An interview with P.J. Mahler, Special Adviser to the Director General, Assistant Director General for Environment and Sustainable Development, FAO (Interview conducted by Unasylva Editor Stephen A. Dembner.)
Unasylva. Mr. Mahler, the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED), to be held in Rio de Janeiro this June, will focus world attention on the need to harmonize the environment and sustainable development. Would you highlight for the readers of Unasylva what FAO views as the key issues and the changing perspectives in this regard)?
Mahler. I should start by saying that FAO is a major partner in the preparation of UNCED, a process which involves the whole UN system, its member countries, its specialized agencies and also many non-governmental organizations (NGOs). In fact, UNCED will be the second UN conference on the environment. The first, on the "human environment", was held in Stockholm in June 1972. The creation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) was a direct outcome of the Stockholm conference, and many governments created Ministries of the Environment at that time. Although Stockholm gave evidence of the growing awareness at a global level of the importance of environmental issues, it was, I think, believed that environmental concerns could be addressed by taking action with the help of this additional institutional machinery. Over the past 20 years, however, there has been a growing realization that the problems, the dimensions (and the intricacy) of issues related to the environment and development are on a scale that was not anticipated in 1972. Over the same period there have been several food and energy crises; there is now the serious threat of a global climate change and growing trends of natural resource degradation, depletion and pollution. We have more than 600 million people undernourished, more than 1000 million poor.... Through these crises, governments have come to realize that all these problems are closely linked; that development problems cannot be solved in a sustainable way without caring about the environment at the same time; that certain measures for environmental protection are not acceptable if they reduce access by the poor to a better life, if they create unemployment and recession, or if they cause constraints to international trade.
This led the UN to create the so-called Brundtland Commission on Environment and Development which, through its report, made a number of recommendations for changing North-South relationships as regards development and environment, changing the approaches to development, consumption patterns and lifestyles.
However, in the late 1980s, in the face of growing poverty, persisting hunger and famine, declining aid to developing countries, debt problems, widespread unemployment and increasing environmental threats and damage, the international response to the Brundtland Commission report was clearly inadequate.
It was this background that led the UN General Assembly to convene a second conference, this time on the environment and development, in the hope that member countries would find ways of reconciling development needs with environmental protection imperatives and take commitments to this effect. I think that what we are discussing at UNCED is no less than a new international economic and environmental order, and this is why it is so complex, so difficult to reach an agreement. At the same time, as many people have said, this may be the last opportunity before we make an irreversible, irrecoverable mess of our planet.
Unasylva. As the UN agency charged with the lead responsibility for food and agricultural development, including forestry and fisheries, and for overall rural development, how has FAO been responding to these changing perspectives and to the changing needs of its member countries?
Mahler. No development sectors are more dependent and more "influential" on the environment than agriculture, forestry and fisheries. It is no wonder, therefore, that FAO has been active in the area of environment from the beginning; in fact, the FAO constitution mandates the Organization to promote the conservation of natural resources. For many years, FAO has been involved in programmes for inventories of basic resources for agriculture, forestry and fisheries; programmes for technical assistance and training for the conservation and rational utilization of these resources; as well as programmes for setting standards, codes of practice and international commitments for the proper management of resources.
In this context I would mention the FAO Soil Charter; the International Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources; the International Code of Conduct on the distribution and Use of Pesticides; and, on a broader front, the Tropical Forests Action Programme (TFAP); the Strategy for Fisheries Management and Development and the associated programmes of action; and several other international programmes.
I would note that within the world of agricultural development, foresters have been concerned with reconciling the environment and development longer and more directly than any other professional group.
Before the word "environment" was in popular use, and certainly before the term "sustainable development" was coined, foresters - both at FAO and at the national level - were in the forefront of action for the conservation and wise use of natural resources.
Unasylva. In that case, what prompted FAO to create a new structure with you in the position of Assistant Director-General for Environment and Sustainable Development?
