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Commission on Sustainable Development acting as the preparatory committee for the World Summit on Sustainable Development

Fourth session

Bali, Indonesia, 27 May-7 June 2002

Extracts (paras 23 - Protecting and managing the natural resource base of economic and social development; 38 - Agriculture; & 42 - Biodiversity) from:

Draft Plan of Implementation for the World Summit on Sustainable Development

Note the lack of explicit linkages between Agriculture, Biodiversity and the Precautionary Principle. This leaves the door wide open for imposition of Genetic Engineering for 'Sustainable Development'.

Also See: Skewed Text on Genetic Resources: G77 to right this?

NB the following sub-paras:

Precautionary Principle
23 Human activities are having an increasing impact on the integrity of ecosystems that provide essential resources and services for human well-being and economic activities. [As the natural resource base is vital for sustainable development, the current trend in loss of natural resources must be halted and reversed, where appropriate, at global and national levels by 2015.]/[Managing the natural resources base in a sustainable and integrated manner is essential for sustainable development.] In this regard, it is necessary to implement strategies [which apply the precautionary principle] [based on an ecosystem approach] to protect all [types of]/[classes of] ecosystems and to achieve integrated management of land, water and living resources, while strengthening regional, national and local capacities. [Concerns related to the conservation and sustainable use of natural resources should be integrated in all sectoral policies, strategies and programmes as well as in sustainable development strategies or, where applicable, poverty reduction strategies. Relevant existing environmental agreements and related instruments should be implemented fully and in a coherent manner.]

38 (r) [Agreed] Invite countries that have not done so to ratify the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture;

42 (q) [Agreed] Promote practicable measures for access to the results and benefits arising from biotechnologies based upon genetic resources, in accordance with articles 15 and 19 of the CBD, including through enhanced scientific and technical cooperation on biotechnology and biosafety, including the exchange of experts, training human resources and developing research oriented institutional capacities;

42 (t) [Agreed] Invite all states, which have not already done so, to ratify the CBD, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and other biodiversity-related agreements, and for those that have done so, promote their effective implementation at the national, regional and international levels and support developing countries, as well as countries with economies in transition, technically and financially in this regard.

ADVANCE UNEDITED TEXT 12 June 2002

38. [Agreed] Agriculture plays a crucial role in addressing the needs of a growing global population, and is inextricably linked to poverty eradication, especially in developing countries. Enhancing the role of women at all levels and in all aspects of rural development, agriculture, nutrition and food security is imperative. Sustainable agriculture and rural development are essential to the implementation of an integrated approach to increasing food production and enhancing food security and food safety in an environmentally sustainable way. This would include actions at all levels to:

(a) [Agreed] Achieve the Millennium Declaration target to halve by the year 2015, the proportion of the world's people who suffer from hunger and realize the right to a standard of living adequate for the health and well-being of themselves and their families, including food, including by, promoting food security and fighting hunger in combination with measures which address poverty, consistent with the outcome of the World Food Summit and, for State Parties, with their obligations under Article 11 of the Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

(b) [Agreed] Develop and implement integrated land management and water-use plans that are based on sustainable use of renewable resources and on integrated assessments of socio-economic and environmental potentials, and strengthen the capacity of Governments, local authorities and communities to monitor and manage the quantity and quality of land and water resources;

(c) [Agreed] Increase understanding of the sustainable use, protection and management of water resources to advance long-term sustainability of freshwater, coastal and marine environments;

(d) [Agreed] Promote programmes to enhance in a sustainable manner the productivity of land and the efficient use of water resources in agriculture, forestry, wetlands, artisanal fisheries and aquaculture, especially through indigenous and local community-based approaches;

(e) [Agreed] Support efforts of developing countries to protect oases from silt, land degradation and increasing salinity by providing appropriate technical and financial assistance;

(f) [Agreed] Enhance the participation of women in all aspects and at all levels relating to sustainable agriculture and food security;

(g) [Agreed] Integrate existing information systems on land-use practices by strengthening national research and extension services and farmer organizations to trigger farmer-to-farmer exchange on good practices, such as those related to environmentally sound, low-cost technologies, with the assistance of relevant international organizations;

(h) [Agreed] Enact, as appropriate, measures that protect indigenous resource management systems and support the contribution of all appropriate stakeholders, men and women alike, in rural planning and development;

(i) [Agreed] Adopt policies and implement laws that guarantee well defined and enforceable land and water use rights, and promote legal security of tenure, recognizing the existence of different national laws and/or systems of land access and tenure, and provide technical and financial assistance to developing countries as well as countries with economies in transition that are undertaking land tenure reform in order to enhance sustainable livelihoods;

(j) [Agreed] Reverse the declining trend in public sector finance for sustainable agriculture, provide appropriate technical and financial assistance, and promote private sector investment and support efforts in developing countries and countries with economies in transition to strengthen agricultural research and natural resource management capacity and dissemination of research results to the farming communities;

(k) [Agreed] Employ market-based incentives for agricultural enterprises and farmers to monitor and manage water use and quality, inter alia by applying such methods as small-scale irrigation and wastewater recycling and reuse;

(l) [Agreed] Enhance access to existing markets and develop new markets for value-added agricultural products;

(m) [Achieve substantial improvements in market access; reductions of, with a view to phasing out, all forms of export subsidies; and substantial reductions in trade distorting domestic support for agricultural products;]

(n) [Agreed] Increase brown-field redevelopment in developed countries and countries with economies in transition, with appropriate technical assistance where contamination is a serious problem;

(o) Enhance international cooperation to combat illicit [use of]/[drug] crops, taking into account their negative social, economic and environmental impacts and the need for countries strongly committed to combating cultivation of these crops to gain enhanced access to international markets for regular goods in order to help them to cope with the substantial economic loss such illicit crops engender;

(p) [Agreed] Promote programmes for the environmentally sound, effective and efficient use of soil fertility improvement practices and agricultural pest control;

(q) [Agreed] Strengthen and improve coordination of existing initiatives to enhance sustainable agricultural production and food security;

(r) [Agreed] Invite countries that have not done so to ratify the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture;

(s) [Agreed] Promote the conservation, and sustainable use and management of traditional and indigenous agricultural systems and strengthen indigenous models of agricultural production.

