R. ALLEN (united Kingdom): The United Kingdom delegation welcomes the opportunity to discuss this paper. In responding to this paper my delegation would like to highlight some points which were raised at the recent session of the Committee on Agriculture where a working paper on the International Conference on Nutrition was discussed. As was stated on that occasion, my delegation hopes that the Conference will fulfil two crucial goals that are encapsulated within the objectives set out in the working paper which was presented to the COAG session: first, to underline the recognition of the need for enhanced coordination and cooperation between the agricultural and health sectors; and, secondly, to help member countries in the self-determination of their needs and in deciding on priorities for assistance.
In particular with regards to this second goal, the UK delegation feels that the preparatory process at country level is of immense importance and may indeed turn out to be one of the most productive aspects of the whole Conference process. Country level preparations should be both thorough and involve collaboration with all relevant organizations. This will, we hope, prove of immediate benefit to participating countries in that it will strengthen their institutional and planning capacity and enable them to improve in some cases the efficiency with which internal and external resources are managed.
If the ICN is to achieve its objectives we believe that cooperation between FAO, WHO and other UN agencies, as well as NGOs, should also be maximized. At the recent COAG session several delegations, including the UK, called for particular attention to be paid to the links between the goals of the ICN and those of the UNICEF Task Force for Child Survival and Development. I would be grateful if the Secretariat could tell us, what steps have been taken to ensure coordination with the Task Force for Child Survival and Development established following the UNICEF World Summit for Children, whose concerns are closely related to those of the ICN.
In order to allow for full and thorough country level preparation and for the mobilization of wider support throughout the UN system, as well as from bilateral agencies and NGOs, my delegation would like to reiterate what we and a number of other countries said at COAG, which is appropriately recorded in the COAG report, and propose that FAO consider the postponement of the ICN by at least six months in order to allow for the proper preparation at regional and sub-regional level.
If there is insufficient time for these preparations - and it should be borne in mind that countries will at this time already be heavily involved in the preparation for the UNCED Conference - we consider a unique opportunity will have been lost.
We note that country papers are scheduled to be completed by December 1991. I would like to ask the Secretariat whether they still consider this target to be realistic and will allow for full benefit to be derived from this process.
Gian L·uigi VALENZA (Italie): Je voudrais avant tout confirmer que le Gouvernement italien, particulièrement heureux que la première Conférence internationale sur la nutrition se tienne à Rome en décembre 1992, se trouve depuis plusieurs mois en contact étroit avec la FAO et l’OMS pour aider à sa préparation. Les autorités italiennes ont déjà entrepris de planifier leur participation en considérant que les dates déjà fixées il y a bien longtemps soient maintenues.
A ce propos, je voudrais rappeler qu'à notre requête, le Ministère italien des postes a décidé de mettre en circulations un timbre special dédié à la conférence internationale sur la nutrition, en décembre 1992 justement. En tous cas, nous estimons que la décision de maintenir ou non la date initialement prévue devrait être laissée à la sagesse des deux organisations qui sont appelées à organiser et réaliser la Conférence, et qu'il est peut-être trop tôt pour affirmer aujourd'hui que 1992 doit être considérée comme une date impossible.
II apparaît done très important de continuer à travailler de bonne haleine dans le plein respect des dates fixées en 1988 et de vérifier lors des prochaines sessions du Conseil et de la Conférence les progrès accomplis à cet égard. Pacta nuit servande dit un vieil adage latin, et nous avons l'espoir qu'il sera possible, encore une fois, de ne pas trop l'enfreindre à cette occasion.
Antonio Rodrigues PIRES (Cap-Vert): J'aimerais tout d'abord féliciter Monsieur Dutia de sa brillante intervention et de sa présentation très détaillée du document CL 99/17, qui nous informe des progrès réalisés dans les préparatifs de la conférence internationale sur la nutrition. Nous attachons la plus grande importance à la tenue de cette conférence et mon pays entend participer effectivement aux travaux préparatoires car nous pensons que son succès dépendra d'une très bonne préparation.
C'est l'occasion pour nous de vous annoncer que le point focal au niveau national sera communique au Secretariat dans les prochains jours. A notre avis, un des aspects majeurs de cette importante conference est qu'elle sera l’occasion unique de faire travailler ensemble différents secteurs, notamment ceux de l’agriculture et de la santé, sur la nutrition au niveau dë chaque Etat Membre, et le choix de notre point focal tiendra certainement compte de cet aspect.
Notre délégation ne cache pas sa préoccupation au vu du temps disponible qui nous reste pour préparer le rapport national sur la nutrition. En effet, il nous reste à peine six mois pour préparer ce rapport, ce qui est très peu étant donné le caractère multisectoriel que nous voulons donner à cette importante préparation. Nous ferons notre possible pour être prêts dans les délais. Nous comprenons très bien les préoccupations exprimées par notre ami, l'Ambassadeur d'Italie. Toutefois, nous ne vous cachons pas que nous aurions préféré avoir davantage de temps. Done, si le prochain Conseil l'estime juste, il pourra peut-être repousser la date de quelques mois. Lors des travaux du COAG, cette proposition a été faite par plusieurs pays. Pourriez-vous nous faire savoir quelle suite y a été donnée?
Nous avons pris bonne note des efforts faits pour permettre la participation des organisations non gouvernementales. En effet, nous pensons que les ONG, qui ont toujours joué un rôle important dans le processus de développement dans le monde, peuvent jouer un rôle très efficace et que cela contribuera très certainement au succès de la Conférence.
Pour terminer, je ne voudrais pas manquer cette occasion de faire appel à la générosité des pays donateurs pour nous aider à préparer ce rapport national et à participer aux réunions régionales et à la conférence elle-même.
Ms. Catherine BERTINI (United States of America): Thank you very much Mr Chairman, it is a pleasure and an honour to be here in this distinguished gathering under your Chairmanship. I want to thank the Secretariat for their update on the preparations for the International Conference on Nutrition, and also thank them for the dedicated work and commitment of Dr Dutia in the planning for this Conference.
The United States is very committed to this Conference and more importantly to achieving concrete results at the Conference that will improve nutrition programmes at the national level. In particular, nutrition education is a high priority for the United States in international and domestic forums. Therefore, we intend to play an active and a constructive role in the Conference. One of the ways in which we will do this is by providing technical assistance from our USDA domestic food assistance programmes to the Conference planners. In that spirit of the Conference importance we would like to raise, with your permission Mr Chairman, two important concepts. The first involves several substantive points; the second is timing. On the substantive points the progress report on the preparations for the International Conference on Nutrition provides a sound framework for beginning the plans of the Conference. However, we would like to recommend that several additional issues be added or emphasized in that report. They include nutrition education, nutrition labelling for consumers, codex alimentarius and standards for international trade in food products, food aid and trade policies - both of which have a significant impact on food security and on nutrition - development of a future research agenda for nutrition, and a recognition of the unique role of women in all areas of nutrition education.
In addition, we are particularly interested in assuring that preparations and implementation of the Conference maintain a balance between food issues and health issues. We support our colleague from Cape Verde who was talking about the unique opportunity for agricultural and health issues to be working together, and Mr Chairman, as you said, the two organizations - FAO and WHO being two fathers - or we would prefer your choice of two mothers since women do have such an important role in nutrition - we certainly share that same attitude.
We believe that the Conference will be most productive and most virile if this balance is maintained, and it could be maintained in many ways: in planning meetings, in the experts who are consulted, in the national assessment process, in conference programme development, and of course in representation at the Conference. We suggest that FAO recommend that member countries send delegates to this important Conference who have experience in both food and health issues.
The national assessment process which has been mentioned by our colleague from the UK is critical to a successful conference. The United States stands ready to consider requests to assist developing countries in their efforts to conduct their national assessment. Of course, we are also working to develop our own national assessment in the United States.
However, this brings me to the timing point. We are concerned that there is just not enough time available during the next seventeen months to mobilize the human and financial resources that are necessary to develop the virile and complete national assessments necessary to make this most productive International Conference be all that we want it to be. In addition, as was mentioned earlier, the UN Conference on Environment and Development planned for June 1992 will limit some of the resources available for proper planning of the Nutrition Conference. Therefore, we strongly recommend that the International Conference on Nutrition be postponed until at least mid-1993. We have also said the same message to the WHO and will continue to give the same message to WHO. The United States believes that developing strong nutrition programmes and nutrition education throughout the world is critical. We believe that the International Conference on Nutrition could provide an important movement towards this objective. However, we believe that can be best done with a conference that is well-balanced and thoroughly planned.
Ms Astrid BERGQUIST (Sweden): Again on this agenda item I have the honour to speak on behalf of the Nordic countries, Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
Mr Chairman, the Nordic countries have either in joint or in national statements taken an active interest in the International Conference on Nutrition throughout its preparations. We have in earlier statements voiced our views and concerns with regard to the objectives of ICN and its preparatory activities. We have called for an early involvement of all the parties concerned in order to generate policy-level discussions and pave the way for commitments that should be the outcome of an inter-governmental conference. Our basic concern is still relevant even in the light of the documentation produced for information to this Council session; how can we
make sure that the International Conference on Nutrition can be turned into a meaningful inter-governmental event that will lead to lasting improvements by highlighting the importance of proper nutrition, lead to more balanced diets in all countries, and I stress all countries, and contribute to eliminating hunger and malnutrition in the developing world. Although the importance of nutrition is widely recognized, it has been regarded as a technical subject. It has therefore been largely left to experts, and seen as a sideline to health aspects and food supply and delivery issues. This situation prevails in the member countries, and I would say even within the UN system, where nutrition questions have been dealt with by a sub-committee made up of experts.
The Nordic countries thus welcome the Progress Report in document CL 99/17 and the elucidating report that was given by Dr Dutia which gives the Council the first substantive account of the preparations and an opportunity to discuss the ICN mechanism and activities. We appreciate the fact that the focus on the preparations is on the country level activities and mainly on the developing countries, since that is where the needs are greatest. This point has also been stressed earlier by our British colleague. Given this focus, however, in our view the preparations outlined in the document are quite complex and perhaps overly ambitious. Keeping in mind the problems that most countries - and not least the developing countries - have in coping with the numerous demands from the UN system, we think that the two-stage approach outlined in the report, where the Conference documents would be drafted only after the country papers are available may be too complicated and burdensome particularly in view of the timeframe available. The Nordic countries have, earlier on, recommended that all the existing data and information be utilized so that the outstanding problems could be analysed. An alternative approach to the one chosen would be that the member countries react to a questionnaire, for instance, instead of preparing a separate country paper. Regardless of the methods chosen, the most important aspect is to get a national preparatory process under way. Even here, we have a topical point of comparison after the inter-governmental preparatory committee of UNCED made a decision on the preparation of country reports.
The Member States have come to realize that it takes much longer than six months to draft such cross-sectoral documents. Since the national ICN preparations have in most cases not even been launched yet, or are in the process of being launched, the country reports can hardly be completed by December 1991. In this context, the Secretariat might learn useful lessons from a recent example of another international conference, -Education for All, initiated by agencies in the sphere of education.
The joint FAO/WHO high-level Steering Committee encourages each Member Nation to designate a focal point for the ICN. Although such an arrangement has its merits, we wonder if any one unit can be held responsible for such a wide cross-sectoral mandate defined in paragraph 16 of the document, unless there is a high-level policy decision to participate in and contribute to the ICN in the administration of the various countries concerned.
We learn from the document that an advisory group of experts has been formed to provide overall guidance on technical issues in the Conference preparations. The Nordic countries would very much like to know how the group was composed and what criteria were applied in selecting the members of the Group. We take it that they serve in their individual capacities and complement the ACC/SCN expertise. We note that the setting-up of the expert group does not solve the outstanding key issue of government-level involvement in the ICN preparations that so far are agency-driven and expert-oriented. Yet the focus - and rightly so - should be at the national level. Furthermore, the document refers to the extra-budgetary resources required in order to carry out the planned activities. We would like to receive more information on how such assistance is being organized as well as an estimate of the activities planned and costs involved.
These first comments by the Nordic delegations to the document submitted for our information have again demonstrated our keen interest in the ICN preparations as well as in the outcome of the Conference. It is clear to us that there has been a slow start to the launching of the preparations, and the preparatory activities cannot be carried out hastily without damage to the results of the Conference. Like others we endorse the COAG recommendation to hold the Conference in the year 1993. This would also be in conformity with the decision of the FAO Conference in 1989. Paragraph 269 of the Conference report reads as follows and I quote "It" -that is, the Conference - "decided that the Conference" on Nutrition "should be convened under the joint sponsorship of FAO and WHO in Rome during the first half of 1993". We would like to ask the Secretariat what has been the justification for changing this decision on the timing of the Conference. We are very concerned, as are others, that we do not have time enough for the preparations.
Furthermore, we recommended that the Council requests the Secretariat to refine the ICN objectives, to outline the schedule of preparatory activities as well as of the documentation and to present the budget estimate to the FAO Conference so that the whole FAO membership can consider the ICN arrangements and the activities expected from them in November. Thereafter the preparations will hopefully be on solid and realistic ground.
LE PRESIDENT: Vous avez soulevé un certain nombre de questions particulièrement importantes dont l’élément de coût et l’élément de la responsabilité de tous les participants qui doivent contribuer au succès de cette conférence internationale, qüi nécessitera des moyens financiers suffisants pour être menée a bonne fin.
Sur le but de la conférence tout le monde est d'accord, et si éventuellement des précisions peuvent être apportées c'est peut-être l’occasion, aucoursde ce Conseil, de permettre au Secrétariat d'avoir plus d'éléments pour la préparation de la Conférence. Cela est, je crois, la responsabilité de tous les Etats Membres.
Ms. Maria L·uisa GAVINO (Philippines): My delegation notes with satisfaction the progress report on the ICN. We have keenly followed this programme from its inception because the Philippines attaches tremendous importance to nutrition and its effect on the general health of the present and future national workforce. We also attach importance to the training of experts as far as nutrition education is concerned. This will be a factor towards the successful implementation of the future plan of action.
Another point is the systematic monitoring and impact evaluation of nutrition activities. The list of considerations is long, but the message is - let us harness our efforts to assert our political will in making the conference a success. As the document rightly says - and as Dr Du¢ia repeated - the ICN is not an end in itself but a milestone in a continuing process to develop global commitment and action to alleviate hunger and malnutrition. A concerted effort by everyone is essential.
For our part, we are mobilizing all those people concerned, such as the legislature and agencies, both governmental and non-governmental. We are asking them to come up with country and regional level action preparatory to ICN. The 1991 Philippines Food and Nutrition Plan is a major contribution to this end. It has set up a matrix of strategies, programmes, indicators, and target groups. So far as donor countries are concerned, we hope they will make available the much needed resources as part of their contribution to the initiative.
Finally, my delegation agrees to the procedure thus far taken towards a successful and meaningful conference. Therefore, we endorse the progress report to the Conference.
Oscar Sales PETINGA (Portugal): La délégation portugaise remercie le Secrétariat qui a fait un très bon résumé de la situation actuelle quant à la préparation de la Conférence internationale sur la nutrition et qui donne des informations fort importantes sur les méthodes à suivre par les différents pays.
Le Portugal, après la 98ème session de la FAO, a constitué un Centre national de coordination pour la Conférence qui opère auprès du Comité national de la FAO du Ministère des affaires étrangères.
On nous a dit que le rapport des pays devrait être élaboré en décembre 1991. Le Portugal considère que le temps mis à disposition est court pour préparer un document d'une amplitude convenable. Il serait prudent d'étudier l'hypothèse, déjà soulevée au sein du COAG, d'ajourner la Conférence de six mois.
La délégation portugaise craint qu'à défaut d'une orientation commune plus précise les rapports des divers pays puissent suivre des orientations différentes.
C'est pourquoi nous aimerions savoir si le Secrétariat mixte FAO/OMS prévoit l’élaboration d'un résumé des items les plus importants auxquels les rapports nationaux pourraient faire référence.
Monsieur Dutia, dans la présentation du document, a révëlé qu'il a été envoyé aux pays des indications concrètes pour l’elaboration des rapports. Je voudrais informer le Conseil que mon pays n'a reçu aucun document à ce sujet sauf le référé CL point 2, 1991. Les documents en référence sont les orientations générales dont nous avons parlé.
Daniel Toman KONAN (Côte d'Ivoire): L'examen de ce document nous permet de constater que les préparatifs de la Conférence internationale sur la nutrition vont bon train, mais que beaucoup reste à faire au niveau des pays bénéficiaires comme les nôtres, ne seraίt-ce que la constitution de centres nationaux de coordination pour la Conférence. C'est la raison pour laquelle notre délégation partage le point de vue du Secrétariat sur le financement des activités nationales par le budget ordinaire mais aussi par les ressources extrabudgétaires nécessaires pour l'accomplissement d'un programme minimum conçu pour être exécuté au niveau des pays avec l’assistance de la FAO et des donateurs bilatéraux.
De toutes les façons, la Conférence elle-même ne constitue qu'une étape d'un processus qui devra se poursuivre sans relâche si nous sommes vraiment désireux d'atteindre les huit objectifs que nous nous fixons et que notre délégation partage en approuvant le paragraphe 22, notamment les considérations contenues dans les points c), f) et g), à savoir la prise en charge des personnes défavorisées sur le plan socio-économique et vulnérables sür le plan nutritionnel, la prévention des carences spécifiques en micro-éléments nutritifs et l’incorporation des objectifs nutritionnels dans les politiques de développement.
Il est également souhaitable que l’aspect nutritionnel soit pris en compte dans les projets du FIDA et du PAM auxquels collabore la FAO et qui s'adressent principalement, comme on le salt, aux populations cibles que vise ce document, à savoir les plus défavorisées parmi les pauvres.
Nous aurions également soúhaité que, parmi les experts du Groupe consultatif qui a été formé à l’occasion pour préparer cette conférence, il soit fait appel à des Africains pour l’élaboration du Plan d'action pour la Conférence. Nous pensons en effet que l'éclairage de ces Africains, dont les populations sont les plus mal nutries, pourra être très utile, pour notre bénéfice à tous. Je ne sais pas s'il y a des experts africains déjà retenus, mais si ce n'est pas le cas, nous suggérons à ce Conseil de donner un avis favorable sur la question.
Je voudrais maintenant aborder la question de la date de la Conférence. A cet effet, la délégation de la Côte d'Ivoire pense que, non seulement les années 1991 et 1992 sont chargées de grandes réunions, notamment la Conférence de novembre 1991, les différentes Conférences régionales de la FAO en 1992 ainsi que celles sur l’environnement et le développement durable au Brésil en juillet 1992, mais que, par ailleurs, il y a beaucoup à faire par nos propres pays dans le cadre des centres nationaux de coordination. Nous pensons done qu'il faut tenir compte de ces impératifs, dont les impératifs financiers ne sont pas les moindres, pour repousser, si cela est nécessaire, et je le pense, la date de la Conférence sur la nutrition en 1993.
Vous savez, on dit souvent "Allons doucement, parce que nous sommes pressés". Je crois que cet adage n'est pas superflu si l'on veut faire du bon travail méthodique, sans précipitation et dans une parfaite coordination avec les autres organisations des Nations Unies et le secteur privé, dont la disponibilité doit être également prise en considération. Je me répète, pour la date il faut se montrer très flexible.
Pour terminer, nous nous résumerons en disant ceci:
premièrement, que cette Conférence sur la nutrition est indispensable;
deuxièmement, que la préparation dans les pays doit être primordiale et bien faite avant de réunir la Conférence elle-même;
troisièmement, que les experts représentant tous les continents soient mis à contribution et que les Africains ne soient pas oubliés, si c'était le cas;
quatrièmement, que les activités au niveau national, régional, et même la Conférence, auront besoin nécessairement de ressources financières extrabudgétaires pour que les objectifs que nous partageons tous soient atteints, à court, moyen et long terme.
LE PRESIDENT: II va de soi que la collaboration et la présence d'experts africains sont indispensables à la réussite de la Conférence Internationale sur la nutrition. Je crois que vous avez eu raison de le signaler mais cela va évidemment de soi.
Gonzalo BUIA HOYOS (Colombia): El Gobierno de Colombia atribuye gran importancia a la CIN, primera reunión Intergubernamental Mundial sobre Nutrición y considera que el marco esquemático que ofrece este documento preparado por la FAO y la OMS como copatrocinadores, es propicio para que de esa Conferencia surjan estrategias, politicas y planes cuya ejecución pueda contribuir a la consideración seria y a la solución progresiva del grave problema de la malnutrición.
La FAO y la OMS deben divulgar entre los países, profusamente, los objetivos de la CIN y asistir a los países en desarrollo a preparar sus documentos nacionales, como lo han dicho ya los colegas de Reino Unido, Cabo Verde y Suecia; por todos los medios se deberá estimular la participación de los estados del Tercer Mundo, sin los cuales esa Conferencia carecerá de sentido y no tendrá ningún objetivo realista.
A este respecto es muy débil el párrafo 31 que hace referencia tan sólo a la asistencia de delegaciones de los países menos adelantados. Seria necesario movilizar recursos extrapresupuestarios para asegurar también la participación de representantes de todos los países en desarrollo que asi lo soliciten. Esto consta ya en el informe del COAG que estudiamos en el tema anterior.
Compartimos un poco, y tal vez vamos más allá, las inquietudes de nuestra colega y amiga de Suecia sobre la estructura organizativa.
Tenemos la impresión de que hay un notorio desequilibrio entre el andamiaje demasiado corpulento que se ha construido en la Sede y la menor atención que se está ofreciendo a los preparativos en los países. En efecto, se ha creado un Comité mixto FAO/OMS de orientación de alto nivel, una Secretaria conjunta FAO/OMS, un Grupo de Acción Interdepartamental, un Grupo Asesor de Expertos, integrado por expertos fuera del Sistema de las Naciones Unidas, respecto al cual ya oímos las observaciones de Suecia y Côte d’Ivoire. Esos expertos que representan diversas disciplinas están alli participando, se dice, como provenientes de todas las regiones del mundo. Toda esa estructura que básicamente funciona en Roma, y está bien, porque en realidad representa la base de cooperación entre la OMS y la FAO; pero poco se dice de cómo se está asistiendo a los países, sobre todo para una adecuada preparación de los informes nacionales. Nosotros esperamos que los informes nacionales no vayan a ser preparados aquí en Roma por funcionarios sentados en sus cómodos escritorios, basados en cifras, informes y datos anteriores, antiguos y superados, sin que esos funcionarios conozcan la realidad directa y actualizada de la situación de los países en desarrollo.
Sobre las actividades preparatorias apoyamos algunas de las ideas constructivas que ha expuesto nuestra colega y amiga Astrid Bergquist, de Suecia, en nombre de los Países nórdicos. No se les puede pedir a los países en desarrollo, como se hace en este documento, que intensifiquen las actividades preparatorias, que realicen seminarios, que adelanten cursillos, que establezcan puntos focales, que hagan amanecer más temprano los días para que les rinda más el trabajo, sin que se les ofrezca la asistencia necesaria, porque todos sabemos que la gran mayoria de los países en desarrollo no tienen recursos para realizar esos propósitos. Por ello esperamos que la Secretaría haya tornado nota de las ideas muy constructivas de la delegación de Suecia que, por lo menos, ofrece pautas a los países en desarrollo.
Los representantes de Colombia pensamos que hace falta una asistencia más directa a los países para que éstos puedan presentar realmente sus propias experiencias.
Preguntamos: todos los acuerdos organizativos de que habla la parte II del documento, a partir del párrafo 5, ¿se están llevando a cabo por propios funcionarios de la FAO y de la OMS, o se están pagando consultores de altísimo nivel demasiado costosos?
En toda esta poderosa infraestructura tecnocrática, cientifica y hasta intelectual, ¿hay algunos consultores de alto calibre a quienes se les esté ya pagando y se les seguirá pagando, jugosos salarios hasta diciembre de 1992 o más allá? Hemos visto ya que los hay, pero se trata de consultores bien conocidos y muy capaces que no hacen parte de esta referenda, pero que, por favor, que no sean muchos esa clase de consultores.
Ojalá que el millón de dólares que se ha propuesto asignar a la CIN en el presupuesto de la FAO para el bienio 1992-93, se dedique más bien, por lo menos en buena parte, a actividades relacionadas directamente con la asistencia a los paises en desarrollo.
El párrafo 20 habla de las ONG, cuya participación consideramos importante. La FAO y la OMS no deberán limitarse a colaborar tan sólo con las ONG internacionales porque estas sean poderosas y tengan recursos. En el caso de la CIN, las ONG nacionales, es cierto que no tienen muchos recursos fisicos, pero en cambio poseen el valioso capital del conocimiento directo de las condiciones, de la situación de los países y de las características de sus poblaciones. Por lo tanto están en buenas condiciones esas ONG nacionales para ofrecer asesoramiento en la preparación de los informes nacionales, así como en las actividades regionales y subregionales.
