Theme: "AGRICULTURAL INTENSIFICATION: FEEDING OURSELVES AND SUSTAINING AFRICA's LAND RESSOURCES IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM".

Second Meeting of the Committee on Sustainable Development

Addis Ababa, 26 - 29 November 2001

Background

1. The Committee on Sustainable Development (CSD) was created by the Conference of African Ministers responsible for Economic and Social Development and Planning in 1996 to serve as:

1. A technical and legislative body of experts to provide advice, and

2. A platform for advocacy, critical analysis, and recommendations to ECA in the interlinked areas of food security, population and the environment.

2. The first meeting of CSD took place from 25 to 29 January 1999 with the theme, "Ensuring Food Security and Sustainable Development in Africa: the Population, Agriculture and Environment Nexus." Because an integrated approach for the conceptualisation, analysis and management of the nexus issues being advocated by ECA was just being introduced to the member States, the theme of the first meeting was deliberately broad in order to prompt guidance from the Committee on how the Commission should go about addressing the nexus issues.

3. Since the first Committee meeting, ECA's Food Security and Sustainable Development Division (FSSDD) has made considerable progress in conceptualising the nexus interrelationships, raising the awareness of member States about the importance of the population, agriculture, environment and development nexus, especially among central policy makers, and increasing recognition of the complex interrelationship among the nexus issues. It is, therefore, appropriate for the second meeting to be more focused and to address specific aspects of the nexus that are problematic and of common interest to a large number of the member States.

The Proposed Theme of the Second Meeting

4. Feeding a rapidly growing African population that is expected to increase from 794 million today (2000) to 1.23 billion in the Year 2020, will require rapid and sustained increases in food production. As a result of population pressure, competition for land will intensify between and among sectors and production systems, resulting in the expansion of land for arable and tree crops, limitations to shifting cultivation, and reduction in the quantity of land reserved for grazing of livestock and for forests. Other limitations include competition between crop and livestock production, between crop production and forestry/wildlife, between fisheries/aquaculture and marine and coastal resources, including mangrove swamp preservation between crop production and timber and fuel wood extraction. These limitation will all intensify. It is now generally agreed that, as a consequence of these trends, much of the required increases in food production in Africa will have to come mostly through increasing output from land already under cultivation.

5. The problem is that the possible pathways and the economic, social, and environmental implications of intensification are still not very well known. Leveraging the complementarities and synergies offered by the nexus linkages to exploit the vast potential of agricultural intensification for addressing the food security and sustainable development needs of the Member States, has become a major challenge as we enter the new millennium. It is, therefore, proposed that the theme for the second meeting of the Committee on Sustainable Development be: "AGRICULTURAL INTENSIFICATION: FEEDING OURSELVES AND SUSTAINING AFRICA's LAND RESSOURCES IN THE NEW MILLENNIUM".

6. The concept of development has evolved over time and is better understood as an unfolding system of goals and means rather than a fixed scheme. Changes in this concept can be traced through at least four international development strategies for the United Nations development decades. Since the 1960s, the perspective has changed from an almost exclusively economic view of development to one that pays more attention to social aspects and ecological sustainability of development. This has been accompanied by the gradual shift towards placing both environmental issues and population issues in a broader context that emphasises the need to consider linkages between population, environment and development in the formulation of policies.

7. The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio de Janeiro, 1992) recognised population pressure as a cause for concern, especially in urban areas, and as regards land degradation, deforestation and the precarious state of fragile ecosystems. Agenda 21 included a chapter on demographic dynamics and sustainability, which stated that the growth of the world population, combined with unsustainable production and consumption patterns, placed severe stress on the life supporting capacities of the planet.

8. It is recalled that 66% of land is arid or semi-arid in Africa. It is also recalled that, Agenda 21, for which a review and an assessment of its implementation is being undertaken within the preparatory process of the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development recommended that "Governments at the appropriate level, with the support of regional and international organizations, should ensure that policies and policy instruments support the best possible land use and sustainable management of land resources." Particular attention is given to the role of agricultural land.

9. Among the resolutions made by African Governments in the Dakar/Ngor Declaration (1993) on population, family and sustainable development were the following:

1. Integrate population policies and programmes in development strategies, focusing on strengthening social sectors with a view to influencing human development and work towards the solution of population problems by setting quantified national objectives for the reduction of population growth with a view to bringing down the regional population growth rate from 3.0 to 2.5 per cent by the year 2000 and 2 per cent by the year 2010;

2. Implement measures to tackle the underlying causes of environmental degradation such as poverty, focusing on environmentally sound and appropriate technologies;

3. Enhance the quality of the environment by reversing deforestation and soil erosion, checking the spread of deserts and adopting priority programmes aimed at management of water resources, with a view to reducing the impact of recurrent droughts and the resultant food shortages; and

4. Place greater emphasis on such matters as food security, marketing services, appropriate agricultural mechanisation, research and extension services, more efficient use of land and farming systems, livestock development and assistance programmes for small farmers.

