ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL COUNCIL BEGINS HIGH-LEVEL SEGMENT

ON INTEGRATED APPROACH TO RURAL DEVELOPMENT

Four Ministerial Round-Table Discussions Held

To Discuss Integrated Rural Development Strategies

(Reissued as received.)

GENEVA, 30 June (UN Information Service) -- The Economic and Social Council this afternoon started its high-level segment on the promotion of an integrated approach to rural development in developing countries for poverty eradication and sustainable development.

Addressing the Council were Nitin Desai, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs; Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization; Eveline Herfkens, Executive Coordinator of the Millennium Development Goals Campaign; James T. Morris, Executive Director of the World Food Programme; Lennart Bage, President of the International Fund for Agriculture and Development; Mamphela Ramphele, Managing Director of the World Bank and Anna Tibaijuka, Executive Director of UN-Habitat, who all helped to organize the four round-table discussions held this afternoon on rural development in developing countries.

Co-organizer of the round table on “natural resources and rural development in developing countries”, Mr. Desai stressed that fighting poverty meant more than looking at people’s incomes but also pursuing human development; that anti-poverty programmes were not welfare programmes, but development and growth programmes aimed at increasing the potential of the poor; and that global-level programmes, like those at the national level, should address the needs and potential of the poor.  His co-organizer, Mr. Diouf, reminded the Council that at the present rate of improvement, the goal of halving the number of those hungry would not be accomplished until 2050.  Thus, resources needed to be allocated to address the root causes of hunger.

Ms. Herfkens, co-organizer of the round table on an “integrated approach to the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals in the area of rural development”, stressed that no goal could be reached without empowering women.  More focus was, therefore, needed on the situation of women, who were both the most vulnerable in rural areas, as well as the most effective agents for change.  Her co-organizer, Mr. Morris, said that hunger reduction had too often been seen only in its humanitarian impact.  True, the humanitarian impacts were large and the numbers of suffering were unacceptable, yet hunger also had a severe negative impact on development.  It was the ultimate threat to sustainable development.

Mr. Bage, co-organizer of the round table on “global partnerships for rural development,” said that development was not a one-factor solution but must encompass a holistic approach, the key to which lay in the strengthening of domestic resources and potential.  Everything came down to partnerships, a common understanding and coherence in policy -- dramatic progress in any one factor would not bring solutions.  His co-organizer, Ms. Ramphele, said that among the challenges facing global partnerships for rural development were the need to create an enabling policy environment conducive to the development of functioning markets, the need to promote private associations and corporations, and the need to empower disadvantaged groups in rural areas.

Furthermore, Ms. Tibaijuka, organizer of the round table on “rural/urban interface and slums”, said that the role of cities and small towns must be included in the consideration of rural development.  Although 60 per cent of people in developing countries still found themselves in rural areas, a geographical shift was under way with people moving to urban centres.

Also addressing the Council were Carlos Magarinos, Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization; Thoraya Obaid, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund; Antonio Maria Costa, Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime; Ibrahim Gambari, Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General on Africa; and Anwarul Chowdhury, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Islands Developing States, all of whom helped to organize further round-table discussions.

Mr. Magarinos said that his organization was focusing much of its attention on rural non-farming activities, which were of crucial importance as increased investment in this area would reduce regional income disparities and fight poverty at its very source.  Ms. Obaid stressed the importance of aiding women to become active stakeholders in development.  They needed greater access to land and water and training.  Additionally, Mr. Costa said that the bottom line in eradicating the cultivation of illicit drugs was that the international community should not avoid sharing the responsibility to address the cultivation and trade in illicit drugs as a component of sustainable development, while Mr. Gambari said that, in Africa, a vast number of people were both rural and poor.  Rural development was one area in which the cooperation and assistance of international financial institutions needed to be strengthened.  Finally, Mr. Chowdhury said that effective rural development must ensure better access to education, health and social services and must empower poor people by providing them access to land, water, energy, services and markets.

After adjourning for the round-table discussions, the Council resumed its high-level segment as Valli Moosa, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism of South Africa; Jan O. Karlsson, Minister for Development Cooperation of Sweden; Maria Eugenia de Avila, Minister of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador; and Ivan Simonovic, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Croatia, delivered reports on the discussions within the round tables.

In conclusion, the President of the Economic and Social Council, Gert Rosenthal, said he had been struck by the large number of agencies participating in today’s debate, including the participation of various United Nations agencies.  He looked forward to further widespread participation as the Council continued its current session.

The Council will meet again at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, 1 July to continue with its high-level segment on promoting an integrated approach to rural development in developing countries for poverty eradication and sustainable development.

