Opening Statement by the Director-General
Discours d'ouverture du Directeur général
Discurso de apertura del Director General
LE DIRECTEUR GENERAL: Excellence, Mesdames et Messieurs les ministres, Monsieur le Président indépendant du Conseil, Mesdames et Messieurs, je déclare ouverte la vingt-huitième session de la Conférence de l'Organisation des Nations Unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture. Je voudrais vous souhaiter la bienvenue au Siège de l'Organisation, de votre organisation.
LE DIRECTEUR GENERAL: Nous allons procéder à l'élection de notre Président. Comme vous le savez, la 109e session de notre Conseil avait décidé de proposer la nomination de son Excellence Costas Petrides, Ministre de l'agriculture, des ressources naturelles et de l'environnement de la République de Chypre. Je voudrais avoir votre avis sur cette proposition.
Cette proposition a été acceptée par acclamation, par la Conférence, et je voudrais demander à Monsieur le Président Costas Petrides de rejoindre sa place sur le podium. Je tiens à le féliciter de la confiance que la Conférence place dans sa compétence et dans son expérience pour diriger nos travaux.
Mr Costas Petrides took the Chair
M. Costas Petrides assume la Présidence
Ocupa la presidencia el Sr. Costas Petrides
Address by the Chairman of the Conference
Discours du Président de la Conférence
Discurso del Presidente de la Conferencia
CHAIRMAN: Mr Director-General, Excellencies, ladies, Distinguished Delegates and gentlemen. I am extremely grateful of the honour that you unanimously bestowed upon me and my country by electing me as the Chairman of the Twenty-eighth Session of the Conference which coincides with the 50th anniversary of the Organization. I feel highly privileged and I wish to thank you all very warmly. I am confident that with your cooperation all of us together will be able to proceed speedily and efficiently to make this historical session of the Conference a benchmark for the action of this Organization, not only for the coming biennium but also for the years ahead towards the twenty-first century.
I wish to congratulate and thank the Director-General, His Excellency Jacques Diouf and the Secretariat for the arrangements which have been made for the Conference and for the comprehensive and informative documentation which has been prepared for the various agenda items. I am positive that these arrangements will facilitate our meaningful deliberations.
Ladies and gentlemen, four days ago we celebrated the 50th Anniversary of our Organization in its birth place, the beautiful city of Quebec in Canada. We are grateful to the government and the people of Canada for having organized the commemorations of the founding of this great Organization. Since this historical date of the 16th of October 1945, FAO has evolved into a radically changing world when most of the founding Member Nations were struggling to restore their economies and their agricultural sectors devastated by the world conflict while others were entering the process for achieving their status as independent nations. At that time FAO provided critically needed services for agricultural development. It also provided an inter-governmental forum on policy issues.
In early 1960s as a number of its Member Nations increased, FAO broadened the scope of its activities to include the provisional technical assistance to help countries improve their agricultural productivity and production especially in the poorer areas of the world.
In the late 1970s, the Technical Cooperation Programme emerged as a need to respond to emergencies and provide assistance to aforeseen requirements, training the promotion of investments.
During the 1980s the World Food Security Compact was adopted with the expectation to ensure that all people have access at all times to the food they need. That was and remains the noble mandate of this Organization.
Therefore, FAO's mission is set for then in the preamble of its constitution remains just and valid today to raise levels of nutrition and standards of living, to improve the efficiency of production and distribution of food and agricultural products, to improve the conditions of rural populations and to continue thus to an expanding world economy and to humanity's freedom from hunger. However, despite all efforts today more than 800 million people world wide continue to suffer from poverty, hunger and malnutrition. The number of chronically undernourished people may still be some 730 million by the year 2010 unless further action is taken. The task before all nations is therefore huge and requires general mobilization and sustainable effort. The Director-General's initiative to call for a World Food Summit in 1996 and to which this Conference is called to approve should be seen in this perspective of the urgent and compelling duty to ensure food for all by renewing our commitment to pursue goals and fulfil the dreams of the founders of this Organization.
