scale producers had to pay high price in providing cheap food for the world: suffering from the health effects of pesticides, and dependence on costly farm inputs.

We ask African Ministers: Why should you let African farmers suffer the same fate by repeating the same formula? Why don’t you invest on a Sustainable Agriculture Revolution in Africa instead? NGOs working with farmers in Tigray (Ethiopia) have already sown the seeds of this revolution.

As I speak, NGOs worldwide implement locally-adapted and culturallyappropriate solutions to hunger and malnutrition, using ecological approaches and traditional knowledge systems in improving livestock and crops.

Technologies such as GMOs that put the environment and human health at risks threaten the economic viability of organic agriculture and promote dependence on external inputs. We are alarmed that some governments and corporations are boldy using the current global food crisis as justification for the introduction of GMOs in poor countries.

We ask you, Ministers: How do you support the efforts of small-scale farmers in organic agriculture and protect their gains from the threats of GMOs?

We commend the effort to adopt sustainability criteria in agrofuels production, but we have serious reservations on whether criteria can address the long-term environmental and socio-economic impacts of industrial agrofuel production, beyond the level of plantations. Changing the unsustainable patterns of consumption and production, to drastically reduce fuel dependence and radically cut down greenhouse gas emissions, is the solution - not agrofuels.

We ask the Minister from The Netherlands: How will you assess these long-term impacts in the sustainability criteria for biofuels production?

Efforts of NGOs in sustainable agriculture in developing countries are undermined by unfair trade rules and the perverse paradigm of producing crops for export while importing food. NGOs are engaged in promoting fair trade, organic and short-chain models, and directly linking producers with consumers at different levels, but the potentials are hampered by the unequal playing field in the international market.

To the EU Ministers, we ask: How do you ensure coherence in your trade, agricultural and development policies to promote sustainable development?

Ministers, NGOs worldwide work to advance rural peoples’ rights to land and other productive resources. Our decades of struggles are embodied in the concept of food sovereignty, asserting the right of communities to make decisions on food production beyond just ensuring food security.

NGOs bring to the CSD our collective reflection from our decades of work WITH and FOR farmers and pastoralists: DEVELOPMENT WILL ONLY BE SUSTAINABLE IF RURAL PEOPLES LIVE IN DIGNITY.]]> http://sdin-ngo.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=13 Mon, 26 May 2008 14:25:38 +0200 http://sdin-ngo.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=13
Mr Chairman,

Access to safe affordable water is a human right and it is time that goverments of the world made this explicit internationally and nationally. We call on the governments assembled here to actively support the Human Rights Council recent decision to appoint an Independent Expert on access safe drinking water and sanitation who will compile best practices and further elaborate on the content of these obligations over the next three years.

We call on the international community agree a roadmap for action on IWRM with clear milestones towards 2015, and urge countries again to ensure that the process of preparing the IWRM plans is less technocratic and works with local communities to reflect their priorities.

We welcome yesterday's comments on the issue of transboundary water cooperation. The CSD can’t keep avoiding to deal with this issue, and in line with the Netherlands we too are eager to hear progress reports for ratifying the 1997 UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, as a necessary instrument for improving the governance of the world’s 263 international rivers.

Chair, failures on water and sanitation undermine other efforts to achieve MDGs, especially in relation to education and the environment. This crisis threatens to derail progress and an immediate and extraordinary effort is required by governments matched with a major change of paradigm towards the oft-promised but rarely delivered democratic, environmentally sensitive approaches. Action is needed as if all peoples matter.

Sanitation has been consistently overlooked. Is it because it affects the most vulnerable in our societies, especially women and children? Let us not forget that it is rural women who are walking 4 hours every day to collect clean water and it's their children who are dying from diahorreal diseases. Governments must take up their responsibilities. Earlier this year, NGOs were pleased to work with African ministers on the eThekwini Declaration, and the resulting commitments made in the innovative Africa-EU Statement on Sanitation. It is such high-level commitments, coupled with time-bound action plans and an up-front monitoring mechanism that we need. NGOs look forward to continued partnership in following up and implementing the Declaration.

