[SustainableTompkins] Call to review UN assessment of agriculture

[Tony Del Plato]

TC Sustainers:

The following is an urgent call to review the United Nations assessment of
agriculture and the protection of indigenous knowledge. Please pass on to
appropriate individuals & lists.
Thanks,
Tony Del Plato

Begin forwarded message:

> From: "Benedikt Haerlin" <haerlin at zs-l.de>
> Date: September 7, 2006 1:29:38 PM EDT
>
> Dear ladies and gentlemen,
>
> Below is an urgent call for reviews and comments on a major UN /
> Worldbank sponsored intergovernmental exercise, IAASTD, to review Science
and
> Technology for Development in Agriculture. There is a compendium of
> agricultural knowledge and perspectives in the making, which will
> substantially influence future national and international development
> and ag R&D decisions on future investments, programmes and code of
conduct.
>
> We would appreciate your contributions and also ask you to forward this
> announcement to academic and non-academic experts in the field.
>
> Obviously GMOs are one of the strongly debated issues within this
> report, as are pesticides, industrial agriculture and food sovereignty,
patents,
> trade, eco- and organic agriculture and the whole set of issues around
> sustainable agriculture. It would help a lot, if critical comments were
submitted
> to this end at the different chapters (3, 7, 8, 9 and especially 10).
> They will trigger debate and aid those authors and review editors, trying
to
> introduce the indigenous, grass-roots and NGO views in their chapters.
>
> The deadline has been set to 25 September - but may be extended
> slightly.
> Full instructions and details below.
>
> Benny Haerlin (Greenpeace rep on the IAASTD-Bureau)
> Marcia Iti-Eiteman (Pesticide Action Network North America)
> On behalf of the NGO group working on the IAASTD
> www.agassessment-watch.org
>
>
> ................................................................
>
>
> NGO-Call to participate in the first public review
> Of the United Nations and World Bank sponsored
> International Assessment of Agricultural Science and Technology for
> Development (IAASTD)
>
> How can knowledge, science and technology help create conditions for a
> sustainable and equitable future of the world's agriculture? What can
> we expect over the next 10 to 50 years and what are the lessons learnt
> from the past 50 years? What policy changes must be enacted to change the
> current trajectory of unsustainable and inequitable development that we
are on?
> These are some of the issues in the UN-led Assessment.
> A first draft is now available for review and comments by 25 September
> 2006 at www.agassessment.org .
> Now is the time for people working for sustainable agriculture and
> development to make their voices heard. Civil society representatives
> on the IAASTD-Bureau and authors call for contributions especially from
> grassroots activists, critical scientists, environmental, farmer and
development
> organisations to raise their concerns, submit their information,
> experience, assessments, demands and conclusions. The international
assessment
> alone comprises more than 1000 pages - this massive ivory tower can be
> overcome with the help and the input of many - Pick one issue and make
your
> comments.
> For more details how to best participate:
> www.agassessment-watch.org
> All contributions to this public review will be digested by 2 review
> editors per chapter and referred to the authors. The resulting second
draft
> will again be publicly presented. The review authors are to make sure all
> submissions are taken into account and to identify and fairly represent
> conflicting views.
>
> WHAT TO DO?
> 1) Please check the overall outline and read those chapters of specific
> interest to you. An overview and annotations can be found at
> http://www.agassessment-watch.org
> 2) Submit your comments on the individual chapters to the Secretariat
> of the IAASTD before September 25 using the form provided by Secretariat
at
>
http://www.agassessment.org/docs/Instructions_for_IAASTD_Reviewers_1807.doc
> Or as excel form at
http://www.agassessment.org/docs/Instructions_for_Reviewers.xls
> Send them to iaastdreview at worldbank.org
> 3) As these contributions will not be made publicly available by the
> Secretariat, you are invited to also send a copy to
review at agassessment-watch.org to share them publicly at the NGO Forum.
> 4) Spread the word and this invitation to colleagues and friends and
> invite them to comment as well
>
ABOUT THE REVIEW:
> The production of this first draft was, not surprisingly, a highly
> contentious endeavor, and in some cases chapter authors have not yet
> agreed on the contents or analyses put forth by co-authors. Thus you will
> find at this stage a mix of viewpoints, perspectives, arguments,
