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-------- Original Message --------
Subject:        [climate justice now!] Sign on: Civil Society Statement of
Concern on the Hague Conference on Agriculture, Food Security a
Climate Change (October 31 - November 5)
Date:   Thu, 28 Oct 2010 13:10:34 -0500
From:   Shefali Sharma <ssharma@iatp.org>
To:     cclistserv@googlegroups.com <cclistserv@googlegroups.com>, 'CJN!'
<cjn@lists.riseup.net>



Dear All,



Please find attached and pasted below a Civil Society Statement of
concern that we wish to circulate on the opening day of the Hague
Conference on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change (Oct
31-Nov5), organized by the Dutch, but co-sponsored by the World Bank,
the FAO and several other governments.  There are serious concerns about
the process of this meeting and the “roadmap” that  is supposed to chart
out “concrete actions” with regards to agriculture within the context of
the climate talks.  To know more about this conference, see
http://www.afcconference.com/.  We apologies for the short turn around
time, but request you to circulate this widely to your networks.
*Please send all signatures to Shefali@iatp.org
<mailto:Shefali@iatp.org> by 5 pm (GMT+1), 30 October, Saturday.*

* *

Thanks,



Shefali Sharma, IATP and Lim Li Lin, TWN







*To: Mr. Maxime Verhagen, Minister of Economic Affairs, Agriculture and
Innovation, The Netherlands*

*Mr. **Ato Teferra Derebew, **Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development, Ethiopia*

*Mr. Enrique Dominguez Lucero, Minister of Agriculture, Livestock, Rural
Development, Fisheries and Food***

*Mr. David Carter, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, New Zealand*

*Mr. Lars Peder Brekk, Minister of Agriculture and Food, Norway*

*Ms. Thi Xuan Thu Nguyen, Vice Minister of Agriculture and Rural
Development, Vietnam*

*Mr. Robert Zoellick, President, World Bank *

*Mr. Jacques Diouf, Director-General, Food & Agriculture Organization of
the United Nations (FAO)*



*Civil Society Statement of Concern on the Hague Conference on
Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change (October 31 – November 5):*



We, the undersigned civil society organizations from around the world,
look with concern to the upcoming Hague Conference.  Hosted by the
Netherlands Government in cooperation with the Governments of Ethiopia,
Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Vietnam, the World Bank and the FAO, the
conference aims to produce a roadmap of “concrete actions linking
agriculture-related investments, policies and measures, to the
transition to lower carbon-emitting climate resilient growth.”



Climate change threatens the livelihoods and food security of billions
of the planet’s poor and vulnerable, and it is urgent to get both the
analysis and solutions right.  Getting it right also means following a
correct process, including by involving those whose livelihoods are most
at risk.  Top down solutions are not legitimate solutions.

* *

*Participation and transparency*



We are concerned about a lack of transparency, participation and
consultation with governments, farmers and others in civil society in
preparing for the conference and its “roadmap”.  A regional
pre-conference was organized in Africa but not in other regions, raising
concerns about uneven participation.



*Ecological versus industrial agriculture*



The industrial model of agricultural production threatens the viability
of ecosystems and contributes massively to climate change.  Nothing less
than a system change is needed in the face of the climate change
threat.  The process addresses agriculture and climate linkages, yet it
is not evident that those representing developing countries at UN
climate change negotiations where these linkages are being actively
negotiated were also included. The ecological model of agricultural
production, based on principles that create healthy soils and cultivate
biological diversity, and which prioritise farmers and traditional
knowledge, is climate-resilient. This is “climate-smart” agriculture.



There is also a critical need to reverse the economic concentration of
global markets – particularly for grains, livestock and food processing
– that has led to unsustainable forms of industrial agriculture
worldwide and the bulk of the emissions from the agriculture sector.
Unfortunately, the program agenda does not appear to address these
necessary system changes in any significant way.