Sanitation, as well as water, is a key inter-linkage with the other themes of CSD16 for rural development. Without co-ordinated action among all relevant stakeholders and across sectors, the challenges of climate change, urbanisation, desertification and changes in agriculture production are likely to exacerbate the crisis on access to water and sanitation. We hope that the Ministerial Rountable tomorrow will make some headway on this issues.

UN Water is playing a useful international coordinating and reporting role. We recommend the initiative is scaled up. We want to see a global action plan for water and sanitation, setting out a comprehensive strategy for ensuring progress towards the MDG targets, monitored by one global task force with one single global monitoring report on access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

The sector has suffered from political neglect and low investment for many years and investment falls far short of need. The priority for ODA should be directed at the lowest-income countries, while national governments should commit to allocate at least 1% of GDP to fund water and sanitation plans.

National level plans would help to better plan, coordinate and monitor the delivery of services. These plans must include the means to allow poor people, and especially women, to hold their Governments and service providers accountable.

Mr Chairman, The UN has declared 2008 the International Year of Sanitation. This should be a year of proactive action and alternative announcements and not only an opportunity for expert meetings and conferences. We call for a strong commitment to policy discussions on water and sanitation at CSD-17 next year.

We must seize this opportunity and capitalise on growing political momentum, at the G8 summit, at the UN MDG summit and indeed at the African Union summit.

A failure to act will be a failure to the world’s poor, denying them access not only to Water and Sanitation but to the broader benefits offered by health, education and sustainable development in general.

Thank You.]]>
Mr Chairman,

Access to safe affordable water is a human right and it is time that goverments of the world made this explicit internationally and nationally. We call on the governments assembled here to actively support the Human Rights Council recent decision to appoint an Independent Expert on access safe drinking water and sanitation who will compile best practices and further elaborate on the content of these obligations over the next three years.

We call on the international community agree a roadmap for action on IWRM with clear milestones towards 2015, and urge countries again to ensure that the process of preparing the IWRM plans is less technocratic and works with local communities to reflect their priorities.

We welcome yesterday's comments on the issue of transboundary water cooperation. The CSD can’t keep avoiding to deal with this issue, and in line with the Netherlands we too are eager to hear progress reports for ratifying the 1997 UN Convention on the Law of the Non-Navigational Uses of International Watercourses, as a necessary instrument for improving the governance of the world’s 263 international rivers.

Chair, failures on water and sanitation undermine other efforts to achieve MDGs, especially in relation to education and the environment. This crisis threatens to derail progress and an immediate and extraordinary effort is required by governments matched with a major change of paradigm towards the oft-promised but rarely delivered democratic, environmentally sensitive approaches. Action is needed as if all peoples matter.

Sanitation has been consistently overlooked. Is it because it affects the most vulnerable in our societies, especially women and children? Let us not forget that it is rural women who are walking 4 hours every day to collect clean water and it's their children who are dying from diahorreal diseases. Governments must take up their responsibilities. Earlier this year, NGOs were pleased to work with African ministers on the eThekwini Declaration, and the resulting commitments made in the innovative Africa-EU Statement on Sanitation. It is such high-level commitments, coupled with time-bound action plans and an up-front monitoring mechanism that we need. NGOs look forward to continued partnership in following up and implementing the Declaration.

Sanitation, as well as water, is a key inter-linkage with the other themes of CSD16 for rural development. Without co-ordinated action among all relevant stakeholders and across sectors, the challenges of climate change, urbanisation, desertification and changes in agriculture production are likely to exacerbate the crisis on access to water and sanitation. We hope that the Ministerial Rountable tomorrow will make some headway on this issues.

UN Water is playing a useful international coordinating and reporting role. We recommend the initiative is scaled up. We want to see a global action plan for water and sanitation, setting out a comprehensive strategy for ensuring progress towards the MDG targets, monitored by one global task force with one single global monitoring report on access to safe drinking water and sanitation.

The sector has suffered from political neglect and low investment for many years and investment falls far short of need. The priority for ODA should be directed at the lowest-income countries, while national governments should commit to allocate at least 1% of GDP to fund water and sanitation plans.

National level plans would help to better plan, coordinate and monitor the delivery of services. These plans must include the means to allow poor people, and especially women, to hold their Governments and service providers accountable.