Los ocho temas que aparecen en el párrafo 22, en general son aceptables, pero no deben considerarse exhaustos, sino estar sometidos a una permanente revision, porque pudiera ser que a la luz de los informes parciales, como dijo la delegada de Estados Unidos, de los informes nacionales, de los resultados de las reuniones regionales o subegionales, del análisis y de la decantación de todo ese material, pueda surgir la conveniencia de agregar o suprimir algún tema en relación con estos ocho citados.
Naturalmente, como toda conferencia que se respete, la CIN producirá su declaración y un plan de acción. Esperamos que como sucede siempre, esos textos no vayan a quedar convertidos eτι letra muerta, en música celestial. Nos complace que se haya pensado desde ahora en movilizar recursos para las actividades complementarias, como dice el párrafo 20. Sin embargo, todo lo que este documento dice sobre movilización de recursos extrapresupuesta-rios, es muy vago.
Al final del párrafo 17, así como en varias partes del documento, se reconoce la necesidad de lograr asistencia de los donantes y se concluye diciendo: se está procediendo consecuentemente para atraer tal asistencia. Esta es una expresión demasiado ambigua. ¿Cómo? ¿qué se está haciendo concretamente?
Luego, en la sección: "Apoyo Financiero", párrafo 31, se cita tan sólo al Gobierno Italiano, nuestro país hospedante representado con brillo en este Consejo por el Embajador Valenza, país que, seguramente, será generoso y altruista como siempre. Pero, ¿se sabe algo de otros países y organismos?
Tomamos nota con satisfacción también del ofrecimiento positivo de Estados Unidos de América.
Sabemos bien que falta al menos año y medio para celebrar la CIN, pero el tiempo pasa y será necesario, sobre todo, asistir a los países en desarrollo, y esto no se deberá hacer a última hora.
Sobre la fecha de la Conferencia, compartimos la posición del Embajador Valenza, de Italia. Lo esencial es que la Conferencia se adelante sobre una base seria y bien fundada, sostenida por una adecuada preparación. Pensamos que a estas alturas del Consejo corresponde pedir a la Secretaria de la FAO y de la OMS que tomen nota de las observaciones que se han planteado en cuanto a la fecha, y que más tarde den traslado a sus Organos Rectores de los elementos nuevos que vayan surgiendo.
Convendrá recordar que el primer semestre de 1993, al igual que este semestre que está en curso, es sumamente recargado. Se reúnen muchisimos Comités técnicos, el Consejo en junio y luego la Conferencia en noviembre de 1993. Si la CIN fuese a celebrarse en el primer semestre de 1993, convendría que la Secretaria considerara la posibilidad de que muchos de los Comités Técnicos se reunieran en el segundo semestre de 1993, entre el Consejo de junio y la Conferencia de noviembre.
Finalmente, los representantes de Colombia hemos oído con atención la declaración de la delegada de Estados Unidos, nuestra distinguida amiga Catherine Bertini, a quien el Gobierno de Colombia ha ofrecido su pleno apoyo con la esperanza de contribuir a que la Sra. Bertini al frente de la Dirección Ejecutiva de un importante programa pueda aplicar con el valioso apoyo de su país algunos de los acertados conceptos de su intervención, ojalá con un amplio y adecuado sentido de cooperación y de asistencia multilateral en favor de todos los países en desarrollo.
Los representantes de Colombia confiamos en que en el escenario propicio de ese programa se iniciará una etapa nueva, conveniente y saludable, con renovadas caracteristicas.
EL PRESIDENTE: Muchísimas gracias por su intervención. Tengo un poquito de vergüenza de sentarme aquí en un sillón tan conf or table después de sus palabras, pero no tengo otro. Voy a quedarme en el sillón.
Nusyirwan ZEN (Indonesia): My delegation appreciates the efforts of the Secretariat in having prepared such a comprehensive document, CL 99/17. Also we wish to thank the Secretariat for the clear and substantive introductory remarks on the document before us. My comments will be very brief. Reference is made to the relevant parts of CL 99/9, regarding COAG.
We welcome the initiative of the Secretariat to draw the member countries' attention to the agricultural potential for improving nutrition. We are of the view that countries should assure their commitment of the political will and the availability of resources which are necessary to improve the situation. Priority in nutrition improvement should go together with other health-service developments including safe water supply, disease control, family planning, environmental sanitation and should primarily be addressed to assist the low-income communities both in rural and urban areas.
This improvement will certainly require more provision of medicine and medical equipment as well as development of health insurance schemes for community self-financing of health services.
My delegation is of the view that the community health centres should be the primary vehicles for delivery of nutrition and other health services, especially for young children and mothers. Our experience in Indonesia has shown that these organized activities of the community centres are important for agricultural extension services with the intention to assist them in improving family on home gardening. According to the study held in rural areas in Java, Indonesia has indicated that home gardens provide more than 20 percent of household income and more than 40 percent of a
household's calorie requirements. Poor households tend to sell a higher proportion of their produce in the local markets, and these sales may account for the single largest service of income for such households.
Therefore, efforts should be undertaken to strengthen these activities at the community centres levels because experiences have shown us that this sector is a promising one, with strong people-oriented actions and a cost-effective services structure. We hope this could be considered as an input for the forthcoming ICN meeting. In this connection, my delegation would like to support the Committee's recommendation that ICN should place particular emphasis on under-nutrition in relation to poverty and other manifestations of underdevelopment.
With regard to the preparation of ICN, we welcome the scope and content of the ICN, as stated in paragraph 22 of the document. We wish to reiterate the views of the 25th Conference that the ICN should have a regional focus in devising strategies and proposals. We wish also to draw attention to the recommendation of FAO Regional Conferences for improving household food security which stressed increasing women's participation through training and income-generating activities and establishing measures to promote greater productivity and higher incomes for women. As to the request for the active involvement and assistance of FAO, my delegation would like to suggest that assistance be arranged through its Regional Offices so as to help the activities at the country level.
We welcome warmly the good intentions of FAO to assist the developing countries, especially the needy ones, in order to enable the experts to participate fully and actively in this important global Conference. The efforts for possible attendance of all experts of the developing countries would also be an important step toward the successful deliberation of this conference. As to the suitable time for covening the ICN, my delegation takes note of the suggestions of COAG mentioned in paragraph 104 of its report CL 99/9 and looks forward to the full consideration of FAO and WHO as to the best time for convening of this ICN.
Harald HILDEBRAND (Germany): As already underlined on former occasions, my country fully endorses the multi-sectoral approach for and the objectives of the Conference. The Representative from Indonesia has just put forward some ideas underlining this concept. We endorse it. We attach great importance to a close and trustful cooperation of all organizations involved in its preparation. This constitutes, in our view, the best guarantee for technically well-founded, feasible proposals for action which we expect from this first intergovernmental meeting of its kind. We are aware that the emphasis of this Conference will be on the nutritional problems underlying the food situation in less developed countries. However, in the developed countries, problems of nutrition are mostly caused by excessive consumption of certain foods, and we think that this aspect should therefore also be included in the dealings of the Conference. As the last national survey on food consumption in the Federal Republic of Germany has revealed, this is also the case in my country. We think that, in preparing for and participating in the Conference, Germany will be able to contribute recent experience to the debate on this particular aspect.
As regards the timing of the Conference, we share the concern of numerous countries as to whether it would be appropriate not to hold it in 1992. That is to say, we favour, for the sake of a careful preparation, its postponement to 1993. Of course, we are aware that final decisions on this aspect must be taken by the respective bodies of FAO and WHO.
J.B. SHARPE (Australia): Australia is looking forward to participating and supports a joint FAO/WHO International Conference on Nutrition for 1992. As requested by the conference Secretariat, we will be preparing a country paper. It is also proposed that a national conference on food and nutrition policy for Australia be held in early 1992. The aim of the conference will be to discuss and canvass issues pertinent to a national food and nutrition policy. This national conference will provide a lead-up to the December 1992 WHO/FAO conference. Consequently, Australia should be in an excellent position to contribute to the ICN deliberations in 1993. Australia supports the themes currently proposed for the conference. Information on the range of expertise that is being considered for participation within the areas would be useful as a guide to the perspective and scope that is to be addressed. For example, within theme G, incorporating nutrition objectives into development policies, issues such as the environment, economics, and forestry are mentioned. Australia would strongly support experts from these disciplines being invited to speak to ensure that the related nutrition problems can be placed in the context of the broad and competing interests of those areas, and thus be addressed in perspective. There are aspects of nutrition problems being considered in the Australian context that are not clearly encompassed within the themes as currently described. These are, firstly, nutrition-related health inequities. These are not necessarily related to just household food security, such as in theme A, to infectious diseases, such as in theme B, to being socio-economically deprived or nutritionally vulnerable, in theme C. Factors such as age, sex, ethnic background and region of residence have also been associated with these health inequities.
Secondly, the role of the food industry at all levels - agriculture, food processors and manufacturers, food importers and exporters, and the retail sector, including advertising and promotion of food. Agriculture is mentioned within theme G, but in the context of development policies. Aspects would also be considered under theme A, including household food security. As described, however, this important aspect of identifying and addressing nutrition problems is not clearly included within the conference. As the private sector is being encouraged to support and be involved in the ICN, it would be appropriate to consider more broadly the private food sector roles.
We look forward to a further progress report to be made by the Secretariat to the Council in November of this year.
D.D.P. Van RAPPARD (Netherlands): My country is fully aware of the importance of nutrition. However, when the International Conference on Nutrition was discussed during the 25th Conference almost two years ago. The Netherlands delegation expressed its concern about it.
We have concerns about goals, objectives and later on with regard to the preparation of this Conference.
Just a few weeks ago at the meeting of the Committee on Agriculture, my country once again had queries about the timing of and preparations for the International Conference on Nutrition.
Mr Chairman, we did hope that document CL 99/17 would take away our reservations. Unfortunately, this document did not come up with the essential information to regain our confidence.
A few points appear to be of particular interest in the preparation process:
The matter of the focal points requires urgent attention. This international enterprise needs coordination points at the national level. Unfortunately, the requests for national focal points was long overdue. Can you tell us what the response has been so far and when will all focal points be known?
In the last COAG meeting countries raised the point of the production of the country papers. These documents are an essential tool for the preparation at national and regional levels, but in many countries the expertise for it is lacking and FAO-assistance will be needed. Mr Dutia touched upon this issue in his introduction, but how far exactly is the progress in this field?
Unfortunately, Mr Chairman, the Organization is faced with more serious financial problems than ever before. These problems have, I think, been duly discussed on Monday. The budget for the next biennium makes a reservation for the ICN. Referring to the discussion at the COAG session, however, it occurs to us that fairly large amounts of extra-budgetary resources are required in the preparation process. However, although donor countries showed their interest, it is not yet clear whether these resources will become available. As a matter of fact, we received only yesterday FAO's request for extra-budgetary support.
Mr Chairman, I hope the Secretariat will be able to clarify these questions raised by my delegation.
LE PRESIDENT: Avant de donner la parole à l'orateur suivant, je voudrais clôturer la liste des orateurs.
Philippe PIOTET (France): Dès l'origine, la France a soutenu la proposition du Directeur général d'organiser, en coopération avec l’Organisation mondiale de la santé, la conférence internationale sur la nutrition. Depuis plus d'un an, il faut bien reconnaître qu'un important travail de préparation a déjà été entrepris, notamment dans le cadre des conférences régionales de la FAO et aussi dans celui des activités de l'OMS. La coopération entre les deux organisations est l'une des conditions essentielles de la bonne préparation et du succès de cette Conférence. La France ne peut done qu'appuyer toute initiative visant à renforcer cette
coopération à laquelle sont naturellement associés d'autres partenaires: les agences multilatérales, les Etats Membres, les organisations non gouvernementales et tous les partenaires publics ou privés intéressés par cette vaste entreprise.
A ce stade des travaux préparatoires, je me limiterai à trois séries d'observation concernant successivement l'approche adoptée par la préparation de la conférence, les grands thèmes qui seront débattus et les résultats que l'on peut attendre de cette manifestation.
S'agissant tout d'abord de l'approche adoptée par les organisateurs de la conférence, ma délégation ne peut qu'appuyer les dispositions qui ont été prises à l'intérieur du système des Nations Unies: création d'un comité d'orientation, d'un secrétariat mixte FAO/OMS, d'une équipe spéciale interdépartementale au sein de la FAO, d'un groupe consultatif d'experts, sans oublier bien sûr le role de coordination normal joué par le CAC.
Nous appuyons aussi tout particulièrement le souci d'associer les Etats Membres à toutes les phases de la conférence: préparation, conférence elle-même et suivi. A cet égard, les conférences régionales de la FAO auxquelles mon pays a participé activement, l'année dernière, ont fourni une excellente occasion d'aborder les priorités - elles sont très diverses d'une région à l'autre - des politiques et programmes de lutte contre la malnutrition. Nous ne pouvons done que nous féliciter de la perspective de poursuivre ces consultations tant dans le cadre des conférences régionales de la FAO eri 1992 que dans celui des prochaines réunions des comités régionaux de l'OMS.
Depuis la décision prise par la Conférence de la FAO, en novembre 1989, d'organiser la CIN, des réunions de coordination sont régulièrement organisées à Paris entre les administrations et les spécialistes de la nutrition de nos instituts scientifiques afin de définir le contenu et les modalités des contributions de la France à la conférence. La coordination générale au niveau régional est assurée par le Comité interministériel de l’agriculture et de l’alimentation.
En ce qui concerne maintenant - et ce sera mon second point - les thèmes qui seront débattus lors de la conférence, ma délégation a pris connaissance avec beaucoup d'intérêt des huit grandes questions mentionnées au paragraphe 22 du document préparé par le Secrétariat. Il s'agit de questions essentielles qui méritent des discussions approfondies sous tous leurs aspects. Je n'entrerai pas dans les détails; nous aurons d'autres occasions de le faire. Il faudra être peut-être plus sélectif, revoir cette liste en fonction des rapports nationaux, notamment. Je voudrais simplement dire que nous avons certainement bien couvert l’ensemble des préoccupations de ce secteur, qu'il s'agisse des grands problèmes qui sont posés aux pays en développement - améliorer la sécurité alimentaire, lutter contre les carences, incorporer les objectifs nutritionnels dans les politiques de développement - ou qu'il s'agisse des problèmes qui concernent directement l’alimentation et la santé des habitants de pays comme le mien, à savoir la promotion de régimes alimentaires équilibrés, la protection du consommateur en améliorant la qualité et la sécurité des produits alimentaires.
Ma délégation se félicite également de la place accordée à l’analyse et à l’évaluation des situations nutritionnelles, question essentielle sur laquelle une coopération est engagée depuis plusieurs années entre les pays africains et l'Institut français de recherche pour le développement en coopération (ORSTOM).
En ce qui concerne enfin les résultats que l'on peut attendre de la conférence internationale sur la nutrition - et ceci est bien sûr le plus important - nous ne pouvons qu'approuver l'idée, qui est exprimée au paragraphe 4, de mettre l’accent sur les préoccupations régionales et sous-régionales spécifiques ainsi que l'approche opérationnelle axée sur l’action, qui est mentionnée au paragraphe 21. C'est dans cette double perspective à la fois régionale et opérationnelle que, nous semble-t-il, devrait être conçu et prepare le plan d'action qui viendra concrétiser les travaux de cette conférence.
La France, pour sa part, continuera à apporter tout son concours à la préparation de cette importante manifestation tant en ce qui concerne sa propre contribution nationale que sa participation aux travaux entrepris par d'autres pays d'Europe ou d'autres régions du monde.
Mustapha-Menouar SINACEUR (Maroc): Notre délégation a été saisie de cette question à la dernière session du Conseil et a participé aux travaux du COAG, qui a longuement débattu de la question. Nous apprécions le niveau d'avancement des préparatifs de la conférence internationale sur la nutrition et tenons à en féliciter tous les intervenants, avec à leur tête l’OMS et notre Organisation. Notre gouvernement a été informé officiellement de la tenue de cette conférence et a pris note de la participation qui est attendue de lui, en particulier la rédaction d'un rapport national sur le sujet de la désignation d'un organe national de coordination ainsi que les activités que nous sommes appelés à entreprendre en vue de donner aux directives de cette conférence tout l'éclat nécessaire. Permettez-moi de ne pas partager les craintes du Secrétariat émises au paragraphe 15 quant à la possibilité, qui est fonction des disponibilités financières, d'organiser des ateliers aux niveaux regional et sous-régional. Nous considérons qu'il est important que ce type de réunions puissent avoir lieu et formulons le voeu que des ressources pourront être mobilisées à cet effet.
S'agissant des themes qui ont été retenus, tels qu'ils ressortent au paragraphe 22, nous considérons qu'ils sont le résultat de débats approfondis et constitueront la plateforme nécessaire à la réussite d'une telle conférence puisque ces thèmes concernent l’ensemble des questions ayant une influence sur l'état nutritionnel des populations.
S'agissant enfin de la question du calendrier, il nous parait peu opportun de statuer dans cette enceinte aujourd'hui et nous sommes d'accord avec l’intervention faite par le Représentant de la France à la session du Comité de l'agriculture lorsqu'il a dit que décider aujourd'hui de reporter la conférence à 1993 constituerait un facteur de démobilisation pour les personnes qui travaillent sur ce sujet. Nous préconisons de continuer de suivre les travaux préparatoires et d'aviser, si la situation le nécessite. Done, nous proposons d'en discuter plus tard, du moins à la prochaine session du Conseil, et ce, en fonction de l'avancement des préparatifs.
Pour en revenir aux activités nationales, dans le cas du Maroc, tous les départements ministériels intéressés - universités, ONG et, dans toute la mesure possible, le secteur privé - prendront amplement part à cette manifestation.
LE PRESIDENT: Je remercie le Représentant du Maroc de l'apport constructif qu'il a apporté à notre débat.
Sra. Mercedes FERMIN GOMEZ (Venezuela): Nosotros trataremos de ser breves, porque creo que se ha hecho hasta ahora un análisis bastante amplio del documento que estamos estudiando. Podria contentarme con apoyar en todas sus partes la exposición hecha por nuestro amigo el Embajador de Colombia, agregando a ello las sugestiones presentadas por el Embajador de Indonesia y la posición del delegado de Francia. Pero hay algunos puntos en los que nos gustaria insistir. No vamos a hablar de la importancia ni de la urgencia de la Conferencia. Todos sabemos que, dada la situación del mundo desde el punto de vista de su hambre, de su malnutrición y de las deficiencias de alimentación, ésta es una Conferencia por demás oportuna y necesaria. Y todos los esfuerzos que se hagan para que ella llegue a feliz término y que se desarrolle con una realización perfecta en lo posible, no serán suficientes.
En este sentido, tenemos que insistir en que la participación de los Estados del Tercer Mundo, de los países en vias de desarrollo, de los todavía llamados subdesarrollados, es esencial. Son éstos precisamente los países que necesitan de los beneficios de esta Conferencia, de los resultados que se lograrán con los estudios, las investigaciones y las actividades que esta Conferencia dará oportunidad para realizar en profundidad estudios de la situación. De esa manera, la seguridad alimentaria, las actividades del Programa Mundial de la Alimentación, de la Organización Mundial de la Salud, podrán actuar sobre bases más ciertas que las que hasta ahora se hacen, porque es verdad que todavía no se tiene un conocimiento todo lo amplio que fuera necesario para poder atender las realidades. En ese sentido, deberiamos insistir en la participación de los Estados Miembros y, sobre todo, de las Organizaciones no Gubernamentales nacionales, que tienen la pόsibilidad de realizar encuestas de incidir en el campo privado más directamente que los organismos burocráticos de los Estados.
Estas facilidades preparatorias de la Conferencia deberán ser, diría yo, celosamente estimuladas, vigiladas por la FAO y por sus delegados en los países correspondientes. Por esa razón, habría que procurar la mayor dinamización para estos ocho temas, que constituyen realmente la esencia del objetivo y de los contenidos de la Conferencia.
Desde el punto de vista de los objetivos mismos, voy a estar de acuerdo con el delegado que se refirió al aparte g), en relación con la incorporación de objetivos de nutrición en las politicas de desarrollo, sobre todo en aquellas actividades que no son directamente vinculadas a la nutrición y a la alimentación como actividad misma, pero que tienen, sin duda, efectos inmediatos en ella.
Me refiero a la agricultura, a la enseñanza, a la pesca, a las actividades de beneficio para el medio ambiente y su conservación y a las actividades de estudios demográficos con relación a la población.
Habitualmente se dan cifras estadisticas con relación al hambre, a la malnutrición, etc., en los organismos internacionales, estadisticas que quienes conocemos nuestras realidades más de cerca podemos decir que no corresponden a la verdad, sino que son números abstractos que se toman por encuestas hechas en un momento dado y que no cubren la verdad en todos sus aspectos. Por esa razón, pues, personalmente no tenemos mucha fe en las estadisticas, porque las estadisticas son muy acomodaticias para los intereses que se quieren defender. En este sentido, la Conferencia deberá ir un poco más al fondo de la cuestión e insistir en las Organizaciones nacionales, especialmente en aquellas no gubernamentales, para que puedan cooperar en la búsqueda de estas informaciones reales que contribuyan a una mejor cobertura de las necesidades en los países respectivos.
En cuanto a las actividades complementarias, creo yo que podrán ser estudiadas pais por país, región por región, y deberíamos encomendar esto a los organismos de los Estados. Ellos están en mejores condiciones de hacerlo, pero dudamos que a pesar de su experiencia, de su capacidad técnica e incluso sus condiciones desde el punto de vista de los recursos técnicos, puedan realizarlo de una manera correcta. En ese sentido, la FAO deberá ayudar como Organización de máximo nivel en cuanto a su autoridad de experta en esta materia. Podrá ser una manera de lograr el éxitp de la Conferencia.
En ese sentido, vemos con cierta razón el planteamiento de quienes están tratando de encaminar la Conferencia a una posposición para el año siguiente. Pero vamos a estar de acuerdo - creo que fue Francia quien insistió - en que decidir eso ahora seria realmente contribuir al desaliento de quienes ya están trabajando en eso con entusiasmo. No soy experta en máquinas ni en manejo de trenes, pero si ponemos a funcionar un tren, un automóvil y en mi tad de camino se le quita la gasolina, ya sabemos lo que le pasa. Reducir la presión o el entusiasmo o la colaboración y el esfuerzo ya desde ahora, lo que haria seria desanimar a quienes están trabajando con entusiasmo por la realización de la Conferencia. Por eso no vamos a estar de acuerdo con que desde ahora se discuta y se apruebe una posposición de la realización de la Conferencia, sino que consideramos deben continuarse los esfuerzos y, sobre todo, estimular a los Estados Miembros para que realicen la parte que les corresponde en sus propios medios regionales o subregionales, y también insistir en que el sector privado de esos Estados miembros participen en lo que les podría corresponder, porque hay organizaciones de carácter privado que están muy vinculadas a estos asuntos de la nutrición y de la alimentación, y que podrian ser de una gran ayuda en este sentido.
Creo que no debo alargarme más, porque todos los que me han antecedido en el derecho de palabra han cubierto casi completamente el tema. Pero queria agregar estas observaciones, porque me parece que algunas veces, cuando estamos viendo todo el bosque, dejamos de ver un árbol enfermo que puede contaminar a los demás.
Milan BLASKO (Czechoslovakia): Thank you Mr Chairman for giving me the floor. Mr Chairman, problems relating to nutrition and health of the population belong to the most vital points of interest of international organizations pursuing the aim of improvement of standards of living of human beings all over the world, FAO of course being no exception. Czechoslovakia considers itself to belong to that group of countries whose governments have deep understanding for adequate nutrition and health -questions forming a crucial portion of the programme of their activities. It was also for this reason that as early on as the previous meeting of the Council and Committee on Agriculture the Czechoslovak delegation confirmed its full support to holding the International Conference on Nutrition prepared by FAO and WHO. It is not only the global significance of the problem but also the immediate interest that has lead the Czechoslovak Government to offer its experience and at the same time to have the opportunity to obtain advice and technical assistance aimed at the solution of some symptomatic aspects of this problem in Czechoslovakia.
In connection with radical, political and economic changes in Czechoslovakia, that took place after November 1989, the new Czechoslovak Government approaches the problem of nutrition policy from the viewpoint of international and, due to the geographical position of our country, all-European collaboration. The first step in which the FAO provided its assistance, was a project implemented by highly qualified experts who recommended the most suitable variants of policy leading to the improvement of the existing unfavourable situation. The outcome of this collaboration is the draft of the Czechoslovak Act on Foodstuffs that will be discussed by the Federal Government later this year. At the same time Czechoslovak experts take advantage of international experience and expertise in forming the project of global, independent control system of food standards that will be established along with enactment of the national foodstuff act.
Mr Chairman, the International Conference on Nutrition will no doubt be a very important place of concentrated opportunities to draw professional contacts and to begin an extended and purposeful international cooperation in this respect. There are no objections on the Czechoslovak side concerning the themes proposed for the agenda of the Conference. Moreover, we highly appreciate the submitted report on proceeding of preparations for this Conference. The Czechoslovak national focal point has already begun its activities on the preparation of the Czechoslovak standpoint that will be submitted to the Coordination Centre in Rome through the Secretariat of the Czechoslovak Committee for Cooperation with FAO not later than by the end of this year. Thank you Mr Chairman.