Distinguished delegates for the first time the Conference, the supreme body of this Organization, is expected to conclude its work in two weeks rather than three weeks as in the past. The agenda however remains heavy and many important items need to be examined and decided upon I therefore seek your whole hearted cooperation so as to avoid any waste of time. All matters brought at the Plenary and at the Commissions should be examined speedily to enable us to conclude the work of this Conference on time. I wish to assure you that I am willing to work closely with all of you and I will spare no efforts to bring this Conference to a successful conclusion through the appropriate consultations so that items that might be wise to different points of view be solved constructively and in a friendly manner. Then our sole aim may be to give to this great Organization under the leadership of the Director-General the means it requires to an better and more efficient performance in the years to come for the planet and the people of all nations.
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CHAIRMAN: We will proceed to this morning's work. First of all we have the election of the Vice-Chairman and other members of the various Committees and as you very well know paragraph 8 of Rule 8 of the General Rules of the Organization provides that the nominations committee shall propose to the Conference firstly the candidates for the three posts of Vice-Chairman of the Conference. Secondly the seven Member Nations' members of the General Committee of the Conference require under paragraph 1 of Rule 10 of the same General Rules and thirdly the nine Members of the Collection Committee as laid down in paragraph 3 of Rule 3 of the General Rules. The Nominations Committee, which is to make these proposals, was elected by the FAO Council at its 109th Session held from the 18-19 October in accordance with the provisions of paragraph 5b of Rule 24 of the General Rules of the Organization. This Committee met yesterday and drew up its recommendations for the posts just mentioned. So I shall now ask the Chairman of the Nominations Committee, Mr Bui Hassan of Iraq to place before the Conference the nominations agreed to by this Committee. Will Mr Hassan please come to the lectern.
May I ask the Chairman of the Nominations Committee to begin this report with three Vice-Chairmen of the countries.
K.M. Hassan (Chairman, Nominations Committee): In accordance with Rule VII-2 of the General Rules of the Organization, the Committee submits the following nominations to the Conference:
- Salah HAMDI (Tunisia)
- Juan NUIRY SANCHEZ (Cuba)
- Ms Mária KADLECIKOVA (Slovakia)
CHAIRMAN: Ladies and Gentlemen, you have just heard the proposals of the Nominations Committee in respect of the three Vice-Chairmen of the Conference. Are there any objections?
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CHAIRMAN: From your applause I take it that there are no objections and that Conference approves these names. Therefore I consider these proposals adopted.
CHAIRMAN: We proceed to Item 2 of the Provisional Agenda, which is the appointment of the General Committee and the Credentials Committee. I will ask the Chairman of the Nominations Committee to proceed with his report. We start first with the Committee's proposals for membership of the General Committee.
K.M. Hassan (Chairman, Nominations Committee): In accordance with Rule X of the General Rules of the Organization, the Committee submits the following nominations to the Conference for Members of the General Committee:
| ANGOLA BELGIUM CHINA | EGYPT NICARAGUA | SPAIN UNITED STATES OF AMERICA |
CHAIRMAN: You have heard the nominations for the seven Member Nations to be elected to the General Committee. Are there any objections?
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CHAIRMAN: Since there are no objections, I will consider the seven Member Nations to be duly elected to serve on the General Committee of the Conference.
It is now my privilege once again to request the Chair of the Nominations Committee to make his proposals concerning the Credentials Committee.
K.M. HASSAN (Chairman, Nomination Committee) (original language Arabic): In accordance with Rule III of the General Rules of the Organization, the Committee submits the following nominations to Conference:
| CANADA CHINA CONGO | CYPRUS GERMANY HUNGARY | CYPRUS PARAGUAY THAILAND |
CHAIRMAN: You have heard the Nominations Committee proposals as regards the nine Member nations to compose the Credentials Committee. Are there any objections?
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CHAIRMAN: I consider these nine nominations duly appointed to constitute the Credentials Committee of Conference.
Ladies and gentlemen, this completes the report of the Nominations Committee. I want to thank Mr Hassan and his Committee for having assisted Conference.
Conference will now listen to the Nineteenth McDougall Memorial Lecture, to be delivered this year by Prof. Gian Tommaso Scarascia Mugnozza, President of the National Academy of Sciences, Rome and Rector, University of Tuscia, Viterbo, Italy.
This is the nineteenth lecture of a series which started with that delivered by Professor Toynbee at the 1959 Conference.
