Presidency wants to push through UN strategy for sustainable development of agriculture until 2017

On behalf of the 27 Member States the Czech Republic, as the country holding the Presidency, coordinates the EU position at the 17th Session of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD-17).

The Presidency aims to finish the negotiations with the adoption of a final political document and then to implement it into sustainable and interrelated goals for agriculture and rural development, the right to land and issues including drought, desertification and African development. If the negotiations on the document are brought to an end, it will present the UN vision for sustainable agriculture until 2017.

The delegation headed by Czech Agriculture Minister Jakub Šebesta is now due to meet the JUSCANZ member states, i.e. Japan, the USA, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, whose support should lead to an agreement on the political document. The main topics include sustainable agriculture, bio-fuels production and food safety, socioeconomic development of rural areas, water management as part of sustainable development strategy and organic production of food. Current issues further include sharing the latest scientific findings in the field of cultivars and plans resistant to drought or the fight against pests. Monitoring programmes to limit the risks to farmers, rural communities and consumers also fall within the sustainable agriculture strategy.

At today’s 17^th meeting of CSD-17, Minister Šebesta, speaking on behalf of the EU, stressed that agriculture must be sustainable in order to ensure safe, good-quality food in sufficient quantity worldwide in the long term. “It is vital to make sure that natural resources are managed in a sustainable way and to use methods that are friendly to the environment, including organic farming. The international community must guarantee sustainable production of bio-fuels and provide for an efficient framework for land tenure, land use and management”. Minister Šebesta went on to say that “the best way to boost the resilience of ecosystems to irreversible impacts of environmental change is to introduce sustainable systems of agricultural methods, economise water resources, protect the soil and use energy-saving production methods. In this way, we can contribute to adapting to climate change, to reducing its impacts and at the same time to providing food in the long term”.

Later on in his keynote speech addressed to the participants in the meeting held at the UN headquarters, the Minister emphasised that “as regards rural development, it is necessary to promote non-agricultural activities in order to diversify rural economies and improve the quality of life in rural areas. Furthermore, alongside the balanced rural development, we need to encourage sustainable forest management and sustainable tourism”. Speaking about Africa, Minister Šebesta aptly expressed the EU position by saying: “We must eradicate poverty and famine. Therefore, the international community must pay keen attention to Africa and its agriculture. Investments into African agriculture must be based on sustainability; it is necessary to improve access to existing markets and to develop markets for value-added agricultural products from Africa. The EU will carry on cooperating intensively with Africa, in particular via the Common EU-Africa Strategic Partnership”.

Since 2004, the CSD has been working in biannual implementation cycles, with each cycle dedicated to selected topics set forth in the CSD work programme for 2004 – 2017. The first (evaluating) year of each cycle always focuses on the analysis and evaluation of the progress achieved in the selected fields. The second (political) year is dedicated to the political process regarding the same topics and the negotiations of the relevant decisions at the CSD meeting. The CSD meeting itself follows on the Intergovernmental Preparatory Meeting (IPM), held in the political year. The current cycle (2008 – 2009) has entered its political year that is now being completed by the 17^th meeting of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development. The topics of the CSD-16/17 cycle include: agriculture, rural development, land, drought, desertification and Africa, incl. interlinks between the topics and cross-sectoral issues.

In spite of the exceptionally complex nature of the talks on the final wording of the “Shared Vision” document, Minister Šebesta, speaking on behalf of the EU, appreciated the efforts of Czech negotiators.

The United Nations Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) was established in December 1992 to ensure effective fulfilment of the conclusions adopted on the second “Earth Summit” (United Nations Conference on Environment and Development UNCED Rio de Janeiro 1992). The tasks of the CSD are, among others, to evaluate the progress in the implementation of recommendations and commitments contained in UNCED-based documents (including, without limitation: Agenda 21, Rio Declaration, Principles of sustainable forests, Johannesburg Plan of Implementation) on the international, regional and national levels, to develop political guidelines for further activities to follow up on the UNCED, to promote dialogue and build partnership for sustainable development with governments, the international community and the main interest groups referred to in Agenda 21 as key partners that play the main role in the achievement of the sustainable developme