David DRAKE (Canada): Thank you Mr Chairman, I will be very brief. The Canadian delegation would like to thank Dr Dutia for his presentation and update of events since document CL 99/17 was produced. Our delegation appreciates the document before us, which offers a general description of rationale, goals and expected outcome.
We note that much of this material is based on information previously made available, we are not entirely convinced that the document provides the full substantive report on the preparatory process for the ICN that had been called for at the last Council. For example, we continue to feel it
important that countries be informed on how the theme papers, case studies, country and regional level papers (or preparations) will be synchronized to provide input to the assessment paper, and a clear indication of what work has been initiated to date. Nevertheless, we very much welcome the willingness demonstrated by the Secretariat to provide information to Member Nations and to cooperate with them.
My delegation looks forward to an indepth briefing on the state of preparations for the November Council and Conference sessions, including an assessment of whether the time schedule for these preparations can be realistically achieved. In this regard, as Canadian delegations to past sessions of the Council and the recent COAG meeting have stated, we remain concerned about the timing of the Conference, presently scheduled for 1992. We can associate ourselves again with the statement made by numerous previous speakers, with regard to postponement.
While we note that the issue of the timing of the ICN appears not to have surfaced during the recent session of the World Health Assembly, we would welcome the perspective of the Secretariat on the possible postponement of the ICN in light of any discussions that may have taken place between members of the two organizations co-sponsoring this Conference.
Finally, my delegation is particularly pleased to note that nutritional safety has been added to the list of eight themes. Given FAO's mandate and strength in this area, it is fitting that this receive substantial attention at the ICN. Thank you Mr Chairman.
Sra. Ana Maria NAVARRO ARRUE (Cuba): Agradezco al Sr. Dutia la presentación de este tema, así como el documento de información CL 99/17, elaborado por la Secretaría, que ha sido amplio y concreto y nos actualiza acerca de sus preparativos. En el marco del 98º Consejo de la FAO y el 11º periodo de sesiones del Comité de Agricultura, nuestra delegación subrayó la importancia y la prioridad que nuestro país confiere a la celebración de esta importante Conferencia Internacional sobre Nutrición. Es por ello que consideramos innecesario repetir la situación nutricional que reina en la mayoria de los países del Tercer Mundo, hecho éste que compromete aún más los esfuerzos mancomunados que están realizando la FAO, la OMS y los Estados Miembros de estas Organizaciones, para el logro de resultados concretos.
En mi país, respondiendo a la comunicación oficial de la FAO emitida en marzo de 1991, se ha designado el Departamento Nacional de Higiene de los Alimentos y Nutrición del Ministerio de Salud Pública como punto focal de esta Conferencia. Para abordar debidamente los problemas de nutrición, en estos momentos se conforma el Comité Preparatorio Nacional de esta Conferencia, donde se espera la participación activa de varios Ministerios y sectores, incluidas las Organizaciones no Gubernamentales de mujeres, campesinos, jóvenes y otras, así como los medios de difusión masiva.
Finalmente, a mi país no le crea ningún inconveniente la fecha propuesta para esta Conferencia por los patrocinadores y el Gobierno de Italia.
Nedilson Ricardo JORGE (Brazil): I would like to state that the Brazilian delegation joins many of the previous speakers and supports the proposal to postpone the ICN. We fully suppport the ICN. We also think that essential to its success is the process of its preparation at country level.
The fact is, however, that in my country the ministries involved in the preparation of ICN are now increasingly turning their limited financial and human resources to the preparation of the onset. Therefore we think the period of the ICN is too close to the onset to allow full and proper and careful preparation as is necessary. We hope this will be taken into account in the final decision of postponing the ICN.
Ms Francesca RONCHI PROJA (Observer for the International Federation for Home Economics): I am speaking on behalf of the International Federation for Home Economics and also as Coordinator of the ad-hoc Group of International Non-Governmental Organization Representatives residing in Rome. You know we have a small group that meets regularly at FAO to discuss common subjects of interest.
The ad-hoc Group of NGOs Representatives residing in Rome have already expressed at the COAG their interest in participating in the ICN. We note that the NGOs as indicated in paragraph 20 of document CL 99/17 will be invited to participate. This Group intends to include the subject of ICN and its preparation in the agenda of the informal meeting of INGOs which will be held during the forthcoming FAO Conference. At that time we aim at providing the Conference up-to-date information concerning the INGOs' themes of interest as outlined in your official FAO documents, and on the food and nutrition activities supported by each INGO as well as on their proposals for actively supporting the organization of the Conference and eventually its follow-up.
If you will allow me to add two comments on statements which have been made by some delegates - one refers to the invitation for the participation of national non-governmental organizations. Of course, our organizations at international level can stimulate the participation of our national associates to the preparation of the Conference at national level, but I think it will be up to national governments to see that the national NGOs concerned are invited to assist in the preparation of the Conference and the national papers.
I would like to add another comment on a statement that has been made I think by more than one delegate about the importance of the role of women in nutrition. The role of women in nutrition has always been taken for granted, and women have always been trained formally and informally throughout their educational years to take care of the food for the family. Also in developing countries they have been trained to produce the food for the family and have the main responsibility not only for food preparation and distribution to the family, but also for taking care of the diseases of malnutrition and those related to nutrition.
Therefore, my plea is that there should be a balanced approach in the Conference concerning the role of men in taking up responsibility for the family. If you tell me that the idea is to have more women participating in
the preparation for the Conference and in the meeting itself, this is very important. I would like to see a Conference that is not made up mainly of men. I think there should be more women participating in this Conference so that we can take on board their views about the food and nutritional problems that they are dealing with every day of their lives.
Gian Paolo PAPA (CEE): La nutrition compte parmi les éléments importants de la politique communautaire de coopération au développement, comme l'attestent l'intérêt porté aux stratégiés alimentaires et les actions orientées vers la sécurité alimentaire depuis plus de dix ans maintenant.
Lorsqu'on analyse les divers éléments de la chaîne qui part de la production d'aliments et se continue par la disponibilité de ces derniers, les habitudes diététiques, les soins préventifs et les soins curatifs, on constate que, dans la plupart des cas, la contrainte majeure dans l’amélioration de la situation sanitaire est constituée par la disponibilité des aliments: il existe une corrélation étroite entre l'état de la santé et la situation nutritionnelle. Aussi n'est-il pas surprenant que la sécurité alimentaire fasse l'objet d'une telle attention dans les politiques de coopération que la Communauté mène avec les pays en développement, et notamment dans le cadre de la Convention de Lomé. Cela ne doit pas revenir à dire que les autres éléments sont à négliger: nous sommes en plein accord avec l’ensemble des objectifs mentionnés dans le document CL 99/17 et qui ont été choisis pour les travaux de la Conférence internationale sur la nutrition. Du point de vue de la Communauté, les trois objectifs suivants - énumérés dans un ordre d'intérêt croissant -revêtent une importance particulière:
- prévenir et traiter les maladies infectieuses par l’amélioration de la distribution d'eau potable, des facilités en matière sanitaire et la mise au point d'un système de soins de santé primaires, tous éléments qui paraissent constituer des réponses adéquates aux problèmes posés;
- faire en sorte que la sécurité alimentaire au niveau domestique soit partie intégrante des politiques nationales de sécurité alimentaire et soit mise en oeuvre avec le soutien actif des donneurs;
- assurer l'approvisionnement alimentaire des groupes de population particulièrement pauvres et vulnérables. Cet objectif occupe une place centrale dans l’attention que la Communauté porte à la dimension sociale des programmes d'ajustement structurel dans lesquels beaucoup d'Etats ACP sont engagés avec les institutions de Bretton Woods.
L'objectif évident est d'atténuer les effets souvent trop négatifs sur, entre autres, la situation sanitaire des parties vulnérables de la population dans les pays en ajustement. En fait, il faut se référer à l'accent mis avec de plus en plus d'insistance sur les aspects "santé" dans les programmes indicatifs nationaux qui constituent le cadre de la mise en oeuvre de la Convention de Lomé IV. Aussi des directives ont-elles été développées pour incorporer la sécurité alimentaire et les considérations en matière de nutrition dans l'appui de la Communauté à l’ajustement structurel.
S'agissant de la Conférence internationale FAO/OMS sur la nutrition, comme il a déjà été souligné à l’occasion de la premiere consultation FAO/CEБ en juillet dernier, la Communauté est prête à considérer toutes propositions permettant de lui apporter son soutien.
LE PRESIDENT: Je remercie très vivement le Représentant de la Communauté économique européenne et je suis convaincu que la dernière partie de son exposé aura retenu la bienveillante attention du Secrétariat, notamment la proposition concreèe et précise qui vient d'être faite en ce qui concerne l’élément de financement.
Hamisi MWINYGOHA (Observer for Tanzania): My delegation endorses the help of the WHO and FAO in the preparation of the Conference on Nutrition. This Conference will help our efforts to solve the chronic problem of nutrition which is the cause of many fatal diseases in many developing countries.
My delegation wishes to make just one observation - that is, nutrition embraces health, agricultural education and all cultural aspects. As such, it would help if other agencies like Unesco could also participate. It would be instrumental in the dissemination phase of nutrition through adult education activities undertaken with the help of the local extension services. When recommendations are made later, it will not be much use if they do not reach the target group.
LE PRESIDENT: Nous so mines au terme de la liste des orateurs membres du Conseil et observateurs. Avant de passer la parole au Secrétariat, je voudrais faire une réflexion. Comme l'ont souligné de très nombreux membres de notre Conseil, cette Conférence internationale sur la nutrition a deux mamans, la FAO et l’Organisation mondiale de la santé. Je crois qu'il faut tenir compte à la fois des voeux du Conseil où un certain nombre de membres se sont exprimés dans des sens assez divers, et de ce qui s'est dit à Genève, de ce qui se dira à Genève et de ce qui se dira demain à la FAO. Je crois qu'il faut prendre en considération les organes directeurs des deux organisations, puisqu'il y a deux parents, et à première vue il me parait difficile de prendre une décision avec un des deux parents, ou une des deux mamans, ce qui revient au même.
J'ai d'ailleurs été frappé par l’intervention de la Représentante des Philippines qui a bien souligné qu'une conférence n'était pas un but en soi. Je suis aussi convaincu qu'une conférence n'est qu'une étape et n'est pas la fin, ni certainement une fin en soi. L'élément nutrition a peut-être dans le passé été négligé. Les circonstances ont fait que j'ai eu l’occasion de participer aux conférences régionales où ce thème a été débattu avec une participation d'excellente qualité qui a permis de dégager un certain nombre de points forts au niveau des régions, que ce soit l'Amérique latine ou que ce soit l'Asie et le Pacifique, la grande Asie comprenant non seulement le Japon mais aussi l'Australie et les Etats-Unis, la grande Afrique, le Proche-Orient qui a tenu une très intéressante conférence régionale à Tunis où les problèmes de nutrition ont été examinés sous leurs différentes facettes. Done la préparation de la conférence est
en route, et je suis convaincu qu'après la conférence tous les problèmes ne seront pas régiés, mais que cette conférence sera une étape, peut-être, pour intégrer davantage d'éléments nutritionnels dans la politique de l’agriculture.
Je crois que se nourrir est une chose, se nourrir bien est une autre chose, et qu'à côté de l'élément quantitatif il existe un élément qualitatif important. Je vous fais part de mes réactions et de mes sentiments.
Je demande maintenant aux différents membres du Secrétariat qui ont des responsabilités diverses dans l’organisation de la conférence, et peut-être tout d'abord à M. Dutia, Sous-Directeur général en matière de politique économique et sociale, de répondre aux questions qui ont été posées et de faire connaitre le point de vue du Secrétariat, suite à toutes les suggestions, et Dieu sait si elles furent nombreuses, qui ont été faites au cours de ce très intéressant débat.
B.P. DUTIA (Assistant Director-General, Economic and Social Policy Department): It is somewhat difficult to reply in a very brief manner to the rich and extensive debate that has taken place on this very important issue, the International Conference on Nutrition, but I shall try my best. I do not intend to go question by question because that will take so much longer. I will try to respond in a somewhat holistic manner.
First of all, I wish to thank several delegates from the donor countries who have supported the International Conference on Nutrition not only conceptually, but also they have offered their willingness to provide financial support to the preparations, particularly at country level but also at regional level. This is extremely encouraging to us. The point I would like to make is that we will follow this up appropriately bilaterally with the donors concerned so that their intentions to assist can be fructified.
Secondly, I would like to start from the comment made about the conference not being an event but a process. This is the thought that in the Secretariats, both of FAO and WHO, we fully share and support. In fact, the very process of preparation that we have in mind is just to ensure that in the preparation of the conference itself awareness of nutritional problems at country and sub-regional levels will increase.
Not only that, but this will bring forward at the global level the necessary political will and commitment of the international community as a whole to attack the scourge of malnutrition; and, after having done that, the process will have to continue again at the country level in order to ensure that the plan of action that the International Conference on Nutrition will adopt will in fact be implemented over a period of time.
With this objective in mind, we therefore place great emphasis on the country-level preparatory process, and we are as much conscious as the Members of the Council who have expressed their support of the importance of this process.
What are we doing to initiate this process? We have already written to the Member Governments of FAO and WHO in March of this year, indicating the need to initiate this process at the country-level, and we have also requested them to nominate the focal points in their own governments with whom the Joint Secretariat of FAO and WHO can establish contact and provide the necessary information and guidance, as well as the support which is needed for initiating this process. We are also encouraged by the response we have received from some 20 countries already, giving the names of their focal points. Twelve of them are from the developing countries, and eight from the developed countries. We hope that this process will be further hastened, and that we will receive the names of all the focal points from all the member countries so that we can really get in touch with them and provide all the necessary information and support that is required. We have, of course, also prepared a detailed guideline for the preparation of the country papers, and these guidelines have been provided to the focal points of the countries where they have been appointed. Where the focal points have not yet been appointed, we have provided this information to the FAO Representative and the WHO Representative with a view to making sure that as soon as the focal point is appointed these guidelines could be handed over to them. In addition, we have also distributed these guidelines for the preparation of country papers to all the Permanent Representatives of the Member Governments in FAO. We believe that in this way we have provided enough information to the Member Governments to enable the startup of the country-level activity.
In this process, of course, it is extremely important that the donor countries provide the support for these country-level activities, because the provision that FAO and WHO have made out of their own regular programme resources is enough to finance the full activities that are required in order to prepare for the Conference and to actually hold the Conference -preparation of the documentation, interpretation, and other facilities that are required. We do not have adequate provision - or rather I would say that we have almost no provision - for the preparatory activity at the country level and here we depend on the extrapolated resources from interested donor countries. I would suggest, therefore, that it would be extremely useful if interested donor countries were to alert their own country representatives to get in touch with either the FAOR or the WHOR, or even the focal point where one has been provided, in order to make sure that financial assistance could be provided for whatever activity the country is prepared to undertake. We have estimated that the total extrapolated resources that will be required, not only for the country-level activities but also for the regional and sub-regional workshops which we have in mind, where these country papers will be discussed, plus the financing of delegates from the least developed countries to attend the Conference, will cost between US$1.8 and 2 million, a sum which is not too high if it were distributed among the donor countries who are interested in providing support.
Let me now return to the preparatory process after having discussed the country papers. This is in response to the suggestions by the distinguished representative of Sweden and the distinguished representative of Canada. In the preparation of this Conference, we have looked at the experience of many other international conferences which have been held. We have tried to learn from the organization of these conferences so that our process will
gain the best possible result from past experience. In this context, we have also carefully looked at the Conference on Education for All, to which the distinguished representative of Sweden referred.
The distinguished representative of Canada asked how we were going to incorporate the findings of the country-level activities, papers and regional and sub-regional workshops in the documentation that we will prepare for the Conference. It is a fair question, and I would like to respond to it.
We are at the moment preparing some drafts for assessment and analysis papers. We are also about to commence preparation of the team papers and the case studies. In preparing these first drafts, we will use all the available information and knowledge on the various facets involved in this problem so that at least we will have a first draft which will reflect the present state of the art.
But this will not be our final step. We will then see what is coming out of the country papers, what is coming out of the discussion at the regional and sub-regional workshops, and then synthesize these new insights and new information in revising the draft before putting it to the Conference itself. Providing extrapolated support is available, we are planning to hold about ten regional and sub-regional workshops in which the country papers will be discussed. In addition to this, we will also reflect in the papers prepared for conference all that we are able to gather in terms of the analysis of the various teams which has been reported in paragraph 22 of this document. I hope that this will satisfy the concern of the distinguished representative of Canada that the country-level activities and the findings should in the final analysis be reflected in the Conference papers.
Some comments have been made about one focal point being able to take care of all the multi-faceted concerns which are contained in the preparation of this Nutrition Conference. Certainly, one person is not in a position to do this, and we expect - and I think this was confirmed by the distinguished delegate of Cuba - that the countries concerned will also establish inter-ministerial committees which will bring together the different ministries involved in the nutrition problem, and the focal point will in fact serve as a kind of person who might possibly be the convenor of such a group, who can see that these concerns are reflected in the country paper, and also conveyed to us in the Joint Secretariat. So we do not expect that the focal point will be taking care of all the aspects involved.
The question was also raised as to what we are doing about contact with donors. The two co-sponsors have, over the last six months, met a number of potential donor countries. We have also met with the UNDP and UNICEF with a view to ensuring that they would be able to support some of the activities of the preparations at the country level. Here also we have received encouraging replies. Further a note verbale is being sent to the potential donor countries to seek their support for the country activities, regional and sub-regional workshops, public information campaigns, and for financing of the attendance of delegates from the least developed countries.
As I say, we consider that, particularly for initiating the country-level activities, it is very important that the interested donor countries do contact the country-level representatives of FAO and WHO, as well as the focal points, so that this activity, which is essential for the success of the Conference, could be initiated as soon as possible. We have also taken very careful note of the intentions that have been made known by the member countries for giving support to these activities, and we are approaching the donors for such support bilaterally. In particular, we are indebted to the Italian Government for the support it has indicated all along, and we also greatly appreciate the intentions that have been mentioned during this Council meeting from many donor countries.
Coming now to the substance of the preparation for this Conference: We are encouraged that by and large the Council has given support to the teams mentioned in paragraph 22 of the document, and also the case studies that we have put forward as our intention to undertake. We have taken careful note of some of the observations that have been made on these teams. We are aware that these should not be taken as the final word. We will have to review them and see whether they need to be changed in the light of the new information which will be coming forward. We have also taken careful note of the various suggestions made by the distinguished delegate of the United States for several other new topics which may need to be considered. We will do the best we can.
A question was asked as to how we were soliciting support from the NGOs, and the involvement of the NGOs. At the moment, we have started preparing a list of the international NGOs, and we are also trying to get the names of some of the national NGOs from a variety of sources.
However, I would like to mention that nutrition is a complex subject and the NGOs that will be interested in this Conference will come from many disciplines. We are therefore trying to ensure that the final contacts which we are able to establish with NGOs will be representative of the various interests that are involved - for example consumers - their interests are there; we have already heard about the women's groups, and there are also the care groups and the assistance groups - there are so many other NGOs - food processing in the private industry, and so on. We are also in touch with the Rome-based NGOs, and we are trying to make sure that we are able to get the inputs from the NGOs in the preparation for the Conference, as well as establish what kind of role they can play in the follow-up to the Conference.
I would also like to mention that in the country-level preparatory activities, involvement of the national NGOs is very important. We have pointed this out to member countries in the communications we have made to them, requesting them to involve the local NGOs in the preparation of the country papers. We hope that action along these lines will proceed.
How was this group established? How were the experts chosen? The experts that are serving on the advisory group of experts we have chosen based on the present and previous association of these experts with the ACC subcommittee on nutrition along with some other members representing expertise in agriculture, health, nutrition, environmental services, and food technologies, and all of them are serving in their individual
capacities. We have also taken care that in the advisory group of experts, experts are from all over the world so that there is adequate representation of all the regions concerned. We also have experts who are women as well as men, so that we have tried to make sure that there is as much a representative group as we can obtain. The particular was asked as to whether there were any experts from Africa. I am glad to say that yes, we have got two experts from Africa, one being a man and another being a woman. So Africa is well represented.
A question was asked as to how are we cooperating with the children's summit conference. What we are doing with the actions on that would be supportive of our nutrition conference.
As the Council members would be aware, the Children's Summit set various goals to reduce nutritional problems over time. And the main activity of the task force for child survival that has been established is at present a follow-up on the summit recommendations with regard to the reduction of micronutrient deficiencies diseases. The task force is organizing a conference on this particular topic in Montreal in October of this year. FAO has attended all organizational meetings, as well as the WHO. And just to inform the Council, we are emphasizing two of our contributions to this task force: the role of improved food supplies and better education of consumers to improve dietary habits as a real long-term solution to the micronutrient deficiency diseases. I can assure the Council that the work of this task force will be taken fully into account in the preparations for the nutritional conference also.
Lastly, some observations were made about the structure that we have established for the preparation of this Conference. There was some concern expressed that there is a heavy structure established at the Headquarters, I would like to mention here that the two co-sponsors, FAO and WHO, have really decided to use the existing staff and the secretariat of both the organizations in preparing this Conference. This is in stark contrast with what has been done for the preparation of other international conferences where separate secretariats have been set up, which involves a lot of expenditure for the Member Governments. I hope the Member Governments will appreciate what FAO and WHO are doing in preparing this conference using the staff and the expertise of this staff which is available in both the organizations to prepare for this conference rather than setting up a separate new secretariat.
LE PRESIDENT: Je remercie Monsieur Dutia de ses réponses si complètes aux questions posées à propos des différentes facettes de cet important problème de la preparation de cette conférence internationale.
E.M. WEST (Representative of the Director-General): First, 1 would like, on behalf of the Director-General, to thank the Council for what I consider to be a most substantive and most constructive discussion which will be of great benefit to our further progress in preparing the ICN.
As to the date, I have carefully and earnestly listened to all that has been said, including the remarks of the Independent Chairman a little while back. In the circumstances, there is not much further I can say here today on this particular issue of the debate. There were, as you have pointed out, similar statements about the need for postponement of the ICN to 1993 - and, given the schedule of meetings, I suppose that would have to be until July 1993 - at COAG and indeed, before that, at the ACC Subcommittee on Nutrition. WHO representatives were present at the ACC Subcommittee, but we also conveyed the views expressed at COAG both informally and formally to the highest levels in the World Health Organization. However, as the Independent Chairman has already pointed out, the ICN is a joint FAO/WHO conference. Everything, including setting the date, has to be agreed by both organizations and their Governing bodies and implemented in conjunction. This dual harness inevitably produces some difficulties and some delays which it is my special task to try to overcome, together with my colleagues. Nevertheless, the views of COAG were duly conveyed last month, through the highest levels in the WHO, during the World Health Assembly, which is the equivalent of our Conference. I understand, however, that when the Assembly discussed the item on the ICN, Member States did not raise the question of changing the data. It is, of course, the prerogative of the Member States to take whatever positions they see fit and appropriate in debate in different organizations. But I think you will understand here today and accept that neither the WHO Secretariat nor, therefore, we, can ignore the apparent wish of the Governing bodies of the WHO to proceed on the basis of December of 1992. Therefore, we are still jointly committed to pursuing preparation on the basis of the date of December of 1992. I am afraid that I cannot say more than that today, except that I will, of course, convey all the views expressed here today to the Steering Committee on which I represent FAO, which is due to meet immediately after the conclusion of this Council, in Geneva.
LE PRESIDENT: Un membre du Conseil demande la parole. Je la lui donne bien volontiers.
Daniel Toman KONAN (Côte d’Ivoire): Si je prends la parole, c'est d'abord pour remercier Monsieur Dutia des explications détaillées qu'il nous a fournies. Nous prenons note du fait qu'en ce qui concerne la question posée au sujet des experts africains, une femme et un homme ont pu être retenus parmi ces experts. Nous en remercions bien vivement Monsieur Dutia.
A titre d'information, nous souhaiterions toutefois pouvoir disposer de la liste de tous les experts qui forment ce groupe. Je pense que le Conseil pourra avoir la liste de tous les experts. Si ce n'est pas le cas, la Côte d’Ivoire souhaiterait recevoir cette liste à titre d'information.
LE PRESIDENT: Il va de soi que le Secrétariat donnera des dispositions pour que cette liste soit fournie. Nous proposons que le représentant de la Côte d’Ivoire se mette en rapport avec le Secrétariat.
B.P. DUTIA (Assistant Director-General, Economic and Social Policy Department): If the members of the Council so wish, we can circulate the list to all the members. Otherwise, we can give it to the distinguished delegate of Côte d’Ivoire. As you wish, sir, we are in your hands.
LE PRESIDENT: C'est une bonne formule de faire circuler une liste, étant entendu qu'on ne va pas mettre cette liste en discussion. Si vous avez des suggestions à faire, faites-les directement à Monsieur Dutia. Je ne me sens pas la compétence voulue pour décider de la valeur des nutritionnistes. Je voudrais que la liste circule comme document d'information et si des suggestions doivent être faites elles seront faites directement au Secrétariat afin que, éventuellement, si la proposition que je compte vous faire maintenant est agréée, nous puissions en discuter dans un avenir pas trop éloigné.
