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Ability of associations to access financial resources as a vital part of the right to freedom of association & Ability to hold peaceful assemblies as an integral component of the right to freedom of peaceful assembly 2013, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Legal frameworks and policies related to resources have a significant impact on the freedom of association; they can strengthen the effectiveness and facilitate the sustainability of associations or, alternatively, subjugate associations to a dependent and weak position. Moreover, for associations promoting human rights, including economic, social and cultural rights, or those involved in service delivery (such as disaster relief, health-care provision or environmental protection), access to resources is important, not only to the existence of the association itself, but also to the enjoyment of other human rights by those benefitting from the work of the association. Hence, undue restrictions on resources available to associations impact the enjoyment of the right to freedom of association and also undermine civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights as a whole.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Equality & Inclusion
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2013
Paragraph
Access to information in international organizations 2017, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- Two categories of information deserve specific mention so as to clarify exactly how access to information advances the public’s right to participation. First, while most organizations seek to exclude “internal documents”, they should in fact be providing access to all information that enables the public to understand the bases for decisions. The Aarhus Convention, for instance, defines “environmental information” as including “cost-benefit and other economic analyses and assumptions used in environmental decision-making”. Organizations should include the “analyses and assumptions” that underlie their decisions within the definition of information that may be disclosed, including not just economic but also legal, political, institutional, operational and similar kinds of analyses and assumptions. Most intergovernmental organizations are not in favour of such disclosures, but non-disclosure of important process documentation hinders public understanding of their work. At the very least, it should be presumed that such information is subject to disclosure.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2017
Paragraph
Access to justice and the right to food: the way forward 2015, para. 59
- Paragraph text
- United Nations treaty bodies and special procedures have addressed extraterritorial human rights issues in their various reports, including for the universal periodic review and general comments. According to a recent report from the International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in the last seven years the various mechanisms of OHCHR have touched upon extraterritorial obligations some 26 times. In so doing, these bodies have played an important role in developing and consolidating an understanding of how to apply the concepts of jurisdiction to the actions and omissions of States. They expressed their concerns and made recommendations on a number of issues addressing extraterritorial obligations, especially on the human rights impact of the exploitation of natural resources in third countries and the role of TNCs in large-scale development projects with respect to forced land evictions, all of which impact directly on the right to food.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Access to justice and the right to food: the way forward 2015, para. 67
- Paragraph text
- The question of accountability in relation to TNCs and IFIs is still a grey area in international law. However, there has been significant progress on the part of some States, human rights organizations, and even some TNCs in developing guidelines to ensure the protection of human rights and the environment. Providing a uniformly enforced regulatory framework may actually encourage foreign investment in developing countries by levelling the business playing field for ethical corporations. Some companies have begun to recognize the merits of operating under enforceable standards that apply to all their competitors, rather than voluntary standards that only really influence companies with prominent public profiles.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 6
- Paragraph text
- The pressures on land are increasing dramatically. As rural populations grow, plots cultivated are becoming smaller per capita and per household. In India, the average landholding size fell from 2.6 hectares in 1960 to 1.4 hectares in 2000 and continues to decline; similar evolutions have been documented in Bangladesh, the Philippines and Thailand, where the decline in the average farm size is combined with an increase in landlessness. The trend is not limited to the Asian region. In Eastern and Southern Africa, the amount of cultivated land per capita declined by half over the past generation, and in a number of countries the average cultivated area now amounts to less than 0.3 hectares per capita. This phenomenon is compounded by erosion and soil depletion: worldwide, 5 million to 10 million hectares of agricultural land are being lost annually to severe degradation. And it would be difficult to expand the areas under cultivation to the degree required to accommodate the growth of rural populations, since forests have a major role in storing carbon and deforestation is already a major contributor to greenhouse gas emissions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 7
- Paragraph text
