REVITALISING THE RURAL WORLD: THE BEGINNING OF THE END OF POVERTY

By - - and Jacques Diouf Reprint | | Print |

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ROME, Mar 1 2006 (IPS) - Today millions of families are still living in poverty because of a lack of access to land, the most basic production resource, writes Jacques Diouf, Director-General of the Food and Agricultural Organisation (FAO) of the United Nations. The reasons for this injustice have to do with the value that land has had throughout the ages. Land is an essential economic asset in rural societies, but its monetary value is not the only, or even the most important, consideration for millions of people. For indigenous peoples, land is the basis of their identity; it is their home and that of their ancestors, their pharmacy, and their place of work and leisure. In most societies, land means power, status, and membership in a social class. For many women, land is essential to their autonomy. Some of the agrarian reforms implemented in recent years have sought to offer solutions to these problems, with varying degrees of success, but we are still far from having solved the agrarian issue. New worldwide challenges, such as the globalisation of trade, the massive rural exodus to the cities, environmental degradation and civil strife (in many instances caused by the lack of access to, and control over, natural resources) demand urgent, global-level responses.

Land is an essential economic asset in rural societies, but its monetary value is not the only, or even the most important, consideration for millions of people. For indigenous peoples, land is the basis of their identity; it is their home and that of their ancestors, their pharmacy, and their place of work and leisure. In most societies, land means power, status, and membership in a social class. For many women, land is essential to their autonomy.

Land means belonging to a place and to a culture. So when we speak about landless men and women, we are talking about people without a past, without a present and without a future.

Some of the agrarian reforms implemented in recent years have sought to offer solutions to these problems, with varying degrees of success, but we are still far from having solved the agrarian issue. New worldwide challenges, such as the globalisation of trade, the massive rural exodus to the cities, environmental degradation and civil strife (in many instances caused by the lack of access to, and control over, natural resources) demand urgent, global-level responses.

The target date set by the international community in the Millennium Development Goals for halving the number of people suffering from hunger in the world is just 10 years away. Only a renewed global commitment to the world’s poor rural areas will make it possible to break the vicious circle of poverty and hunger in which more than 840 million people live.

FAO, with the support of the government of Brazil, has decided to assume the leadership of this process and is convening an International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD) on 7-10 March in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

The objective of the Conference is to provide a forum for the sharing of knowledge, experience, successes, and difficulties in implementing agrarian reforms in various countries and to reflect together on the future of rural development. The Conference will also try to forge alliances for action among participants.

One of the main lessons learned from the history of agrarian reform is that processes that are not participatory, that do not include all those who have something to say on an issue as crucial as local development, ultimately fail. This is why FAO wanted this Conference to be open to participation by everyone. For many months there has been broad consultation within governments and civil society organisations to select the main topics for the Conference agenda.

The list of issues to be addressed is both long and substantial: how to combine social justice with sustainable development; how to legislate for the specific needs of nomadic and sedentary communities; the role of the State and the market in agrarian reform; promoting green energy sources, such as bioenergy; revitalising rural economies; improving the working conditions of temporary farm labourers; and acknowledging the vital part played by women in agriculture and in conserving natural resources.

At Porto Alegre the debate will centre on groups of themes based on case studies and documents. The Conference will issue a final Declaration and a Plan of Action. Using a system of indicators and voluntary guidelines, a Panel of International Observers will monitor compliance with this Plan of Action in terms of progress made in national and international legislation.

It is no coincidence that Brazil has been chosen to host this Conference: it was exactly 60 years ago that the distinguished Brazilian scientist and politician Josue de Castro published his extraordinary book, ”Geography of Hunger”, on the causes of hunger in his country and in the world. His words have been translated into more than 25 languages and are as relevant today as they were then:

“Underdevelopment is not the lack of development. It is the result of an ill-guided kind of universal development… Underdevelopment is a product of misuse of natural and human resources… Underdevelopment and hunger can only be eliminated from the face of earth through a global development strategy which will mobilise production means in the interest of the community.” We salute his memory. (END/COPYRIGHT IPS)