Poland and Romania
Mr. Chairman,
I’m speaking on behalf of Poland and Romania. We thank the support team for the background documents that proved to be very useful in guiding our discussions and clearly showed that business as usual is not a viable option to handle the challenges posed by an increasing population.
Mr. Chairman,
A new vision of sustainable agriculture is needed and it must be practical and realistic and integrate sensible short-term transitions to reduce discomfort of change. Evidence showed that increasing economic growth alone, while necessary and important, is unlikely to be sufficient to address hunger and undernutrition. Food and nutrition security requires substantive political commitments to address the most vulnerable populations with an equitable, basic human rights and women empowerment lens approach.
An agricultural model needs to be implemented universally, characterized by a viable, market-based production structure, while supporting rural development and environmental protection. Measures need to be taken to support producers so as to enable them to adapt farming practices to the consequences of climate change. Today’s agricultural policies concentrate mostly on production and trade, and are curiously de-linked from the vital issues of food nutrition. We need to actively shift our focus to two areas: more access and more nutrition and healthy food.
While we don’t have, at the moment, specific targets and timelines, we believe that the following directions of action should be implemented:
1. We add our voice to the previous calls to support the small and medium farmers, fully including women farmers: introducing a bottom-up concept of action in the administration of rural communities which promotes the participation of rural communities in the drafting and implementation of local development strategies and encourage innovative actions based on local circumstances.
2. We have to shift our focus on quantity to human qualitative nutrition.
3. Support technological improvements and transfers to allow agricultural productivity and food demand to keep pace with an expanding population.
4. Reduce waste along the entire food chain
5. Pursue high yields within a healthy ecology – we need to conserve our remaining biodiversity, integrate climate – smart production systems etc
6. Avoid diverting food crops and productive land for biofuels, but still promoting energy security.
In this context, Mr. Chairman, Romania and Poland fully support the SG’s Zero Hunger Challenge and encourage all partners to scale up their efforts to achieve its goals.
Moving to the challenges of desertification, land degradation and drought, we believe that a coordinated global response needs to be formulated. Land is at the core of energy – food – water and environment nexus. Maintaining and enhancing the land condition contribute to biodiversity conservation and prevents the deforestation and degradation of ecosystems.
A Land degradation neutral world would require a paradigm shift in order to avoid degradation of healthy productive lands, to enhance sustainable forestry management, agro – forestry and soil conservation. Progress towards addressing DLDD will need a solid, up-to-date scientific and technical basis and availability of knowledge and lessons learned from previous experiences is essential. National, sub-national and local assessments will be useful to governments and communities when formulating policies and action plans that identify appropriate interventions for halting and reversing land degradation trends.
A solution to DLDD can be the Sustainable land management, crucial to minimizing land degradation, rehabilitating degraded areas and ensuring the optimal use of land resources for the benefit of present and future generations.
SLM is based on four common principles:
• land-user-driven and participatory approaches;
• integrated use of natural resources at ecosystem and farming systems levels;
• multilevel and multistakeholder involvement; and
• targeted policy and institutional support, including development of incentive mechanisms for SLM adoption and income generation at the local level.
Thank you, Mr. Chaiman!
I’m speaking on behalf of Poland and Romania. We thank the support team for the background documents that proved to be very useful in guiding our discussions and clearly showed that business as usual is not a viable option to handle the challenges posed by an increasing population.
Mr. Chairman,
A new vision of sustainable agriculture is needed and it must be practical and realistic and integrate sensible short-term transitions to reduce discomfort of change. Evidence showed that increasing economic growth alone, while necessary and important, is unlikely to be sufficient to address hunger and undernutrition. Food and nutrition security requires substantive political commitments to address the most vulnerable populations with an equitable, basic human rights and women empowerment lens approach.
An agricultural model needs to be implemented universally, characterized by a viable, market-based production structure, while supporting rural development and environmental protection. Measures need to be taken to support producers so as to enable them to adapt farming practices to the consequences of climate change. Today’s agricultural policies concentrate mostly on production and trade, and are curiously de-linked from the vital issues of food nutrition. We need to actively shift our focus to two areas: more access and more nutrition and healthy food.
While we don’t have, at the moment, specific targets and timelines, we believe that the following directions of action should be implemented:
1. We add our voice to the previous calls to support the small and medium farmers, fully including women farmers: introducing a bottom-up concept of action in the administration of rural communities which promotes the participation of rural communities in the drafting and implementation of local development strategies and encourage innovative actions based on local circumstances.
2. We have to shift our focus on quantity to human qualitative nutrition.
3. Support technological improvements and transfers to allow agricultural productivity and food demand to keep pace with an expanding population.
4. Reduce waste along the entire food chain
5. Pursue high yields within a healthy ecology – we need to conserve our remaining biodiversity, integrate climate – smart production systems etc
6. Avoid diverting food crops and productive land for biofuels, but still promoting energy security.
In this context, Mr. Chairman, Romania and Poland fully support the SG’s Zero Hunger Challenge and encourage all partners to scale up their efforts to achieve its goals.
Moving to the challenges of desertification, land degradation and drought, we believe that a coordinated global response needs to be formulated. Land is at the core of energy – food – water and environment nexus. Maintaining and enhancing the land condition contribute to biodiversity conservation and prevents the deforestation and degradation of ecosystems.
A Land degradation neutral world would require a paradigm shift in order to avoid degradation of healthy productive lands, to enhance sustainable forestry management, agro – forestry and soil conservation. Progress towards addressing DLDD will need a solid, up-to-date scientific and technical basis and availability of knowledge and lessons learned from previous experiences is essential. National, sub-national and local assessments will be useful to governments and communities when formulating policies and action plans that identify appropriate interventions for halting and reversing land degradation trends.
A solution to DLDD can be the Sustainable land management, crucial to minimizing land degradation, rehabilitating degraded areas and ensuring the optimal use of land resources for the benefit of present and future generations.
SLM is based on four common principles:
• land-user-driven and participatory approaches;
• integrated use of natural resources at ecosystem and farming systems levels;
• multilevel and multistakeholder involvement; and
• targeted policy and institutional support, including development of incentive mechanisms for SLM adoption and income generation at the local level.
Thank you, Mr. Chaiman!