10. The International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) (1994) noted that in many countries high population growth and density had caused various environmental problems, such as land degradation, deforestation, air and water pollution and threats to biological diversity from habitat destruction. The ICPD-PA recognised the complex nature of population-environment interactions. Population growth was considered as one of the several causes of unsustainability; and slower population growth was recognised as one of the important instruments for increasing the ability of many countries to combat poverty and protect the environment.

11. The spread of HIV/AIDS to rural Africa oblige to analyse attentively the relationships between the pandemic and overall sustainable development. In the Abuja Declaration on "HIV/AIDS, Tuberculosis and Other Related Infectious Diseases" endorsed by the Special Summit of OAU in April 2001, the African Heads of State and Government recognise that the epidemic constitutes not only a major health crisis, but also an exceptional threat to Africa's development, social cohesion, political stability, food security as well as the greatest global threat to the survival and life expectancy of African peoples.

12. In 1996, the Heads of State and Government at the World Food Summit (WFS) pledged to reduce the number of undernourished people by 2015by half its actual level. The Rome Declaration acknowledged the "multifaceted character of food security", and emphasised its linkages with poverty insecurity, conflicts, degradation of natural resources, low level of trade and natural disasters.. The WFS Plan of Action and Rome Declaration contains seven commitments and more than one hundred actions, covering almost every area of relevance for global, regional, national, household and individual food security. Despite those commitments, five years later, policy makers and governments noticed that little progress has been made in bringing about significant reduction in the number of the world's hunger. Various projections indicate that the goal set by the World Food Summit in 1996 of halving the number of under-nourished people by the year 2015 to 400 million, will not be achieved unless approached with renewed determination. According to FAO, the level of hungry people is highest in SSA. Other statistical sources indicate that the number of malnourished children in SSA will actually increase by 18 percent, unless new action is taken. Even with low growth rate in population, the outlook for food security will remain bleak. Hence, the presentsituation in Africa cannot be allowed to continue and it must be reversed

13. Agriculture intensification and the development and maintenance of the human habitat are not possible without the participation of both men and women. Women are the backbone of both cash crop and subsistence farming, yet they face considerable discrimination that constitute a major obstacle to increased productivity. Moreover, women are key environmental managers, as they often have no choice but to exploit natural resources in order to have their family survive. They also specifically experience the impact of environment degradation and mismanagement of resources. As stressed at the Sixth African Regional Conference on Women (Mid-term Review of the Implementation of the Dakar and Beijing Platforms for Action, Addis Ababa, 1999), women's sustainable livelihoods and other coping strategies should be recognized. African women must become partners in environmental management and protection and their wisdom and indigenous knowledge must be incorporated in this regard. Gender factors should be integrated in sustainable development analysis and policies. Gender and age disaggregated data should be used to evaluate and quantify work in marketed and non-marketed agriculture production, to influence policy-making and to define gender-responsive actions.

14. One important aspect in population distribution and sustainable development, is that of migration. For individuals, migration is often a rational and dynamic effort to seek new opportunities in life. However, migration is also prompted by push factors, such as inequitable allocation of development resources, adoption of inappropriate technologies and lack of access to available land. Governments should, therefore, promote effective population distribution policies, which respect the right of individuals to live and work in the community of their choice while taking into account the effects of development strategies on population distribution.

15. Harmonizing population growth with the capacity of the land area to produce sustainable amounts of food poses serious challenges. Maintaining high fertility levels is a rational response of people, particularly in rural areas, who seek to ensure the survival of a sufficient number of children to provide adequate labor and old age support. Indeed, as forest resources and soil fertility have declined and agricultural productivity per unit has stagnated, family labor appears as the only sure resource available to rural families for expansion of cultivated land and agricultural production. Therefore, sustainable development-friendly technologies and policies should aim to reduce the need of family labor and therefore the demand for children. This is a fundamental for the success of all family planning policies.

16. To achieve sustainable intensification, appropriate technologies will be required. They will include inter-alia, critical technologies that must be promoted to increase agricultural productivity, food production and thus contribute to sustainable development include technologies related to land management, such as resource assessment, soil analysis technologies; technologies related to agricultural inputs, such as seeds, fertilizers, vaccines, pesticides, fungicides, in-vitro technologies related to agricultural machineries and implements; technologies related to food processing, preservation, packaging and food quality control; technologies related to infrastructure, including drainage and irrigation technologies, transport technologies, agro-processing, storage technologies; and technologies related to the provision of agricultural services (such as microcredit, extension, weather forecast, market data, etc.). To increased productivity and achieve sustainable development it would also be important to promote women's understanding and knowledge systems on appropriate and affordable technologies and on the application of alternative sources of energy, which effectively reduce women's workload while protecting the environment.