assumptions
> and types of evidence put forth, as well as some contradictory findings,
> and a massive tension between the more conventional econometric,
> technocratic and production-oriented analyses, and those emphasizing
environmental,
> social and political issues such as governance, equity, rights, ecosystem
> integrity and "services",  local and indigenous knowledge and rights, and
the
> multifunctionality of agriculture.
>
> The primary  objective of the first review is to identify main gaps,
> flaws and contradictions in analysis, lack of referral to key bodies of
> literature, and to critique the presentation of controversial issues
> (e.g. impacts of conventional agriculture; the role of transgenic
> biotechnology in achieving "sustainability and equitable development"
goals;
> "scientific" basis of policy formation (whose science, whose technology);
relevance
> of LEISA, organic and alternative agriculture; IPR, trade, investments,
> etc.).
> We hope that reviewers will not hesitate to point out flaws in in the
> draft (as well as any strengths), as this will be immensely helpful to
those
> of us "on the inside."
>
> Chapters 2-3 in the first section are to collect the experience and
> historical lessons learnt. The most strategic chapters to focus on are
> probably the "Options for the Future" (chapters 7-10), as this is
> likely what will get the attention of policymakers. The middle section
(Sec.
> 2 on Plausible Futures) is currently being subjected to a rigorous
external
> review, organized by civil society because of a widespread discomfort
> with that sections' trajectory, its methodology and assumptions. Therefore
> it is probably not necessary for reviewers with limited time to look at
those
> chapters (ch. 4 - 6), unless you have a particular burning interest in
> scenarios analysis.
>
> ABOUT THE ASSESSMENT:
> Akin to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the recent
> Millenium Ecosystem Assessment, the IAASTD provides the first-ever
> comprehensive intergovernmental assessment of agriculture. The IAASTD
> is a major UN-led initiative that brings together governments,
> non-governmental organizations, research institutions and the private
sector, in a
> two-year assessment of the impacts of past and current agricultural
practices,
> policies and institutions, and the technical, regulatory, trade,
investment
> and policy options that could contribute towards more equitable and
> sustainable development over the next 50 years.
>
> The Assessment aims to answers the question "How can we reduce hunger
> and poverty, improve rural livelihoods, and facilitate equitable,
> environmentally, socially and economically sustainable development
> through the generation,  access to, and use of agricultural knowledge,
science
> and technology?"
>
> Approximately 500 authors from multiple disciplines are working on a
> global and five stand-alone sub-global assessments, examining available
> evidence to answer the above questions. 50 civil society representatives
from
> equitable and sustainable agricultural movements and networks are among
these
> authors. The final report is expected to be released by the end of 2007
and will
> influence the thinking and policies of major decision-makers in
> government and non-governmental institutions and serve as a reference for
future
> national and international development and R&D programmes.
>
> The IAASTD does not produce new scientific evidence, but collects and
> reviews existing literature and experience. Crucially, the report is
> NOT a consensus document, but will spell out where there is consensus and
> where there is disagreement, particularly on controversial topics, and
> identify the reasons, issues and drivers behind the controversies.
>
> If conducted well and presented in a comprehensible form, the IAASTD
> could provide a powerful policy lever, as well as a useful source of
> information regarding the impacts, contributions, benefits and harms
associated
> with agricultural knowledge, science and technologies, and the
> institutional, policy, trade and regulatory frameworks that have been (or
in future,
> could be) constructed around them.
>
> The IAASTD is overseen by a Bureau of 30 government and 30 Civil
> Society representatives (among them 6 from NGOs), which will meet and
review
> the status of the assessment on 1-3 November in Costa Rica. NGO
> representatives on the Bureau need instructions and feedback from our
constituents and
> allies as to how to guide this venture in the right direction and
> whether it is worth pursuing this process further.
>
>
----------------------------------------------
Brian Tokar
Biotechnology Project
c/o Institute for Social Ecology
P.O. Box 93
Plainfield, VT 05667
802-229-0087


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Thomas Jefferson