Mahler. The creation of my position is directly tied to a growing conviction in the FAO governing bodies that an integrated, interdisciplinary approach to the challenge of harmonizing the environment and development is needed. This is not a new concern for FAO, however; an Interdepartmental Working Group to deal with intersectoral aspects of the management of natural resources and conservation of the environment was created by Director-General Boerma in 1969, and the first Chairman was Mr Saouma, the current Director-General. This was a reflection of the realization that it was not sufficient to ensure that each sector or subsector would look after the environmental problems it caused or was forced to struggle with. Nevertheless, from the beginning, the decision was not to create an environment department, as has been done in some other institutions or governments, because we do not believe it is possible to isolate the environment as a separate field of activity when dealing with agriculture, forestry, fisheries and rural development.
In the late 1980s it was recognized that we needed to put even more emphasis on this area, and the 1989 FAO Conference passed a major resolution directing us to strengthen our activities in this field, not only at headquarters but also in our Field Programme, and to ensure close cooperation with the team preparing UNCED. My role, therefore, is to give further impetus to these activities with the help of a steering committee, an interdepartmental working group and a small coordinating unit. I would add that, in my current position, my primary concern is not forestry but rather agriculture.
|
The road to UNCED The United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) will take place from I to 12 June 1992 in Rio de Janeiro. Brazil. According to Conference Secretary-General Maurice Strong, "the primary goal [of UNCED] will be to lay the foundation for a global partnership between developing and more industrialized countries, based on mutual need and common interests, to ensure the future of the planet". The Conference. Called by the UN General Assembly in 1989, is expected to be the largest global summit ever held, with the participation of as many as 30000 people and with governments represented by their heads of state. In an effort to maintain the quality of the environment and achieve environmentally sound, sustainable development in all countries, UNCED is expected to address the following issues: · protection of the atmosphere (climate change, depletion of the ozone layer, transboundary air pollution); The Conference will look at underlying patterns of development which cause stress to the environment. Poverty in developing countries, levels of economic growth, unsustainable patterns of consumption, demographic pressures and the impact of the international economy are development issues that will be addressed. PREPARATIONS FOR UNCED Preparations for the 1992 Conference are being overseen by a Preparatory Committee (PREPCOM), open to all member countries of the UN General Assembly as well as to non-governmental organizations (NGOs). PREPCOM meetings have been held in Nairobi, Kenya; Geneva, Switzerland (two); and New York, USA. EXPECTED OUTCOME OF UNCED The Conference is expected to produce: · An Earth Charter embodying basic principles to govern the economic and environmental behaviour of peoples and nations to ensure "our common future". · Agenda 21, a blueprint for action in all major areas affecting the relationship between the environment and the economy. It will focus on the period up to the year 2000 and extend into the twenty - first century. A major portion of Agenda 21 will be dedicated to forests. The global objective of the forestry section of Agenda 21 will be "to achieve conservation and rational utilization of all forests and tree based resources to increase their contribution to overall socio-economic development, environmental protection and people's quality of life, within the context of sustainable development". A key role of Agenda 21 will be to set out major programme areas for action and also to identify the financial and human resources required to implement these programmes. · A set of non-legally binding authoritative guiding principles on forests. · The opening for signature of an international convention on climate change. · The opening for signature of an international convention on biological diversity. |
Unasylva. Why are you dedicating so much attention to sectors other than forestry? And where?
Mahler. Overall, foresters have practiced what is now termed "sustainable management" since long before the term existed. Practically everything they do is done with the environment and for the environment. Environmental problems in the field of forestry are generally problems which are not created by the foresters or by forest management but which are created by activities at the periphery of forestry. In other words, the environmental problems of forestry are not forestry problems per se; they are agricultural and rural development problems. This is mainly because of pressure from increasing populations, both rural and urban, for food and for fuelwood; demand for arable land; and because insufficient revenues from agricultural export crops are leading countries to exploit their forests unsustainably.
It was this background that determined my concentration on promoting ways and means to make agriculture and rural development sustainable. In this way, and only in this way, will we be able to tackle a large majority of the environmental problems related to forestry. Deforestation will not be halted merely by passing laws or by having brigades to patrol forest resources.