Après avoir entendu toutes les délégations, après avoir écouté les réponses de Monsieur Dutia et de Monsieur West, je voudrais vous faire une proposition très constructive qui consiste à décider de ne pas décider.
Je ne vois pas très bien, après l'Assemblée générale de l’OMS et le silence des pays qui composent notre Conseil - les pays membres de l’OMS étant plus nombreux que les membres du Conseil - comment nous pourrions prendre une position puisque nous ne constituons qu'une des deux "mamans", l'autre "maman" étant l’Organisation mondiale de la santé. Je crois qu'on trouvera le mouvement en marchant. Continuons la préparation, et comme l'a très bien souligné l’honorable délégué des Philippines que je salue et que je suis heureux de revoir au Conseil, la Conférence n'est pas une fin en soi mais une étape. Si elle est une étape, on devra de toute façon travailler après la Conférence compte tenu des premières recommandations. Savoir avec précision si cette conférence se tiendra en décembre 92 ou dans les premiers mois de 1993, je crois qu'on a le temps d'en délibérer et qu'on pourrait revoir la question au centième Conseil de la FAO. On en discutera certainement aussi lors de notre Conférence de novembre done le débat reste ouvert et la décision la plus sage au stade actuel semble être de ne pas décider, à la condition bien sûr que tous les membres du Conseil qui ont tous "supporté" l’initiative, n'aient aucune réserve sur le fond de l’organisation de la Conférence et sur la nécessité de la Conférence. Cette Conférence est un bien, elle a recueilli un très large consensus du Conseil de la FAO - et quand je dis "large consensus" c'est je crois une quasi-unanimité. Il reste à régler un certain nombre de modalités, à accélérer la constitution des focal points, des antennes dans le pays. C'est notre responsabilité à tous, non seulement des membres du Conseil, mais également des observateurs, de faire en sorte que nous puissions avancer.
Je crois que le représentant du Maroc voudrait faire certains commentaires, soit sur cette proposition, soit sur le fond du problème.
Htistapba-Menouar SINACEÜR (Maroc): J'accueille très favorablement votre proposition mais je voudrais avoir un éclaircissement. Dans le document CL 99/OD/2 le point 14 est soumis au Conseil pour information. Done je ne vois pas sur quoi le Conseil pourrait décider. C'est ma première remarque et si je me trompe corrigez-moi.
Ma deuxième remarque est à l’attention de Monsieur Dutia. Elle appuie la proposition faite par la Côte d’Ivoire. Puisque au paragraphe 12 du document CL 99/17 nous parlons d'un document 99/17 supplément 1 qui n'existe pas, la liste d'experts pourrait faire l'objet de cette numérotation.
LE PRESIDENT: Je voudrais faire remarquer qu'en début de séance, à la demande insistante de l’honorable délégué du Royaume-Uni, nous avons interprété de mahière très large le terme "information". On a dit que le document pour information pouvait déboucher sur des conclusions et qu'on n'allait pas se limiter à une simple information mais que les pays pourraient exprimer leur sentiment et leurs voeux. Je vous avais proposé au début de la séance d'interpreter le terme "information" de manière souple, large, de façon à ce que nous puissions déjà dégager certaines lignes. Certains sont partisans du maintien de la date de la Conférence, un certain nombre ne sont pas partisans du maintien de cette date. Je propose de décider de ne pas décider, c'est-à-dire de remettre la décision à un peu plus tard. Mais il y a une volonté unanime de tous les membres du Conseil que les préparatifs soient poursuivis et peut-être accélérés. Sous prétexte que certains ont demandé le report de la date il ne faut pas qu'on se repose en disant: "on a bien le temps". Je crois que l’on n'a pas le temps. Cette Conférence correspond à un besoin, à une nécessité, nous l’avons tous souligné. Il est done grand temps de faire diligence, de poursuivre nos travaux et de faire rapport à notre prochain Conseil.
R. ALLEN (United Kingdom): I have just a point of clarification.
I was not at the World Health Congress. Could I be informed whether this issue was discussed at all there? This Council has now discussed it and arrived at what I understand to be a recommendation. Did the World Health Congress make any recommendation?
CHAIRMAN: I will ask Mr West to respond, but I think that the delegation of the United Kingdom did not make any comment about the problem of the dates.
E.M. WEST (Representative of the Director-General): The short answer is no. I think I am right in saying that the question was raised in a discussion on another item of the World Health Assembly's Agenda and the answer was given as December 1992. There was no further discussion. When the item of ICN was discussed, there was no mention of the date and the recommendations.
It was the World Health Assembly, which is equivalent to our Conference.
I have noted carefully the comments of all delegations, and I have noted also what the Chairman has said.
LE PRESIDENT: Nous avons fait le tour du sujet. Je ne dis pas que nous l'avons épuisé, puisque c'est l’occasion de le relancer dans les plus brefs délais.
Je voudrais remercier Monsieur West et Monsieur Dutia qui a donné une réponse tout à fait exhaustive et complète et je crois que l’excellent rapport dont nous disposerons reflétera l’ensemble des points de vue et des discussions et constituera pour tous les pays un nouveau départ, peut-être une accélération de vitesse de la préparation de la prochaine Conférence.
S'il n'y a pas d'autres remarques je déclare clos le point 14 de l'ordre du jour.
Je crois que certains pays, dont les pays africains, doivent participer à une réunion. Je leur donnerai la priorité pour la discussion. Je voudrais que nous poursuivions nos travaux. Il est impossible de ne pas le faire parce que nous avons un programme du Conseil particulièrement chargé, avec l'examen des points 7, 8, 9 et 10, tout au moins en partie.
B.P. DUTIA (Assistant Director-General, Economic and Social Policy Department): It is a pleasure for me to introduce agenda item 7, "Plan of Action for People's Participation in Rural Development", which is contained in document CL 99/15.
The issue of people's participation is not new to FAO. More than 30 years ago FAO established a participatory programme, the Freedom from Hunger Campaign-Action for Development, and many of FAO's technical divisions have subsequently initiated actions which aim at involving the intended beneficiaires in project work. The World Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development emphasized the importance of people's participation for achieving sustainable development and stimulated a number of participatory FAO programmes, such as the programme, People's Participation in Agricultural and Rural Development through the Promotion of Self-Help Organizations (PPP), Community Action for Disadvantaged Rural Women (CADRW), Forestry for Local Community Development Programmes (FLCDP), The Forests, Trees and People Programme (FTPP) and the Programme for Small-scale and Artisanal Fishermen.
The present Plan has been prepared at the request of Member Governments at the Committee on Agriculture and the Council, as well as the Rome-based group of International NGOs.
The overall aim of the Plan is the achievement of sustainable rural development with equity. The active participation of rural people, including disadvantaged groups acting through voluntary, self-reliant organizations of their own choice is seen as the primary means for mobilizing rural communities to achieve these ends. Without such participation rural development initiatives are unlikely to be sustainable in the long run and rural inequities are unlikely to be redressed.
In order to achieve rural development with equity through people's participation the present Plan before the Council proposes that action be taken in the following seven areas:
(1) promotion of greater public awareness of the role of people's participation and people's organizations in agricultural and rural development;
(2) creation of a favourable legal and policy framework for people's participation;
(3) strengthening internal capacities of the rural people's organizations at local and national levels;
(4) decentralization of government decision-making;
(5) Promotion of increased dialogue and technical collaboration between governments, development agencies and people's organizations;
(6) introduction of new operational procedures and methods to facilitate wider participation; and lastly,
(7) monitoring and evaluation of people's participation.
Action proposed in each of these seven areas is outlined in Section II of the document. Each section begins with a summary description of central issues and problems followed by specific recommendations. The recommendations are addressed to Member Governments and to FAO; to Member Governments because they have the primary responsibility for implementing the policies, programmes and activities advocated in the Plan, and to FAO because FAO can and will need to play an important role in the implementation of the Plan of Action. The Plan envisages FAO acting as a catalyst and an advocate to encourage and assist governments and people's organizations in promoting participatory activities. In this context FAO can help through its own Regular Programme, using the traditional instruments of development intervention, i.e., information gathering, analysis and dissemination, training, institution building and exchange of experience, as well as policy advice.
Equally important is FAO's technical assistance, supported by extra-budgetary resources, to government programmes for the implementation of the Plan of Action. FAO's technical assistance would aim not only at promoting people's organizations as essential instruments for promoting participatory activities, but also at introducing well-defined components for promoting people's participation in wider development projects in the field of agriculture, fisheries and forestry.
I would like to conclude by stressing that, although the actions envisaged in the Plan of Action are addressed to member countries that wish to promote people's participation, their implementation crucially depends also on the availability of external funds for development. The very restricted resource position of many developing countries, as well as their high external indebtedness, are likely to hinder progress in promoting a people's participatory development process. In this context the international community can make a critically important contribution by providing external resources in support of the implementation of the Plan.
The Council may wish to consider the proposed Plan of Action for People's Participation for adoption as well as endorsement for submission to the Twenty-sixth Session of the FAO Conference in November 1991.
Amin ABDEL HALEK (Liban) (langue orlginale araЪe): Je voudrais tout d'abord remercier M. Dutia pour ses informations fort intéressantes et succinctes qu'il nous a présentées sur le document que nous allons examiner, et saisis cette occasion pour le remercier également pour toutes les informations contenues dans les autres documents qui, même s'ils sont longs, restent très utiles.
Après avoir examiné le document ayant trait au Plan d'action sur la participation populaire, nous ne pouvons que confirmer l’importance de ce plan, surtout pour aider les communautés rurales et les groupes désavantages. La délégation libanaise appuie l’action de la FAO dans ce domaine et a le plaisir d'apprendre que la FAO a mis en oeuvre depuis Janvier 1991, 145 projets de développement rural dont le coût atteint 350 millions de dollars et que la FAO est en train de mettre en oeuvre 40 nouveaux projets dont le coût atteindra environ 250 millions de dollars.
Le soutien technique présenté par la FAO pour les travaux de développement rural qui passe par la participation est l'un des moyens les plus réussis. En fait, cela ne nous surprend pas car la FAO jouit d'une grande expérience dans ce domaine. Nous appuyons la stratégie du Plan d'action contenue dans le document, à savoir notamment créer une prise de conscience pour apprécier l’utilité de la participation populaire dans les actions de développement, trouver l’environnement juridique et politique adéquat pour encourager cette participation ainsi que les initiatives collectives et la mise en oeuvre de la décentralisation dans la prise de décision gouvernementale, et avoir plus de dialogue et de coopération technique entre les gouvernements, les agences de développement et les organisations populaires.
La délégation du Liban ne peut qu'appuyer les propositions de travail contenues dans le document... - J'ai dit “la délégation du Liban ne peut qu'appuyer les propositions de travail contenues dans le document" - ...Ma délégation voudrait que les décisions ayant trait à ce plan et qui seront prises au cours de cette session du Conseil soient soumises à la Conférence générale lors de sa prochaine session qui aura lieu en novembre 1991.
LE PRESIDENT: Je remercie le Représentant du Liban de son intervention très positive et je crois avoir parfaitement compris la portée de l'appui qu'il apporte au plan tel qu'il a été présenté par la FAO.
Gamal Mòћamed AHMED (Sudan) (Original language Arabic): Thank you Mr Chairman. I shall be brief as there is a long list of speakers. I should like to begin by thanking Mr Dutia for his very clear introduction to this extremely important document. I wish to compliment the Secretariat on this document, a well balanced, clear document. The contents of this document have come at a very good time because this enables us to ensure the participation of rural people. This is a very important aspect which has to
be acknowledged, not only within the context of development but also when decisions have to be taken affecting small rural communities where there is little support.
We agree with the contents of this document and we wish also to express our support for the Plan of Action concerning the effective participation of people in rural development and decision taking. However, this strategy should depend on or be introduced by intensive efforts to increase the general awareness of the public at large. They should be led to understand their interests and this depends on governmental assistance to ensure that they are aware and they must prepare the people for this. We also need the necessary political environment to ensure that this is favourable for the development of rural communities' skills and availability to absorb this concept of people's participation and development. As regards the principle, the principle of people's participation is the sole way in which developing peoples can move forward as regards environmental projects and sustainable development projects. When it comes to the implementation of this Plan of Action it is essential that extra-budgetary resources be made available, because most of the developing countries are unable on their own to shoulder the burden of development and assure the participation of rural communities, because these communities have the tremendous burden of foreign debt and that is why we would like to make an appeal to donor countries and international organizations, and ask them to support this Plan of Action. We very much hope that the political environment will also be improved as regards international trade, in an effort to ensure that an adequate setting is created for the implementation of this Plan.
Finally, we would like to ask the Council to give Its endorsement to the Plan of Action, to adopt it and bring it to the attention of the Conference this year.
LE PRESIDENT: Je viens de recevoir du délégué du Ghana un petit mot disant qu'il participe à une réunion du Groupe africain et que s'il n'est pas présent le texte de son intervention pourrait être repris dans le verbatim, De même, le délégué du Kenya souhaite déposer le texte de son intervention,
Il va de soi que si un délégué desire déposer le texte de son intervention, ce texte sera repris dans le verbatim de la séance.
Gonzalo BUIA HOYOS (Colombia): La lecture de este documento nos ha impresionado un poco por sus caracterlsticas aparentes o reales, de cierta orientación subversiva y algunos conceptos tan revolucionarios que tocan el límite de peligrosos.
Ayer al concluir el Tema 5, el Dr. Dutia dijo que se sentia muy feliz porque no tenía ninguna pregunta que responded Los representantes de Colombia, tememos que hoy el Doctor Dutia no se sentirá en esa misma cómoda posición; pero hemos reconocido siempre que el Doctor Dutia es uno de los funcionarios más competentes de nuestra Organización. Por eso estamos seguros de que va a responder muy bien a todas las 29 preguntas que vamos a hacer.
Pregunta 1: ¿Por qué aparece este tema en nuestroprograma?
Dos: ¿Cómo esta idea que pareció cobrar fuerza en la Conferencia sobre Reforma Agraria y Desarrollo Rural celebrada en el lejano 1969, hace 22 años, durmió tanto tiempo hasta reaparecer en los temas del COAG y del Consejo en 1989?
Tres: ¿Es acaso este documento restos colgantes de la Campaña Mundial contra el Hambre/Acción Pro Desarrollo que existió hace 30 años?
Cuatro: ¿O apenas son estos conceptos parte de los resultados de la Quinta Conferencia CMCH/AD, que tuvo lugar en 1971, hace 20 años?
Cinco: Cuando el GOAG y el Consejo, párrafo 17, recomendaron que el desarrollo participativo se incorporara a todas las politicas y programas de la FAO, ¿la Secretaria interpretó esa recomendación independientemente de la necesidad de preservar la soberania de los Gobiernos?
Seis: A la luz de los párrafos 3 y 6, según los cuales cito: la población debe tomar iniciativas y medidas de acción y las ONG deben apoyar a los grupos populares para la formulaeión de proyectos, ¿esto quiere decir que la FAO estará dispuesta a recibir y tramitar esa clase de proyectos sin que sean sometidos a los conductos regulares de los Gobiernos?
Siete: En el párrafo seis se dice que algunas ONG se basan en sus propios miembros y son responsables ante las asociaciones locales que las establecen, pero que la mayor ia de esas ONG no son responsables ni ante sus miembros ni ante las asociaciones, entonces, ¿ante quién son responsables?
Ocho: ¿Ante la FAO?
Nueve: ¿Ha sido consciente la Secretaria de que se atenta contra el buen nombre y la integridad política deaquellosgobiernos a los cuales se les indica al final del párrafo 5 de "patrocinar y controlar organizaciones ineficaces y poco democráticas"?
Diez: ¿A qué gobiernos se refiere ese párrafo 5?
Once: ¿Está el Gobierno de Colombia incluido entre éstos?
Doce: ¿Puede la FAO, y con qué elementos juzgar si el marco jurídico y politico existente en cualquier pais favorece o desalienta las iniciativas colectivas, como dice el apartado b) del párrafo 19?
Trece: Según la opinión de la FAO, ¿Cómo es, qué garantias o desventajas, ofrece el marco jurídico y político de Colombia para favorecer o desalentar esas iniciativas?
Los siete ámbitos citados en el párrafo 21, todos contienen elementos de contenido muy delicado y sensible.
Pregunta catorce: ¿Considera la FAO que corresponde a una Organización Internacional aconsejar a los gobiernos que adquieran una mayor conciencia pública acerca del papel de la participación popular?
Quince: ¿Cómo podrá la FAO asistir a los gobiernos a crear un marco politico y juridico favorable a la participación popular?
Dieciseis: ¿Ha ya elaborado la FAO algún PCT destinado a asistir a algún gobierno para que "descentralice su adopción de decisiones"?
Diecisiete: ¿Considera la FAO que es adecuado sugerir a los gobiernos que "establezcan politicas y reglamentos gubernamentales claros para la capacitación de los funcionarios de gobiernos sobre la participación popular"?
Dieciocho: ¿Ha sopesado la FAO la responsabilidad que le corresponde al afirmar, como dice el párrafo 27, que "en muchos países existen restricciones de carácter jurídico y administrativo que limitan la libre asociación de la población rural"?
Diecinueve: ¿No ha considerado la FAO que afirmaciones semejantes son intromisiones indebidas en la soberania, en los regímenes politicos y administrativos de los gobiernos?
Veinte: ¿en qué puede basarse la FAO para pedir a los gobiernos que "introduzcan y hagan cumplir políticas y reformas legales y estructurales"?
Veintiuno: ¿Tiene la FAO poder coercitivo para hacer semejantes planteamientos?
Veintidós: ¿Cómo piensa la FAO "alentar y ayudar a los gobiernos a eliminar las barreras jurídicas que obstaculizan la libre asociación de la población rural en organizaciones de su elección", como dice increíblemente el párrafo 31, i)?
Veintitrés: ¿No considera la FAO que es por lo menos irrespetuoso para los gobiernos lo que dice el punto i) del párrafo 34 sobre transformación de las organizaciones populares controladas y financiadas por los gobiernos en organizaciones autónomas gobernadas por sus miembros?
Veinticuatro: ¿Cómo puede la FAO juzgar cuáles son las "organizaciones voluntarias y democráticas" de que habla el párrafo 50?
Veinticinco: La "voluntad politica" de que trata el párrafo 50 ¿se refiere a la voluntad de los gobiernos de países en desarrollo o a la voluntad politica de los estados industrializados que son los únicos que disponen de los recursos adecuados de que habla ese mismo párrafo 50?
Hemos llegado a la pregunta 25. Habíamos anunciado 29, menos 25 quedan 4.
Pero antes de hacer esas cuatro preguntas vamos a hacer algunas consideraciones politicas de fondo.
El Gobierno de Colombia es partldario decidido de toda forma de asociación que garantice la participación popular, que fortalezca la capacidad de los pequeños y medianos campesinos para tener acceso a la tierra, al crédito, a los servicios, al mejoramiento de sus condiciones de vida. Estimulamos, particularmente, la formación de cooperativas, de Organizaciones no gubernamentales, de asociaciones en general, pero todo ello dentro del marco de la legalidad, con pleno respeto por el derecho de la población que a su vez debe actuar dentro de los cauces estatales del orden, del respeto y de la libertad. Para cumplir esa política nuestra, ciertamente no necesitamos de textos como éste que, por ejemplo, en el párrafo 51 llega al atrevimiento insostenible de afirmar que "los gobiernos deben respetar los programas sugeridos por cada uno de los siete ámbitos del Plan de Acción”.
En Colombia tenemos nuestros propios ámbitos de acción y no aceptamos lecciones de democracia ni impulsos para transformaciones jurídicas, que las realizamos con base en nuestras propias convicciones.
Después de lo que he mo s dicho en esta declaración, esperamos que estará bien claro que este propuesto Plan de Acción no tiene ninguna utilidad para todos aquellos gobiernos que no se sientan victimas de los calificativos que aquí se consignan.
En todas sus actividades, la FAO debe respetar la soberania de los gobiernos y los regímenes politicos de cada Estado.
Pregunta veintiseis: ¿Este documento fue preparado por la FAO o por cuál sindicato?
Veintisiete: ¿Este texto fue sometido a alguna revisión antes, por un Comité o algún grupo de trabajo o se nos lanza así desprevenida e impunemente?
Veintiocho: Como es posible que todo un Plan de Acción, como se llama éste, no haya pasado por ninguno de los Comités Técnicos del Consejo antes de ser presentado a nosotros? Esta actitud no tiene antecedentes.
Es cierto que el COAG recomendó que este Plan se presentara al Consejo pero eso no quiere decir que el COAG, órgano subalterno, haya dado carta blanca a la Secretaria para elaborar semejante texto.
Ahora si, llegamos a la pregunta veintinueve, la pregunta del millón de dólares: ¿Acaso la FAO en su funcionamiento dispone de una propia estructura política, juridica y administrativa, dentro de la cual todo el personal profesional y de servicios generales se siente alentado para crear asociaciones de participación popular, libertinas y emprendedoras, que conciban y ejecuten iniciativas por encima del orden que debe garantizar la Administración?
Lo dudamos, porque sabemos que la FAO tiene una Administración seria y eficaz y que todo el personal de la FAO, a través de asociaciones democráticas, ofrece constructivamente su apoyo a la Administración.
Otra pregunta: ¿La FAO en estas actividades tiene alguna relación con la OIT?
Sr. Presidente, con toda razón veo que usted empieza a preocuparse. Porque habrá notado que ya he empezado la segunda serie de otras 29 preguntas que tengo. Pero, aunque sé, Sr. Presidente, que Ud. y los Miembros del Consejo son indulgentes, voy a concluir, pidiendo enfáticamente que antes de presentar este documento a la Conferencia este texto debe ser sometido a una profunda y seria revisión, a una limpieza total, para eliminar todos los aspavientos demagógicos que contiene y encuadrar este tema dentro del marco adecuado de una organización técnica como la FAO, cuyos objetivos se limitan a los aspectos de la agricultura y de la alimentación, objetivos que abarcan los campos, las tierras, los ríos, las aguas, los montes, pero no las plazas públicas donde suelen hacerse las manifestaciones de agitación popular.
EL PRESIDENTE: Pienso que tenemos no solamente 29 cuestiones, sino treinta cuestiones. Seguramente el Sr. Dutia dará la contestación que Ud. quiere.
Vishnu BHAGWAN (India): We have had a lively exposition from the delegate of Colombia. He knows so much, I think newcomers like me have to learn a lot from him. However, I fully agree with his comments about the sovereignty of states and feel this paper assumes that. There is a realization the world over, not only in the developed countries, but in the developing world, that people's participation is the key to development with equity. This is what the paper emphasizes.
My delegation welcomes the presentation of this comprehensive document containing proposals for the Plan of Action or People's Participation in Rural Development. My delegation has read this document with interest. It contains some new ideas, some old ones and some very useful ones. We appreciate the role that FAO has been playing in promoting participation by rural people in its programmes and projects. However, as pointed out in paragraph 16, FAO field activities have had a limited effect, and the required breakthrough has yet to be achieved as the participatory approaches to rural development are not always adopted in many countries.
Without getting mixed up with the question of sovereignty, it is a fact that many countries have tried to adopt this participatory approach. However, in the majority this has not succeeded, or has succeeded only to a limited extent. This happens because the majority of rural people are not involved in the design, implementation and monitoring of development activities directly concerning them. That is the key reason why the programme did not succeed to the desired extent.
As I said earlier, the importance and value of people's participation in rural development has been well recognized. The experience of the top-down approach has not shown the desired results. On the other hand, wherever rural development programmes - or any other development programmes for that matter - have been conceived, designed and implemented by the people themselves, they have been successful as they have met the needs and aspirations of the people concerned.
My delegation fully agrees with the conditions identified in the document for the successful operation of people's participation in rural development programmes, as mentioned in paragraph 19. In our view, the objective of sustainable development with equity should be given top priority in any programme of development, including rural development.
In India, the need for promoting people's participation and of the people's organizations to secure their participation in planning and the implementation of programmes for development has been emphasized in each successive five-year plan since Independence.
Our Constitution enshrines the principle of democratic decentralization and “Panchayati Raj" to ensure participation of people and to enable them to decide formulation and implementation of programmes for their benefit. Recently the responsibility of implementing the rural employment programme under the Jawahar Rojgar Yojuna was entrusted to the local panchayats – if I dare say so, with great success. The Central Department of Rural Development in India also has registered a society known as the Council for Advancement of People's Action and Rural Technology, known as CAPA, to encourage, promote and assist voluntary action for the enhancement of rural prosperity. This society operates through voluntary agencies. It has an annual budget of Rs. 300 million and has sanctioned about 5 000 projects to 2 520 voluntary organizations involving an amount of Rs. 970 million, since its inception in 1986. The sanctioned projects are in various categories such as housing, sanitation, health care, rural energy, agricultural engineering, water management, social forestry, rural transport, post-harvest technology, etc.