These lectures commemorate the late Frank L. McDougall, who played a leading role in the foundation of FAO and the initiation of its activities. I now ask the Director-General to introduce this year's McDougall lecture.
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27.2 Nineteenth McDougall Memorial Lecture, to be delivered by Prof. Gian Tommaso Scarascia Mugnozza, President, National Academy of Sciences, Rome and Rector, University of Tuscia, Viterbo
27.2 Dix-neuvième Conférence McDougall, qui sera prononcée par M. Gian Tommaso Scarascia Mugnozza, Président de l'Académie nationale des sciences de Rome et Recteur de l'Université de Tuscia à Viterbe
27.2 19a disertación en memoria de McDougall, a cargo del Prof. Gian Tommaso Scarascia Mugnozza, Presidente de la Academia Nacional de las Ciencias, Roma y Rector de la Universidad de Tuscia, Viterbo
DIRECTOR-GENERAL: Thank you, Chairman, Excellencies, Honourable Heads of Delegations, ladies and gentlemen, it is an honour and a great pleasure for me to introduce Professor Gian Tommaso Scarascia Mugnozza, who has kindly agreed to deliver the 19th McDougall Memorial Lecture.
Since 1959 we have had the privilege of listening to the McDougall Memorial Lectures delivered by luminaries who have enlightened and inspired us with their thoughts and vision. Following these traditions, we are privileged today to have with us a great personality from the world of science and academia who is also well known in the field of international development cooperation.
Professor Mugnozza, the Italian scientist, researcher and academician of international repute, now holds the position of Rector of Tuscia University in Viterbo, Italy, and serves as the President of the Italian Academy of Sciences and heads the European Association for Research on Plant Breeding. He is a fellow of numerous national and international, academic, scientific and research organizations and centres of excellence.
I am very pleased to say that I have had the opportunity of knowing Professor Mugnozza personally for a long time. In fact, I recall an event 10 years back when I had the privilege of being with him at the celebration of the 40th Anniversary of FAO organized by Professor Mugnozza at Tuscia University. This also testifies to the long association of Professor Mugnozza with FAO.
At this time Professor Mugnozza is assisting the Organization as a member of the panel for the Special Programme of Food Production in support of food security in the low-income food-deficit countries. He also served as a member of the Technical Advisory Committee on the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research and as a member of the Board of the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute.
Professor Mugnozza has distinguished himself in scientific and research work in the areas of plant breeding, mainly in cereals and applied mutogenesis in plant genetics and biodiversity.
I would like to mention in this connection that his research group has succeeded in releasing some high-yielding durum wheat varieties. Professor Mugnozza has also been very active in the field of international cooperation with developing countries through participation in research projects and programmes for human capital formation in the international centres of the CGIAR system, as well as through national institutions and universities. He also served as an adviser on the Special Governmental Committee of Italy, in cooperation with the universities of the developing world, which was led by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This Committee, where he most effectively represented the Italian universities, succeeded in developing important cooperation programmes with universities in all the developing regions of the world. The varied work and experience of Professor Mugnozza in a life dedicated to scientific pursuits and development efforts, directed at the betterment of human life on earth, can provide an inspiration to our struggle against hunger and malnutrition and our commitment to achieve food security for all.
We will now listen with great interest to Professor Mugnozza.
Professor Gian Tommaso Scarascia MUGNOZZA (President, National Academy of Sciences, Rome): Chairman of Conference, Director-General His Excellency Jacques Diouf, honourable delegates, ladies and gentlemen, I warmly thank the FAO Committee and the Director-General for having invited me to give the Nineteenth McDougall Memorial Lecture celebrating the memory of Frank L. McDougall of Australia, one of the founders of FAO.
The title of my lecture is "Protection of biodiversity and conservation and use of genetic resources for food and agriculture: potential and perspectives".
I will introduce the subject and its problems by saying that the loss of biodiversity is often presented as an ecological problem, but the underlying fundamental causes are socio-economic and political. Population growth and the increasing consumption of resources, the effects of the global trading system, ignorance about species and ecosystems, poorly conceived policy and failure to account for the value of biodiversity are key factors of the continuing degradation and destruction of biological diversity. It is a vital challenge for our societies that the precious value of nature's diversity be properly reflected in the world economy, including national assets, market exchanges, rules and regulations. Currently, the basic genetic raw material, with which breeders and biotechnology industries work, is essentially available free of charge from the nature of farmers' fields. The cost of conserving biodiversity is high, but far less than the cost of the dreadful effects of its degradation.
