Meeting's report on sustainable development in the Asia and Pacific Region

Bangkok, October 2003
by Raul Montemayor, Chairman of the IFAP Asian Farmers’ Committee

Summary: The Chairman of the IFAP Asian Committee, Mr. Raul Montemayor, represented IFAP in two meetings on Sustainable Development in the Asia and Pacific Region held in Bangkok. The first meeting focused on the status of implementation of water, sanitation, and human settlements in the overall sustainable development initiative. The workshop focused on the status and characteristics of national sustainable development strategies of countries. The workshop’s output will be an input to the CSD-12 meeting to be held at the UN next April. During his interventions, Montemayor highlighted the critical importance of the agricultural sector, in particular the small farming sector, as well as the importance of channelling resources more definitively and proactively to the rural areas, particularly for the provision of basic infrastructure and services. He also insisted on the necessity of political will in favour of rural areas.

Report:


Regional Implementation Meeting for Asia and the Pacific, 27-28 October 2003. This meeting focused on the status of implementation of three thematic areas related to the overall sustainable development initiative - water, sanitation, and human settlements. It served as a preparatory session for the second meeting.


Regional Workshop on National Sustainable Development Strategies for Asia and the Pacific, 29-31 October 2003. This workshop focused on the status and characteristics of national sustainable development strategies (NSDS) of countries, particularly their economic, social and environmental components. The workshop also touched on the roles of major groups and stakeholders, intergovernmental institutions, and national agencies in the implementation of NSDSs. The output of the workshop will be an input into the Committee on Sustainable Development (CSD) meeting which will be held at the United Nations in New York next year.

The IFAP representative’s interventions highlighted the following points:


a) The agricultural sector, and in particular the small farming sector in Asia, is of critical importance to the achievement of UN goals for water, sanitation and human settlements, and for sustainable development as a whole. This sector comprises the bulk of the population in the region, and it is within this sector that the incidence of water scarcity, poor sanitation, decent housing, and overall underdevelopment is most pronounced.


b) Although water, sanitation and human settlement problems are oftentimes identified and treated primarily as urban concerns, the ultimate cause and solution to these problems lies in the rural areas and with the small farming sector. Rural residents migrate to the cities in droves because of the lack of livelihood opportunities in the rural areas; in the process, they place a huge stress on the water, sanitation and housing capacities of urban areas. Efforts to upgrade urban facilities to make the cities more habitable, hygienic and comfortable will simply act as a magnet for poor and desperate rural residents to flock to the cities unless a parallel effort is made to encourage them to stay on their farms and enjoy an acceptable lifestyle in the rural areas.

c) Sustainable development in the rural areas is therefore the key to overall sustainable development, and to the water, sanitation and housing problems besetting many cities in the region. This implies that resources should be channelled more definitively and proactively to the rural areas, particularly for the provision of basic infrastructure (roads, bridges, irrigation, and market centres) and services (communication, market information, electricity, water, health and education). Given the limited resources of governments in most Asian countries, political will is necessary to shift the bias in allocation of budgets and crafting of policies in favour of the rural areas, agriculture and small farmers. Similarly, policy reforms will have to be pursued in traditionally contentious areas - land rights and land use, trade, environment, etc. - to support developmental efforts in the rural areas.

d) This battle over scarce government resources and conflicts of interest inherent in policy formulation requires that small farmers and their organizations actively participate in the formulation, implementation and monitoring of sustainable development strategies, plans and programs. Governments should willingly provide them such an opportunity to participate in the process directly, and in an institutionalised manner, by establishing appropriate structures and processes for sustained involvement by legitimate farmers’ organizations. In turn, farmers’ organizations should take up the challenge and upgrade their capacities to participate effectively, intelligently and credibly at the local, national and international levels.