Our experience has been very positive and we would like to extend it as widely as possible to all areas of development. We endorse the proposed plan of action in paragraph 21 and the requisite action by Member Governments and the FAO. We are hopeful that these proposals will be followed up vigorously, and that the necessary resources will be found.
Aguinaldo LISBOA RAMOS (Cap-Vert): Nous voudrions tout d'abord remercier Monsieur Dutia de la présentation très claire et précise qu'il a faite ainsi que vous-même, Monsieur le Président, pour la qualité du document et pour nous donner encore une fois la parole.
Ne serait-ce que modestement, nous souhaitons participer au débat de ce point. Nous partageons les points de vue favorables des orateurs qui nous ont precedes et nous pensons que, dans l’élaboration du document CL 99/15, bonne note a été prise des préoccupations ressenties et des analyses effectuées depuis longtemps par la communauté internationale, particulièrement dans les pays en développement.
Les lignes de force du développement rural confirment que la solidarité traditionnelle et l'aide réciproque au sein de la vie rurale, quand elles sont considérées à leur juste valeur, constituent un facteur important de développement.
Nous sommes également de l’avis que les manifestations associatives rurales constatées jusqu'à présent résultent très souvent de la combinaison de facteurs conjoncturels et structurels. Elles résultent surtout du besoin des populations, face à l’insuffisance de l’action de l’administration publique.
C'est dans ce contexte que la participation populaire au Cap-Vert s'est révélée un important facteur de développement. Dans la pratique, à cause de contraintes propres à l’insularité, au climat et à l'histoire, un mouvement de participation spontanée s'est développé dans les zones rurales. Il s'est élargi à des secteurs tels que l’habitat, l’agriculture, le mutualisme financier, la construction d'écoles et de centres sportifs, les transports ruraux, l'assainissement, les coopératives de consommation, le reboisement et la pêche.
Conscient de ce dynamisme, le gouvernement a essayé, dans son programme, de créer un cadre potentiel de la participation populaire envisageant l’amélioration des conditions de vie. L'un de ses objectifs est la decentralisation administrative et politique visant l'éloignement du spectre de l'état providence qui donne, organise et contrôle tout. Nous pensons que, dans ce secteur, l'état ne doit pas être interventionniste. Cependant, nous estimons qu'il doit jouer un rôle promoteur et de facilitation.
Monsieur le Président, permettez-nous encore d'appeler votre attention sur le fait que selon notre point de vue, le noyau de la participation populaire dans le développement rural, au mo ins en ce qui concerne le Cap-Vert, est la famille. Elle constitue, à nos yeux, la cellule économique de base de la société cap-verdienne. En effet, elle est caractérisée par des liens de solidarité économique difficilement destructibles; elle a une organisation interne de travail avec une rationalité économique parfaitement identifiable et c'est le point de départ pour arriver, sur la base de relations familiales élargies dues à des liens de parenté et autres, à des formes supérieures d'organisation et de participation comme les coopératives familiales, les sociétés agricoles de groupe ou les sociétés familiales.
La société rurale a réussi effectivement à joindre la solidarité sociale à la solidarité dictée par des intérêts économiques, devenant ainsi un élément stratégique de soutien à la participation populaire et au développement rural.
En donnant notre appui à ce plan, nous voudrions dire pour terminer que nous sommes prêts, avec l’expérience accumulée dans ce secteur, à collaborer avec la FAO, et en particulier avec sa division des ressources humaines, des institutions et de la réforme agraire, dans la mesure où elle l'estime utile et nécessaire.
Sra. Ana Maria NAVARRO ARBUE (Cuba): La Delegación de Cuba ha leído con detenimiento el documento CL 99/15, Plan de Acción sobre Participación Popular en el Desarrollo Rural, y se dispone preliminarmente a expresar algunas consideraciones sobre el mismo.
Es indudable la importancia que este tema puede tener en las actuales deliberaciones del 99º Consejo, por lo que agradecemos el esfuerzo de la FAO por retomar el tema de la participación popular en el desarrollo rural de nuestros países, pues ello constituye un derecho humano fundamental y una condíción indispensable para el desarrollo social y económico de cualquier nación, como se expresó por los Estados Miembros, durante la Conferencia Mundial sobre Reforma Agraria y Desarrollo Rural.
No todos los paìses tienen las mismas condiciones económicas y necesidades. Opinamos que la mayoría, sobre todo los que pertenecemos al grupo de países en vías de desarrollo, estamos en una búsqueda continua para mejorar las condiciones de vida de nuestros pueblos. Todos, de una forma u otra, enfrascados en encontràr vías y soluciones para la diversidad de problemas y realidades. Es por ello que, de concebirse un futuro Plan de Acción para la participación popular, deberia ser éste un instrumento orientador que sugiera acción en el piano nacional e internacional, que mueva a la FAO a jugar un importante papel en su capacidad de brindar asistencia técnica y cooperaclón a los Gobiernos que así lo soliciten.
Sin embargo, y con todos los respetos que me merece la Secretaría de la FAO, mi delegación opina que el texto actual de este documento debe ser mejoraάo para que alcance lo que entre líneas quiere y necesita la Organización, para fortalecer a nivel nacional e institucional esta problemática. Personalmente, tengo diversos criterios sobre algunos párrafos que se refieren a la falta de interés de los gobiernos con relación a la partícipación popular, llegándose a decir incluso que algunas organizaciones populares controladas o patrocinadas por los.gobiernos son a menudo poco democráticas. En otro párrafo plantea que son manipuladas. Creo que este relato no es constructivo. y puede, por lo tanto, obviarse.
Mi delegación reitera con preocupación que ve serios problemas en el actual texto de este documento y, como dijera el distinguido representante de Colombia, primero nos sorprendió que se sacara a colación el tema en este Consejo, lo cual nos parece bueno y no estamos en contra, pues el tema nos interesa muchisimo; y, segundo, aún con más preocupación hemos constatado que algunos párrafos no tienen el leriguaje habitual de la FAO. La FAO se caracteriza por un lenguaje profesional cuidadoso, propio de un Organismo del sistema de las Naciones Unidas.
No pretendo ir párrafo por párrafo, pues eso extenderia mucho mi intervención, pero creo que, más que narrar posibles experiencias negativas vividas u oidas por los ejecutores de este documento sobre las relaciones gobiernos-organizaciones populares, las tesis de la descentralización en la adopción de decisiones sobre las eliminaciones de barreras juridicas, etc., el Plan de Acción deberia constituir una herramienta viable para que todos los Estados Miembros puedan hacer todos los esfuerzos posibles de acuerdo a sus realidades nacionales.
Creemos que con propuestas imperativas para la acción de las autoridades nacionales no se logrará nada. Mucћos gobiernos se sentirán lesionados en su soberania, pero otros, aunque estén en el camino correcto acerca de la participación popular, también verian con agrado perfilar y fortalecer sus conceptos para hacerlos más dinároicos y más viables. Es por ello que, desde el punto de vista constructivo, solicitamos se reformulen algunas
propuestas de acción, bien sea en lo tocante a los gobiernos o a las de la FAO, y se ponderen muchos conceptos que se vierten en el documento en cuanto a la capacidad y la eficiencia de los gobiernos, seguros de que, formulando sugerencias constructivas y positivas, los gobiernos apoyarán con creces este importante Plan y los esfuerzos se redoblarían en este sentido.
A Cuba le interesa muchísimo este tema por su importancia y por nuestra propia experiencia, pues contamos con diversas organizaciones no gubernamentales que tienen incidencia en el desarrollo rural del país, como son las cooperativas de producción agropecuaria, hoy con formas superiores de producción: la Asociación Nacional de Agricultores Pequeños, la Federación de Mujeres Cubanas y otras. Opinamos que hemos adoptado en el piano nacional un modesto pero correcto enfoque de participación popular a lo largo de treinta años, que se ha enrlquecido de acuerdo a nuestras propias realidades nacionales. No creo oportuno extenderme en esta experiencia, pues mi interés era sólo reiterar que estamos en el grupo de países que han contado para ello con una sostenida voluntad politica definida, que es la de insertar esta participación popular dentro de la acción integral del país por un desarrollo económico, politico y social sostenible y equitativo, donde el pueblo es el principal actor y gestor de su propio futuro.
Mi delegación, finalmente, quisiera expresar su apoyo a este Plan de Acción, por la importancia que el mismo prevé en el desarrollo rural de nuestros países, esperando que nuestras consideraciones y preocupaciones sean recogidas. Confiamos una vez más en la capacidad de la FAO para enmendar estos aspectos antes mencionados.
Ms. Charlotte SEYMOUR-SMITH (United Kingdom): My delegation welcomes the document before us and likewise the increased awareness within FAO of the need for fuller participation of local people in rural development.
The aims and aspirations of this Plan of Action are laudable. We would like to ask, however, what are the specific and workable mechanisms which will ensure that these aims are translated into reality at a local level? We are concerned that the action points and specific objectives which the document sets out for FAO and for national governments may not find their counterparts at grass-roots level.
One of the points we would like to stress is the need to recognize the specific problems faced by women in many parts of the world in achieving full and effective participation. We find that paragraph 29 of this document mentions the need to ensure the integration of women, but the document does not present workable strategies which address the undoubted complexities of such a policy on the ground.
The participation of local people in rural development decision-making poses a major challenge, in particular to government bureaucracies. Increased participation means that the views of local people and their own
technical knowledge will have to be listened to and incorporated in government action. This means both greater farmer participation in research activities and greater recognition by technical staff in ministries of the validity of local viewpoints. We feel that the Plan of Action would do well to address this vital issue.
Finally, we would like to raise another issue touched on in paragraph 5, but which in our view deserves fuller consideration. How does FAO propose to deal with the problem of local power structures which may operate in local communities and can exclude and marginalize the very disadvantaged groups which this document identifies as the key participants in this Plan of Action?
Within the document, participation is conceived of as essentially involving organizations. There is the assumption that these are effective representatives of rural populations. Unfortunately, this is often far from true. Some of these organizations have been established as the extension of central government ones and, as a result, are not "bottom up" institutions. Many are dominated by local prominent interests, whilst others are vehicles for political objectives. All of these characteristics may serve to squeeze out the disadvantaged and vulnerable people that the FAO initiative is seeking to encourage. Unless attention is paid to ensuring that the initiative reaches the grass roots, we cannot be sure that its good intentions will work.
Vanrob ISARANKURA (Thailand): Having heard the question from Ambassador Bula Hoyos to Mr Dutia, I feel that there is no room for my delegation to add a question. Therefore, my delegation will not try to ask any questions, but to offer our short comments as follows.
First, we fully agree that the promotion of people's participation in rural development can only be operationalized if three conditions as mentioned in paragraph 19 are met, especially the third condition which said, "that the self-management capacities of rural people's organizations are sufficient to sustain such initiatives." Therefore, we are of the opinion that the Plan of Action (c) that is strengthening internal capacities of the rural people's organizations at local and national levels, should be the first priority of the FAO's action in this matter, and we strongly support the proposals for Action for FAO as contained in paragraph 35.
Secondly, we concur with the view expressed in the last sentence of paragraph 55. It said, "Necessary adjustments in the area of international trade, external debt and the flow of financial resources can also facilitate the generation of the will and commitment for achieving the objectives of the plan."
In conclusion, my delegation has no difficulty endorsing the Plan of Action for People's Participation as contained in this document before us now for submission to the next Conference.
Lars Peter HERTELIUS (Sweden): I have the honour to speak on behalf of the four Nordic countries: Denmark, Finland, Norway and Sweden.
FAO has now presented a Plan of Action on People's Participation as asked for during COAG's 1989 meeting and the 95th session of the FAO Council, also in 1989. The document presented to us is of high quality and very ambitious. Our delegations find that the Plan has many merits but are not yet ready to go into details. I should, however, like to make the following comments on people's participation in general.
The 1980s have been considered by many analysts as a lost decade for development, and rural development in particular. Economic recession and external debt forced developing countries to restrict spending on rural development and social sectors, and to implement severe programmes of structural adjustment.
Before the emergency of the debt crisis, however, considerable attention had been paid by national and international development agencies to people's participation as a key concept in development efforts.
Several innovative national and international programmes and projects for developing methods and procedures for people's participation in development were initiated from, and even before, the beginning of the 1980s.
Despite the adverse economic and political conjunctures prevailing during the 1980s, many of these programmes succeeded in developing new methods and made important practical experiences in the field of popular participation.
From the beginning of the 1990s people's participation is becoming prominent on the development agenda once more. The most important factor behind this trend is the dramatic spread of democracy in Europe and Latin America, and its repercussions in Africa and Asia. Rhetoric has often been far ahead of practice on the issue of people's participation. Today, however, a firmer commitment to democracy by many governments and the methodological development achieved in the field of people's participation may be strong enough to allow for practical progress.
Most of the experiences with people's participation to date have been made in small-scale and/or NGO setting, and this is still extremely important. But people's participation should be viewed as a general concern for all types of projects and all sectors of development activities. People's participation in development work is rather an attitude than a budget line. Today's challenge, in addition to multiplying small-scale projects, consists of scaling-up and implementing people's participation in large-scale project setting and spreading it to new sectors of development activities. There are very few examples of large-scale participatory projects, and scaling-up people's participation requires continued trial and method development efforts.
It has become increasingly evident during recent years that people's participation is a fundamental prerequisite for achieving successful sustainable agriculture development and national resource management. In these areas consultations with, or decision-making by, locally affected groups should be mandatory of a routine procedure. Especially in this context, social and cultural sustainability is important.
There is a general agreement that rural development and people's participation should be focused on the broad category of the rural poor. It is necessary to stress, however, that within this category, the women as a proportion of the rural labour are thus of utmost importance when it comes to people's participation and generally, in planning and implementation of rural development projects.
People's participation may require additional time or finances at the beginning of the project cycle, or redistribution of a given amount of resources. Investing in participatory planning and preparation in the beginning of the project cycle may save resources later on in the cycle. Evidence from participatory projects (e.g., World Bank evaluations and assessments: FAO's people's participation programme) tend to demonstrate that participatory approaches increase project sustainability and long-term cost effectiveness. These approaches require, however, flexibility and patience (spending smaller amounts over longer time periods) on the part of development agencies.
It should be remembered that people's participation is not just a means to increase project cost effectiveness and sustainability. People's participation should be viewed as an end for any development endeavour. Democratic and equitable development presupposes empowerment of oppressed and disadvantages groups of people, for example increasing their control over resources and decisions affecting their lives.
Finally, Mr Chairman, a question: What methods will FAO use to follow up this Action Plan for People's Participation, now when everybody is convinced that people's participation is absolutely necessary for successful project implementation and in fact also is a goal as such?
Tadeusz HDNEK (Poland): The Polish delegation recognizes the Plan of Action for People's Participation in Rural Development as a very promising programme of FAO activity. It is promising because knowing of the highly stimulating role of the human factor, this kind of activity could be very important for achieving sustainable rural development, I think a good concept for the end of the twentieth century. The Plan of Action for People's Participation seems to be a very relevant concept both for rural areas in developed as well as developing countries. For developing countries, it could be the key factor of utilization of numerous human factors as a stimulus to agriculture development. For developed countries, it could also be useful in searching for ways of rural area renaissance, a renaissance which recently took place. It could be a way on which many rural area dwellers and farmers would find a deeper sense of existence in local rural communities. The Polish delegation fully supports the concept of strategy and the Plan of Action for People's Participation in Rural Development.
On the basis of the excellently prepared document and very good presentation by Mr Dutia, I would like to underline three remarks. First, the Plan of Action should take into consideration the special group of rural people well-known as exurbanites - people engaging in non-farming activities but living in a rural area; people staying in a rural area on week-ends, holidays; in general, city dwellers who migrated to a rural
area. According to sociological research, those people used to be highly devoted partisans of the new spots where they stay at present, and they could be very efficient catalytic agents of development of the institutional infrastructure which is proposed by the Plan of Action.
Second, perhaps the concept of sustained rural development should utilize the pattern of plural activity as a rural and agricultural development option. Pluriactivity in a broad sense means the mixture of agricultural and non-agricultural utilization of rural resources. In that field those are valuable results which strongly argue for introduction of the option of pluriactivity in the process of conceptualization of the Plan of Action for People's Participation in Rural Development.
Thirdly, we also realize that the Plan of Action could be treated as a key factor of regional approach to rural and agricultural development, a concept elaborated sometime ago by FAO with very promising results.
Poland could be a very positive case of that programme because, due to regional approach, we have elaborated efficient regional agricultural policies.
The Polish delegation is of the opinion that plans of action need money and organizational efforts in order to reach a goal defined as a sustainable rural development. However, for us the key factor of success is the engagement of local people. A good way to create an appetite by local people for a plan of action is to show them in very active form, so-called blueprints of actions, organizations, and expected results therefrom.
Cho BONG-HWAN (Korea, Republic of): First of all, my delegation would like to thank the Secretariat for undertaking the study and making available to us the excellent document CL 99/15.
I also thank Mr Dutia for his clear presentation on the item under discussion.
Recently the people's participation issue has been discussed in many agricultural fora and other occasions. Especially, women's participation in agricultural development, including fisheries and forestry activities, has been stressed.
Under this important item of people's participation, I will make a few comments.
Firstly, my delegation supports the categorization of the seven areas in paragraph 21 where action should be taken in order to achieve the goal of sustainable rural development with equity through people's participation.
Especially, I would like to emphasize the first area as a basic point, the promotion of greater public awareness. Even though it takes quite a long time to enhance public awareness and to produce visual achievement from the people's participation, my delegation believes that the sincere recognition toward people's participation is playing a crucial role in reaching the goal.
Secondly, as indicated in the document, in many actual cases the "top-down" approach has been taken. Also, it is emphasized that the “bottom-up” approach will produce effective results in the long run. My delegation would also like to stress the wide adoption of the “bottom-up” approach for information exchanges and necessary dialogues, as well as rural organization building.
Furthermore, I would like to draw your attention to the "horizontal dialogue" approach, the enhancement of communication between rural people themselves. For the rural people the situation of horizontal dialogue and contact remains as one of the weak points with which they are confronted.
They also do not have the proper channel to develop their ideas and requests on the policies and programmes. Therefore, as a preliminary condition to achieve the "bottom-up" opinion flow, we believe the horizontal communication is an essential point.
Concerning decentralization of government decision-making, I support the proposals in paragraphs 38 and 39. Additionally, I would like to point out the important factors that the rural people should be included in the initial stage of the agricultural development policies and programmes as widely and fully as possible. More effort should be given to institutional building for rural people's participation in the planning stage of the policy procedure. An effort to take the right direction in policy planning can greatly assist in implementing the policy properly toward the final goal.
For monitoring and evaluation of people's participation my delegation shares the view of paragraph 47 that reliable information is strongly needed for rural development procedure.
Also, for information and statistics on women's activities my delegation would like to recall the 1990 CFS meeting and the last COAG meeting. In those meetings it was noted that an inter-agency Consultation on Statistics and Data Base on Gender in Agriculture and Rural Development was planned for September 1990, which was somewhat delayed until the end of 1990. My delegation emphasizes at this juncture the full cooperation among concerned units and sufficient preparation.
Finally, Mr Chairman, my delegation endorses the proposals for action and implementation recommendations.
At the same time, my delegation would like to point out that in the present circumstances more attention should be given to how the FAO and individual countries, including the rural people and organizations, can attach effectively this important issue to the mainstream of the agricultural development activities.
Tang ZHENGPING (China) (Original language Chinese): First of all I should like to thank the Secretariat for this document as it gives us a fairly complete explanation of the significance of the Plan of Action for People's Participation in Rural Development.
This is a very topical situation, of course, and this is a well analysed paper. We suggest that it proposes a number of very relevant lines of action on which I would like to comment.
First of all, the reference to mobilizing populations so that they take part in rural development. It is, of course, very, very important to take advantage of natural resources, both human and environmental, so as to ensure a sustainable level of agriculture and a better standard of living.
Ever since the world conference, FAO has spared no effort to develop things along these lines by organizing all sorts of field activities which have proved fruitful on many occasions. The Chinese delegation would like to congratulate FAO on these initiatives.
However, in looking at the paper, we see quite a lot of recommendations for action or proposals for action, but in our view those cannot be carried out except in the light of the development policy set by the government of the countries concerned. In other words, it is up to the governments.
Secondly, the fact that this Plan of Action concentrates on the poorer sectors of the rural population, who are the majority, means that we have to deal with people who have no material means to put into development and have no access to knowledge, to technical training, and so on, in order to be able to participate usefully in rural development. Consequently, we have to place particular stress on the need for training for these sectors of the rural population, to make training and schooling available to them so that they may learn useful and appropriate techniques, and so that they will also acquire managerial skills and rational development skills in order to validly participate.
We feel that this should be a top priority in the Plan of Action for People's Participation. If we do not take this first step, no programme would succeed, in our view.
Thirdly, for such a plan of action to be implemented we need to know the appropriate policies on the part of governments, but we also need adequate funding. We note that in recent years the international community has put forward strategies and programmes to speed up agrarian reforms and rural development, and to do away with poverty, to ensure food security, and also to have a better international adjustment of agriculture.
Progress has been very slow, primarily because of the lack of funds. There have been solutions and accommodations on funding which have remained as dead letters. Therefore, we stress that FAO must make every effort to ensure that this Plan of Action is truly a Plan of Action operationally and effectively implemented in practice.
LE PRESIDENT: Je me permets d'insister, compte tenu du fait que nous avons un ordre du jour assez chargé, sur la nécessité d'avoir des interventions complètes mais, dans la mesure du possible, brèves. Nous avons encore un bon nombre d'orateurs inscrits. Nous devons bien sûr avancer dans notre ordre du jour particulièrement chargé. De façon à permettre à tous les membres du Conseil de prendre leurs dispositions et suivant leurs voeux, je
vous signale que nous poursuivrons notre séance jusqu'à 20 h 30 mais pas plus tard. A 20 h 30 nous lèverons la séance mais nous espérons pouvoir largement dépasser le point 7, peut-être le point 8 et arriver au point 9. Nous verrons où nous en serons. Tout est entre vos mains et dépend de la brièveté des interventions.
Teruaki OSHIMA (Japan): Thank you Mr Chairman to give our delegation the floor to speak on this agenda item, and we would like to express our appreciation to Dr Dutia for the introduction on this very important but interesting agenda item.
Mr Chairman, Japan, as you may know fairly well, historically speaking, is a country of agrarian society and a country of collectivity, if we may dare to say so, with some simplification. Therefore, the principle and concept of the people's participation in rural development sounds to us to be something important for any human activity including agriculture, forestry and fisheries activities, because we can hardly achieve any production without having significant involvement of people for the activities. Accordingly, our delegation believes that the people's participation should be prerequisite for any aspects of agricultural, forestry and fishery development and production, and for the better living conditions in the rural society, and also believe that no-one can challenge the significance and importance of the efforts to be made for facilitation of people's participation.
In this regard, we appreciate the efforts made by the FAO Secretariat to prepare the draft Plan of Action for People's Participation in Rural Development to address the problem facing the facilitation of people's participation, and the possible modalities and actions to be taken by both FAO and the Member Governments to move toward the solution and encouragement for the people's participation.
However, our delegation believes that with the specific and practical implementation of the action and projects concerned, we are of the view that without people's participation any project and action could not be implemented and for it actually to be applied to the agriculture, forestry and fishery activities. And therefore, we are of the opinion that FAO, when it plans, formulates, implements, executes and evaluates the Programme of Work and Budget in the regular and field projects, it must fully take into consideration the elements of the people's participation to be attached to the programmes and field projects.
When the Japanese-funded projects have been planned and implemented, the elements of people's participation have been incorporated into one of the integrated parts of most of the Japanese Trust Funds, and we are sure more consideration on the people's participation should be given to the project planning, formulation, implementation and evaluation if it is appropriate. Although the allocation in the Programme of Work and Budget in 1992-93 proposes to reduce by 2 233 thousand US dollars, Programme 2.1.5 Rural Development, we are pleased to see that Programme element 03 on People's Participation, Rural Cooperatives and Non-Governmental Organizations, listed under Sub-Programmes 2.1.5.3 Rural Institution and Employment, are increased. The same holds true for Programme element 04, Population and Rural Development, listed under Sub-Programmes 2.1.5.4 Women in Agriculture and Rural Development.
Japan is, accordingly, of the view that FAO should accommodate the concerns relating to the people's participation to be taken care of by the regular budget whether it is specifically addressed or not.
We also believe that the coordination between FAO and other financing and UN agencies is important. In this regard, Japan is pleased to see the part in paragraph 53, that FAO, through its Investment Centre, can help introducing people's participatory components in the projects prepared for financing agencies, especially the World Bank and IFAP:
We welcome the idea that FAO's Human Resources, Institutions and Agrarian Reform Division is vested with this task and that FAO will collaborate closely with other UN agencies which are members of the ACC Task Force on Rural Development. However, we have concerns over the frequent request for the extra-budgetary funds for the implementation of the Plan of Action as is written in paragraphs 53 and 55.
Again, Japan must stress that mobilization of the resource should be carefully examined in the regular budgets, and maximum and flexible use of existing field projects.