Genetic resources are part of biological diversity. They are natural resources indispensable for present and future generations; indispensable, in a global vision, for the preservation of the environment and the continuation of life, all forms of life, on the earth.
Human responsibility towards the earth, in all its ethical, philosophical, religious, anthropological, cultural and legal implications, has to be fulfilled in a holistic effort, with sustainable action of protection and conservation of biodiversity and, in general, of the natural resources.
Thus, the tremendous potentiality and the delicate equilibrium of the natural resources are founded and safeguarded only to the extent to which human beings acknowledge that nature is for their advantage and benefit, but it is governed by forces well beyond human control.
Fortunately, the awareness and consciousness that man must consider himself the caretaker of nature are increasing and prevailing.
Consequently, it is our moral responsibility, and not only in our material interest and convenience, to adopt measures to protect and conserve and properly utilize biodiversity and, in its domain, the genetic resources for agriculture.
The size of biological diversity known up to now, that is the number of species of plants, fungi, algae, protozoa and bacteria, viruses, animals and fishes, moluscs, insects, etc., the species as now described, amounts to 1.6 million but nature's storehouse is truly huge. The estimated total number of species living on the planet goes from the prudential figure of 12 million species to a maximum of about 120 million species, mainly insects, approximately 100 million of insect species.
As far as plants are concerned, more than two-thirds of the world's plant species originate from the regions surrounding the mountain chains stretching from the Pyrennees to the Alps, Caucasus, Himalaya and in South America, around the Andean chain.
It is estimated that out of the 250 000 botanical species at least 70 000 edible plants exists. In the course of history, however, man has utilized as a source of food only about 7 000 of those species. Moreover, only a very modest number of plant and animal species play a significant role in the present world agriculture and food production. In fact, the world depends for the majority of its food on only seven cereals: wheat, rice, maize, sorghum, barley, rye and oats. Similarly, merely seven legumes: peas, beans, soybeans, cowpea, peanuts, alfalfa and clover, are intensively exploited, and as few as four tropical fruits (banana, mango, pineapple, papaya) and three tuber or root crops (potato, yam and cassava) are produced on a large scale.
By selecting and developing over 10 000 years of agriculture the basic food and agricultural crops, humanity effectively created the portfolio of agrobiodiversity which feeds us today. However, the planting of ever increasing surfaces with a small number of homogeneous varieties in recent years has led to the loss of much of this inherited capital in farmers' fields. By replacing a multitude of local strains, eco-types, land races, each particularly adapted to a usually confined habitat and niche, he has paradoxically condemned to irremediable loss much of the genetic resources of these plants and animals in a process defined as "genetic erosion". As a result, the genetic variability of those species has been dangerously narrowed. But "less variability" means "less biological plasticity", insufficient ability to respond to selection and impossibility to guarantee improvements in quantity and quality. Such kind of genetic erosion has been particularly frequent and vast in basic crops species as maize, rice, wheat, banana, cowpea, cassava and plantain.
In the animal kingdom, biodiversity of domesticated animals includes approximately 4 000 breeds. Of these, 25-30 percent are at high risk of loss. But in Europe the threat is even more serious. It is estimated that as many as half of the breeds which existed there at the beginning of this century have become extinct. As much as for plants, the diversity of domesticated animals is greatest in the developing countries. Such diversity ensures adequate adaptation to changes in environment, upsurges of diseases, variations in market conditions and future and unpredictable social needs.
Research is discovering news ways to use biological material. According to recent estimates, plant resources could come to account in the near future for more than one third of all industrial material with great environmental and social benefits.
Similarly, man has just begun to explore the immense wealth of species living in the equatorial forests for pharmaceutical puroposes. A few of them have been utilized from time immemorial by traditional methods. For others, therapeutical capacities have been discovered only in recent times. But the potential for further discovery is really immense.
Man's interest in the collection and description of biological diversity present in different ecosystems and in the exploitation of various new characters goes back in time and has resulted in the establishment and creation of botanical gardens, zoological parks and acquaria.
