PRESS CONFERENCE ON INTERNATIONAL DAY TO ERADICATE POVERTY

PRESS CONFERENCE ON INTERNATIONAL DAY TO ERADICATE POVERTY

     At a press conference held today as part of the Headquarters commemoration of the International Day for the Eradication of Poverty, the Talamanca Initiative of Costa Rica, the largest exporter of organic products in Central America, represented 27 communities throughout the world being recognized with Equator Awards for their work in reducing poverty while protecting biodiversity.

The $30,000 awards, the first of which were announced at the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development, are part of the Equator Initiative that recognizes community-led partnerships throughout the equatorial belt.  The winners were chosen from among more than 420 nominees in 77 countries.  The Initiative itself is a global development network, in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and includes BrasilConnects, the Government of Canada, The World Conservation Union and the United Nations Foundation.  

Benson Venegas Robinson received the award on behalf of the Talamanca Initiative.  Charles McNeill, the UNDP Environment Programme Team Manager, presented the award.  Also taking part in the press conference were Eugen Brand, the Director-General of ATD Fourth World, and Jean-David Levitte, the Permanent Representative of France to the United Nations.

In presenting the award, Mr. McNeill recalled that the World Summit had stressed the need to go from agreements to action in eradicating poverty and protecting the environment.  The Summit had concluded that it was important to listen to the poor, not just in understanding their problems, but in finding solutions.  The 27 awards showed that the Equator Initiative was listening.  It was finding successful local partnerships and connecting them in the fight against poverty.

The projects honored this year were proof that there was profit in protecting the environment, he said.  Each was an inspiring success story.  For example, a beekeeping partnership had doubled the incomes of 2,000 households and had reduced the exploitation of forests.  In Fiji, a community-driven marine reserve now protected 10 per cent of the coastal waters, which had led to a tripling of catches and incomes. 

The Talamanca Initiative had started in the poorest region of Costa Rica, he continued.  In less than 20 years, it had become the largest exporter of organic products in Central America, primarily in bananas and cacao.  It was bringing $500,000 a year to the local communities and providing 1,500 jobs, with 70 per cent of the farmers indigenous Talamanca Indians.  They were now teaching similar farmers in Panama how to grow and market organic products.  The movement was growing from one community to another.  In addition, Talamanca was bringing another $450,000 a year into the local communities through ecotourism initiatives.     

Accepting the award, Mr. Venegas said it was the first recognition Talamanca had received for 20 years of hard work.  The Johannesburg experience had been

inspiring.  Many groups similar to Talamanca had been present.  As they exchanged stories and experiences, the momentum had built for information-sharing, training,

education and building connections.  There was a worldwide presence of those who were basically "protecting biodiversity with full stomachs and full minds".

Introducing ATD Fourth World, Mr. Brand said the international non-governmental organization had been born in 1957 in a poor slum.  Its founder, Father Joseph Wresinski, had himself been born into extreme poverty.  The organization was dedicated to engaging individuals and institutions to acknowledge and support the efforts of those living in extreme poverty.

The work of defeating poverty today required a new kind of investment, he said.  The pattern of thinking about the poor must change.  The poorest themselves must be involved in developing solutions to their problems.  It was a two-pronged shift, one that acknowledged the courage and suffering of the poor and celebrated the commitment of those working to help them.

There were three purposes to the International Day, he recalled.  The first was to hold a moment of silence for the poor.  The second was to accept and respect the poor as persons and not as objects of study.  And finally, to renew the commitment to opposing poverty, which came down to nothing more than making a commitment to a fundamental concern for human rights.

Ambassador Levitte said poverty was a violation of a person's basic human rights, such as to water, food and shelter.  He said the Fourth World referred to in the title of the above organization was one that had no geographical boundaries.  It was universal.  It referred to the poorest of the poor, who were excluded from their societies and caught in a vicious circle from which they couldn't escape.  He said the members of the Fourth World must be the eyes and ears of the United Nations, because wherever men were condemned to poverty, human rights were being violated.

He said the focus of the fight against poverty should be on the moral duty to remember the urgency of the poorest of the poor.  The message they were sending was for the world to mobilize on their behalf, to put their efforts into those who had to live with poverty, but who had to will to rise out of it with those rallying around them to help.

Asked to comment on external aid to the poor in countries whose governments poured resources into developing nuclear weapons, Mr. McNeill said UNDP funded poverty-eradication programmes directly and not through governments.

His country's Government was benefiting from the income that Talamanca brought in, Mr. Venegas added.  Asked how Talamanca had gotten together with big buyers of its products such as Gerber's and Newman's Own, he said it was a combination of luck and getting together with others who wanted to do something a little differently. 

How would the people of the Talamanca region withstand the lure of development?  Would they allow a mine to be established, as was rumored? a correspondent asked.  No, Mr. Venegas said.  Most of the people of the area were indigenous.  They'd never been colonized.  They respected their world.