We are fully supportive of the sentences in paragraph 51, that it is obvious that the primary responsibility for implementing the policies, programmes and activities advocated in the Plan of Action rests with individual member countries.
Nevertheless, we are pleased to introduce the fact that Japan has assisted through bilateral framework etc., to the encouragement and facilitation of the people's participation, particularly for the grassroots cooperative through NGO for rural development. Thank you Mr Chairman.
Rachmat RANUDIWIJATA (Indonesia): Mr Chairman, my delegation would like also to associate itself with other speakers in congratulating the Secretariat for having prepared this document. The inclusion of this important agenda item once again demonstrates that FAO has, and will never forget, that peoples meaning farmers, including women and youth farmers, will always be the central focus of our global developmental efforts; and for that reason may I express our thanks to the Secretariat for having prepared this concept of strategy of the Plan of Action as well documented in document CL 99/15.
More than 70 percent of our 180 million people live in rural areas, and therefore we are fully aware that the successful implementation of our national development programme will also mostly depend on the full involvement and participation of our rural communities, including women and rural youth. We reiterate the Council's view that rural poverty alleviation can be achieved only with the voluntary and active participation of the rural people themselves, and for that purpose our long-term development strategy emphasizes on the policies which will encourage and lead the development to the rural communities' active participation.
Indonesia is always very supportive to any international multilateral cooperative undertakings which intend to assist the enhancement of rural community participation in the national development programmes. We agree that the bottom-up participatory approaches will be most helpful in enhancing the self-initiative development action of our rural poor. In this regard, I am pleased to inform you that my government is currently taking necessary actions in order to ensure the most active participation of the rural community by enhancement of farmers group involvement in all activities of the village cooperative units.
With regard to FAO's role, we are happy to note the initiative of the TFAP coordinating unit in preparing a special programme to stimulate people's participation. The Ministry of Forestry of Indonesia in cooperation with the private sectors, university and research centres as well as the NGOs, has made necessary steps to enhance its cooperative undertaking toward the successful implementation of our Indonesian TFAP.
Mr Chairman, with regard to the proposed concept of strategy of the Plan of Action mentioned in Part II of the document, my delegation notejs with attention the view expressed in paragraph 19. We need the Secretariat's help for clarification on paragraph 19(b) so as to give a clearer interpretation of this sub-programme.
We support the Secretariat's proposal in paragraph 20. We need to strengthen the capability of the administrators in creating more favourable conditions for people's participation.
Mr Chairman, we are looking forward however for a possible more indepth consideration on the document, inter alia, the proposals of action in Part III, perhaps if possible, through an arrangement of a special meeting on these matters, which allows the experts and specialists to contribute their views for improvements and finalization of the document. While noting that the Plan of Action provides a broad framework for undertaking programmes and activities, we are of the view that the basis for its implementation should consist of existing experience. We have the belief that examples of activities have already been implemented in some countries regarding each of the seven areas presented in the document. It can be drawn from the practical experience of FAO and governments, as well as of other organizations active in the same field. Such examples could help make the action proposals better defined and easier to implement.
We do hope that our intervention on this debate regarding these issues could also be seen as a sign of our serious political will toward the speedy implementation of this important Plan of Action. I thank you, Mr Chairman.
Gerhard LIEBER (Germany): First of all, I would like to assure Dr Dutia, through you, Mr Chairman, that I am not going to ask him another twenty-nine or thirty important and complicated questions. The reason for my short statement is to share very humbly with the Council our experience with the principle of people's participation in development work through non-governmental organizations in our cooperation with partners all over the world.
The document before us follows in its essence the experience my country has gathered over decades of development cooperation abroad. Therefore, we do very much advocate the stronger participation of the target groups in the process of planning, implementation and evaluation of development projects. In our opinion, small-scale projects implemented through NGOs, and with responsibility shared by target groups, are very likely to produce positive multiplication effects.
In this respect, it should be underlined that these NGO-assisted projects are best adapted to the often limited absorptive and managerial capacities encountered in the many grass-root situations. According to our experience, such projects also demand from the recipient country much less in terms of counterpart duties and follow-up expenditure. Therefore, my country welcomes the stronger involvement of local, national and international NGOs in project execution by FAO, as envisaged in the document before us. This particular aspect should be even more clearly reflected in the document.
Like the delegate of Thailand and others, my delegation has no difficulty with the Plan of Action before us as adopted by the Council and to be endorsed by the forthcoming FAO Conference. However, we see the Plan not as a static project but as a dynamic system which has to be further developed and discussed in the governing bodies of FAO. We are looking forward to receiving information as to what FAO will do to follow up the proposed lines of action.
Sra. Hilda GABARDINI (Argentina): Con respecto al documento que estamos debatiendo, mi delegación suscribe en lineas generales el contenido del mismo, aunque debemos admitir que no pocos de los interrogantes planteados por el Sr. Delegado de Colombia se nos presentaron a nosotros al analizarlo.
De cualquier manera queremos ser constructivos y expresamos nuestra coincidencia con los conceptos vertidos en la segunda parte del párrafo 2, que destaca la experiencia de la FAO, obtenida a través de sus programas y actividades, como el mejor ejemplo de la importancia que tiene la participación popular.
También coincidimos en que solo la colaboración de la población rural puede hacer efectivas las estrategias que se diseñen para la protecciön del medio ambiente rural.
Asimismo, un país agricola, como el nuestro, con amplia experiencia en la materia, sabe que no es posible instrumentar proyectos en los cuales sus actores, es decir la población rural a la que están dirigidos los mismos, no estén interesados y no los adopten.
Con relación al item de las organizaciones populares y ONG para el desarrollo, debemos señalar que también en ello tenemos amplia experiencia.
Es de larga data en la Argentina, Sr. Presidente, la existencia de organizaciones de agricultores de distinto tipo. Esto ha ocurrido desde fines del siglo pasado. Desde que se iniciara el prçceso de poblamiento de nuestro territorio, las organizaciones de productores tuvieron una participación muy importante, favorecida por el flujo de corrientes inmigratorias europeas que traian consigo este tipo de experiencia.
Pasando ahora a los sectores de acción expuestos en el punto iii) y en lo que hace a las propuestas de acción para los gobiernos, afirmamos enfáticamente que corresponde a cada gobierno definir claramente sus objetivos y determinar soberanamente la necesidad o no de las acciones propuestas.
El Gobierno argentino, por ejemplo, está realizando cambios estructurales que aumentarán a mediano plazo la participación popular por la vía de las organizaciones rurales. La reestructuración ya efectuada en nuestro Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria induce a la participación de los diferentes sectores rurales en la formulación de los planes y programas de desarrollo de tecnología y extensión. También las Comisiones Nacionales de Bosques, de Frutas Citricas, de Algodón, de la Lana, por citar sólo algunas, son otras formas de participación del sector rural.
Apoyamos plenamente el párrafo 55 del documento, porque estamos persuadidos de que sólo con el finaneiamiento externo los países que están llevando a cabo programas de ajustes estructurales podrán instrumentar en algunos casos o dinamizar, en otros, un desarrollo rural sostenible y equitativo con la participación popular.
Finalmente, apoyamos la solicitud hecha por algunas delegaciones en cuanto a que este documento sea revisado antes de elevarlo a la Conferencia, especialmente, a nuestro criterio, en lo que hace a algunas propuestas de acción para la FAO, y se reafirme, como lo dijera antes, que corresponderá a los Estados definir sus propios planes de acción.
P.R. JANUS (Netherlands): First of all, I would like to thank Mr Dutia for his brief but very clear introduction of document CL 99/15.
My country has expressed on many occasions that it considers participation of people the key to development - in short, development of the people, by the people and for the people. For this reason my delegation, together with a number of other countries like Switzerland, has repeatedly encouraged FAO to formulate a plan of action for people's participation. We are glad that such a plan has been drawn up by FAO, and is now being presented to this Council for discussion and endorsement.
Let me first of all commend FAO on its effort. The plan contains many elements that the Netherlands can wholeheartedly support and we are therefore prepared to support the plan as a whole. Having said this, I would like to offer a few general and a number of more specific, comments.
The plan comes at a very opportune moment. The discussion on the strategy for sustainable agriculture is in full swing. Active involvement and participation of rural people through their organizations, such as cooperatives and informal groups, and decentralization by giving more decision-making authority and responsibility to the local levels are considered to play an important role in such a strategy. Activities in the field of people's participation have already yielded a great deal of experience in this field. It is important to further build on this experience. This would also be in line with efforts under way to introduce a farming systems approach within FAO.
In the document before us the focus is on people's participation as a goal. Of course, it is implicit that this goal is also a means to development, However, my delegation would have welcomed a somewhat more explicit analysis of the role of people's participation as an instrument for development in FAO's projects and programmes.
Another major question is the following. The plan of action is broad in scope, but at the same time rather vague in its elaboration. A great number of elements of the strategy and proposals for action represent in themselves laudable goals. However, it is often not clear how FAO intends to implement them. What kind of action in concrete terms will be required to realize them?
A very much related point is that a plan of action, of course, can only be expected to be successfully implemented if it is backed up by adequate budgetary resources. My delegation cannot escape the impression that this is not the case. Although we welcome the slight increase for the programme element of people's participation, rural cooperatives and NGOs, we note at the same time that in the Proposed Programme of Work and Budget for 1992-93, the programme elements of the sub-programmes that are related to people's participation together show a net decrease of available resources. In this connection we wonder how FAO can be expected to assume the overall responsibility for coordinating and monitoring the implementation of the Plan of Action as stipulated in paragraph 54 of the document.
A related issue is that the plan is understandably rather vague on the resources required for its implementation. Although steps are being recommended to make an estimate of these resources, my delegation would have welcomed already at this stage a somewhat more concrete indication of the order of magnitude of these resources.
Another important question is in our view how FAO intends to ensure that the principles of participatory approaches to rural developments will be applied to all technical units of FAO. My delegation welcomes additional information on this matter. Also, we would like to be informed how FAO intends to improve the coordination of the different aspects of participatory development within the Organization. The capacity of the rural development analysis and organization service is obviously only limited. Is it expected to fulfil this role on its own, or are . supplementary mechanisms envisaged?
Another point is that the proposals for action address themselves to governments and FAO only. In our view this is a somewhat one-sided approach. Also, rural people's organizations in all forms should be the direct target of action-oriented programmes. Although in this connection one may pose the question how realistic the proposed actions by governments are in view of their limited resources, we are encouraged by the views expressed recently by the Organization of African Unity on people's participation.
I would like now to make a few more specific remarks and raise a few questions related to various paragraphs of the document.
In paragraph 19 it is observed that certain conditions will have to be fulfilled before the promotion of people's participation in rural development can be operationalized. Our interpretation of this paragraph is that the Plan of Action should and does seek to fulfil these conditions, but that concrete steps towards people's participation do not have to await their fulfillment.
With regard to the proposal formulated in paragraph 34 (vi) to ensure independence and self-reliance by limiting the external financing of people's organizations to the minimum, my delegation suppports the thrust of the proposed idea but wonders at the same time whether the people's organizations concerned would be happy to see this happen.
In conclusion, let me congratulate FAO on its plan for people's participation and express the hope that this important step will soon be followed by others that lead to its implementation.
Sra. Martha C. VAZQUEZ VAZQUEZ (México): En el documento CL 99/15 se propone un Plan de Acción sobre Participación Popular en el Desarrollo Rural, el cual constituye un instrumento positivo para atender los aspectos socioeconómicos de la acción en el campo. El Plan propuesto constituye un eslabón de la cadena de acciones derivadas de la Conferencia Mundial sobre Reforma Agraria y Desarrollo Rural y de su programa de acción. La participación popular es un factor que determina la eficacia social de las politicas y los programas orientados hacia núcleos socialmente importantes. De ahi la necesidad de prestar una mayor atención a la vertiente social de la cooperación internacional y que esta cooperación sea un eficiente instrumento de fomento al desarrollo de nuestros países.
La delegación de mi país considera que la participación popular como mecanismo de promoción del desarrollo rural constituye un elemento de fundamental importancia en la búsqueda de enfoques de desarrollo alternativos. En este sentido, se considera que la viabilidad de los mecanismos de participación social requieren, por una parte, una firme voluntad política de los Estados, así como un entorno internacional que incida de modo más favorable en los esfuerzos nacionales. La delegación mexicana comparte la finalidad del Plan en cuanto que pretende obtener un desarollo rural sostenible y equitativo. Sin embargo, considera que, de alguna manera, son bienvenidos los planteamientos en él contenidos, siempre y cuando éstos no atenten contra la soberanía de nuestros países.
Permítame, señor Presidente, referirme al caso de mi país. Para México, la participación popular en los programas de desarrollo agrícola es fundamental, ya que esta participación está incluida en nuestro Plan de Gobierno, y a través de todas las dependencias del Ejecutivo Federal y las de los Gobiernos de los Estados de la Federación se promueve la participación popular, principalmente en el medio campesino. Por otra parte, el programa de México para el campo tiene dos objetivos principales: incrementar la producción y la productividad en el campo y elevar el nivel de vida de la familia rural. El alcance de estos objetivos presupone la participación de los productores de manera significativa, así como la consideración de las formas de organización y tenencia de la tierra. A propósito de crear condiciones favorables a la participación social en el campo, México realiza acciones para eliminar las restricciones que pesan sobre el sector agropecuario, con objeto de lograr una mejor asignación de recursos, así como para impulsar el desarrollo de esquemas propicios para la inversión.
Por otra parte, la delegación mexicana está de acuerdo con los siete ámbitos de acción que propone este plan, y considera que su adopción y observancia se traducirá en beneficio de los protagonistas del campo en el plano local.
En el caso de mi país, también en los últimos años se ha empleado el esquema de participación social; con ello, aunado a la desincorporación de algunas empresas del Estado, se pretende la reactivación productiva del sector y una mayor participación de los sectores social y privado en dicha reactivación. Un ejemplo de ello lo constituye el Programa Nacional de Solidaridad, que actualmente se instrumenta en mi país a efectos de impulsar esta participación. Lo anterior ha conllevado al fortalecimiento institucional, así como al surgimiento de mecanismos nuevos que permitan una atención más adecuada al proceso de concertación con las organizaciones de productores.
Richard SEIFMAN (United States of America): My delegation vishes to thank Dr Dutia for his introduction, and to commend FAO for the attention it plans to give to this very important subject of People's Participation in Rural Development, as described in the document before us.
The goal of the Plan of Action - the achieving of sustainable rural development with equity - is fully consistent with our development experience and our Bilateral Assistance Programme Mission statement, which calis for, inter alia, support for bróad-based economic growth, concern for individuáis and the development of their economic and social wellbeing and support for democracy. In pursuing this mission our bilateral programme has for example promoted labour unión development as a means to encourage economic franchisement and enterprise development projects which encourage participatory developments, often by working to break down barriers and incentives to entering into the formal economy, strengthening rural interest groups such as farmers, credit unions, water users, and landless groups. Such groups can be instrumental in promoting civic participation and in enhancing the responsiveness of local, regional and national governments to their needs and aspirations.
Further, local private voluntary organizations and non-governmental organizations can have a particularly strong impact on grassroot participation in the development process. Frequently such activities prove to be more sustainable than those emanating from central and often distant government authorities.
The strategy contained in the document is ambitious. The suggested undertakings of individual governments are broad and encompassing. In our view that is appropriate. FAO institutional objectives - the companion part of this Plan of Action - are just as broad and ambitious. In our view there does need to be greater effort to tailor FAO's role to a more practical package of programmes, projects and areas of policy intervention. In this context, we suggest consideration of the following:
In which sectors and sub-sector does FAO have particular strength and expertise in addressing people's participation issues? - and in those areas, what reasonably can be expected to be accomplished? FAO is to assist governments in a very wide range of activities in the Plan of Action, from analysis of political, economic, legal and fiscal impact of different forms of decentralization, to the development of project design guidelines which encourage the incorporation of people's participation and people's organization-building objectives in relevant FAO project activities.
Our question is: In developing this Plan of Action has there been an effort to prioritize the different aspects of potential assistance? The Plan describes activities which governments should pursue, as well as activities for FAO involvement. What is not clear to us is the role which other technical assistance agencies and donor institutions could or should play, taking into account their respective skills, experience, and human and financial resources. Our Japanese colleague has already made reference to the importance of coordination, with which we concur. Autonomous, democratic and self-reliant people's participation-type of organizations should indeed be encouraged, and should be largely self-financed, thus the focus in supporting such organizations should be on mobilizing their internal resources rather than external resources. External resources can be important in supporting the development of these types of organizations in the initial phases. However, such resources should be used judiciously to avoid generating dependency relationships, and this is indicated in paragraph 34(vi).
The document in paragraph 55 states that the implementation of the Plan "crucially depends also on the availability of external funds for development." - within which we would include FAO resources. In understanding how FAO plans to incorporate and fund this People's Participation component throughout its programmes, it would be helpful at some point to have a list of the line items in the proposed Regular Budget which relate to the implementation of this Plan of Action. Such a list would indicate the level of priority attached to this topic, heightening our appreciation of FAO's commitment to integrate this important development building block into its activities.
We agree with our Nordic colleagues, and also wonder whether much of what is desired could be accomplished through enhanced early programme and project design efforts. Particulary in this area, more intensive, timely resource concentration rather than greater resource allocation can be of benefit.
In conclusion, we appreciate the growing attention paid to the subject by FAO. We support in general the principles articulated, and we listen with interest to the interventions and Secretariat comment on this agenda item.
Dato Wan Jaafar ABDULLAH (Malaysia): The Malaysian delegation would like to congratulate the Secretariat for the preparation of a comprehensive report on the Plan of Action for People's Participation in Rural Development. The report outlines the various actions proposed to be taken by Member Governments and FAO in the seven areas which have been identified to achieve the goal of sustainable rural development with equity through people's participation.
The Malaysian delegation is in full agreement with the emphasis made in the report. We feel that FAO has firmly and faithfully addressed the issues in encouraging the greater role of people's participation in rural development, particularly in highlighting assistance needed by Member Nations of the developing countries to cope with the development in this area.
We agree that the primary responsibility for formulating and implementing the policies, programmes and activities advocated in the Plan of Action rests with the governments of individual countries.
My delegation is happy to inform the Council that some of the action areas proposed in the Plan as illustrated in Chapter III of the report, are already being implemented in Malaysia.
As part of our cultural heritage, rural people in Malaysia have been brought up for generations to practice the concept of "self-help" and "self-reliance". Small tasks of mutual benefit such as maintenance of rural roads, rural waterways, village community halls, prayer houses are always done voluntarily and cooperatively by the rural people themselves.
On a much more organized and bigger scale, the Malaysian Government has established farmers' organizations at Federal, state and local area levels. Among the activities involved are collective solving of producers' problems, processing of agricultural produce, and the marketing of these value-added products. Likewise, in the fishery sector, the fishermen have established their own associations and organizations.
Malaysia supports the call for national policies for agricultural and rural development to encourage full and effective participation of rural people in decision-making implementation and evaluation of the process of rural development. This call is in consonance with our National Agricultural Policy which states that social and institutional development have a direct link to the process of modernization of the agricultural sector as it paves the way for attitudinal changes, receptivity to innovations and active participation of farmers in the development process. In this regard, efforts will be made to develop the motivation and spirit of self-help and group efforts among farmers through training and development of effective farmers' institutions.
Section IV of the document calis for both political will and adequate resources in implementation of the Plan of Action. We consider this cali as most appropriate and hope that the international community, particularly the donors or NGOs should make significant contributions, by providing external resources in support of the implementation of the Plan.
In conclusión, the Malaysian delegation endorses the proposed action in seven areas as mentioned in paragraph 21 and gives its total support to the Plan for submission to the FAO Conference.
Sra. Mercedes FERMIN GOMEZ (Venezuela): Debo comenzar, señor Presidente, por recordar que el concepto de participación popular como mecanismo de promoción del desarrollo rural, es un antiguo concepto que venimos, por lo menos en Venezuela, considerando desde que fue tratado por la FAO en la primera Conferencia de Reforma Agraria y Desarrollo Rural y que nosotros lo hemos venido discutiendo desde el momento en que desapareció una larga dictadura que sufrimos durante 27 años y que se terminó felizmente en 1935. En 1936 - y perdón por la historia - se inició la Organización Popular en Venezuela. Esta Organización Popular tomó un carácter no solamente de participación en organizaciones políticas, sino también en organismos sindicales, por primera vez con trabajadores del medio rural en sus actividades. Hasta entonces Venezuela era un país subdesarrollado que no tenía industrias, que su principal actividad era la agricultura en organizaciones de grandes haciendas que todavía tenían a las peonadas sin ningún tipo de legislación que pudiera favorecerlas, ni siquiera con horarios respetables de ocho horas, que ya eran vigentes en el mundo civilizado. Pero en ese momento se inicia en Venezuela la participación popular con la integración de sus masas populares a la actividad sindical y a la actividad política dentro de los partidos políticos. Felizmente hombres y mujeres, no hubo en ese momento discriminación para la mujer.
Progresivamente esta actividad que llevó más o menos una década de organización, prácticamente se perfeccionó en los sindicatos de diversos tipos y llegamos a tener la Confederación de Trabajadores de Venezuela y se organizaron entonces específicamente los campesinos en lo que se llamaron las Ligas Campesinas y las Organizaciones Campesinas, curiosamente no cooperativas, ya que entre nosotros no había florecido realmente la organización cooperativa porque todavía no habíamos tenido ninguna experiencia a este respecto.
De esa forma llegamos a lo que llamamos en nuestra historia reciente, la revolución de 1945, en donde se dictó una nueva constitución que consagró el derecho de participación popular a través de sus organizaciones y de esa manera se dio por primera vez en la historia nuestra la participación del pueblo en la elección directa del Presidente de la República y de los miembros del Congreso, Cámara de Diputados.
Desde entonces tenemos una elección directa por sufragio universal directo y secreto, dándole el voto a los mayores de 18 años, analfabetos o no, porque el analfabetismo en Venezuela en ese momento llegaba a más del 68 por ciento de la población. Por esa razón era justo que se le diera al campesino analfabeto que había sufrido y que ya eran hombres de 40, 45 ó 50 años, se les reconociera su derecho a votar. Así comenzó la verdadera
participación popular en las actividades, en la participación de un gobierno legítimamente electo directamente electo, un Presidente de la República, eso que ahora están buscando aquí en Italia, y perdónenme la jactancia, y de esa manera se estableció también la organización de los campesinos en las Ligas Campesinas y progresivamente en lo que hoy se llama la Federación Campesina de Venezuela. Una Organización de carácter nacional como tenemos los trabajadores urbanos, industrializados en la Confederación de Trabajadores de Venezuela que está vinculada a la OIT.
Esa es, señor Presidente, nuestra historia de la participación popular en época reciente, porque, como les digo, Venezuela entró a la época moderna en 1936, antes vivíamos en la Edad Media.
Esta participación popular se mantiene a través de estas organizaciones campesinas en donde participan hombres y mujeres a través de la Ligas de los Sindicatos Campesinos dentro de la Federación Campesina y donde no hay distingos políticos, como los hay en la Confederación de Trabajadores Urbanos, en donde, aunque participen distintos credos políticos, están allí unificados en sus intereses de clase, en sus intereses de trabajadores.
Nuestra participación popular ha ido, pues, evolucionando, dándole cierto poder, si se quiere, a las organizaciones campesinas y a las organizaciones de los trabajadores para presentar a través del tiempo sus derechos a ser miembros de los Consejos Municipales, miembros del Congreso Nacional. Nosotros tenemos representantes de la Federación Campesina en la Cámara de Diputados y actualmente el Presidente de la Federación Campesina es Diputado al Congreso Nacional, como lo es el Presidente de la Confederación de Trabajadores, porque ellos tienen iguales derechos reconocidos por la ley.
Esto no quiere decir que nosotros creamos que Venezuela es el paraíso y que tiene exactamente todas las necesidades satisfechas; consideramos que todavía los gobiernos deben perfeccionar sus relaciones con los trabajadores, y esto se ha ido buscando recientemente con lo que nosotros estamos llamando la descentralización de estos organismos.
Recientemente, en las últimas elecciones, se hizo el primer ejemplo de una elección directa de los Consejos Municipales por elección nominal, lo cual no habíamos hecho hasta ahora. Lo que significa que a nivel de los municipios, que es la célula primaria de las organizaciones políticas y cívicas, se ha hecho una elección directa en la cual participan los campesinos, los trabajadores y cualquier otra clase de intelectuales igualmente representados por sus organizaciones o presentados por sus partidos políticos.
Al mismo tiempo se ha estado verificando otro proceso que es el de la Organización de los Productores, en lo que llaman allá las Cámaras de Comercio, siguiendo una expresión importada por supuesto porque nosotros no teníamos esto. Las Cámaras de Comercio, las Cámaras de Agricultura, todas estas cámaras, están organizadas allí por los productores y estas Cámaras de Comercio organizadas a nivel nacional en una institución que se llama la Federación de Cámaras, de industriales, comerciantes, etc., es la que tiene la negociación directa con los sindicatos por especializaciones, sindicatos por ramas de producción, para sus relaciones contractuales de trabajo. Esta es la vía que en Venezuela se ha perfilado como participación popular.