Vavilov's discovery during the twenties of the centres of origin and diversification of crop plants and related wild species led to a multiplication of exploratory and germplasm-collecting missions in those regions mainly organized by the most agriculturally developed countries. Particularly from the second half of this centry bio-samples, mainly seeds, have been gathered in the so-called gene banks: storage facilities where ex situ collections can be conserved for a long time, classified, analysed and used in reading programmes.
Today many countries have established their own gene bank. The most significant ones, however, are held by the International Agricultural Research Centres of the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, and by about twenty national institutions of developed and developing countries. Nevertheless, no individuial country, whether developed or developing, has within its borders or in its gene banks all the genetic resources necessary to meet its needs. All countries must continue to search for new germplasm sources, not only through explorations and collections, but also (and may be mainly) by exchanging germplasm of mutual interest with other countries.
According to FAO's studies, the number of accessions so far stored in the gene-bank system is estimated to amount to about 4-4.5 million. The International Centres' Gene banks in particular, globally considered, represent what is probably the world's largest ex situ collection of genetic resources of food and fodder crops of importance to developing countries' agriculture, conserving about 12 percent (510 000 accessions) of all germplasm maintained at present worldwide.
The genetic resources kept in these ex situ collections have been intensively, if not widely, utilized in the last decades in the frame of vast and successful breeding programmes of the most important crops. The impressive results of the so-called Green Revolution, resting basically upon wheat, rice and maize breeding programmes, are evidence of the importance of having at one's disposal the widest possible genetic variability both in plants and animals of agricultural interest.
However, while the gene banks will have a precise role to play also in the future, the biological evolution, the continuous creation of biodiversity, cannot take place in stored material. It can only become reality in nature, in the dynamics of a continuous contact and interaction with other living forms in the ecosystems or, for crop plants, in the agro-ecosystems.
The need for allowing such processes has prompted an increasing engagement in in situ programmes of biodiversity conservation. The Convention on Biodiversity held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, in its Article 8 promoting the in situ conservation, explicitly recalls the opportunity for the signatory parties to "... establish a system of protected areas or areas where special measures need to be taken to conserve the biological diversity ...", with the aim of ensuring the conservation of the ecosystems and the agrobiodiversity and guaranteeing the sustainable utilization of the latter.
Outside gene parks and protected areas, in situ conservation is often carried out at farm level where land races and locally improved material are grown, utilized and conserved as a component of traditional farming systems, and evolve in response also to their dynamics. In situ conservation, according to the same Convention on Biodiversity, shall also aim to "... respect, preserve and maintain knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities embodying traditional lifestyles relevant for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity ... and encourage the equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilization of such knowledge, innovations and practices".
It may be concluded that the in situ or, under specific conditions, on-farm conservation and cultivation of crop and agro-forestry species may exert a significant role not only in the effective maintenance of agrobiodiversity but also as a component of sustainable development programmes, as also recognized by the Agenda 21. Therefore, measures should be taken, as the establishment of a multilateral agreed funding mechanism, to promote, encourage and implement them.
It has become increasingly evident that the value of genetic resources and of biodiversity at large can be incremented by biotechnology. The development and use of biotechnology procedures permitting the transfer of sequences of DNA from one species to another, and even from one biological kingdom to another (from animals, fish or micro-organisms to plants), has raised the economic value and increased the potential of much biological diversity as a resource in breeding and research.
The incorporation in crop plants of genes for biological nitrogen fixation; resistance to pests and diseases; new and more efficient agents of biological pest control; quantity and quality of animal and plant products; adaptation of crop plants and livestock to diverse ecological conditions (heat, cold, water excesses, drought) will increase stability, eco-compatibility and sustainability of agricultural production and could reduce the pressure on land exploitation and the need for new arable land, thus contributing towards biodiversity conservation itself as well as forestry maintenance.
Moreover, biotechnologies have been developed and largely adopted first by advanced countries. This is likely to further increase the gap between the rich and the poor, at least temporarily. Therefore, it is time now that developing countries need to be involved in the responsible development and use of appropriate biotechnologies to meet their own needs. They host most of the biodiversity of relevance to food and agriculture, and biotechnologies may give them new opportunities and capabilities for speeding the domestication and improvement of promising and/or neglected species. So far, many of these countries, however, lack the resources for such developments.
