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Annan urges action on rural poverty (Wednesday, July 2, 2003 -- CropChoice news) -- Environment News Service, 07/01/03: GENEVA - It is time for the world to stop talking about rural development
and to start acting, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan said at
Monday's opening session of the annual meeting of the UN Economic and
Social Council (ECOSOC). This means altering agricultural policies and
trade practices that if left unchanged will drive much of the global poor
further into poverty, Annan told the UN's central body for development policy.
Realizing real positive change for the world's poor "will require developed
countries to allow agricultural products from developing countries to reach
their markets, unimpeded by direct or disguised barriers such as
subsidies," Annan said.
At several recent world trade and development conferences, the world has
outlined paths to aid rural development, Annan said, and the challenge now
"is not to decide what to do, but rather, simply, to do it."
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan: Realizing real positive change for the
world's poor "will require developed countries to allow agricultural
products from developing countries to reach their markets, unimpeded by
direct or disguised barriers such as subsidies." (AFP/Joseph Barrak)
Annan took particular aim at the Doha trade talks, which negotiators are
struggling with ahead the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in
September. Those talks have largely stalled, although there is belief among
some that the European Union's recent announcement of agricultural reforms
could help jumpstart negotiations.
The program outlined in Doha is a critical step in changing the framework
of world agricultural policy and "is more than just another round of trade
negotiations," according to the UN Secretary General.
The Doha program, he said, aims to eliminate unfair agricultural trading
policies faced by the rural poor and to open markets in developed
countries. But there is concern that the developed countries have stalled
in their negotiations and Annan warned the success "is by no means assured."
"Key deadlines have been missed," he said. "The time has come for all
parties to show more flexibility, and give priority to the global interest.
It is not too late to avoid a setback for economic development."
Failure to act will simply contribute to a myriad of global factors making
the lives of the poor "much bleaker."
Some 900 million of the world's poorest people scratch out a living from
agriculture and rural activities, the UN Secretary General said, and their
efforts at mere subsistence survival are being hampered by unfair practices
in the global economy.
"They are on the frontlines of drought, desertification and environmental
degradation, they are the farmers - women above all - whose hard labor is
undermined by protectionism, meager infrastructure and, increasingly, the
spread of AIDS," Annan said. "They are the indigenous people, herders,
artisans, fishers and others, whose struggles in isolated areas all too
seldom capture world attention."
Adding to the challenges, the Secretary General explained, is that the
world economy has yet to recover from its slowdown in 2001 and is
struggling with the risk of deflation, the spread of disease, rising
unemployment, overcapacity in several sectors and lingering geopolitical
concerns. This impacts aid from developed countries and impedes the
economic opportunities for developing countries, Annan says.
More than 30 developing countries have actually seen their per capita
income drop in each of the past two years, and few expect growth before the
end of 2004, the UN Secretary General said.
"It may not be true that 'a rising tide lifts all boats,'" Annan said. "But
it is certainly true that, in bad weather, the weakest boats are the most
vulnerable."
The world must focus on stimulating economic growth, Annan said, but he
warned that combating poverty and achieving the UN's Millennium Development
Goals will require much more than that.
The Millennium Development Goals are targets drawn up in 2000 at the UN
Millennium Summit to combat poverty, hunger, illiteracy, environmental
degradation and discrimination against women, and to be achieved by 2015.
These goals require some $100 billion a year, but commitments thus far only
cover about half the required total.
Success on trade policy is vital, but still not enough on its own, Annan
told attendees of the ECOSOC meeting, who will meet in Geneva through July
2 to explore ways to promote an integrated approach to rural development in
developing countries for poverty eradication and sustainable development.
This development entails much more investment in agricultural research to
develop higher yield crops, Annan said.
The rural poor need assistance to develop more efficient water management,
to increase non-farm employment as well as efforts to the help them secure
land tenure and land reform and embrace sustainable farming practices.
"All this can happen only with a real commitment to bring rural development
back to the center of the development agenda," Annan said. "Nowhere will
our commitment be put to the test more than in Africa, where food
insecurity and AIDS are working in vicious tandem to thwart the continent's
rural development."
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