No estamos satisfechos, la mujer todavía está pidiendo mayor reconocimiento, porque la participación la tiene legalmente, ella puede acceder, como accede, al Congreso, a los Consejos Municipales, a todas las instituciones de elección, directa o no. Y así hemos tenido por ejemplo, este año un Congreso de mujeres, el tercero que se celebra, al cual han asistido 3 000 delegadas, de las cuales más del 60 por ciento eran mujeres trabajadoras del medio rural, organizadas o no. De esta manera progresivamente se están incorporando mediante la participación popular las masas del medio rural y las masas trabajadoras del país.
Nosotros no nos vamos a pronunciar en el análisis de este documento porque consideramos que tiene fundamentalmente principios, que por lo menos en el caso de Venezuela, se cumplen, cuando se refiere por parte de los gobiernos que son introducir politicas que faciliten la transformación de las organizaciones populares, controladas y financiadas por los gobiernos; no están financiadas por los gobiernos tampoco están controladas por los gobiernos. Están controladas, en todo caso, por los partidos políticos, pero no por el gobierno, ya que son organismos independientes de los gobiernos.
De la misma manera son las organizaciones rurales, la Federación Campesina no tiene control de gobierno, tiene sus organismos autónomos y en todo caso políiticamente tiene sus vasos comunicantes con los partidos políticos, pero no con el gobierno al cual generalmente y por su autonomía apoyan o le hacen oposición, de acuerdo con sus intereses.
De esa manera se han ido formando los líderes, no porque se hagan cursillos para capacitarlos, sino porque la vida misma en el ejercicio de su actividad sindical los ha ido formando como dirigentes, como líderes.
Consideramos sí, que sería conveniente que la participación popular se pudiese canalizar a través de determinados programas que los gobiernos llevaran adelante, ojalá con la asistencia de la FAO.
Nos preocupa que la FAO no habla en este documento de los mecanismos que ella puede usar para ejercer su acción de apoyo, de organización, o de capacitación para los miembros de estas organizaciones, ni tampoco para respaldo o asesoramiento del gobierno.
Creo que en líneas generales es un plan de acción que puede ser perfectamente viable, pero dadas las circunstancias de que no se ha analizado, es decir, que no se ha logrado un consenso en esta reunión de parte de todos los asistentes, valdría la pena revisar algunos conceptos, darle un nuevo estudio antes de la Conferencia, si pudiera ser en un pequeño grupo, para que pudiera llevarse a la Conferencia y allí darle su estudio y aprobación, ya que desde el punto de vista de la realización y de la acción de los mejoramientos de la vida en el medio rural, no hay duda que este plan pudiera tener muchos beneficios para cualquiera de los países en vías de desarrollo, pero repetimos, que vale la pena revisarlo y lograr un consenso para que pueda satisfacer a todos.
EL FRESIDEHTE: Muchas gracias, señora, creo que es la voz de la sabiduria, ya que usted hizo una proposición muy concreta y quiero darle las gracias.
F.M. MBEWE (Zambia): I take the floor like a few speakers before me with mixed feelings. On the positive side, at least for the authors of the paper, I am pleased that the debate on people's participation in rural development has been resuscitated. How many projects have failed to achieve their desired result and impact? There are many, at least in our case. Sometimes people ask questions. We hear that this country or that country has given us so much aid, but what are they doing? Why have there been unsatisfactory answers to these questions? Many theories have been advanced, but the issue of people's involvement in the project cycle is often glossed over by experts involved in the project design and implementation. How in hell could an expert from some capital in Europe or America or even the capital of Zambia, for that matter, know for sure the real felt needs of the people through a flying visit of a week or so to the project area? The problem which besets the world of project designers and implementation which often has very little regard for consulting the local knowledgeables is the naive subconsciousness attitude of, “AҺ! We know what the people want". This often turns out to be the deception of the project designers as to what people want. Unfortunately, on the negative side of the paper now, this barely perceived knowledge of what people want and what needs to be done has permeated through this paper. This is the negative part of the paper which has already been elaborated upon by the delegates of Colombia and Cuba and in some instances of the UK, where she referred to the ambiguities of implementation and the translating of some of the ideas into activities.
Nonetheless, it is positively gratifying that the realization is emerging that the people should not be left out if a project intended for them has to succeed. It is because of this that my delegation wishes to support the recommendation that this issue be allowed to go to Conference. However, in doing so I put the following rider or caveat that while recognizing the value of people's participation, this should not become a pretext for interference by agencies, including FAO, into the operations of recipient governments. We should not tie governments' hands across the board, but rather use each government to provide an enabling environment for people's participation in those rural activities where the people are recipients, either directly or indirectly.
J.B. SHARPE (Australia): Many of the propositions contained in this paper are to be commended. My delegation supports the concept of greater participation in rural development initiatives by rural people. Policies and programmes that fail to involve those that they are supposed to assist in the planning, development and implementation of initiatives have a limited capacity to succeed.
The bottom-up approach to rural, economic and community development has received increased support in Australia over the last ten years. Of particular note is the success of local enterprise development initiatives whereby members of local communities generate basic business management and marketing advice to enable local people to develop business opportunities.
It is vital that these types of initiatives are, however, supported by the appropriate institutional environment. Research has shown that some of the major impediments to success of rural-based enterprises and rural development generally is lack of marketing, business, physical and social infrastructure. However, my delegation considers that perhaps the greatest obstacle to the Plan will be providing resources to the individual methodologies which are proposed. The Organization will need to carefully assess this Plan against its existing programme in order to allocate means within available resources.
David DRAKE (Canada): The Canadian delegation welcomes the Plan of Action for People's Participation in Rural Development. The participatory approach highlighted in this programme mirrors the stance taken by Canada in its own development assistance programme. For example, in fiscal 1989/1990, Canada devoted 303 million Canadian dollars, or approximately 11 percent of total Canadian ODA, to programming directly equivalent to people's participatory development such as proposed in the Plan or Action before us. Canada therefore fully supports the principles of the FAO People's Participation Programme and the seven sensible and practical areas for action identified for governments and the FAO contained in the document.
I would add that my delegation would fully support comments made by the UK and the Netherlands on the details of the Plan.
While our delegation recognizes that there may be need to cover some of the expenses involved in implementing this Plan from extra-budgetary sources, it is our view that participatory development should be a normal feature of FAO programming. Therefore, we would like to see the Organization move toward incorporating this programme and the philosophy it entails into the mainstream of the Organization's activities and hence in its regular budget and field programmes. Here, we associate ourselves with the statement of the Government of Japan.
In conclusion, the Canadian delegation supports the adoption of the Plan of Action at this Council Session and endorses its submission to the Twenty-Sixth FAO Conference later this year.
LE PRESIDENT: Je dois vous signaler que le délégué du Congo a déposé le texte de son intervention et que celle-ci sera reprise dans le procès-verbal.
Adel EL-SARKI (Egypt) (Original language Arabic): In the name of God, Most Merciful and Compassionnate.
We would like to thank Mr Dutia for the explanation he has given us and for the introduction.
My delegation would like to stress the principle of recognizing the importance of People's Participation in Rural Development. My delegation has noted with satisfaction that FAO has been involved in this aspect for a long time.
We support the contents of the document and we also support the proposal made by many delegates that this paper should be sent to the general conference next November for decision.
Oscar MAS HERRERA (Costa Rica): La delegación de Costa Rica manifiesta que está fundamentalmente de acuerdo con el documento CL 99/15 que nos ha presentado la Secretaria y, justamente porque estamos básicamente de acuerdo, quisiera hacer unas cuantas observaciones al respecto de algunos puntos de vista expresados aqui hace un rato, con los cuales discrepamos por lo menos en parte. De vez en cuando, y esto es lamentable, la soberania de los Estados puede proponerse como contraria al bien común, que es la promoción de cada persona humana y del conjunto de las personas humanas dentro de un grupo concreto. Esta oposición es lamentable, porque la soberania de los Estados solo se justifica en orden a la promoción del bien común y nunca para fomentar el orgullo desmesurado de los gobiernos. La soberania de los Estados no es un bien en si, en cambio la consecución del bien común si lo es.
Es cierto que la FAO es un organismo fundamentalmente técnico, que se ocupa de la alimentación y la agricultura, como cada uno sabe. Pero justamente por esta razón es que vemos con dolor como con frecuencia se encuentra la FAO con las barreras impenetrables de ciertas estructuras o de ciertas decisiones politicas duras e injustas por parte de gobiernos locales, y al respecto de esto todo el mundo tiene una lista en su interior. No cabe duda de que la FAO no puede dictar líneas de acción política a los gobiernos, pero en cambio si puede instar vehementemente a que mejoren sus estructuras para garantizar el bien común, y esto es lo que mi delegación cree ver en el presente documento 99/15.
Todos los que estamos aquí representamos gobiernos soberanos y aún la humanidad parece estar en un estadio en que la soberania se defiende encarnizadamente como el mayor bien político, y ciertamente es un bien. Quizás veremos venir el día en que los organismos internacionales puedan tener mucha más capacidad de convicción que la que tienen hoy al respecto de los Estados Miembros de estos organismos. Quizás sea entonces cuando se hable menos de soberanía y mucho más de bien común. Hoy por hoy ¿Qué es lo que un organismo como la FAO puede hacer, sino tal como lo dice en el párrafo 21 b) "instar a los gobiernos a crear un marco juridico y politico favorable a la participación popular"? Mi delegación no ve en esto ningún atentado contra los derechos de los Estados.
Consideramos este documento sobre la participación popular en el desarrollo rural como altamente positivo. La legislación de Costa Rica es amplia y liberal en todos sus aspectos, pero lo es particularmente en lo relativo a la participación popular que fomenta con gran énfasis el cooperativismo y las comunidades de base que florecen especialmente en los campos de la agricultura cafetalera y de la pesquería. Esto ha dado pie a una innumerable cantidad de organizaciones populares de autogestión que con frecuencia se revelan mucho más eficientes que las organizadas oficialmente. De modo, que no seria el caso de que Costa Rica se sintiera aludido como un país que ofrece obstáculos a la participación social, muy por el contrario, por esto nos unimos al fondo de este documento en el que vemos una expectativa, desde su ángulo, a la promoción del bien común, que es después de todo detrás de lo que todos estamos.
EL PRESIDENTE: Muchísimas gracias por su interveneión tan constructiva. Creo que su visión del mundo es una visión muy progresista en el sentido de que mañana el mundo entero debe tener normas, consejo, líneas de conducta, para que todos los países puedan convivir en equilibrio en el sentido de progreso.
Michel MOMBOULI (Congo): Ma délégation voudrait tout d'abord remercier Monsieur Dutia pour la présentation du document CL 99/15.
Ensuite nous félicitons le Secrétariat de nous avoir fourni un document aussi complet - car selon moi, il a analysé la participation populaire dans le développement rural sous tous les angles.
Nous remercions aussi la FAO d'avoir répondu positivement à la suggestion faite par le COAG et le Conseil en 1989 sur la mise au point d'un plan d'action sur la participation populaire.
Il est vrai, comme le souligne le document, que la participation populaire est une approche du développement qui reconnaît qu'il convient d'associer les couches défavorisées de la population rurale à la, conception et à l’exécution des politiques destinées à assurer leur bien-être. Si déjà dans de nombreux pays les méthodes de participation ont porté leurs fruits lorsqu'il s'agissait d'encourager des activités d'auto-assistance, done ces méthodes peuvent aussi être appliquées pour les projets de grande envergure.
Ma délégation apprécie le rôle joué par la FAO dans la promotion de la participation populaire dans certains de ces projets et activités de terrain.
II tient à souligner que l’importance de la participation populaire a été reconnue depuis longtemps dans certains pays. Au Congo, par exemple, il y a eu la création des coopératives agricoles de l’Union des femmes congolaises, etc. pour promouvoir cette participation populaire, mais le manque de moyens financiers et d'autres n'a pas permis d'obtenir de brillants résultats.
Done, face à ce plan d'action, chaque pays doit évaluer sa situation économique par rapport à l’expérience vécue et définir les objectifs en vue de faciliter la participation populaire.
Ma délégation prend note des conditions nécessaires pour la promotion de la participation populaire citées au paragraphe 19.
Ma délégation approuve le plan d'action dans son ensemble et demande que les éclaircissements soient donnés pour des fonds extérieurs dont depend l’exécution des mesures envisagées dans le plan d'action - car la clé de la réalisation du plan d'action tel qu'envisagé ici est composée de deux éléments essentiels; les moyens financiers extérieurs et les reзsources humaines qualifiées.1/
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Joseph R. TURKSON (Ghana): My delegation is very grateful to you for giving it the floor. The agenda item being discussed presently is of interest to the developing countries as a whole and to my country - Ghana, in particular.
Mr Chairman, according to UN figures over one fifth of the world's population lives in absolute poverty in the rural areas and half of these are chronically undernourished.
The international community has turned its attention to the structural flaws which perpetuate hunger and poverty in the Third World. Mr Chairman, the debt burden afflicting many developing countries has undoubtedly added to the destination of the poor. Environmental suress and deterioration is as much a consequence of poverty and hunger as it is a cause. Poor people will gradually degrade and exhaust their resource base in the struggle to survive.
Mr Chairman, far too often development organizations have approached poverty alleviation as a welfare problem or as an addendum to a broader strategy aimed at promoting growth. Projects conceived and implemented by outside organizations have failed because adequate consideration was not given to the importance of local participation. Handsome sums of monies have been sunk into projects which were either stopped or abandoned midstream or never yielded any results. They have shown that poverty alleviation works best when it begins at the household level, that the direct involvement of the poor is critical and that self-help is the key to success.
When the local population is not invited to participate in the planning and implementation of the project, there is little hope that they will maintain it once it is completed.
Mr Chairman, we should not forget that the poor are eager to participate in their own development provided they have a sense of power and control over their individual involvement.
Again, Mr Chairman, strategies of people's participation are examined not only as an innovative means for the alleviation of rural poverty, but also in the context of structural adjustment programmes adversely affecting the rural poor of the disappointing record chalked up by large-scale efforts at integrating rural development and of the slow progress being made in the integration of poor rural women into the development process.
Document CL 99/15 produced by the Secretariat and ably presented by Mr Dutia to the Council has thoroughly examined the pros and cons of people's participation in rural development. Para. 2 outlines the implication of people's participation which my delegation endorses.
Para. 5 presents the conceptual and operational link existing between people's participation and people's organization. The NGOs who have the people's participation experience always emphasize that at best participation should amount to more than northern institutions and agencies ideally participating in the wishes of the partners from the South. It is not the northerners who should decide in what form project participation should be. Mr Chairman their task should be to employ their know-how, their financial and organizational acumen in a way that those of us from the South can then make best use of ourselves.
Mr Chairman, our Organization (FAO) is being over taxed by always insisting it should take a leading role in various activities with less resources but it was created to assist in solving such problems. Paras. 8-17 indicate the crucial role FAO should play in this endeavour.
My delegation wholeheartedly endorsed Section II - the strategy of the plan of action.
In the action areas, Mr Chairman, I am pleased to say that in some developing countries e.g. in Ghana some of the proposals are in place and the only thing left to be done is to rekindle them and they will flourish.
My delegation again supports para. 34 and takes the opportunity to inform the Council that we are at present using the “bottom-up" approaches not only in building rural organizations but in all rural activities. Mr Chairman decentralization is the order of the day in my country.
In short my delegation supports the implementation of the plan of action and all agencies implementing it will have the full support of my country.
Mr Chairman, we should not forget that if the poor participate, then a new resource, a new energy is released for development.1/
Patrick Mutava NZUE (Kenya): First allow me to express on behalf of the Kenya delegation our sincere appreciation for the manner in which you have managed the affairs of the FAO Council at both its 98th and 99th Sessions. I would also like to once again thank the FAO Secretariat for the good work it continues to do in the preparation of the documents before us, without which we would accomplish very little.
Mr Chairman, document CL 99/15 before us, competently discusses the importance of having a grass-root oriented rural development policy. We in Kenya have no problem in supporting this approach as we have all along been of the view that any meaningful development must start and must end with the people.
At the dawn of Kenya's independence, nearly 30 years ago, the people of Kenya initiated what we call the Harambee Movement. Harambee, which literally means "Pulling Together”, involves members of a community organizing themselves and each member contributing, either materially or financially, according to his or her ability, for a project of the group's choice. The projects can range from assisting people to acquire and own a decent shelter, building of village cattle dips, to the erection of schools or acquiring agricultural land to produce items for the local and export markets. Many of the most active Harambee groups are Women groups, some of whom have now surpassed some men in their incomes.
It is from this spirit of people's participation that the cooperative movement has emerged as a tool in our agricultural development.. Through it more poor people can now own agricultural land.
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Kenya has throughout encouraged the spirit of self-help, and a few years ago went a step further and decentralized the decision-making process in as far as government-funded projects were concerned. This was done by the introduction of a District Focus for Rural Development Strategy.
Many agencies involved in Kenya's development, including the FAO, are, no doubt, aware of this new policy where a District Development Committee liaises with the rural population in discussing their development priorities. It is hoped that this will further enhance the people's awareness of and subsequently their participation in the work of these Committees.
While this approach has so far proved successful, there are certain impediments that hinder the attainment of its full potential.
In the more disadvantaged areas, especially among pastoral and nomadic communities, illiteracy limits considerably the organizational capacity of such communities and even their ability to appreciate the need for change and their participation in such a process.
Secondly the lack of infrastructural and communicational links to remote areas of the country can also bar or slow down attempts by governments to reach the most needy of its people to encourage their participation in development.
As you are aware, many developing countries have these past several years been undertaking structural adjustment programmes which among other things, have meant drastic cutbacks in public spending. Trade earnings are at very low levels and debt-servicing obligations continue to escalate. It becomes, therefore, very difficult for governments to continue some of their initiatives that must precede people's participation in development.
FAO's role in finding ways of overcoming these impediments cannot be overstated and we are grateful to the many projects it has undertaken in this direction. The international community, particularly the donors must also lend their support to this process especially by allowing easier access to their markets for Third World exports and help in finding a lasting solution to the debt problem.
In conclusion, Mr Chairman, the Kenya delegation while supporting fully the the virtues of people's participation and the Plan of Action, also wishes to emphasize that its success will depend also on the participation of the international community.1/
LE PRESIDENT: Parmi les observateurs, la Suisse a deposé le texte de son intervention de même que le Représentant de la Fédération Internationale des producteurs agricoles. Ces deux interventions figureront au procèsverbal.
Rudolf DE POURTALES (Observateur de Suisse): Ma délégation se félicite que le Secrétariat a enfin présenté à notre Conseil un document sur la participation populaire, même si ce premier pas nous parait encore timide.
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J'aimerais rappeler ici que ce problème important avait été soulevé par ma délégation à la Conférence de 1987 déjà, et que nous l'avons abordé à maintes reprises au Conseil, au COAG et dans d'autres occasions.
Pour la Suisse, en effet, la participation active de la population à tous les niveaux de prise de décision, de mise en oeuvre et d'évaluation est une condition sine qua non pour un développement durable, équilibré sur le plan social et économique.
Ma délégation a sùivi avec beaucoup d'intérêt le débat sur ce point et notamment les expériences présentées par des pays en développement aussi divers que l'Inde et le Cap-Vert.
Finalement, Monsieur le Président, ma délégation partage largement les vues exprimées par les Pays-Bas et les pays nordiques.
J'aimerais encore ajouter que pour la mise en oeuvre de ce plan d'action il s'agira également de créer à l’intérieur du Secrétariat une ambiance participative et motivante pour tout le personnel, non seulement pour celui des services directement concernés, mais également dans les divisions dites techniques.1/
Lino VISANI (Observateur de l’Alliance coopérative internationale): Monsieur le Président, je vous remercie de m'avoir donné la parole au nom de l’Alliance coopérative internationale sur ce point de l'ordre du jour que je considère très important parce qu'il concerne un aspect fondamental du développement agro-alimentaire et le rôle des coopératives dans les villes et les campagnes, dans le nord et le sud du monde.
Nous apprécions beaucoup la présentation du Plan d'action sur la participation populaire pour le développement rural. Nous croyons qu'après la Conférence sur la réforme agraire et le développement rural, ce plan peut être significatif pour affirmer, pour la première fois, l’importance de la participation populaire, cela non seulement comme facteur de sensibilisation mais plutôt comme facteur de formation et de soutien en vue de créer des conditions plus favorables au développement libre et indépendant des organisations rurales les plus diverses, capables de réaliser la participation populaire et le développement durable et démocratique de l’agriculture et de la pêche, dans l'intérêt de la société entière et pour le renforcement des relations de coopération mondiale. Le Plan d'action pour l’intégration des femmes pourra aussi en avoir un nouvel élan.
L'ACI, avec ses 195 organisations coopératives qui comptent 630 millions de sociétaires, est particulièrement intéressée à cette action, pour laquelle la FAO pourra compter sur sa collaboration totale.
Actuellement, la situation mondiale du développement dans les domaines de l’environnement, de l’agriculture, de la pêche, de l’alimentation, de la démographie, de la démocratie, des relations commerciales, accroit la
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nécessité de la participation populaire dans le monde entier et non seulement dans le tiers monde, comme l’a souligné la conference du mois d'avril aux Pays-Bas. Nous souhaitons que les membres du Conseil approuvent le Plan d'action et qu'ils soutiennent avec force son application de façon à arriver à la prochaine conférence avec une proposition, selon nous innovatrice. Nous croyons que ce Plan d'action constitue un premier pas très important vers une activité de promotion et de soutien capable de favoriser un développement pluraliste et démocratique. Pour ce faire, il est nécessaire de surmonter toute orientation paternaliste et “assistantielle” vers les plus faibles de la société.
Le développement associatif, pour valoriser complètement les ressources, a besoin de stimuler et de promouvöir la créativité, la solidarité et l’esprit d'entreprise des plus pauvres de la société. Dans ce sens, les recommandations faites par le COAG en 1989 nous semblaient plus déterminées.
Nous pensons qu'il faut donner aux ONG internationales et aux ONG nationales un point de repère à la FAO, comme l'ont déjà fait les autres organismes internationaux tels que la Banque mondiale, par exemple, de façon à établir des liens plus étroits de collaboration, tout en tenant compte de l'autonomie des ONG, liens qui soient capables d'influencer positivement les choix des organisations intergouvernementales et, en même temps d'utiliser et de valoriser la richesse des expériences et des initiatives des ONG mêmes, en particulier de celles qui jouent un rôle actif dans le territoire.
S'il est important que les projets de terrain et l’action ordinaire soient adressés vers le développement associatif et la création des conditions favorables à ce développement, il faudrait aussi un raccord entre les différentes divisions techniques de la FAO et la division qui s'occupe de la réforme agraire et des organisations rurales. Nous voyons, par centre, que le budget de cette division a été réduit.
Plusieurs indications et formules proposées dans le plan sont très intéressantes pour les coopératives, c'est-à-dire:
- expérimenter et soutenir des modèles d'organisation et de services pour renforcer l'autonomie de gestion des organisations de base;
- favoriser, en les préparant bien, les échanges d'expériences associatives auniveau national et régional;
- identifier les expériences des associations “pilotes” dans certains milieux afin de les faire connaitre et soutenir, notamment celles qui concernent les femmes et les jeunes;
- favoriser la création de mécanismes d'autopromotion du développement et dè réorganisation associative par des formes d'essor public;
- utiliset l’expérience des institutions coopératives à plus large tradition pour en tirer les connaissances et les ressources humaines les plus spécialisées;
- créer, dans des groupes bien détermines d'associations et de coopératives, des systèmes d'information capables de suivre l’évolution et les problèmes du développement;
- étudier et expérimenter des formes d'encouragement "externes" ou "mixtes" pour soutenir les initiatives de commercialisation directe des coopératives;
- activer le COPAC.
J'ai cité quelques exemples pour démontrer que, plus nos propositions seront concrètes et soutenues par une clarté et une volonté d'intention, plus nous pourrons compter sur l'appui de la communauté internationale, des gouvernements et des ONG.1/
Ms. Giuseppina PELA (Observer for the International Federation of Agricultural Producers) (IFAP): A growing number of farmers' organizations at different stages of development are applying to IFAP for membership or assistance to develop into more effective and representative organizations. These demands come not only from developing countries but also from Eastern Europe.
This is, by itself, a sign that the Plan of Action (P/A) submitted to the Council actually responds to the real needs of farmers in many countries.
Also on behalf of the Rome Group of INGO Representatives to FAO, I would like to wholeheartedly welcome this P/A and commend FAO for drawing it up.
I would also like to express our appreciation for the recognition given to the role played by International NGOs in the process leading up to the preparation of the P/A - para. 17, Doc. CL 99/15. IFAP was delighted to note the introduction of the concept of "membership-based NGOs" which resembles more closely what we intend by farmers' owned and controlled organizations. In the past, we have criticized the term "promotional NGOs" for including too wide a range of organizations.
At this stage, we would like to focus on two essential points:
- First, to recognize that the P/A is both necessary and urgent.
