In Brief
MEXICO ACTION SUMMIT CALLS FOR ACTION ON POVERTY, AGRICULTURE AND BIODIVERSITY
A "Mexico Action Summit" was held in Mexico City from 2-3 June, to coincide with the G-8 meeting in Evian, France. It was organised by the International Food and Agricultural Trade Policy Council and the Monterrey Bridge Coalition — a collaborate initiative among organisations challenging states to implement their promises from the Financing for Development conference in 2002 in Monterrey, Mexico, and aiming to create mutually supportive linkages between sustainable agricultural production, biodiversity protection and trade policies. The two-day meeting, fostering discussion in number of sessions and roundtables around the themes of poverty, agriculture and biodiversity, concluded by launching a call to action. The call to action stressed the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) as the framework that should unite all public and private action to alleviate hunger and poverty and restore biodiversity, and called for action to reach these goals by 2015. The statement went on to identify critical next steps in this regard, including to: restore agriculture and rural development as the priority sectors in public policies; eliminate subsidies on agricultural products; value and promote healthy ecological systems that provide the basis for agriculture production and a well nourished population; promote public-private partnerships; recognise links between rural development, hunger and HIV/AIDS; create mechanisms for equitable benefit-sharing of biodiversity; and focus especially on tropical and subtropical countries, specifically sub-Saharan Africa.
For a full report of the meeting, see IISD Linkages.
"The Mexico Action Summit: A Call To Action - A New Approach for a New Future," FUTURE HARVEST PRESS RELEASE, 4 June 2003.
WORLD ENVIRONMENT DAY FOCUSES ON WATER
The main international celebration of the World Environment Day 2003 was held on 5 June in Beirut. This was the first time the annual event took place in the Arab World, and according to a spokesperson for the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the celebration held "special significance by being in the Arab world so soon after the recent conflict in Iraq". This year’s theme, Water — Two Billion are Dying for It!, focussed attention on 2003 as the International Year of Freshwater. At the event UNEP launched a report on the state of natural underground reservoirs. Klaus Töpfer, Executive Director of UNEP, commented in Beirut that "some two billion people and as much as 40 percent of agriculture is at least partly reliant on these hidden stores. Groundwater also supplements river flows, springs and wetlands vital for rural and urban communities and wildlife". According to UNEP, water shortage has become one of the most worrying problems in the new millennium. Today one person out of six lives without regular access to safe drinking water. Moreover, demand is outstripping supply. Water is vital to survival and is a major input to agriculture, industry and the maintenance of natural systems. The limited quantity, increasing contamination and growing demand for water poses one of the key challenges to sustainable development. Celebrations throughout the world highlighting the issue of water marked the World Environment Day.
"International World Environment Day Celebration to be held in Lebanon on 5 June", UNEP PRESS RELEASE, 30 April 2003; "Freshwater — An Unresolved International Issue", SEI PRESS RELEASE, May 1995; "Diouf: Safeguard ‘The Source of Food Security’, Water is the Theme of World Environment Day 2003", FAO PRESS RELEASE, 5 June 2003
NEW BIOTRADE PROJECT LAUNCHED IN BOLIVIA
A National Sustainable Biotrade Programme (PNBS) was launched in Bolivia on 11 June with the aim of helping to reduce poverty and fostering sustainable development. The UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) Biotrade Initiative — which seeks to enhance the ability of developing countries to produce value-added products and services derived from biodiversity for both domestic and international markets — is the sponsoring agency. Switzerland and the Netherlands will make financial contributions. Bolivia, a member of the group of "megadiverse" countries that together contain some 70 percent of the world’s biodiversity, possesses a great deal of natural wealth, while poverty levels are high. The PNBS seeks to promote income generation and the fair distribution of the benefits through the sustainable use of biodiversity. Its objective is to stimulate production of and trade in biodiversity goods, according to ecological, social and economic sustainability criteria. The programme contains five elements, including the development of standards for promoting the sustainable management of biodiversity and training in biotrade for the various national stakeholders. Other projects will complement the Bolivia Programme. These include the UNCTAD/ICC Biotrade Facilitation Programme and the Andean Biotrade Programme implemented by the Andean Community.
"UNCTAD, Netherlands and Switzerland join together to support the national biotrade project in Bolivia," UNCTAD PRESS RELEASE, 11 June 2003.