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42. Biodiversity, which plays a critical role in overall sustainable development and poverty eradication, is essential to our planet, human well-being and to the livelihood and cultural integrity of people. However, biodiversity is presently being lost at unprecedented rates due to human activities; this trend can only be reversed if the local people benefit from the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, in particular in countries of origin of genetic resources, in accordance with Article 15 of the CBD. The Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) is the key instrument for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity and the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from use of genetic resources. [Achieving a significant reduction in the current rate of biodiversity loss [by 2010] includes actions at all levels to]/[With a view to having instruments in place to stop the current alarming biodiversity loss [by 2010], actions are required at all levels to]:

(a) [Agreed] Integrate the objectives of the CBD into global, regional and national sectoral and cross-sectoral programmes and policies, in particular in the programmes and policies of the economic sectors of countries and international financial institutions;

(b) [Agreed] Promote the ongoing work under the CBD on the sustainable use on biological diversity, including on sustainable tourism, as a cross-cutting issue relevant to different ecosystems, sectors and thematic areas;

(c) [Agreed] Encourage effective synergies between the CBD and other multilateral environmental agreements, inter alia, through the development of joint plans and programmes, with due regard to their respective mandates, regarding common responsibilities and concerns;

(d) [Agreed] Implement the CBD and its provisions, including active follow-up of its work programmes and decisions through national, regional and global action programmes, in particular the national biodiversity strategies and action plans, and strengthen their integration into relevant cross-sectoral strategies, programmes and policies, including those related to sustainable development and poverty eradication, including initiatives which promote community-based sustainable use of biological diversity;

(e) [Agreed] Promote the wide implementation and further development of the ecosystem approach, as being elaborated in the on-going work of the CBD;

(f) [Agreed] Promote concrete international support and partnership for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity, including in ecosystems, World Heritage sites and for the protection of endangered species, in particular through the appropriate channelling of financial resources and technology to developing countries, as well as to countries with economies in transition;

(g) [Agreed] To effectively conserve and sustainably use biodiversity, promote and support initiatives for hot spot areas and other areas essential for biodiversity and promote the development of national and regional ecological networks and corridors;

(h) [Agreed] Provide financial and technical support to developing countries, including capacity building, in order to enhance indigenous and community based biodiversity conservation efforts;

(i) [Agreed] Strengthen national, regional and international efforts to control invasive alien species, which are one of the main causes of biodiversity loss, and encourage the development of effective work programme on invasive alien species at all levels;

(j) [Agreed] Subject to national legislation, recognize the rights of local and indigenous communities who are holders of traditional knowledge, innovations and practices, and, with the approval and involvement of the holders of such knowledge, innovations and practices, develop and implement benefit-sharing mechanisms on mutually agreed terms for the use of such knowledge, innovations and practices;

(k) [Agreed] Encourage and enable all stakeholders to contribute to the implementation of the objectives of the CBD and recognize in particular the specific role of youth, women and indigenous and local communities in conserving and using biodiversity in a sustainable way;

(l) [Agreed] Promote the effective participation of indigenous and local communities in decision and policy making concerning the use of their traditional knowledge;

(m) [Agreed] Encourage technical and financial support to developing countries, as well as countries with economies in transition, in their efforts to develop and implement, as appropriate, inter alia, national sui generis systems and traditional systems according to national priorities and legislation, with a view to conserving and sustainable use of biodiversity;

(n) [Agreed] Promote the wide implementation of and continued work on the Bonn Guidelines on Access to Genetic Resources and Fair and Equitable Sharing of Benefits Arising out of their Utilization of the CBD, as an input to assist Parties when developing and drafting legislative, administrative or policy measures on access and benefit-sharing, and contract and other arrangements under mutually agreed terms for access and benefit-sharing;

(o) [Negotiate the creation of an international regime to effectively promote and safeguard the fair and equitable sharing of benefits arising from the use of biodiversity and its components;]

(p) [Agreed] Encourage successful conclusion of existing processes under the World Intellectual Property Organization Intergovernmental Committee on Intellectual Property and Genetic Resources, Traditional Knowledge and Folklore, and in the ad hoc open-ended working group on article 8 (j) and related provisions of the CBD;

(q) [Agreed] Promote practicable measures for access to the results and benefits arising from biotechnologies based upon genetic resources, in accordance with articles 15 and 19 of the CBD, including through enhanced scientific and technical cooperation on biotechnology and biosafety, including the exchange of experts, training human resources and developing research oriented institutional capacities;

(r) [Agreed] With a view to enhancing synergy and mutual supportiveness, taking into account the decisions under the relevant agreements, promote the discussions, without prejudging their outcome, with regard to the relationships between the obligations of the CBD and of agreements related to international trade and intellectual property rights, as outlined in the Doha Ministerial Declaration;

(s) [Agreed] Promote the implementation of the programme of work of the Global Taxonomy Initiative;

(t) [Agreed] Invite all states, which have not already done so, to ratify the CBD, the Cartagena Protocol on Biosafety and other biodiversity-related agreements, and for those that have done so, promote their effective implementation at the national, regional and international levels and support developing countries, as well as countries with economies in transition, technically and financially in this regard.

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