The document provides a concise idea of the dimension of the problem and the action needed for the general adoption of participatory approaches to rural development. We would therefore urge the Council to adopt it.
- The second important point is how to work toward its effective implementation.
The question of resources remains open. In particular, we would like to express our concern about the ability of the Human Resources Division to carry out its responsibilities - as presented in para. 54 - due to the continued understaffing, coupled with cut-back in the allocation of
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resources for the overall Rural Development Programme in the 1992-93 Budget. Para. 163 of the Summary Programme of Work and Budget -Doc. CL 99/3 - reads, I quote, "Several substantive sub-programmes implemented by the ESH Division have had to be reduced except for activities linked to Women in development...", unquote. Adequate allocation of resources is a matter to which the Council should pay serious consideration.
While recognizing that the P/A provides a broad framework for action, we believe that the basis for its implementation should consist of existing experience. FAO might establish a mechanism for exchanging experiences, so as to elaborate a more concrete plan for implementation to be presented to the Conference in November.
IFAP, with its 80 nationally representative farmers' organizations, nearly half of which from developing countries, constitutes an extensive and unique network of farmer organizations the world over. Forty-five years of activities, with farmers and for farmers, enabled IFAP to accumulate a wealth of experience in building up farmers' organization structures and strengthening their role as a key to effective participation. IFAP itself is financed and run entirely by its own members.
IFAP is ready to provide a constructive input into the search for practical solutions to achieve people's participation, and the related sustainable increases in production and income.
The implementation of the P/A opens new horizons for closer cooperation between FAO and IFAP. In this regard, we feel encouraged by recent and successful events, such as the Conference on Environment and Agriculture in the Netherlands, where IFAP and farm leaders made a constructive contribution, the third informal FAO/IFAP Commodities Consultation in FAO last month, and the fully-fledged meeting held by the Director-General and senior FAO officers with the IFAP Executive Committee, made up of farm leaders from 19 countries.
To conclude, Mr Chairman, meeting the challenges ahead of us entails continued and even closer cooperation between FAO and organizations such as IFAP. The importance and the extent of FAO/NGOs cooperation has been further highlighted by the Director-General in his opening statement to the Council, and we fully appreciated it.1/
EL PRESIDENTE: Tiene la palabra el Embajador de Chile, Sr. Trivelli Franzolini pidiendo eso si, que sea muy breve, para que podamos seguir adelante en este punto tan importante.
Hugo TRIVELLI FRANZOLINI (Observador de Chile): Yo quiero, primero de todo, decir aqui que estamos, en términos generales, muy de acuerdo con la idea de revivir las actividades de la FAO y de todos los organismos . internacionales, mundiales y regionales, en pro de esta idea de la participación popular. No quiero alargarme pero no puedo dejar de recordar que no son cientos de millones, sino miles de millones los seres humanos que viven en pobreza, marginados; cientos de millones de gente que a veces no tiene que comer, a la que nadie le resuelve sus problemas.
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-264 -
No estoy en contra de los políticos, pero los políticos de nuestros países democráticos van a ofrecer puentes, canchas de sport, vivienda, salud, escuelas, agua potable y de todo: de un "cuanto hay", como se dice. Pero resulta que no hay recursos en el mundo. Esto tengámoslo presenter no hay recursos en el mundo, en los presupuestos de los gobiernos, para resolver los miles de pequeños y grandes problemas que tienen los pobres del mundo, los miles de millones de gente pobre del mundo. De manera que, si no se acude, si no se revive la idea de la participación popular para que sean los propios dolientes de sus problemas, los pobres, los pobres rurales, los que participen, ellos, en la solución de sus problemas, van a pasar cientos de años sin que nadie les vaya a resolver el problema. En este sentido, vuelvo a insistir en que es una excelente idea y una excelente posición de la FAO el revivir esta idea de la participación popular.
Se hablaba antes aqui del bien común. ¿De qué manera se piensa que los gobiernos van a dar el bien común a estos miles de millones de pobres? Yo diria que una manera es, justamente, hacerles participar en la solución de sus problemas. Y todo eso que se les promete, por los políticos o por qué sé yo quién, en materia de agua potable, de riego, de caminos, de deporte, de vivienda, de locales, de bosques para leña, de salud, de escuelas, de comercialización, lo van a resolver ellos.
Este Plan puede que tenga algunos defectos; aqui se han criticado algunos de ellos. Yo espero que los defectos que pueda tener este Plan se puedan superar medlante su revisión. Pero es importante llegar con esta idea de la participación popular a la Conferencia, y con este sentido de que no sólo sea la FAO, sino que sea el mundo entero el que, de una vez, tome conciencia de que los problemas de los pobres se van a tener que resolver con la auto-ayuda de los pobres organizados, promovidos y dispuestos a hacer estas cosas.
Se ha hablado aqui también - y en esto yo estoy de acuerdo, dentro de esta línea que estamos planteando - de que la participación popular, más que presupuesto, es una actitud, y ese ambiente de actitud es el que hay que restablecer, o establecer y difundir.
También se ha hablado de que estos planes de participación popular no tendrían mucha vigencia si no hay ayuda externa. Alguna ayuda externa tendrá que haber, pero yo creo que la linea de ayuda externa que los países desarrollados podrían emprender y resolver de una vez por todas es liberalizar el comercio entre los países, por una parte, y aliviar, por otra, la deuda externa de estos países, que ya no tienen con qué respirar. Es por ahi por donde tendría que pensárse y resolverse en alguna medida la situación de la ayuda externa. Y, naturalmente, con todo el esfuerzo que puedan hacer los propios gobiernos para poner en práctica este Plan de Acción de Participación Popular. Muchas gracias.
EL PRESIDENTE: Muchas gracias a usted, por su interveneion, señor Embajador; una intervención muy rigurosa y muy interesante también.
I will hand over to Mr Dutia to answer the questions, but perhaps not to answer the different quetions but perhaps to give a global view about his impression to find a concrete way to present to the next Conference a good document.
B.P. DUTIA (Assistant Director-General, Economic and Social Policy Department): Thank you Mr Chairman. Mr Chairman, on the whole we are encouraged by the reception by the Council members to this document. That does not mean that we take this as a full endorsement of the document as it stands by the Council. However, we feel that we are on the right path. We need to look at the document again but on the whole I find that the reception has been generally favourable.
Mr Chairman, some questions have been raised as to why was this document presented to the Council. In view of the brevity that you expect from me Mr Chairman, I do not want to reply to all the twenty-nine questions raised by the distinguished Ambassador of Colombia one by one. He is not here. I will certainly discuss with him, if he will permit, in order to remove any doubts that may be existing in his mind, but first of all I would like to clarify that this document is before the Council because the Council itself requested that this document should be presented to this session of the Council. So it is not something that the Secretariat has done on its own, flouting the wishes of the Member Governments. In fact we are obeying the orders that we received from the Member Governments as represented in this Council.
Secondly, the question was raised why has it come after so many years of WCARRD; were we sleeping? No sir, we were not sleeping. In fact this subject has been discussed as recently as 1989 by the Committee on Agriculture, and also there have been many regional workshops where this subject has come up for discussion. We should not forget that. But that is not the only thing. FAO has been promoting actively people's participation through its field programme. I do not want to go into details but I do want to emphasize that today we have 145 projects in the field which have got people's participatory components in them, and the value is something like US$345 million. So I would like at least to make this clear that this is not something that has just cropped up after some years of FAO's inattention.
However, it seems to me that there is one thing that needs to be made absolutely clear and that point is that in no way in preparing this document or in presenting this document to the Council, FAO wishes in any way to challenge the sovereignty of the Member Nations. FAO is an intergovernmental organization and we remain so, and we will act accordingly as all members of the Council know that we act only at the request of the governments in order to provide such assistance that the government wishes us to provide, and therefore if we want to help in the promotion of the people's participation it has to be through the governments or the countries concerned.
The first essential step in promoting people's participation is the recognition and the adoption by the Member country concerned on the need for promoting people's participation, and this I think answers many of the questions which the delegate of Colombia raised. We are not intending to reach the people's organizations over and above Member Governments. It will be through the Member Governments at their request.
What sort of assistance can we give, and what sort of role can we play? As I see it, there is a certain misconception about people's participation being adverserial in its role against the government. It is not so. In fact, if there is any lesson from the development process which has occurred over the last fifty years or so, it is that without people's participation development will not occur and this is one of the important messages contained in the International Development Strategy which all Member Governments have adopted for the forthcoming United Nations Development Decade. The delegate of Costa Rica put great emphasis on this point, and I cannot improve on it. It is a cooperative role between the government and the people, and it is exactly what we as FAO would like to promote.
As regards the role we can play, our role is that of a catalyst; our role is to inform the governments as to what benefits can accrue from people's participation, in what way people's participation can be promoted, and this we can do through the exchange of information, through analysis, through bringing governments and NGOs together in the form of dialogue in order to understand each others' requirements and needs, and to find a way to cooperate in a better way. We have been doing this. I will not go into detail now, but there have been a number of cases where we have tried to develop this approach.
I would say in addition that our role is also in the field. I have referred to the programmes we have in the field. If any government wants to implement this Plan of Action, or a revised form of a plan of action, and if that government wants the assistance of FAO, we will be prepared to give that assistance with the help of the resources from our field programmes. This we will do.
I would like to point out that although the ESH Division of the Economic and Social Policy Department is going to monitor this plan the responsibility for FAO's support of this plan does not lie only with that Division. It is in fact an effort that will be made throughout the Organization, especially in the field activities that we are promoting.
The question of the coordination with other UN agencies was raised. Yes, this matter can be done through the ACC Task Force on Rural Development. There is a special panel on people's participation chaired by the ILO, so there is already inter-agency communication in this important field.
A question was raised of what the phrase "legal and policy environment" means. It only means that where there are legal barriers which may be standing in the way of people's participation, the government may wish to look at it. If so, and if they want us to assist, we are ready to do so in order to create conditions which will promote people's participation.
One of the delegations made a point about resources - what about FAO resources? I would like to refer to the significant statement made by the delegate of Sweden on this. It is not a question of a budget line. People's participation is not something one can identify as a single budget line. That is not the right way of looking at the implementation of this plan. In fact, it is an approach; it is a question of changing attitudes in the work we are doing now. People's participation can be promoted in many projects
that FAO supports. People's participation can be promoted also to intensify our activities which are in the field of people's participation, intensifying them and gearing them to the achievement of the objectives of people's participation.
I would certainly emphasize that in all its efforts, the assistance from the international community is very important because many of the developing countries today are facing a situation in which certain objectives, however laudable they may be, are not easily implementable. It is necessary to recognize this aspect equally well. That does not mean that all the resources have to come from external assistance. Internal resources will also have to be released. FAO will have to give appropriate support to all the programmes, but external assistance cannot be ignored.
Lastly, with your permission, Mr Chairman, I will refer to the future action as we envisage it for this Plan of Action. We have recognized there are certain sensitivities which need to be taken care of before this Plan of Action can be presented to the Conference in its November session. This we will do if the Council approves that course of action. We will do this and present a somewhat revised Plan of Action, taking fully into account the comments made, the certain reservations expressed by some Member countries, in order to make sure that the Plan of Action can be adopted at the FAO Conference in November.
LE PRESIDENT: Je remercie Monsieur Dutia pour son intervention et ses réponses tellement convaincantes que je suis convaincu que si notre collègue et ami, l'Ambassadeur de Colombie, avait été présent, il eût été convert! aux vues qui ont été exprimées.
Je voudrais également dire que j'ai été frappé par un certain nombre d'interventions toutes extrêmement constructives et même si l'une ou l'autre furent négatives, elles ont permis une réaction souhaitable qui a fait préciser un certain nombre de positions. Le débat a été vraiment fructueux. Tous les délégués se sont exprimés avec beaucoup de franchise, de loyauté et de clarté.
En résumé, je crois que Madame l’Ambassadrice du Venezuela a fait une proposition précise, concrète et opérationnelle. En tenant compte des différentes remarques faites par notre Conseil à sa 99ème session, suite au Conseil de novembre 1990 où il avait été demandé de présenter ce document à la session de juin du Conseil de la FAO, il conviendrait de préparer un document tenant compte de toutes les remarques positives faites pour améliorer ledit document et de le présenter à la discussion de la Ière Commission de la Conférence de novembre 1991. On aura l’occasion d'en discuter dans cette Commission, d'ouvrir un large débat, de faire des commentaires, et si éventuellement certaines délégations ont de nombreuses questions à poser - même si elles sont au nombre de 29 - elles recevront des réponses.
Sra. Ana Maria NAVARRO ARRΌE (CUBA): Yo personalmente estoy muy satisfecha con la explicación que el señor Dutia ha ofrecido acerca del debate que hoy se ha suscitado aqui, Como mi delegación planteó que apoyabalos principios generales de este Plan de Acción, pero que se debía mejorar la redacción de algunos párrafos, quiero reiterar aqui hoy que tenemos plena confianza en que la FAO llevará adelante este Plan con éxito y que el mismo se presentará a la Conferencia y será, de seguro, apoyado por todos nuestros países.
F.C. PRILLEVITZ (Netherlands): I want to inform you, Mr Chairman, that Mr Bula Hoyps cannot be present tonight because he is organizing a dinner party. I have the honour to be one of his guests, so I will inform him of the answers given by Mr Dutia. I will start working on him so that he can accept more or less this Plan of Action, which will make the work of Mr Dutia a little easier.
CHAIRMAN: Thank you in each case. We have received a very good explanation from Mr Dutia.
La proposition très concrète, telie que l'a résumée Madame la Représentante de Cuba, d'améliorer le document qui vous a été sounds en tenant compte des remarques faites et de présenter ce document à la Conférence vous suggère-t-elle des remarques et des commentaires? ...
Nous nous proposons done d'améliorer le document et de le renvoyer à la Commission I de la Conférence pour le soumettre éventuellement à l’appréciation de la séance plénière. Ce document sera amélioré, compte tenu des différentes remarques qui viennent d'être faites.
Je déclare clos l'examen du point 7 de notre ordre du jour.
P.J. MAHLER (Conselller spécial du Directeiir général/Sous-Directeur général pour l’environnement et le développement durable): A cette heure tar dive, c'est peut-être un challenge que de parler de la durabilité et de soutenir l’attention, mais je vais faire de mon mieux.
A sa quatre-vingt-dix-huitième session en novembre dernier, le Conseil avait souscrit à l’organisation de la Conférence FAO/Pays-Bas sur l’agriculture et l’environnement, qui s'est tenue à 's-Hertogenbosch aux Pays-Bas du 15 au 19 avril dernier. Le Conseil à cette occasion avait déjà exprimé ses remerciements pour l'appui technique et financier fourni par le Gouvernement néerlandais. Le Conseil avait alors noté que “cette Conférence devait permettre de formuler des stratégies et un plan d'action, et
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notamment des programmes concrete qui seraient soumis à l'examen des organes directeurs de la FAO et qui serviraient à préparer la Conférence des Nations Unies sur l’environnement et le développement, la CNUED", qui est prévue en juin 1992 à Rio de Janeiro au Brésil.
Cette initiative faisait partie d'un train de mesures pris par le Directeur général pour donner suite à la résolution de la Conférence 3/89 demandant à la FAO de renforcer ses activités en matière d'environnement et de développement durable. La résolution avait demandé alors à la FAO de tenir une réunion avec le Programme des Nations Unies pour l’environnement sur l’agriculture durable et aussi de contribuer activement à la préparation de la Conférence des Nations Unies sur l’environnement et le développement durable. La générosité du Gouvernement néerlandais nous a permis de répondre à ces diverses requêtes sans faire appel à des fonds du programme ordinaire qui se sont trouvés limités pour les raisons que vous connaissez.
Nous avons associé étroitement le PNUE et aussi le Secrétariat de la Conférence des Nations Unies pour l’environnement et le développement ainsi que d'autres institutions, y compris les ONG, à la préparation de la conference et à la réunion elle-même, et nous avons mis l’accent, compte tenu de l'intérêt qui avait été manifesté par le Comité préparatoire de la Conférence des Nations Unies pour l’environnement et aussi par le Conseil d'administration du PNUE, sur le développement agricole et rural durable.
Le Conseil d'administration du PNUE, d'ailleurs, s'est réuni récemment à Nairobi et a été informé des résultats de cette conférence. De même, le Comité préparatoire de la Conférence des Nations Unies pour l’environnement et le développement, je vais l'appeler la CNUED si vous le voulez bien, sera informé au mois d'août. Le Comité préparatoire va se réunir à Genève pour quelqцe quatre semaines.
Le document 99/23 qui vous est présenté est essentiellement le rapport de la conférence avec une très brève introduction. Le rapport comprend une declaration et un plan d'action suivi des rapports de quatre groupes régionaux qui se sont réunis pendant la conférence. Les annexes donnent une indication de la dimension de cet événement que le Directeur général dans son allocution à l'ouverture de cette séance du Conseil avait qualifié d'historique, dimension d'abord par le nombre et la diversité des participants dont vous avez la liste à la fin du document - des exemplaires sont d'ailleurs présentés à l’entrée de cette salle - ensuite par l’ampleur des sujets abordés et la profondeur de l’analyse et de la réflexion qui ont conduit aux résultats qui vous sont présentés aujourd'hui.
Je signalerai aussi qu'une exposition illustrant les sujets de l’agriculture et du développement rural durable vous est présentée immédiatement derrière le bureau de réception qui est à l’entree du côté du bâtiment B. Cette exposition avait été présentée à 's-Hertogenbosch, Bois-le-Duc en français. Elle vous est présentée maintenant ici. Elle avait été préparée par notre Division de l’information.
Le rapport complet présentant aussi des comptes-rendus résumés des débats et d'autres details sera publié ultérieurement dans toutes les langues ainsi que le document des stratégies générales qui est mentionné dans le paragraphe 1/34 du document qui vous est présenté maintenant. C'est done un
rapport abrégé qui vous est présenté aujourd'hui avec d'ailleurs, et nous lè regrettons, quelques imperfections de présentation et de traduction parce que le temps nous a manqué (la réunion a eu lieu au mois d'avril) pour présenter un rapport complet. Mais les éléments essentiels sont là, c'est la déclaration, d'une part, et le Plan d'action, d'autre part, sur lesquels le Conseil est appelé à se prononcer.
A cette heure tardive, je ne veux pas m'aventurer à faire une présentation résumée de ce document qui est très dense, où presque chaque mot compte et qui a été discuté par quelque 200 experts avant d'avoir été adopté à Bois-le-Duc par consensus.
Je dirai simplement que la nouveauté de cette conférence et de son rapport reside dans le fait que pour la première fois on a cherché à aller au-delà des problèmes environnementaux ou techniques de l’agriculture, de la dégradation des ressources naturelles, de la dégradation des sols, des pertes de ressources génétiques et autres, de la pollution par les produits agrochimiques en particulier, pour traiter aussi des causes plus fondamentales qui sont des causes sociales et économiques qui sont à l'origine de ce que j'appellerai des symptômes de la fragilité de nos systèmes actuels de production et de consommation.
Il est, je crois, remarquable de noter que, dans la Déclaration comme dans le Plan proposé, la protection de l’environnement est présentée seulement comme l'une des composantes de l’agriculture durable, dont les autres composantes, et je dirai même les préalables, ne sont pas de nature technique, encore une fois, mais bien de nature sociale et économique, et done politique.
C'est bien à cause de cette dimension politique qu'il était opportun pour le Conseil de la FAO de formuler ses avis et recommandations sur les résultats de la Conférence de Bois-le-Duc. Le Conseil a l'occasion de le faire aujourd'hui et souhaitera sans doute donner au Secrétariat ses directives pour la présentation de ce rapport qui est attendu au Comité préparatoire de la CNUED, de façon à ce que, à la Conférence de Rio, l’agriculture durable, les stratégies et les programmes afférents, et évidemment le rôle de la FAO dans ce domaine, reçoivent l’attention qu'ils méritent et que l'on ne parle pas uniquement des aspects généraux de l’environnement et du développement, des sujets que j'appellerai horizontaux de l’intégration, mais aussi de tous ces aspects, de tous ces problèmes sectoriels. Je pense qu'il est important que l'on descende dans les secteurs pour examiner ce qu'il est possible de faire concrètement. Autrement, l’agriculture risque d'être traitée à cette conférence d'une manière fragmentée alors qu'elle a tant besoin de soutiens politiques et financiers importants dans toute la discussion de la problématique du développement durable.
Un autre aspect sur lequel le Conseil souhaitera se pencher certainement concerne le suivi de cette conférence dans les programmes de la FAO. Le Plan d'action formulé à Bois-le-Duc n'est qu'une ébauche. Le Conseil voudra sans doute donner des orientations générales aujourd'hui et dans le débat qui suivra sans doute demain, mais ensuite lorsque le Conseil abordera le sommaire du Programme de travail et budget, il aura l'occasion de s'exprimer sur les orientations concrètes et les éléments de programme precis qui sont proposés par le Directeur général pour mettre en oeuvre les stratégies et les priorités qui ont été formulées à Bois-le-Duc.
En ce qui concerne le programme de terrain, je tiens à signaler aussi qu'en conformité avec les recommandations de la Conférence de la FAO en 1989, qui nous avait demandé en particulier de revoir l’ensemble des programmes d'action spéciaux et la nécessité éventuelle de créer de nouveaux programmes d'action spéciaux, nous sommes actuellement en train d'examiner l’ensemble des structures du programme de terrain et je voudrais attirer l’attention du Conseil sur un document qui sera, lui, discuté en rapport avec le sommaire du Programme de travail et budget. Il s'agit du document 99/3 – Sup.1.
Je signale à ce sujet que dans ce document il y a une première ébauche qui est illustrée à la fin par un diagramme qui donne l’ensemble de l’articulation des programmes qui pourraient donner suite au plan d'action qui a été ébauché à Bois-le-Duc. En fait, nous pensons que ce cadre, ce diagramme, peut, dans une certaine mesure, répondre aux neuf domaines d'action recommandés par ce plan. Les directives que le Conseil voudra Men nous donner à ce sujet, c'est le point 19 de l'ordre du jour, nous seront utiles pour fournir des contributions, des propositions pour ce qu'il est convenu d'appeler l’Agenda 21, autrement dit le Plan pour le 21ème siècle, qui doit être formulé et présenté à la Conférence de Rio.
Il serait souhaitable évidemment que dans ce plan il y ait un certain nombre de volets qui concernent l’agriculture durable, avec les éléments que nous essayons d'identifier en ce moment. Les orientations, les directives que le Conseil voudra nous donner à l’occasion de la discussion du point 19, nous permettront d'être mieux armés pour présenter au Secrétariat de la Conférence des Nations Unies pour l’environnement des propositions de programmes. Il est important en effet que l’agriculture figure en bonne place dans ce plan d'action et reçoive done aussi les ressources qui pourraient être mobilisées à cette occasion par la conférence.
II y a un autre aspect du suivi de cette Conférence de Bois-le-Duc, c'est le niveau régional. Je veux simplement signaler que je suis déjà en rapport avec mes collègues des bureaux régionaux, parce qu'il est évident - et d'ailleurs le rapport a un certain nombre de volets régionaux - que certaines actions doivent être prises, principalement au niveau régional, les problèmes étant différents dans chaque région.
En terminant je tiens à renouveler les remerciements du Directeur général au Gouvernement des Pays-Bas pour son aide très généreuse, à la fois technique et financière. Je dois dire que sans cette aide nous n'aurlons pu avoir la participation active et de haut niveau de quelque 100 pays en développement et d'une vingtaine de pays industrialisés. Sans çet appui, le Secrétariat n'aurait pu entreprendre les analyses et les synthèses nécessaires des experiences acquises dans ce domaine qui vous sont présentees dans ces documents que vous trouverez à l’entrée de cette salle. Ce sont des documents qui ont été preparés par les divisions du Siège. Certains d'entre eux ont été présentés et préparés par nos bureaux régionaux.
Je crois pouvoir dire que, grâce à la Conférence de Bois-le-Duc, la FAO est, à ce stade, l'une des agences spécialisées du système des Nations Unies et peut-être l'Agence spécialisée du système des Nations Unies qui a
poussé le plus loin sa réflexion et le réexamen de ses programmes pour réconcilier les impératifs de développement et les impératifs de protection de l’environnement dans un secteur: le secteur agricole. Je sais que l’ONUDI suit notre exemple et va faire une conference dans le même esprit pour examiner les implications de l’environnement et du développement pour le secteur industriel; et nous faisons cela évidemment à la lumière des grands principes qui ont été énoncés par la Commission Brundtland, la Commission des Nations Unies sur le développement. Ce rapport a été présenté en 1987.
Avec les orientations que le Conseil voudra bien lui donner, le Secrétariat se tient prêt à poursuivre la route tracée à Bois-le-Duc et à vous rendre compte de manière plus détaillée de la situation à la prochaine conférence en novembre où à ce moment-là nous aurons des propositions plus détaillées, notamment au niveau des programmes, et nous aurons eu aussi le bénéfice des discussions au Comité préparatoire de la CNUED.
The meeting rose at 20.30 hours
La séance est levée à 20 h 30
Se l·evanta la sesión a las 20.30 horas
