G20 nations must address the 'most pressing issue of our time'

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

At a World Food Programme summit, Gordon Brown said he will try to negotiate a new fund to help the world’s poorest through the economic downturn at April’s G20 meeting. Yet increased funding will not solve everything, says UNESCO’s Koichiro Matsuura. He outlines UNESCO’s efforts to inform decision-makers and explains what he thinks can create a viable solution

We live in a fast changing world where the shortcomings of unimpeded globalisation are manifesting themselves through a series of geo-environmental and geo-economic crises. The list is long: the world financial crisis, the world food crisis, climate change, and loss of both biodiversity and cultural diversity, to name but a few.

Such crises, as well as more specific issues affecting sustainable development, including the growing demand for energy from biofuels, the volatility of commodity prices and access to water, are both the result of uncontrolled globalisation and the manifestation of a collective short-sightedness in tackling issues related to the management of natural resources and our relationship with the environment. We need to start 'thinking outside the box' to capture the complexity of the problems we are facing. We also need to study them through a multidisciplinary lens if we are to identify sustainable solutions. UNESCO, with its unique mandate encompassing education, the sciences, culture and communication, is well placed to contribute to this process.

Our approach to the world food crisis starts with the evidence gathered by our sister organisations, and in particular the World Food Programme, showing that food shortages are more often the result of uneven distribution and income inequity than an insufficient global quantity. There is certainly a disconnect between local and global realities of food production. The central message of the 2008 International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD), co-sponsored by UNESCO and involving over 400 scientists from numerous disciplines, was that 'the way the world grows its food will have to change radically to serve the poor and hungry better, if countries are to cope with a growing population and climate change while avoiding social breakdown and environmental collapse.' This includes the need for a comprehensive evaluation of the advantages and risks associated with the use of biotechnology in agriculture and food production from an environmental, economic, social and cultural, and health standpoint.

UNESCO's own assessment of the food crisis identified five main challenges:
How do we reconcile the productivity of agricultural systems with the conservation of natural resources and biodiversity in rural areas?

We need to favour production practices that require fewer agricultural inputs like chemical fertilisers and pesticides. There is a full range of existing techniques and practices that, through agro-ecology, have succeeded in overcoming the production versus conservation dilemma. Unfortunately, these systems have not benefited from the same public support as more conventional ones. In addition, these systems rely on a crucial element to achieve more sustainable food systems: the knowledge dialogue.

How do we foster a true dialogue between science and traditional knowledge systems?
We need to make better use of local and community knowledge in the search for locally adapted solutions and food systems. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2000-2005) and the IAASTD have demonstrated that different epistemological systems can contribute to understanding changes in ecosystems and the services they deliver, discriminating indirect from direct drivers of change, and identifying interventions and strategies. Modern science must engage with traditional and local knowledge systems if viable solutions to the world food crisis are to be found.

How do we capitalise on local cultures in the context of agriculture for development?
We need to recognise agriculture as a multi-output activity producing not only commodities but also non-commodity outputs, such as environmental services, landscape amenities, health and cultural heritage, some of which may have a compensation value now or in the future. In UNESCO's experience, culture – broadly defined – is an untapped development resource.

What is the role of education in addressing food security issues?
A truly holistic analysis of food production systems raises important questions about the role of education in achieving sustainable development. For example, there are clear linkages between innovative food education programmes for urban consumers and the development of sustainable food systems in rural areas.

How can ICTs assist in developing sustainable models of production and consumption patterns?
ICTs allow communities with diverse cultural and socio-economic backgrounds to share common values and combat common causes in the interest of humanity as a whole. This is part of the definition of a 'knowledge society'. In an era of globalisation, we should be able to further capitalise on the capacity of such knowledge societies to attain the Millennium Development Goals. However, while a knowledge-driven society will provide the basis for such common combat, only political will and mobilisation of appropriate resources will make it possible.

The 2008 IAASTD report underlined the pressing need to change the rules of modern agriculture. UNESCO is working with its member states in a variety of ways to meet this challenge.

One of the principal elements of the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, for which UNESCO is lead agency, is dedicated to agriculture for sustainable development. Education and training are essential in addressing rural poverty and ensuring sustainable development. The Education for Rural People partnership, jointly implemented by UNESCO and FAO, combines an international platform for advocacy with technical support to countries in order to increase access to quality basic education in rural areas, and foster national capacities to plan and implement basic education suited to the needs of rural people.

In an attempt to better understand rural and agricultural development approaches that have successfully combined economic and social development with the conservation of biological and cultural diversity, UNESCO relies on the World Network of Biosphere Reserves under UNESCO's Man and the Biosphere Programme. Today, the network comprises 531 sites in 105 countries, where projects are conducted to analyse and further develop existing linkages between culture, local identities and site specific patterns of sustainable development in many rural, agriculture-based biosphere reserves, and then test and promote these approaches in other areas facing similar development challenges. As of 2009, UNESCO will provide training on climate adaptation schemes in biosphere reserves, including on reducing emissions from deforestation and forest degradation in developing countries (REDD).

Examples of best practice in protecting agricultural knowledge can be found in the implementation of UNESCO normative instruments, such as the 1972 World Heritage Convention and the 2003 Convention on the Safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage.

While UNESCO continues to pursue scientific and technical work in relation to agriculture through its relevant programmes and activities, such as water conservation and use in agriculture in the context of the UNESCO International Hydrological Programme, the organisation is also actively engaged in the area of communication through its International Initiative for Community Multimedia Centres, which assesses the role of ICTs in rural development and food security, and initiatives aimed at teaching media professionals in technical areas, including environment and agriculture in collaboration with FAO.

Given the urgent need for decision-makers to improve their understanding of the underlying causes of the current world food crisis, and to access clear, evidence-based information on how to move forward, UNESCO has recently produced a policy brief on the contribution of agricultural knowledge, science and technology to development. It will continue to contribute to the exchange of inter-disciplinary information, and inform decision-makers on pioneering aspects of agriculture and rural development, and their implications for society, as part of the international community's efforts to address one of the most pressing issues of our time.