Also by virtue of these scientific and technical achievements, the long-time effort and series of remarkable initiatives of the FAO, as for instance the constitution of a Panel of Experts on plant exploration and introduction in 1965; the convening of three International Conferences in 1967, 1973 and 1981; the establishment of the International Board for Plant Genetic Resources in 1974; the establishment of the Commission for Plant Genetic Resources in 1983, a permanent intergovernmental forum; the adoption in 1983 of the International Undertaking for Plant Genetic Resources; and since then the development of the FAO Global System for Plant Genetic Resources, have received an international worldwide recognition. In the UN Conference on Environment and Development held in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 the Agenda 21 was adopted and opened to signature the Convention on Biodiversity, signed so far by more than 170 countries and ratified by as many as 117.
It must be underlined that Resolution 3 of the Conference for the adoption of the Convention on Biodiversity, as well as Agenda 21, specifically recognizes the importance of genetic resources for food and agriculture, and requests the strengthening of the FAO Global System for Plant Genetic Resources. To accomplish such a task, to develop the Global System, FAO has taken a number of initiatives:
1. The holding in 1996 of the Fourth International Technical Conference on Plant Genetic Resources. Participatory country-driven processes leading to such conferences are expected to result in two major elements of the Global System: the First State of the World's Plant Genetic Resources and the First Global Plan of Action on Plant Genetic Resources. Together they will provide guidelines for future action.
2. The negotiation of a revision of the International Undertaking in harmony with Article 15 on the Convention on Biodiversity, including the realization of farmers' rights and the regulation of access to plant genetic resources for food and agriculture.
The Convention says: "Recognizing the sovereign rights of the States over their natural resources, the authority to determine access to genetic resources rests with the national governments and is subject to national legislation"; and "Each contracting party shall endeavour to create conditions to facilitate access to genetic resources for environmentally sound users by other contracting parties and not to impose restrictions that run counter to the objectives of this Convention".
A further initiative by FAO would imply a further development of the international network of the ex situ connections, considering that the Convention on Biological Diversity itself does not regulate the juridical status of those such collections which were assembled prior to the Convention.
With a high sense of responsibility, the International Centres concluded in October 1994 an agreement with FAO which brought the collections under the auspices of FAO itself. In force of the agreement, the International Centres agree not to take out intellectual property protection on the materials and to ensure that the recipients of samples are bound to the same obligation.
However, as far as ex situ conservation is concerned, much uncertainty remains as for future status and accessibility of the germplasm collected before the coming into force of the Convention on Biodiversity, and conserved now in a multitude of other germ banks different from those of the international centres.
Allow me now to express some personal proposals: it is extremely urgent that a timely agreement under the terms of the Convention on Biological Diversity be reached between all germplasm holders worldwide, in order to regulate the status and access and availability by scientists and farmers of genetic resources conserved at present or to be conserved in the future.
Thus I strongly recommend that countries through the FAO Commission for Plant Genetic Resources accelerate the process of revision of the international undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources. I also support the creation, as already proposed, of a funding mechanism which would contribute to the implementation of the farmers' rights as adopted by resolutions of this Conference in 1989 and 1991, following a proposal of the FAO Commission - a funding mechanism which could in general also promote conservation and utilization of plant genetic resources. Developed countries, parties in the agreement, would contribute financially to the funding mechanism in addition to making their own plant genetic resources available. This Agenda 21 also requested the realization of the farmers' rights, that is an obligation to compensate farmers for their past, present and future contribution in conserving, improving and making available plant genetic resources, particularly those in the centres of origin and diversity. This principle aims at reconciling the view of the technology-rich and the gene-rich countries in order to ensure the availability of plant genetic resources within an equitable system. The concept of farmers' rights also provides a sort of balance to intellectual property rights, breeders' rights and patents intended to reward innovations, as derived from advanced research and resource investment in industrialized countries.
With regard to the application of biotechnologies, their nexus with biodiversity is important, and the access to the know-how of biotechnology companies and research institutions should be facilitated. Joint ventures that help transfer technology from north to south could also be envisaged. Such action should include first of all the training of personnel from developing countries in advanced laboratories of biotechnology companies and research institutions.