Programmes of land reform; programmes to make agricultural production both more efficient and more sustainable on existing arable lands, without having to encroach further on forests and other ecosystems; and programmes to give farmers better prices for their products would go a long way in solving the problems of deforestation. People may talk about biodiversity, endangered species, etc., but as long as humans are the first endangered species and until we find ways of ensuring their basic needs, all other efforts take second place. To this end, with the cooperation of the Netherlands Government, FAO convened a major conference on agriculture and environment at 's-Hertogenbosch in April 1991. This conference formulated strategies (the Den Bosch Declaration) and an agenda for action which led to the launching of an International Cooperative Programme Framework for Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development (ICPF/SARD). ICPF/SARD is a framework with nine major components, the main thrusts of which have already been endorsed by the UNCED preparatory committee. It is not an FAO plan. It is not something which FAO could do alone. It is an international framework in which a number of parallel actions by many actors at different levels can find their place and follow common strategies.
Major components include sector policy and planning; people's participation; integrated farming systems management (including agroforestry); diversification of rural incomes (forestry comes very much to the forefront here); and also programmes related to integrated pest control and soil fertility, to energy, to land, etc. It is a comprehensive programme for those rural areas where agriculture predominates; in a way it may be looked at as the counterpart of the TFAP, which concentrates on those areas where forestry is the main land use.
Unasylva. Even if the root causes of many of the environmental challenges facing forestry come from outside the forest, foresters have certain responsibilities both for controlling deforestation and for environmental conservation. What are the major outputs expected from UNCED that will have a direct impact on world forestry; for example, Agenda 21 and the guiding principles for forestry?
Mahler. The expected output is still uncertain. Let's take the guiding principles first. The idea of an international forest convention was launched by the G7 [industrialized countries] as an expression of global concern for the tropical forests. At the same time preparations were starting for a convention on biodiversity and a convention on climate. Forests were to be considered in the preparation of these conventions; the forests are the major depository of biodiversity, and forests and deforestation play a role in climatic stability. But it was clear that these two conventions could not cover all of the concerns facing forestry. The sustainable management of forest resources, because of the multiplicity of benefits and products these resources provide, cannot be delegated to groups or constituencies with a single-issue focus. International agreements on biodiversity and climate are necessary, but forests and forestry should not be relegated to a subsidiary protocol of these agreements. An international agreement on forests parallel to those on biodiversity and climate change was therefore envisaged.
At the same time, as forestry deals with the management of a resource which is under national jurisdiction, some of the FAO Member Governments expressed reservations about a binding international agreement, fearing that it could control or constrain their sovereign and legitimate right to use their resources for their own development. For this reason, the discussions in the preparatory meetings for UNCED were confined to the negotiation of a set of non-legally binding guiding principles. The aim of the guiding principles is recognition of the multiple role of forests and a commitment to their management in an integrated fashion to meet both environmental and developmental requirements. It is still unclear whether the guiding principles should ultimately lead to a legally binding document, but an agreement on guiding principles is definitely a useful step in the right direction. Governments can start adopting appropriate forest policies and programmer without having previously subscribed to an international convention (which may take several years to negotiate, agree and ratify) since, through discussion and debate, they may recognize the value of sustainable management of their forests.
In this regard, I would express a concern that protracted discussions by the Member Governments on the two conventions and the guiding principles for forestry may detract from the formulation and implementation of detailed action programmes in these fields, including cost implications. Fortunately for forestry, the Declaration of the 10th World Forestry Congress and the continuing work of FAO, in cooperation with the UNCED Secretariat, are keeping attention focused on the need for action.
Unasylva. Implementation of the decisions taken at UNCED will have clear and significant financial implications. What mechanisms are foreseen to ensure that the needed resources will be available?