*Avoid questionable technological fixes*



The conference should avoid discussing costly and unproven technological
fixes such as genetically modified organisms and other patented
technologies and practices.  These technologies are not only
prohibitively costly for developing countries, but also create new forms
of corporate control over agricultural plant and animal genetic
resources.[1] <#_ftn1>  Their safety is in doubt, and environmental,
social and economic harm has already occurred from their use. They
threaten to hinder rather than enhance agricultural adaptation to
climate change.

* *

*A focus on adaptation*

* *

Adaptation to climate change in the agriculture sector should be the
main priority of this conference. It must emphasize identified
adaptation priorities of developing countries and the provision of
steady and reliable public finance to developing countries that will
have to cope with the worst consequences of climate change.  In
addition, adaptation financing should be in the form of grants, not
loans. Developed country mitigation and “offsetting” priorities should
not and cannot drive the design of climate adaptation strategies.

* *

*Public finance not carbon markets*



While much is being made of its market possibilities, we must
emphatically state that linking soil carbon and carbon markets is not
the solution for mitigation or adaptation in the agricultural sector.
Money from a speculative market is neither steady nor reliable, and
could mean disaster for food security and livelihoods in developing
countries.  Moreover, “innovative” market-based approaches distract
attention from the responsibility of developed countries for their
historic emissions, and their obligations to finance adaptation and
mitigation in developing countries. Carbon market mechanisms actually
finance the mitigation commitments of developed countries through
“offsetting” projects in developing countries, thereby allowing them to
continue rather than change their unsustainable production and
consumption patterns, while shifting the burden of mitigation and
increasing the burden of adaptation to developing countries.

* *

*Implement rather than ignore IAASTD findings*

* *

The critical issues of agriculture, food security and climate change
have in fact been addressed at length in the International Assessment of
Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development
(IAASTD).  Initiated by the World Bank and FAO, sponsored by additional
UN agencies and approved by 58 governments, the IAASTD is considered as
the “Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) of agriculture,”
having drawn on the work of over 400 experts over a six year process.



As a result, the IAASTD contains some of the most complete and
authoritative sets of policy and investment options to strengthen the
productivity and resilience of the world’s food and agricultural
systems, while prioritizing social equity and sustainability. The
consultative, multi-stakeholder process that created the assessment
imbues its findings and policy options with legitimacy; and its findings
were welcomed by many of the developing countries that suffer the
effects of hunger and food insecurity most severely.



The Conference ignores at its peril the IAASTD. The World Bank and the
FAO should be championing the IAASTD, rather than attempting to ignore
or subvert it.  Given the World Bank’s highly criticized track record on
agriculture, its spearheading of this process warrants close scrutiny.



*Conclusion*

* *

We demand that the Hague Conference support fair and effective solutions
to the agriculture and climate crises. We call on it to champion a
global transition to ecological agriculture, avoid questionable
technological fixes, focus on enabling farmers to adapt to climate
change, and ensure adequate public financing for agriculture. Many of
these recommendations are embodied in the IAASTD, reflecting broad
public consultation, and should be endorsed by this process, and
implemented by governments and international organizations, including
the World Bank and FAO.



We believe that the international food and agriculture community, in
particular, smallholder farmers, laborers, indigenous peoples, women and
civil society organizations engaged on issues of food security, food
sovereignty, the right to food, and the preservation and use of
traditional knowledge are essential to this debate and are providing
practical, just and affordable solutions to the problems of food
security and climate change.  They need to be heard. The international
roadmap of “concrete actions” will first and foremost impact smallholder
farmers worldwide, and any process that ignores their voices will be
questioned for lack of legitimacy.



31 October, 2010



_______________________________________________
Lista del Area Agroecología y Soberanía Alimentaria
Ecologistas en Accion
Marques de Leganes 12 - 28004 Madrid
Telefono:+34-91-5312739 Fax:+34-91-5312611
http://www.ecologistasenaccion.org/