Mr Chairman, The UN has declared 2008 the International Year of Sanitation. This should be a year of proactive action and alternative announcements and not only an opportunity for expert meetings and conferences. We call for a strong commitment to policy discussions on water and sanitation at CSD-17 next year.

We must seize this opportunity and capitalise on growing political momentum, at the G8 summit, at the UN MDG summit and indeed at the African Union summit.

A failure to act will be a failure to the world’s poor, denying them access not only to Water and Sanitation but to the broader benefits offered by health, education and sustainable development in general.

Thank You.]]> http://sdin-ngo.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=12 Mon, 26 May 2008 14:24:37 +0200 http://sdin-ngo.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=12
Chairman, Distinguished Delegates,

The NGO statement is in connection to presentations delivered yesterday, this morning and this afternoon.

Tourism, Mr. Chairman is good but without careful controls, some problems do occur. For example, some tourists come to Africa to have access to traditional knowledge about plants use. They use this knowledge and obtain patents on substances fro these Africa plants, without sharing the benefits with the local communities. We have examples of baobab and yellow yam from West Africa, Iboga in Central Africa, Hoodia in South Africa.

Land is the single most dominant asset for African households. It is a key social and economic asset, crucial for cultural identity, participation in decision-making and provision of shelter. The commodification of lands has led to further marginalisation of women as well as pastoralists, pushing them out of the cities and in some cases into the slums. Forceful evictions still remain a problem on the continent and women bear the brunt of those dislocations. Women’s rights to land is therefore critical for their social status, economic well – being and empowerment.

Drought and desertification are emergency issues and must be treated as such. Climate change is a major contributor to distorted weather patterns and increasing incidents of drought in Africa. Droughts have been one important cause of crop failures, of livestock deaths, and of food shortages in Africa. Pastoralists are heavily impacted and have to search over larger areas for grazing and water for their animals thus risking serious land conflicts.

Investment in renewable energy is one way of combating the menace of desertification. Other efforts would include integrating indigenous knowledge systems in land and natural resource management systems and linking these actions in rural areas, strengthening and supporting local coping mechanisms, and engaging in research and development activities in collaboration with local people with clear gender mainstreaming.

The issue of desertification has so far been relatively ignored and seen in isolation by governments, donors, and civil society. Investments in drylands activities such as water and land management, pastoralist development initiatives, and protection of savannah ecosystems have been low and scattered and thus require important awareness-raising and information work.

Africa does not need GMOs to solve her food problems. Current agricultural knowledge, science and technology emphasizes the role of agro ecological farming methods and sustainable practices that protect biodiversity and make agriculture more resilient and adaptive as it is needed in terms of climate change. The big problem in Africa is rural infrastructure for access to farms and farm products and markets. We bear in mind that in countries with food deficits there are sometimes surpluses in remote areas of the same countries.

AGRA’s intentions are good but the strategies and means of delivery are suspect. To all intent and purposes, the agenda of AGRA and the IITA coincide and in the matter of using GMOs as a solution to the hunger on the African continent we make bold to say that they are both wrong.

Finally, Mr. Chairman, it must be remembered that the challenges of achieving sustainable development in and for Africa is not merely a technical one, but an ethical one as well. Clear and decisive moral leadership is also required.]]>
Chairman, Distinguished Delegates,

The NGO statement is in connection to presentations delivered yesterday, this morning and this afternoon.

Tourism, Mr. Chairman is good but without careful controls, some problems do occur. For example, some tourists come to Africa to have access to traditional knowledge about plants use. They use this knowledge and obtain patents on substances fro these Africa plants, without sharing the benefits with the local communities. We have examples of baobab and yellow yam from West Africa, Iboga in Central Africa, Hoodia in South Africa.

Land is the single most dominant asset for African households. It is a key social and economic asset, crucial for cultural identity, participation in decision-making and provision of shelter. The commodification of lands has led to further marginalisation of women as well as pastoralists, pushing them out of the cities and in some cases into the slums. Forceful evictions still remain a problem on the continent and women bear the brunt of those dislocations. Women’s rights to land is therefore critical for their social status, economic well – being and empowerment.