Building local capacities in developing countries for the application of agrobiotechnologies to agrobiodiversity may offer unique opportunities for a real international cooperation among developing and industrialized countries. It is my wish that the propositions I have made in the preceding points could be considered for implementation during the negotiating process for the revision of the International Undertaking, which could be ready for adoption on the occasion of the World Food Summit late in 1996. With respect to genetic resources for food and agriculture other than plants, I also hope that the present session of the Conference will adopt the draft resolution aimed at broadening the terms of reference of the Commission for Plant Genetic Resources, to also include farm-animal, forestry and fishery genetic resources.
In conclusion, great and worthy of praise has undoubtedly been the effort made so far by politicians, statesmen, managers, diplomats, scientists, newsmen of so many countries and international organizations to elucidate and define facts, problems and actions related to the safeguarding, development and utilization of biodiversity. Clear-cut and valuable proposals have also been advanced to bring those problems to solution, the adoption and implementation of which, however, to a large extent have not yet been realized.
It is the duty of all of us - politicians, managers, scientists, experts, mass media to bear in mind that further delays in fielding the initiatives and abiding by the principles and guidelines provided by the Convention on Biodiversity, the International Undertaking and other multilateral agreements and engagements, could hinder the continuation of the new start of many programmes of conservation of agrobiodiversity and, of course, biodiversity in general.
Nevertheless, we are witnessing an extremely general stalemate. The consequences can be easily identified: genetic erosion and disappearance of species, degradation of ecosystems, narrowing of intraspecific variability, impoverishment of existing ex situ collections, interruption or regression of current initiatives in in situ and on-farm conservation.
It is our duty to prevent the dispersal of the still-hidden treasures of biodiversity, made no longer available for the benefit of all - individuals and nations, today and in the future. It would be an irreparable, dramatic loss which would damage the countries holding genetic resources, with a shrinking of the biodiversity reserves. This loss, however, would be equally serious and irreparable for all countries and peoples on earth because it would reduce the power to face the immense challenges of the future such as the safeguarding of the environment, along with the increase in world population, the need to feed it properly, and the consequent necessity of continuing the selection and improvement of crops and livestock.
It is our duty, especially of politicians and those scientists advising them, to do everything we can to overcome the problems that delay the effective adoption of the rules expressed in the Convention on Biodiversity and in other documents commendably developed by FAO and often previously recalled. A complete, international, planetary cooperation will have to flourish without delay. If the danger is incumbent on all, the benefits of collaboration will also be for all. Let us replenish the ex situ collections, let us multiply the in situ gene parks. Let us truly recognize and respect the farmers' rights as well as the breeders' rights. Let us couple the natural treasures mostly available in the developing countries with the potential of new technologies for a sustainable utilization of natural resources.
In this context of great risks and great responsibilities as well, I as a scientist feel encouraged to put forward a proposal to my colleagues, to the international scientific community, first of all to those who, in every country, in application of the Convention of Biodiversity, have already officially cooperated or are still cooperating with their respective governments in order to "integrate consideration of the conservation and sustainable use of biological resources into national decision-making". To all those I propose we join together in a movement of thought to support a complete and expeditious application of principles and rules of the Convention on Biodiversity. What I have in mind is a strong movement of ideas, which, together with governments, supranational and international agencies, mass media and public opinion in general, should support the urgent need of giving reality to the glorious action undertaken a long time ago by the UN and FAO in favour of an equitable and sustainable use of biodiversity and agrobiodiversity - a basic element for the achievement of all global development goals.
I believe that an explicit and coordinated action of scientists may contribute to explain and educate the public opinion on the fundamental need, in everybody's interest, to conserve biodiversity, to use its components sustainably, to share, fairly and equitably, the benefits arising from the utilization of genetic resources.
I am convinced that this contribution to your difficult and complex action, Mr Chairman, Mr Director-General, Honourable Ministers and Delegates, could be appreciated and accepted as a valid help to advise and support, and make the formation of general consensus easier.