Documents

Before the Economic and Social Council there is a report of the Secretary-General on promoting an integrated approach to rural development in developing countries for poverty eradication and sustainable development (E/2003/51).  The report states that accelerated rural development is essential to achieve the internationally agreed development goals, including the millennium development goals.  The report provides policy recommendations on ways to promote an integrated approach to rural development, encompassing the economic, social and environmental dimensions, with a number of mutually reinforcing policies and programmes that address a broad range of issues related to rural development.  Some of the elements of an integrated approach include creating an enabling macroeconomic policy environment that is conducive to poverty eradication and sustainable development in rural areas; reversing the decline in the flow of domestic public resources and ODA going to rural areas; enhancing public and private investment in rural infrastructure; and enhancing the access of poor rural people, especially women and smallholder farmers, to productive assets such as land, water and natural resources.

There is also the World Economic and Social Survey, 2003 [Chapter I, “The world economy in 2003”] (E/2003/70), which states that the world economy had not yet recovered from its slowdown in 2001.  Gross world product (GWP) had increased by less than 2 per cent in 2002, marking a second consecutive year of growth substantially below potential.  However, a global recovery was now forecast for the second half of 2003, with GWP expected to increase by 2.25 per cent for the year as a whole, accelerating to slightly above 3 per cent for 2004, although world trade and international financial flows will continue to be sluggish by the standards of the 1990s.  Moreover, the heightened geopolitical uncertainties that beset the world economy in late 2002 and early 2003 continued to pose a downside risk to global economic growth.  Other well-identified economic risks were the nature of the inevitable adjustment of the United States external deficit and the possibility of deflation in a growing number of countries.

There is also a report of the fifth session of the Committee for Development Policy (E/2003/33).  The report covers the general organization of the session, as well as a section on promoting an integrated approach to rural development in developing countries for poverty eradication and sustainable development concentrating on the background situation and major consequences of rural poverty, as well as major findings and recommendations.  Recommendations are also provided on global public goods and innovative financial mechanisms in the pursuit of sustainable development, and on a review of the list of least developed countries.  The report states that for its next session, to be held in 2004, the Committee proposes to consider the theme of creating capabilities at the local levels of societies.  These capabilities would include enhancing levels of education for sustainable development, as well as providing local public goods.

Statements

NITIN DESAI, Under-Secretary-General for Economic and Social Affairs, said that his present purpose was to set a framework for the panel discussions to follow.  In this context, he wished to highlight three basic areas on which to focus including that fighting poverty meant more than looking at people’s incomes but also to pursue human development; that anti-poverty programs were not welfare programmes, but development and growth programs aimed at increasing the potential of the poor; and third, that just as at the national level, programmes at the global level should address the needs and potential of the poor.

JACQUES DIOUF, Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization, said that there was no way to solve the problem of food security, to achieve the goal of halving the number of those who did not have access to sufficient food by 2015, if the international community did not also address the area of the economy that provided income and employment to those in the rural area -- agriculture.  Yet, the resources allocated to the agricultural sector had been halved during the period 1990-2000; without resources, growth could not be achieved.  Already when the goal to halve the number of those hungry had been set, the international community had been criticized for accepting that 400 million people would continue to go to bed hungry.  However, at the present rate of improvement, this limited goal would not be accomplished until 2050.  Resources needed to be allocated to address the root causes of hunger.  Among the areas that he highlighted for improvement was the need to increase irrigation, as drought was a chief contributor to the lack of adequate food resources in poor areas.

EVELINE HERFKENS, Executive Coordinator of the Millennium Development Goals Campaign, said the round tables would be most constructive if there was genuine communication.  With regards to the main Millennium Development Goal -- halving the proportion of the world’s poorest people by the year 2015 -- it was crucial to realize that most of the poorest people in the world were rural.  Global poverty could, therefore, not be addressed without focusing more attention on the rural poor.  At the same time, she stressed that no goal could be reached without empowering women.  More focus was, therefore, also needed on the situation of women.  Interestingly, women were the most vulnerable in rural areas, but they were also the most effective agents for change.  It was pointed out that richer and developed countries had an obligation to help their poorer counterparts in their economic development.  Much could be done simply in the area of trade, however it was important to ensure fair terms of trade for all.