Drought and desertification are emergency issues and must be treated as such. Climate change is a major contributor to distorted weather patterns and increasing incidents of drought in Africa. Droughts have been one important cause of crop failures, of livestock deaths, and of food shortages in Africa. Pastoralists are heavily impacted and have to search over larger areas for grazing and water for their animals thus risking serious land conflicts.

Investment in renewable energy is one way of combating the menace of desertification. Other efforts would include integrating indigenous knowledge systems in land and natural resource management systems and linking these actions in rural areas, strengthening and supporting local coping mechanisms, and engaging in research and development activities in collaboration with local people with clear gender mainstreaming.

The issue of desertification has so far been relatively ignored and seen in isolation by governments, donors, and civil society. Investments in drylands activities such as water and land management, pastoralist development initiatives, and protection of savannah ecosystems have been low and scattered and thus require important awareness-raising and information work.

Africa does not need GMOs to solve her food problems. Current agricultural knowledge, science and technology emphasizes the role of agro ecological farming methods and sustainable practices that protect biodiversity and make agriculture more resilient and adaptive as it is needed in terms of climate change. The big problem in Africa is rural infrastructure for access to farms and farm products and markets. We bear in mind that in countries with food deficits there are sometimes surpluses in remote areas of the same countries.

AGRA’s intentions are good but the strategies and means of delivery are suspect. To all intent and purposes, the agenda of AGRA and the IITA coincide and in the matter of using GMOs as a solution to the hunger on the African continent we make bold to say that they are both wrong.

Finally, Mr. Chairman, it must be remembered that the challenges of achieving sustainable development in and for Africa is not merely a technical one, but an ethical one as well. Clear and decisive moral leadership is also required.]]> http://sdin-ngo.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=11 Mon, 26 May 2008 14:17:18 +0200 http://sdin-ngo.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=11
Dear Delegates,

This CSD is a wake-up call for African governments to rise up and take up the challenge of building up the continent. It is also a challenge for all to stand in true solidarity with Africa, because we live in an interlinked world, and the crises facing mankind today do not respect continental boundaries. NGOs and governments have complementary roles to play in this.

As we review Africa in the context of the other themes under CSD-16, it is pertinent to note that the challenges to Africa have been orchestrated by centuries of distorted and often exploitative relationships with other regions. NGOs believe that this review session is an excellent time for careful interrogation of notions that portray the continent as helpless, so that we may generate new solutions that would help overcome rather than deepen the crisis on the continent.

We believe that one of the challenges that African agriculture has for example, is that of dumping of surplus produce from subsidized production from rich countries while international financial institutions oppose subsidies, block subsidies, and reject subsidies from Africa. This has been very destructive to the sector in the continent.

African governments have not made sufficient investments in agriculture, and this should change. But this does not need to be done by an Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, AGRA, which, although it has laudable intentions, is unfortunately seeking to promote GMOs in Africa as a solution. More research is needed to increase yields, but this must be demand-driven, must take cognizance of local knowledge, and includes consensus, social equity and developmental sustainability.

Mr Chairman, sustainable development in Africa will remain a pipe dream, if economic policies imposed by international financial institutions continue to weaken progressive local controls, keep the region as a perpetual provider of raw materials and promote continual accommodation of ... . We believe that WTO rules, EPAs and other trade arrangements must be very carefully interrogated if Africa is going to make progress.

We thank you, Mr Chair.]]>
Dear Delegates,

This CSD is a wake-up call for African governments to rise up and take up the challenge of building up the continent. It is also a challenge for all to stand in true solidarity with Africa, because we live in an interlinked world, and the crises facing mankind today do not respect continental boundaries. NGOs and governments have complementary roles to play in this.

As we review Africa in the context of the other themes under CSD-16, it is pertinent to note that the challenges to Africa have been orchestrated by centuries of distorted and often exploitative relationships with other regions. NGOs believe that this review session is an excellent time for careful interrogation of notions that portray the continent as helpless, so that we may generate new solutions that would help overcome rather than deepen the crisis on the continent.

We believe that one of the challenges that African agriculture has for example, is that of dumping of surplus produce from subsidized production from rich countries while international financial institutions oppose subsidies, block subsidies, and reject subsidies from Africa. This has been very destructive to the sector in the continent.