|
P.J. Mahler: a profile
The appointment of Mr Philippe J. Mahler as Special Adviser to the Director-General/ Assistant Director-General for Environment and Sustainable Development in FAO marks the culmination of more than 3() years dedicated to sustainable development and international service. After completion of his studies at the Institut national agronomique and the Ecole supérieure d'application d'agronomie tropicale in Paris, Mr Mahler, a French national, began his international career in Morocco in 1957 as a soil scientist of the Office de la recherche scientifique et technique outre-mer (now called the Institut français de recherche scientifique pour le developpement de l'Afrique). His first assignment with FAO was in 1961 when he was involved in soil survey work as part of a development project in northern Brazil. Over the next decade. Mr Mahler carried out field assignments for FAO in Lebanon, Iran and Algeria, involving land resources evaluation and agricultural development projects. In 1970, as preparations got under way for the UN (Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm, Mr Mahler was appointed Senior Officer, Natural Resources and Human Environment. Mr Mahler continued to hold this post during the period following the Stockholm conference, which saw the creation of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the strengthening of FAO's activities dealing with natural resources and environment issues in food agriculture, fisheries and forestry and also the strengthening of FAO/ UNEP cooperation. In 1976, he was appointed executive secretary of the Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) of the Consultative Group on International\Agricultural Research (CGIAR), a post he held for six years. Mr Mahler's next post was Directeur de Cabinet of the FAO Director-General. After three years in the Office of the Director-General, Mr Mahler returned to work more closely with the FAO Field Programme as Special Adviser to the Assistant Director General of the Development Department. In 1990, in response to directives from the 1989 FAO Conference for the further strengthening of programmes for the protection of the environment and the promotion of sustainable development of agriculture, forestry and fisheries, FAO Director-General Edouard Saouma appointed Mr Mahler to his present post. |
Mahler. From the discussions at the UNCED preparatory meetings, it is apparent that the provision of needed funds is closely tied to the preparation of clear objectives and programmes and the development of mechanisms to implement them. It is a chicken and egg situation. In fact, at one point the Group of 77 [the representatives of the developing countries] was refusing to discuss Agenda 21 unless they had assurances that new, additional money, not simply redirected funds, would be available. Certainly, the developing countries cannot be expected to join in any international action if they do not have additional means put at their disposal. How can we expect them to be concerned about global climate chance or other similar issues when some of them are facing famine problems or sometimes don't have the revenue to pay their civil servants at the end of the month? At the same time, the donor countries argued that they could not commit money if they did not have clear programme proposals. So the two have to move on a parallel path. I think the injection of money will come if the Member Governments agree on clear strategies and programmer objectives.
Whether there will be one, two or three funds attached to one, two or three conventions, plus a "green fund", is something about which I would not venture to speculate. I would note, however, that a lot of the needed revenue could be generated by better terms of trade. More funds could also be channelled through the existing machinery provided that there are changes in objectives, policies and strategies. Recent developments in the TFAP seem to be steps in the right direction.
Unasylva. To conclude, what role do you see for forestry and foresters in the Earth's future after UNCED?
Mahler. I see a continuing and ever widening role for forestry and foresters in the Earth's future. Of course, there will be the classic role of the forester in assessing, monitoring and managing forest resources, both natural and human-made, that are destined primarily for the production of wood and wood-based products. This is an area in which foresters have already demonstrated their competence and environmental sensitivity. But equally important is their wider role with regard to the need for the "greening of the world". The greening of the world is to be done mostly with trees and, therefore, I see for the forester a basic role in guiding all the programmes of afforestation and reforestation which need to be undertaken. The forestry profession is the repository of knowledge about what to plant, when, where and how. This knowledge cannot be substituted by goodwill and emotional concern for the environment, no matter how sincere. Of course, not all tree-planting will be done by foresters but they will be needed to provide guidance and advice. Foresters will also be responsible for managing the huge amount of planting material which is going to be needed - the seedlings, the nurseries, etc. Perhaps most importantly, reforestation has to be planned and maintained on an ecological basis and be economically viable and socially acceptable; all of this is the domain of the forester.
Foresters will also have to assume a wider and more diversified role within the rural environment. Here, we are not talking about forests, we are talking about trees. Foresters will need to be more involved in multiple resource management projects. Many development programmes need to have a forester working alongside a range management specialist, a hydrologist, an agriculturist, etc. The foresters who work in these multidisciplinary efforts will need to be different from their traditional counterparts; they will need to be agroforesters, hybrids who will know as much about agriculture as they do about forestry. This will have major implications for training programmes and education curricula in forestry and agriculture.
This is perhaps where FAO has a comparative advantage in that we can ensure the necessary linkage between agriculture and forestry. It would be a disaster to isolate the forestry constituency from the agriculture constituency. It is only by having agriculture and forestry in the same institution that you can somehow negotiate the necessary trade-offs and promote the synergies to ensure both increased productivity and environmental stability.