JAMES T. MORRIS, Executive Director of the World Food Programme, echoed comments made by Jacques Diouf on the role of investment in the agricultural infrastructure.  Food and hunger were principle ingredients in addressing at least six of the eight Millennium Development Goals.  There was nothing more important than each country investing in agricultural infrastructure.  Too often hunger reduction had only been seen in its humanitarian impacts.  True, the humanitarian impacts were large and the numbers of suffering were unacceptable, however hunger also had a severe negative impact on development.  Hunger was the ultimate threat to sustainable development.  “Food for Growth” was more than a slogan; it was an economic and biological reality.  Meeting the immediate food consumption needs of the hungry in emergencies was, therefore, not just a humanitarian gesture; it could also serve as a safety net and insurance scheme against complete loss of household economic gains achieved by development efforts of the past.  More money for agriculture and rural development, both from national resources of developing countries and development aid from the developed world, was one part of the solution.  But vigorous and creative programmes of direct assistance to the hungry today were an equally important need. 

LENNART BAGE, President of the International Fund for Agriculture and Development (IFAD), said that it was important to underline the fact that poverty and hunger did not result from the lack of food on a global level, but from a lack of access and purchasing power, from being part of a system where food was not available.  This posed a development problem.  Development was not a one-factor solution but must encompass a holistic approach, the key to which lay in the strengthening of domestic resources and potential.  Everything came down to partnerships, a common understanding and coherence in policy -- dramatic progress in any one factor would not bring solutions.

MAMPHELA RAMPHELE, Managing Director of the World Bank, said that the Bank believed in the centrality of global partnerships.  Experience showed that both strong micro- and macroeconomic programs were necessary to achieve the goals set by the international community.  Among the challenges facing global partnerships in this area were the need to create an enabling policy environment conducive to the development of functioning markets, the need to promote private associations and corporations, and the need to empower disadvantaged groups in rural areas.

ANNA TIBAIJUKA, Executive Director of UN-HABITAT, said she would chair a round table on rural and urban interface and slums.  The role of cities and small towns must be included in the consideration of rural development.  It was true that 60 per cent of people in developing countries still found themselves in rural areas.  However, it was also true that a geographical shift was under way with people moving to urban centres.  In fact, 75 per cent of Latin America was already urbanized.  Asia, which was the home to 80 per cent of humanity, was also urbanizing and currently 35 per cent of Asians lived in cities.  The international community was, therefore, confronted with the need of developing an urban cum rural poverty alleviation strategy.  For Africa, the challenge was even greater since it faced a premature urbanization which could lead to Africa ceasing to be a rural continent by 2030.  Urbanization was a good thing in some senses but when too rapid, problems of hunger and the creation of slums followed.

CARLOS MARGARINOS, Director-General of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), explained the relevance of having an integrated approach to rural development.  For the least developing countries to meet the targets of the Millennium Development Goals they would have to grow at a rate of nearly 5 per cent a year until 2015.  This would be impossible without serious commitment on the part of developing countries, as well as developed countries.  The UNIDO was focusing much of its attention on rural non-farming activities.  These activities were of crucial importance since increased investment in this area would reduce regional income disparities and fight poverty at its very source.  Rural non-farming activities represented an important share of the income of a rural environment and their capacities needed to be strengthened to promote sustainable local markets.

THORAYA OBAID, Executive Director of the United Nations Population Fund, said that it was clear that international goals would not be achieved without addressing rural poverty.  Of particular concern was the situation of rural women as two thirds of the world’s poor lived in rural areas, over half of them women.  For their benefit, the international community needed to work together to bring social justice and to redress inequalities.  Women needed to become active stakeholders in development.  In rural communities they struggled to be the main earners and caretakers.  In all areas, the rights of women needed to be secured.  They needed greater access to land and water and training.  Moreover, many poor women in rural areas could not make basic choices about pregnancy and childbirth; they were also those most vulnerable to the spread of HIV/AIDS and bore the greater part of the burden of caring for those who were sick.

ANTONIO MARIA COSTA, Executive Director of the United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime, addressed the links between the work of his office and the current focus on development and rural poverty.  Illicit drug crop cultivation was undertaken in only a small percentage of the world’s rural areas, however the impact of this activity was experienced around the world.  Illicit crops were mainly cultivated in remote areas, ignored in national and international development plans for reasons such as conflict, among others.  The eradication of the cultivation of illicit drugs involved more than crop substitution and eradication.  It needed to be carried out so as to ensure that those involved emerged from deep poverty.  The bottom line was, the international community should not avoid sharing the responsibility to address the cultivation and trade in illicit drugs as a component of sustainable development.