African governments have not made sufficient investments in agriculture, and this should change. But this does not need to be done by an Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa, AGRA, which, although it has laudable intentions, is unfortunately seeking to promote GMOs in Africa as a solution. More research is needed to increase yields, but this must be demand-driven, must take cognizance of local knowledge, and includes consensus, social equity and developmental sustainability.

Mr Chairman, sustainable development in Africa will remain a pipe dream, if economic policies imposed by international financial institutions continue to weaken progressive local controls, keep the region as a perpetual provider of raw materials and promote continual accommodation of ... . We believe that WTO rules, EPAs and other trade arrangements must be very carefully interrogated if Africa is going to make progress.

We thank you, Mr Chair.]]> http://sdin-ngo.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=10 Mon, 26 May 2008 14:16:00 +0200 http://sdin-ngo.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=10
Response to Belarus’ challenge: (NGOs in policy process)

NGOs, when given the space and opportunity, do participate actively in national processes on the formulation and implementation of land and agrarian reform programs. In the case of the Philippines, since the 1970s, NGOs have been actively involved in organizing, training and education, implementing livelihood projects, and providing support services to farmers and agrarian reform communities - despite the many constraints and obstacles, including risks to our lives in the face of political and military repression.

Land lies at the heart of the current thematic cluster. To farmers and indigenous peoples the world over, LAND IS LIFE.

Without access to productive land and resources, farmers leave for the urban slums, or stay poor for the rest of their lives. In the most dramatic cases, we see farmers killing and willing to be killed over their land, or worse, commit suicide. The more than 3 billion rural people increasingly face the threat of displacement from their lands and alienation from their livelihood sources to give way to mega-development projects, such as large dams, and agrofuel plantations. Conflicts over land and natural resources are likely to increase with climate change.

Distinguished delegates, you all know all this ugly reality. The question that you face in this review session is: what have you done to address this to achieve sustainable development?

A combination of national and international policies is responsible for driving peasant and indigenous communities to economic destitution. These include deregulation and privatization of land ownership, which have led to the reconcentration of land ownership in many countries; the dismantling of rural public services; the privatization of support services for production and marketing by small and medium-scale producers; the promotion of capital-intensive and industrial agro-exportation; and the liberalization of agricultural trade and policies on international trade.

NGOs have been calling for genuine agrarian reform based on the human rights framework that recognizes the socio-environmental functions of productive resources in the context of food sovereignty. Food sovereignty is based on the human right to food and to self-determination, and integrates policies of redistribution, equitable access to and control over productive resources by local communities.

A genuine agrarian reform does not only involve land re-distribution, but also recognizes gender equity, the “cosmovision” of the territories of communities evolved through millennia of interaction with the land and its bounty, and farmers’ capacity as stewards and managers of productive resources. The State must play a strong role in agrarian reform, ensuring tenurial security and food production to guarantee the rights of rural communities. Without the mobilization and full participation of farmers and social movements, there will be no genuine agrarian reform.

NGOs hurl this challenge to CSD delegates: Give land to the tillers and recognize tenurial rights. Deliver basic support services, infrastructures and investments, in order to bring food to the table of the poor and bring back the dignity of farmers. NGOs are willing to help you, but you must first do your job.]]>
Response to Belarus’ challenge: (NGOs in policy process)

NGOs, when given the space and opportunity, do participate actively in national processes on the formulation and implementation of land and agrarian reform programs. In the case of the Philippines, since the 1970s, NGOs have been actively involved in organizing, training and education, implementing livelihood projects, and providing support services to farmers and agrarian reform communities - despite the many constraints and obstacles, including risks to our lives in the face of political and military repression.

Land lies at the heart of the current thematic cluster. To farmers and indigenous peoples the world over, LAND IS LIFE.

Without access to productive land and resources, farmers leave for the urban slums, or stay poor for the rest of their lives. In the most dramatic cases, we see farmers killing and willing to be killed over their land, or worse, commit suicide. The more than 3 billion rural people increasingly face the threat of displacement from their lands and alienation from their livelihood sources to give way to mega-development projects, such as large dams, and agrofuel plantations. Conflicts over land and natural resources are likely to increase with climate change.

