[Lapg] Africa: Reinventing Agriculture International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD).in Johannesburg April 15/08

[Wesley Roe and Santa Barbara Permaculture Network]

	Read this PR it is amazing the world is changing , a new direction 
in Agriculture has risen
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Africa: Reinventing Agriculture

http://allafrica.com/stories/200804150171.html
Inter Press Service (Johannesburg)

15 April 2008
Posted to the web 15 April 2008

Stephen Leahy
Johannesburg

The results of a painstaking examination of global agriculture are 
being formally presented Tuesday with the release of the final report 
for the International Assessment of Agricultural Science and 
Technology for Development (IAASTD).www.agassessment.org

The assessment has explored how agriculture can be reinvented to feed 
the world's expanding population sustainably in an era of multiple 
challenges -- not least those presented by climate change and a 
growing food crisis that has led to outbreaks of violence in a number 
of developing countries.


The expertise of some 400 scientists and other specialists was tapped 
for the IAASTD; governments of wealthy and developing nations also 
contributed to the assessment, along with civil society and the private sector.

Both scientific knowledge and traditional skills were evaluated under 
the IAASTD, which marked the first attempt to bring all actors in 
agriculture together to address food security. Contributors produced 
five regional assessments, and a 110-page-plus synthesis report.

Amongst the 22 findings of the study that chart a new direction for 
agriculture: a conclusion that the dominant practice of industrial, 
large-scale agriculture is unsustainable, mainly because of the 
dependence of such farming on cheap oil, its negative effects on 
ecosystems -- and growing water scarcity.

Instead, monocultures must be reconsidered in favour of 
agro-ecosystems that marry food production with ensuring water 
supplies remain clean, preserving biodiversity, and improving the 
livelihoods of the poor.

"Given the future challenges it was very clear to everyone that 
business as usual was not an option," IAASTD Co-chair Hans Herren 
told IPS. He was speaking at an Apr. 7-12 intergovernmental plenary 
in South Africa's commercial hub, Johannesburg, where the assessment 
findings were reviewed ahead of Tuesday's presentation.

While global supplies of food are adequate, 850 million people are 
still hungry and malnourished because they can't get access to or 
afford the supplies they need, added Herren -- who is also president 
of the Arlington-based Millennium Institute, a body that undertakes a 
variety of developmental activities around the world. A focus only on 
boosting crop yields would not deal with the problems at hand, he 
said: "We need better quality food in the right places."

The notion that yield can no longer be the sole measure of 
agricultural success was also raised by Greenpeace International's 
Jan van Aken, who said that the extent to which agriculture promotes 
nutrition needs to be considered. A half-hectare plot in Thailand can 
grow 70 species of vegetables, fruits and herbs, providing far better 
nutrition and feeding more people than a half-hectare plot of 
high-yielding rice, he added.

The IAASTD further notes that experts in agricultural science and 
technology must not only work with local farmers, but also 
economists, social and health scientists, governments and civil society.

"We can't solve these problems in the agriculture department alone," 
observed the other IAASTD co-chair, Judi Wakhungu, who is also 
executive director of the African Centre for Technology Studies. The 
centre is headquartered in the Kenyan capital, Nairobi.

"Leadership will be needed to make this change," she added, in 
acknowledgement of the fact that most governments, research centres 
and others in sectors linked to agriculture are unaccustomed to 
joining hands, and often compete for funding.

The plenary was marked by some disagreement over the 
ever-controversial matters of biotechnology and trade: indeed, during 
a long and fraught debate over biotechnology, the meeting very nearly 
fell apart. U.S. and Australian government representatives objected 
to wording in the synthesis report that highlighted concerns about 
whether the use of genetically modified (GM) crops in food is healthy and safe.

This issue, along with challenges pertaining to trade, had been 
thoroughly debated over the three-year IAASTD process and the final 
wording reflected scientific evidence. The report says biotechnology 
has a role to play in the future but that it remains a contentious 
matter, the data on benefits of GM crops being mixed; it further 
notes that patenting of genes causes problems for farmers and 
researchers.Relevant Links



Syngenta and the other biotech and pesticide companies abandoned the 
assessment process late last year.

The impasse at the plenary was broken when the two countries agreed 
to a footnote in the report indicating their reservations about the 
wording. They also agreed to accept the report as a whole, along with 
Canada and Swaziland: "Our government will champion this even though 
we have reservations on some parts," the Australian delegate told the meeting.

The other 60 countries represented at the plenary took a stronger 
position, moving beyond acceptance to adopt the report.

"I'm stunned. I didn't think it would pass," said Janice Jiggins of 
the Department of Social Science at the University of Wageningen in 
the Netherlands, and one of the experts who worked to review the 
totality of agricultural know-how and the effects of farming around the world.

There was also broad endorsement from civil society.


"We have a very strong anti-GMO (genetically-modified organism) 
stance but agreed to accept the synthesis report findings because it 
was neutral," noted van Aken. "We're not happy with everything, but 
we agree with the scientific consensus in the synthesis report."

Now, the IAASTD moves from testing the endurance of researchers to 
trying the political will of decision makers.

"These documents are like a bible with which to negotiate with 
various institutions in my country and transform agriculture," the 
Costa Rican delegate told the Johannesburg gathering, through a translator.

Others were more circumspect about the prospects for the assessment, 
but still hopeful.

"We're all headed in the same direction now, even if some are walking 
and some are running," said Wakhungu.