- These long-term trends have been exacerbated in recent years by policies that have further increased the pressures on farmland. In many regions, under export-driven agricultural policies, large-scale plantations have developed for the production of food, energy or cash crops. While the tendency towards land concentration has resulted primarily from a dominant model of agricultural development that rewards the most mechanized and capital-intensive farms, it has also been encouraged by the expansion of long supply chains. This has generally favoured large agricultural producers, which are better connected to markets and can more easily produce the volumes and meet the standards required for export. The competition among various uses of farmland has recently been increased by policies favouring the switch to biofuels in transport, which leads to competing resource claims on the part of local resource users, Governments and incoming agrofuel producers, creating the risk that poorer groups will lose access to the land on which they depend. A recent inventory by the World Bank listing 389 large-scale acquisitions or long-term leases of land in 80 countries shows that, while 37 per cent of the so-called investment projects are intended to produce food (crops and livestock), agrofuels represent 35 per cent of such projects. For all these reasons, the Special Rapporteur has insisted that investments implying a shift in land rights should be treated with great caution. At the thirty-sixth session of the Committee on World Food Security, he will detail both the risks of large-scale land investments and possible alternative business models.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Measures adopted with a view to climate change mitigation or environmental conservation, which have placed priority on technological and market-based solutions over the deconcentration of land in order to encourage more sustainable land uses, have created further conflicts with the rights of land users. Under the clean development mechanism provided for in article 12 of the Kyoto Protocol to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, annex I (industrialized) countries that have committed to reducing greenhouse gas emissions receive additional emission credits if they help to implement emissions-reducing projects in developing countries. However, the planting of forests in order to benefit from the mechanism may result in evictions, against which the local populations concerned may be insufficiently protected. The REDD (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation) scheme, launched in 2005 and strengthened at the 13th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, convened in Bali in December 2007, may represent a threat to forest dwellers, whose customary rights over the forests on which they depend for their livelihoods are not widely recognized, if the State or other actors are tempted to appropriate the benefits derived from carbon sequestration. Governments are also working to protect natural environments by creating wildlife reserves, national parks and other protected areas. Ecosystems perform vital services for agriculture, including support of the soil structure and soil retention, nutrient cycling, dung burial and pest control, pollination, water provision and purification, biodiversity and atmospheric regulation. However, the implementation of conservation measures, including land-use planning, should take into account the right to food of people who depend on the land for their livelihoods.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- The preparation of the Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land and other Natural Resources, led by FAO, is the single most important attempt to follow up on the commitments made at the Conference, and the Declaration of the World Summit on Food Security, held in 2009, underlines that link. It is too early to assess the Guidelines in the light of what they promise to achieve. At the regional level, however, the African Union's Framework and Guidelines on Land Policy in Africa are an important step in that direction, and the Latin American project to follow up on the Conference, launched in August 2009, involves a large number of countries in the operationalization of the commitments set out in the Declaration. But the overall picture remains uneven across regions.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- In a context in which commercial pressures on land are increasing, it is crucial that States improve the protection of land users. The following recommendations seek to give concrete meaning to the land-related aspects of the human right to food.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 43a (i)
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur also makes the following recommendations to the international community:] Establish adequate governance instruments to operationalize the commitments set out in the Final Declaration of the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development. The Voluntary Guidelines on Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land and other Natural Resources could make a significant contribution, provided that they: Encompass land redistribution issues in addition to land administration issues, consistent with the Conference commitments;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Access to land and the right to food 2010, para. 43c
- Paragraph text
- [The Special Rapporteur also makes the following recommendations to the international community:] Governments investing in farmland abroad should ensure that they do so in accordance with their human rights obligations. They should regulate the conduct of private actors on which they can exercise an influence, thus helping to protect the human rights of the communities concerned. Similar obligations exist for development banks funding projects that have an impact on land rights (see A/HRC/13/33/Add.2, para. 5);
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2010
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 12
- Paragraph text