Distinguished delegates, you all know all this ugly reality. The question that you face in this review session is: what have you done to address this to achieve sustainable development?

A combination of national and international policies is responsible for driving peasant and indigenous communities to economic destitution. These include deregulation and privatization of land ownership, which have led to the reconcentration of land ownership in many countries; the dismantling of rural public services; the privatization of support services for production and marketing by small and medium-scale producers; the promotion of capital-intensive and industrial agro-exportation; and the liberalization of agricultural trade and policies on international trade.

NGOs have been calling for genuine agrarian reform based on the human rights framework that recognizes the socio-environmental functions of productive resources in the context of food sovereignty. Food sovereignty is based on the human right to food and to self-determination, and integrates policies of redistribution, equitable access to and control over productive resources by local communities.

A genuine agrarian reform does not only involve land re-distribution, but also recognizes gender equity, the “cosmovision” of the territories of communities evolved through millennia of interaction with the land and its bounty, and farmers’ capacity as stewards and managers of productive resources. The State must play a strong role in agrarian reform, ensuring tenurial security and food production to guarantee the rights of rural communities. Without the mobilization and full participation of farmers and social movements, there will be no genuine agrarian reform.

NGOs hurl this challenge to CSD delegates: Give land to the tillers and recognize tenurial rights. Deliver basic support services, infrastructures and investments, in order to bring food to the table of the poor and bring back the dignity of farmers. NGOs are willing to help you, but you must first do your job.]]> http://sdin-ngo.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=9 Mon, 26 May 2008 14:14:53 +0200 http://sdin-ngo.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=9
1. We thank the Chairperson for the opportunity to present our collective views as NGOs.
2. NGOs working for rural development are concerned with economic and technological growth in the rural areas, and more importantly, with the holistic human development of the rural peoples, especially the marginalized sectors. Development means unleashing their full potentials to actually direct their own live and to use properly their resources through education and people-oriented processes, leading towards active and meaningful participation in various governance structures at different levels.

However, over the decades, we have seen the many constraints and obstacles in pursuing lasting development in the rural areas.

3. Rural development policies in general are not cognizant of the importance of social, political and cultural dimensions and values that are the essence of rural lives and livelihoods, necessary in the pursuit of alternatives for ending rural poverty. Contribution of rural women, farmers and workers, who carry the brunt of agricultural work, are dismally unrecognized. These policies, more often than not, are supply driven and not anchored on economic growth brought about by greater security of jobs and more secured access and control to the means of rural productivity such as land and financing.

Economic growth should lead to more equitable distribution of gains from such growth and anchored on food security, not only for the benefit of the elite, agribusiness and transnational corporations.

4. For agriculture, this would mean stronger support services delivery to farmers, greater investment in Research & Development, and ensuring farmers’ control and access to farming technology including seeds, and stronger farmer/producer linkages with domestic and international markets, and continuing capacity building towards entrepreneurship.

5. Rural livelihoods are largely based on the environment and its vast natural resource, thus the degradation of fragile, marginal lands, and the continuing over-exploitation of our natural wealth puts the marginalized rural poor are at risk. The various adaptation measures developed by local organizations and communities through constant interaction with the environment, need recognition and policy support from governments. The push for bio fuels to reduce greenhouse emissions and provide rural livelihoods should put into consideration implications to food security and the environment.

6. Privatization of agricultural extension and the lack of it of effective agricultural extension services deprive more those in the remote areas of needed services. Rural infrastructure to include transport, water supply for domestic and production purposes remain inadequate and often sidelined by other high-impact priority projects.

7. Finally, a biggest threat to rural development is the impact of trade policies. Trade does not lead to development when it results to displacement of rural peoples, environmental degradation due to mono cropping and chemical use, further indebtedness of farmers, and loss of livelihoods due to unfair competition.

Governments and policy makers have to institutionalize the meaningful participation of organized rural sectors in policy and decision-making. It is only when the people for whom the development is intended for are fully engaged, as stakeholders, can development be sustainable.