17. African countries are faced with a wide range of challenges, including malnutrition, hunger, and related illnesses. Addressing these challenges requires a reflection on judicious use of biotechnology, especially genetic modification, which represents an important technology option for meeting the long-term food needs of African countries. For instance, in regions where drought tolerance, disease resistance, and crop-yield increases are priorities, crops such as cassava, millet, yams, millet, and sorghum would be candidates for genetic modification. Modification that seeks to prolong the shelf life of foods could help reduce post-harvest losses significantly. Another potential area for biotechnology application is the development of livestock that is tolerant to many tropical diseases. Modern methods, such as genomics, could be applied in this area without requiring trans-genesis.

However, efforts to redirect biotechnology to address the needs of African countries should be placed in a large policy framework that addresses others social issues. More important, such strategies should be part of policies designed to use science and technology to achieve sustainable development goals that embody ecological, social, and economic requirements. However, some risk need to be addressed by African policy makers and governments planners in considering the role of biotechnology for low-income families, including, health, environment, and socio-economic considerations.

The Objectives of the Second CSD Meeting

18. In line within its mandate, the Second Meeting is proposed to take place from 26 to 29 November 2001 in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. It will:

1. Undertake an in-depth consideration of the burning issues pertaining to agricultural intensification as a strategy for food security and sustainable development in Africa;

2. Make policy related recommendations on these issues for use by African policy makers and their counterparts in the development co-operation community;

3. Review progress made in the implementation of intensification strategies and to recommend further actions based on experiences of Member States, and

4. Provide guidance to the work of ECA on Food Security and Sustainable Development.

High Level Panel Discussion

In addition to the planned outputs presentation that are required for this meeting, namely the reports on the follow-up of the major International Conferences, there will be a special event whereby a Panel Discussion is held on the theme: "AGRICULTURAL INTENSIFICATION: FEEDING OURSELVES AND SUSTAINING AFRICA's LAND RESOURCES IN THE NEW MILLENIUM". Led by high-level experts in the field, this panel discussion will feature as the main event of the CSD meeting. Intensification is crucial for triggering and sustaining growth in the food and agriculture systems in Africa. Yet, this theme has not received the deserved consideration by African policy- makers, or by government planners and decision makers. We therefore believe that there is high pay-off to granting agricultural intensification more serious thinking, brainstorming and consensus building.

The panel will lead the debate on the issues raised above, with a view to arriving at a consensus and a framework for sustainable agricultural intensification in Africa. There will be a main speaker to present a report on the main theme. Views and experiences on these and related issues will be invited from other panelists and participants. It is intended that the collection of ideas from the panel discussion will provide a snapshot of some of the most viable intensification programs needed for improving food security in Africa. The panel discussion will place emphasis on policy because the CSD meeting is being organised to influence African policy and decision makers to develop appropriate and sustainable methods of agricultural intensification. This will be done taking into account not only the agricultural production systems per se, but also the extent to which population and environmental factors can contribute to perpetuate low productivity and poor agricultural performance.

The main speaker is expected to address the following questions in his report: What are the existing farming methods that take into account population dynamics and avoid negative environmental consequences of agricultural intensification? What lessons can we learn from analysis using gender disaggregated data on women contribution to agricultural intensification? What policies specifically targeting women have been formulated to promote agricultural productivity? What policies are necessary to encourage intensification development - to create the enabling environment, to bring in the necessary local as well as foreign investment?

What/where are some of the success stories? What progress are African countries making in putting in place policies that promotes intensification? What new policies and institutions are needed to ensure the benefits from agricultural intensification without incurring unacceptable risks? What new sustainable development and agriculture policies should be envisaged in order to overcome the impacts of HIV/AIDS pandemic? What should be the roles of the private and the public sectors in the process? What can we learn from the experiences in intensification development of other developing countries, as well as from developed ones? What progress is being made in African Ministers' of agriculture, population and environment and how will the outputs from this panel help?

What are the fundamental policy adjustments required by African countries in order to promote the responsible use of biotechnology to meet the needs of their people? How should social policies be formulated in order to address the impact of new technologies on rural populations? What are the measures that all countries must put in place that ensure safety to human health and the environment? What are the appropriate measures that policy makers must take to address the possible impact of intellectual property protection on the ability of the African countries to use biotechology?

Preparation of the Meeting

19. A background document for the panel discussion will be prepared by a consultant (member of the panel) and will encompass all the thematic areas of the activities of the Division as they relate to this theme. Three other panellists will be invited and required to make a short presentation on the implications of agricultural intensification on their respective fields (population, environment, and technology). Apart from focusing on the main issues to be discussed, the results of these discussions could also be the basis for further collaboration between the Division and external partners.

Format of the Meeting

20. The meeting will be guided by a Bureau comprising a Chairperson, First Vice-Chairperson, Second Vice-Chairperson and Rapporteur. Discussions will take place in plenary sessions with a panel of Assistant Reporteurs assigned to keep an accurate record of the proceedings and assist the Rapporteur to produce and finalise the proceedings of each session and the of the meeting.

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