- Agroecology is both a science and a set of practices. It was created by the convergence of two scientific disciplines: agronomy and ecology. As a science, agroecology is the "application of ecological science to the study, design and management of sustainable agroecosystems." As a set of agricultural practices, agroecology seeks ways to enhance agricultural systems by mimicking natural processes, thus creating beneficial biological interactions and synergies among the components of the agroecosystem. It provides the most favourable soil conditions for plant growth, particularly by managing organic matter and by raising soil biotic activity. The core principles of agroecology include recycling nutrients and energy on the farm, rather than introducing external inputs; integrating crops and livestock; diversifying species and genetic resources in agroecosystems over time and space; and focusing on interactions and productivity across the agricultural system, rather than focusing on individual species. Agroecology is highly knowledge-intensive, based on techniques that are not delivered top-down but developed on the basis of farmers' knowledge and experimentation.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- As a way to improve the resilience and sustainability of food systems, agroecology is now supported by an increasingly wide range of experts within the scientific community, and by international agencies and organizations, such as the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), UNEP and Biodiversity International. It is also gaining ground in countries as diverse as the United States, Brazil, Germany and France.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- Agroecology is a coherent concept for designing future farming systems as it is strongly rooted both in science and in practice, and because it shows strong connections with the principles of the right to adequate food (Section III). It can be seen as encompassing - or closely related to - approaches such as "ecoagriculture" and "evergreen agriculture," while the concepts of "ecological intensification" and "conservation agriculture" often follow certain agroecological principles. Agroecology is also linked to the "ecosystem approach to sustainable crop production intensification" recently supported by the FAO Committee on Agriculture (COAG). Discussion of the detailed differences among these concepts is beyond the scope of this report.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 15
- Paragraph text
- Crop breeding and agroecology are complementary. For instance, breeding provides new varieties with shorter growing cycles, which enable farmers to continue farming in regions where the crop season has already shrunk. Breeding can also improve the level of drought resistance in plant varieties, an asset for countries where lack of water is a limiting factor. Reinvesting in agricultural research must consequently mean continued efforts in breeding. However, agroecology is more overarching as it supports building drought-resistant agricultural systems (including soils, plants, agrobiodiversity, etc.), not just drought-resistant plants.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Water & Sanitation
- Person(s) affected
- All
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- Agroecology is also gaining ground in Malawi, a country that has been at the centre of attention in recent years. Malawi successfully launched a fertilizer subsidy programme in 2005-2006, following the dramatic food crisis due to drought in 2004-2005. However, it is now implementing agroforestry systems, using nitrogen-fixing trees, to ensure sustained growth in maize production in preparation for the medium-term situation when fertilizer subsidies may have to be scaled back or withdrawn. By mid-2009, over 120,000 Malawian farmers had received training and tree materials from the programme, and support from Ireland has now enabled extension of the programme to 40 per cent of Malawi's districts, benefiting 1.3 million of the poorest people. Research shows that this results in increased yields from 1 t/ha to 2-3 t/ha, even if farmers cannot afford commercial nitrogen fertilizers. With an application of a quarter-dose of mineral fertilizer, maize yields may surpass 4 t/ha. However, this shows that, while investment in organic fertilizing techniques should be a priority, this should not exclude the use of other fertilizers. An optimal solution that could be an exit strategy from fertilizer subsidy schemes would be to link fertilizer subsidies directly to agroforestry investments on the farm in order to provide for long-term sustainability in nutrient supply, and to build up soil health as the basis for sustained yields and improved efficiency of fertilizer response. Malawi is reportedly exploring this "subsidy to sustainability" approach.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- By enhancing on-farm fertility production, agroecology reduces farmers' reliance on external inputs and state subsidies. This, in turn, makes vulnerable smallholders less dependent on local retailers and moneylenders. One key reason why agroecology helps to support incomes in rural areas is because it promotes on-farm fertility generation. Indeed, supplying nutrients to the soil does not necessarily require adding mineral fertilizers. It can be done by applying livestock manure or by growing green manures. Farmers can also establish a "fertilizer factory in the fields" by planting trees that take nitrogen out of the air and "fix" it in their leaves, which are subsequently incorporated into the soil. That, in essence, is the result of planting Faidherbia albida, a nitrogen-fixing acacia species indigenous to Africa and widespread throughout the continent. Since this tree goes dormant and sheds its foliage during the early rainy season at the time when field crops are being established, it does not compete significantly with them for light, nutrients or water during the growing season; yet it allows a significant increase in yields of the maize with which it is combined, particularly in conditions of low soil fertility. In Zambia, unfertilized maize yields in the vicinity of Faidherbia trees averaged 4.1 t/ha, compared to 1.3 t/ha nearby, but beyond the tree canopy. Similar results were observed in Malawi, where this tree was also widely used. The use of such nitrogen-fixing trees avoids dependence on synthetic fertilizers, the price of which has been increasingly high and volatile over the past few years, exceeding food commodity prices, even when the latter reached a peak in July 2008. In this way, whatever financial assets the household has can be used on other essentials, such as education or medicine.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- Although they can create jobs, agroecological approaches are fully compatible with a gradual mechanization of farming. The need to produce equipment for conservation agricultural techniques such as no-till and direct seeding actually results in more jobs being created in the manufacturing sector. This is true in particular in Africa which still imports most of its equipment, but which increasingly manufactures simple equipment Employment could also result from the expansion of agroforestry. In Southern Africa, farmers produce trees as a business, supported by a financing facility established by the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF). During its first year, the Malawi Agroforestry Food Security Programme distributed tree seeds, setting up 17 nurseries that raised 2,180,000 seedlings and establishing 345 farmer groups.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Economic Rights