We thank you for your attention.]]>
1. We thank the Chairperson for the opportunity to present our collective views as NGOs.
2. NGOs working for rural development are concerned with economic and technological growth in the rural areas, and more importantly, with the holistic human development of the rural peoples, especially the marginalized sectors. Development means unleashing their full potentials to actually direct their own live and to use properly their resources through education and people-oriented processes, leading towards active and meaningful participation in various governance structures at different levels.

However, over the decades, we have seen the many constraints and obstacles in pursuing lasting development in the rural areas.

3. Rural development policies in general are not cognizant of the importance of social, political and cultural dimensions and values that are the essence of rural lives and livelihoods, necessary in the pursuit of alternatives for ending rural poverty. Contribution of rural women, farmers and workers, who carry the brunt of agricultural work, are dismally unrecognized. These policies, more often than not, are supply driven and not anchored on economic growth brought about by greater security of jobs and more secured access and control to the means of rural productivity such as land and financing.

Economic growth should lead to more equitable distribution of gains from such growth and anchored on food security, not only for the benefit of the elite, agribusiness and transnational corporations.

4. For agriculture, this would mean stronger support services delivery to farmers, greater investment in Research & Development, and ensuring farmers’ control and access to farming technology including seeds, and stronger farmer/producer linkages with domestic and international markets, and continuing capacity building towards entrepreneurship.

5. Rural livelihoods are largely based on the environment and its vast natural resource, thus the degradation of fragile, marginal lands, and the continuing over-exploitation of our natural wealth puts the marginalized rural poor are at risk. The various adaptation measures developed by local organizations and communities through constant interaction with the environment, need recognition and policy support from governments. The push for bio fuels to reduce greenhouse emissions and provide rural livelihoods should put into consideration implications to food security and the environment.

6. Privatization of agricultural extension and the lack of it of effective agricultural extension services deprive more those in the remote areas of needed services. Rural infrastructure to include transport, water supply for domestic and production purposes remain inadequate and often sidelined by other high-impact priority projects.

7. Finally, a biggest threat to rural development is the impact of trade policies. Trade does not lead to development when it results to displacement of rural peoples, environmental degradation due to mono cropping and chemical use, further indebtedness of farmers, and loss of livelihoods due to unfair competition.

Governments and policy makers have to institutionalize the meaningful participation of organized rural sectors in policy and decision-making. It is only when the people for whom the development is intended for are fully engaged, as stakeholders, can development be sustainable.

We thank you for your attention.]]> http://sdin-ngo.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=8 Mon, 26 May 2008 14:10:38 +0200 http://sdin-ngo.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=8
Mr Chairman, Distinguished delegates of CSD,

NGOs are most concerned that the lessons and challenges of this thematic cluster are debated not from a short term crisis mentality but should focus on experiences in demonstrated medium and long term solutions to hunger, poverty and agricultural resource degradation that need to be supported.

The urgency of addressing the current global food crisis and the imperative on the CSD to live up to this expectation underline the importance of scaling up the many important innovations and people-centered solutions found across the world to these problems that NGOs have been espousing. NGOs call on governments to embrace solutions to obstacles and constraints facing the implementation of projects and interventions under the current thematic cluster, including those in water and sanitation identified in numerous international fora such as the Africa World Water Week and the World Water Forum, using CSD as a platform to draw on lessons learned.

NGOs urge governments to embrace practical solutions addressing the root causes of the current food crisis in farming and livestock production systems. This requires a holistic development model that integrates ongoing work rather than fragment efforts into parallel but often disconnected efforts. The current review should fearlessly take stock of the obstacles and constraints in replicating good practices, especially in international trade, technology and food aid.

As we debate the way forward for this cluster of all-important themes, we NGOs join other sectors to call attention to local communities' rights to decide and to develop good practices ranging from access to land, to water, to seeds, to people-driven technologies, to finance, and to markets for products at fair prices. This review session should be a time for deep reflections.

Thank you.]]>
Mr Chairman, Distinguished delegates of CSD,

NGOs are most concerned that the lessons and challenges of this thematic cluster are debated not from a short term crisis mentality but should focus on experiences in demonstrated medium and long term solutions to hunger, poverty and agricultural resource degradation that need to be supported.

