Agriculture is the single largest employer in the world, providing livelihoods and jobs for 40 per cent of today’s global population. Moreover, as a human enterprise, it reflects the single largest use of land of any sector. In developing countries, smallholder farms provide up to 80 per cent of the food supply. Faced with environmental degradation, climate change, scarcity of land and water, loss of agricultural biodiversity and ecosystem services, and a world population that is continuing to climb, it is critical for farm and natural resource management and policies to play a more central role in shaping the broader development and environmental agendas.
CGIAR calls for a focus on the entire agricultural landscape as an integrated system, which recognizes that isolated solutions will not reduce risks or achieve required progress in the same way as integrated approaches will.
CGIAR calls for a focus on harmonizing food security and environmental sustainability through agricultural research and development. This will require us to minimize the harmful effects of agriculture on the environment through more efficient management of water, soils and agricultural inputs.
CGIAR calls for the sustainable management of complex agricultural systems while maximizing agricultural productivity and improving the livelihoods and food/nutrition security of the poor.
To achieve these objectives at Rio+20 and beyond, CGIAR, the world’s largest publicly-funded global research partnership that advances science to reduce global poverty and hunger by addressing issues related to climate change, farming, forestry, environment and natural resources management, among others, has outlined a seven-point plan for how agricultural research for development can contribute to a more sustainable, food-secure future:
- We call on Rio+20 actors to adopt cross-sectoral approaches which facilitate broader partnerships, coordinated regulatory frameworks and appropriate economic incentives. What is required now is the vision and courage to transcend conventional sectoral approaches and apply integrated thinking to the management of agriculture, aquaculture, livestock, forests and water.
- We urge Rio+20 actors to address the unequal sharing of natural resources and their benefits through improved governance and technology dissemination. Robust land rights, more sustainable management and use of agricultural biodiversity, appropriate inclusive decision-making, benefit-sharing from forest goods and services, and enhanced enforcement by forest agencies, when appropriate, can all contribute to reduced conversion of forests and grasslands and more sustainable management of natural resources.
- We prompt Rio+20 actors to support knowledge sharing systems that engage with smallholder farmers to improve the management of their crops, livestock and natural resources in order to increase production as well as minimize negative environmental impacts.
- We insist that Rio+20 actors support the wide range of options currently available to restore and better manage degraded environments and ecosystems. Efforts need to focus on scaling out these options and encouraging the adoption through community-designed programs.
- We urge Rio+20 actors to strengthen and support local food production groups, livestock herders and smallholder farmers by investing in agricultural research, strengthening land and water rights, increasing access to markets, finance and insurance, and enhancing local capacity, especially with regard to the use of local agricultural biodiversity.
- We request Rio+20 actors to endorse the full implementation of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA), which promotes not only the conservation and use of agricultural biodiversity but also the equitable sharing of any benefits that may arise from its use.
- We call on Rio+20 actors to make a clear commitment to sustainable agricultural systems that prioritize food and nutrition security in order to lessen the need for emergency responses, thus reducing the human toll of disasters and freeing funds, normally dedicated to disaster relief, to be used for preventive research.
In particular we call on:
- Government decision-makers to promote increased and sustained investment in agricultural research. CGIAR and its partners work with national and regional research institution agendas to ensure they are meeting local development targets.
- Farm, land and livestock managers to develop, test and adopt new approaches to land and ecosystem management. The work of CGIAR contributes to providing tools, technologies and approaches in support of a more integrated management of land, forests and water resources.
- Civil Society Organizations to support partnerships with research agencies at local and national level to ensure development initiatives are using appropriate technologies and approaches. CGIAR provides a range of proven technical solutions and approaches that are socially, economically and environmentally appropriate.
- Private Sector to support the discovery and dissemination of technologies, tools and knowledge needed by poor farmers and herders. Partnerships between the private sector and public research bodies, such as CGIAR, can play a key role in driving and disseminating agricultural innovation.
Read more about CGIAR at Rio+20
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The CGIAR should take the opportunity at Rio+20 to pull out of the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA). With major countries not members (China, Mexico, Nigeria and many others) and with CGIAR institutes and developed countries placing samples originating from these countries in the ITPGRFA this Treaty is neither sustainable nor equitable. For example, there are 97,000 samples of Mexican origin in the Treaty without the knowledge or approval of Mexico.
The CGIAR – in its relations with developing countries – can function better without the ITPGRFA and deliver sound benefits, as it has done for upwards of 50 years, through crop breeding of value to all developing countries.
Dave,
if the international community would pull out of any international treaty which is not (yet) endorsed by some of the larger countries, then no international treaty would survive.
John
In 2001, the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources was adopted by consensus by the 183 countries constituting the FAO Conference [link to report]. Article 15 of the Treaty calls upon the CGIAR centres to sign agreements with the governing body of the Treaty to place the ex situ collections they host under the Treaty’s framework. In response to this very clear expression from the international community, the Centres signed such agreements in 2006, and have managed the ex situ collections under the Treaty’s overarching framework ever since. 127 countries have ratified the Treaty since its adoption, and it is reasonable to expect that still others will do so. The Governing Body has expressed its appreciation for the centres efforts under the Treaty. The International Treaty provides a framework for the international coordination of actions related to the conservation and sustainable use of plant genetic resources and the sharing of benefits derived from their use. As such, the centres are convinced that the Treaty is an extremely important international agreement, and remain committed to supporting its full implementation.