Mr Chairman, Mr Director-General, Excellencies, Honourable Delegates, ladies and gentlemen: in paying again my respect to you, it is my wish to conclude pointing out that, of all great questions challenging humanity while the III millennium is approaching, I have made special reference to four problems: 1. The need to increase the food and agricultural production, in order to guarantee to all human beings a sufficient, healthy and nutritionally-balanced diet; 2. The need to safeguard the natural environment, the natural resources, including biodiversity, with regard to the requirements of a compatible and sustainable socio-economic development, in the interest also of future generations; 3. The need to promote and support scientific and technological research, in public and private institutions, for the improvement of the agrofood system and for the development of the environmental sciences; 4. The need to guarantee to all peoples the access and use of scientific discoveries, technologies and innovations, so as to determine a more peaceful and harmonious cultural and social development of the nations on Earth.
These four fundamental problems intermingle in the theme that has been at the root of my speech: the protection of biodiversity and the use of plant and animal genetic resources for modern, eco-compatible and sustainable farming systems.
I have tried to demonstrate the need of reaching a common strategic plan for the sustainable use of the natural resources in general, and biodiversity in particular. Let us move from a general consensus on the Convention on Biodiversity to active cooperation, from commitment to tangible and definitive action.
I believe that, thanks to the personal experience and the sense of responsibility of so many illustrious representatives of governments of almost all states on Earth, as well as experts of the most important international agencies and national institutions, gathered here, in Rome, for this biennial Conference of FAO, the engagements made in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 will soon become reality, in a spirit of solidarity among all peoples. It is essentially a matter of expediting and implementing an international commitment aimed at improving the human condition and forming a new society in harmony with nature and the environment.
It shall surely be one of the best ways for celebrating, with concrete initiatives and actions, the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations and of the constitution of FAO.
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CHAIRMAN: On behalf of the Conference and myself, we thank you, Professor Scarascia Mugnozza, for the inspiring and interesting lecture. Since Frank McDougall came from Australia, I now call upon the representative of Australia.
Gregory Frank TAYLOR (Australia): Mr Chairman, on behalf of us all here and on behalf of the Australian Government, it is my privilege to have the opportunity of thanking Professor Mugnozza, President of the National Academy of Sciences of Italy, for the thoughtful address he has given to this Conference. Professor Mugnozza has spoken on a matter of great importance to all agriculture producing countries and for world food security. As the Professor said, we are the caretakers of nature. There must be few issues where global moral responsibility and global economic self-interest more clearly coincide. But there are formidable scientific, legal and financial obstacles to be overcome through international collaboration.
The significance of biodiversity and genetic resource issues is reflected in the range of matters to be considered at this Conference. We need extensive discussion of the new and challenging policy environment emerging in this area. FAO's role is critical and Professor Mugnozza has been inspirational and challenging in informing us of our future work. We are most grateful for this Nineteenth McDougall Memorial Lecture.
Mr Chairman, Australia is justifiably proud of the role Frank McDougall played in the establishment of FAO. The pride we feel in having one of our own honoured at each FAO Conference with a lecture from a distinguished person of world standing is heightened when we see how the Organization he helped to create lives on and how its work continues. Frank McDougall was a man with a vision. The vision of a world without hunger and poverty had its beginnings in the early 1930s. McDougall also had determination. His ideas have become a basic tenet of this international Organization and have been fundamental in shaping and directing its activities. His life and work should be an inspiration to all of us who are involved in multilateral endeavours aimed at a world free from hunger and malnutrition. Despite our best efforts and those of this Organization over the last 50 years, the problems of poverty and malnutrition still remain to be finally defeated. McDougall and all of those other great founders of FAO must not be let down. We must continue to work together to ensure that the vision can be finally realized.
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CHAIRMAN: Thank you, Mr Taylor. We have now completed the programme for this morning. The Credentials Committee will hold its first meeting in the Lebanon Room on the second floor of Building D after we adjourn. The General Committee will also be holding its first meeting now. I will ask its members and the three Vice-Chairmen, Mr Handi of Indonesia, Mr Nuiry Sanchez of Cuba and Mrs Kadlecikova of Slovakia, and the representatives of the following seven countries: Angola, Belgium, China, Egypt, Nicaragua, Spain and the USA to proceed to the Mexico Room on the second floor of Building D.
Plenary stands adjourned until 14.30 hours, when the General Committee will make its first report and we will vote on the applications for membership.
The meeting rose at 11.25 hours.
La séance est levée à 11 h 25.
Se levanta la sesión a las 11.25 horas.