IBRAHIM GAMBARI, Under-Secretary-General and Special Adviser to the United Nations Secretary-General on Africa, said his mandate included supporting the Secretary-General in advocating on behalf of Africa.  It was a fact that 75 per cent of the world’s people lived in rural areas -- a fact that must be placed at the very centre of development strategies.  This focus needed to include all factors such as access to land, water, natural resources and access to markets.  In Africa, a vast number of people were both rural and poor.  Rural development was one area in which the cooperation and assistance of international financial institutions needed to be strengthened.  Africa had taken its fate into its own hand through the African-conceived New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD).  The NEPAD had been welcomed as a programme of the African Union by the General Assembly as an African initiative for economic and human development.  Enhanced coherence in Africa, was not an end in itself, but must have a strategic context.  Rural development and addressing the needs of the rural poor, particularly women, played a significant role in this strategic context.

ANWARUL K. CHOWDHURY, High Representative for the Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States, said the relevance of rural development for least developed countries had been emphasized by the Secretary-General this morning.  A reversal in the decline in the proportion of official development assistance going to rural areas and agriculture was vital for strengthening the rural economy in least developed countries.  Access to productive assets of poor rural people, especially women and smallholder farmers, needed to be enhanced.  In these countries, effective rural development must ensure better access to education, health and social services.  Moreover, rural development must empower poor people by providing them access to land, water, energy, services and markets.  Broad-based, all-inclusive and sustainable rural development was impossible without the empowerment of women.  They must have the right to own and inherit land, and to have a say in the distribution of their production.  Finally, making rural development work for the poor required the liberalization of agricultural trade.  It meant the reduction of trade barriers, phasing out agricultural subsidies in developed countries and minimization of the effects of commodity price fluctuations.

VALLI MOOSA, Minister of Environmental Affairs and Tourism of South Africa, reporting on the round table on “natural resources and rural development in developing countries”, said that among the key points of the discussion was the need for a greater level of integration as far as rural development was concerned in the context of managing natural resources.  Particular points were made on the issues of food security, hunger and famine and agricultural production, including the fact that the real weapon of mass destruction in the world today was the malnourishment and death through chronic hunger.  Additionally, there had been calls from forest-dwellers for greater transparency about their future, including the transformation of existing forest industries into sustainable forest industries, as well as for greater respect for indigenous knowledge and for steps to increase the role of farmers in policy-making at the national and international levels.

JAN O.KARLSSON, Minister for Development Cooperation of Sweden, reporting on the round table on an “integrated approach to the implementation of the Millennium Development Goals in the areas of rural development”, said that in his group speakers had stressed the need for a paradigm shift in development strategies to ensure that rural development became a main focus.  The round-table discussion had also highlighted the interlink between achieving the first Millennium Development Goals and other goals, and the effect on health, empowerment.  One conclusion was that a development formula must invest in people.  The need for a shift from supply-driven to demand-driven strategies, as well as the importance of south-south interaction and collaboration, had been stressed.  Speakers had expressed concern about the enormous challenge of the HIV/AIDS pandemic and the need to turn the tide of the pandemic.   The round table participants had unanimously expressed the importance of reproductive health which must be depoliticized and made a human right.  Many representatives had also underlined the importance of achieving the goal of 0.7 per cent of gross domestic product going towards official development assistance.

MARIA EUGENIA DE AVILA, Minister of Foreign Affairs of El Salvador, reporting on the round table on “global partnerships for rural development”, said that the outcomes of recent international conferences and summits had underlined the international community’s strong, shared interest in creating global partnerships aimed at poverty eradication.  Yet, at the moment there was no over-arching strategy being implemented by all.  Such a strategy should highlight the participation of the poor in their own development.  Developed and developing countries should play more complementary roles, with a coherent vision implemented in symbiosis.  In the context of financing, more predictable overall aid should come with official development aid.  The importance of creating conditions to attract private investment in rural sectors had also been highlighted, as this would help non-farm, as well as agricultural economies.  Furthermore, the need to systematically share experience through global partnerships had been stressed.

IVAN SIMONOVIC, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Croatia, reporting on the round table on "rural/urban interface and slums", said the round table had been a real interaction with high participation and a constructive dialogue.  It had been concluded that urbanization was an unavoidable process.  Some people had characterized it as a positive development, particularly in developing countries.  However, it had been noted that this development must be complemented by investment in housing to avoid slum formation in cities.  A clear message was the need for a two-pronged approach including prevention and improved management of existing problems.  One important element of preventing slum prevention was the improvement of services in villages including health, transport, sanitation and education.  It had been concluded that integrated national development programmes needed to take urban and rural considerations into account.  In addition to national programs, local people and organizations needed to be involved in local and regional planning.

* *** *