The urgency of addressing the current global food crisis and the imperative on the CSD to live up to this expectation underline the importance of scaling up the many important innovations and people-centered solutions found across the world to these problems that NGOs have been espousing. NGOs call on governments to embrace solutions to obstacles and constraints facing the implementation of projects and interventions under the current thematic cluster, including those in water and sanitation identified in numerous international fora such as the Africa World Water Week and the World Water Forum, using CSD as a platform to draw on lessons learned.

NGOs urge governments to embrace practical solutions addressing the root causes of the current food crisis in farming and livestock production systems. This requires a holistic development model that integrates ongoing work rather than fragment efforts into parallel but often disconnected efforts. The current review should fearlessly take stock of the obstacles and constraints in replicating good practices, especially in international trade, technology and food aid.

As we debate the way forward for this cluster of all-important themes, we NGOs join other sectors to call attention to local communities' rights to decide and to develop good practices ranging from access to land, to water, to seeds, to people-driven technologies, to finance, and to markets for products at fair prices. This review session should be a time for deep reflections.

Thank you.]]> http://sdin-ngo.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=4 Sun, 27 Apr 2008 03:53:29 +0200 http://sdin-ngo.net/forum/showthread.php?tid=4
Venue: The Tudor Hotel (formerly the Crown Plaza Hotel), almost on the corner of 42nd Street and 2nd Avenue, New York City.

Time: 14:30 - 18:15.

Attractions: We invite the participating NGOs for a light luncheon (sandwich lunch) and coffee/tea between 13:30 and 14:30.

Note: Registration for CSD is open in the 'UN Visitors Lobby' accessible from the East side of 1st Avenue and 45th Street from 13:00 until 16:00 on Sunday 4 May.

--

14:30 Welcome to this year’s CSD, a short presentation by Jan-Gustav Strandenaes, outline of the NGO logistics, morning meetings etc. Mr.Strandenaes is the UN CSD NGO Major Group Co-Organiser, and senior policy adviser, ANPED.

15:00 The CSD – an opportunity to interact, By Federica Pietracci, UN CSD Major Group's Coordinator explaining the basic procedures and logistics of the CSD. We will have a chance to a brief Q and A session after an introduction by Pietracci.

16:00 What are we going to talk about for two weeks? A presentation of the major issues and some of the contentious areas we should focus on, by representatives from the NGO issue groups – short introductions followed by a few questions and answers: (speakers to be announced)

- Agriculture
- Land management
- Rural development
- Drought
- Desertification
- Water
- Sanitation
- Africa

18:15 Closing of the meeting.

The meeting will be facilitated by Neth Dano (TWN) and Jan-Gustav Strandenaes (ANPED).

All major groups are welcome.]]>
Venue: The Tudor Hotel (formerly the Crown Plaza Hotel), almost on the corner of 42nd Street and 2nd Avenue, New York City.

Time: 14:30 - 18:15.

Attractions: We invite the participating NGOs for a light luncheon (sandwich lunch) and coffee/tea between 13:30 and 14:30.

Note: Registration for CSD is open in the 'UN Visitors Lobby' accessible from the East side of 1st Avenue and 45th Street from 13:00 until 16:00 on Sunday 4 May.

--

14:30 Welcome to this year’s CSD, a short presentation by Jan-Gustav Strandenaes, outline of the NGO logistics, morning meetings etc. Mr.Strandenaes is the UN CSD NGO Major Group Co-Organiser, and senior policy adviser, ANPED.

15:00 The CSD – an opportunity to interact, By Federica Pietracci, UN CSD Major Group's Coordinator explaining the basic procedures and logistics of the CSD. We will have a chance to a brief Q and A session after an introduction by Pietracci.

16:00 What are we going to talk about for two weeks? A presentation of the major issues and some of the contentious areas we should focus on, by representatives from the NGO issue groups – short introductions followed by a few questions and answers: (speakers to be announced)

- Agriculture
- Land management
- Rural development
- Drought
- Desertification
- Water
- Sanitation
- Africa

18:15 Closing of the meeting.

The meeting will be facilitated by Neth Dano (TWN) and Jan-Gustav Strandenaes (ANPED).

All major groups are welcome.]]>