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 30
- Paragraph text
- In addition, the diversity of species and of farm activities that agroecological approaches allow are ways to mitigate risks from extreme weather events, as well as from the invasion of new pests, weeds and diseases, that will result from global warming. The agroecological practice of cultivar mixtures bets on genetic diversity in the fields in order to improve crop resistance to diseases. In the Yunnan Province in China, after disease-susceptible rice varieties were planted in mixtures with resistant varieties, yields improved by 89 per cent and rice blast disease was 94 per cent less severe than when the varieties were grown in monoculture, leading farmers to abandon the use of fungicidal sprays.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Health
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 31
- Paragraph text
- Agroecology also puts agriculture on the path of sustainability by delinking food production from the reliance on fossil energy (oil and gas). It contributes to mitigating climate change, both by increasing carbon sinks in soil organic matter and above-ground biomass, and by avoiding carbon dioxide or other greenhouse gas emissions from farms by reducing direct and indirect energy use. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has estimated the global technical mitigation potential for agriculture at 5.5 to 6 Gt of CO2-equivalent per year by 2030. Most of this total (89 per cent) can come from carbon sequestration in soils, storing carbon as soil organic matter (humus), something which can be done through agroecology.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 32
- Paragraph text
- The participation of farmers is vital for the success of agroecological practices. So far, agroecology has been developed by grassroots organizations and NGOs, and it has spread through farmer field schools and farmers' movements, such as the Campesino a Campesino movement in Central America. Experience with agroecological techniques is growing everyday within peasant networks such as La Via Campesina and the AgriCultures Network (former LEISA) globally; Réseau des Organisations Paysannes et des Producteurs Agricoles de l'Afrique de l'Ouest (ROPPA), Eastern & Southern Africa Farmers' Forum (ESAFF), and PELUM (Participatory Ecological Land Use Management) network in Africa, MASIPAG network in the Philippines (Magsasaka at Siyentista Tungo sa Pag-unlad ng Agrikultura), or Assessoria e Serviços a Projetos em Agricultura Alternativa (AS-PTA) and Movimento dos Trabalhadores Sem Terra (MST) in Brazil.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 34
- Paragraph text
- State support can build on those efforts. In Brazil, for example, the 2010 Act on extension and technical assistance for family farming and agrarian reform (Lei 12.188/2010) prioritizes support to rural extension activities in ecological agriculture. This Act will accentuate the qualitative shift in the Brazilian extension services which is parallel to quantitative changes in the last decade. Indeed, extension activities organized under the Brazilian National Rural Extension Policy (2003) have increased from an average of 2,000 activities/year in 2004-2005 to an average of close to 30,000/year in 2007-2009. Such efforts enable a rapid dissemination of best practices, including agroecological practices, especially when farmers participate in the system and are not mere receivers of trainings.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 35
- Paragraph text
- Scaling up agroecology in order to maximize its positive impacts on farmers' incomes, productivity and the environment means both (horizontally) increasing the areas cultivated by agroecological techniques and (vertically) creating an enabling framework for the farmers. Innovative ways of ensuring horizontal expansion include the "pilot scaling up" strategy such as the one successfully implemented in the Chinyanja Triangle (Mozambique, Malawi and Zambia) and West and Central Africa by the World Agroforestry Centre for tree domestication. The strategy relies on the identification of Pilot Scaling Up Areas (PSUAs) and the establishment of "scaling up platforms," the formation of "change teams" and the identification of partners: from grassroots organization to private companies. The targeting of the zones where the adoption of agroecology has the greatest potential, based on biophysical criteria, may be facilitated by Geographic Information Systems (GIS), such as those that have been used both in Europe and in Southern Africa in order to identify the suitability areas for the scaling up of agroforestry systems. As mentioned earlier, the dissemination of the push-pull strategy in East Africa by the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) was based both on demonstration fields managed by model farmers, which attracts visits by other farmers during field days, and on partnerships with national research systems in neighbouring countries that facilitated take-up of this approach. Localized innovations can spread rapidly through such approaches (see Figure 2 below).
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- This report focuses on the vertical dimension of scaling up agroecology, namely, the establishment of an enabling framework - although this is both a condition and a driver of horizontal scaling up. Governments have a key role to play in this regard, beyond supporting access to land, water and seeds for small-scale farmers. This section identifies a number of principles that could support the scaling up of agroecological practices. Encouraging a shift towards sustainable agriculture may be a delicate process associated with transition costs, since farmers must learn new techniques that move away from the current systems, which are more specialized, less adaptive, and have a lower innovation capacity. Therefore, the following principles should be applied with flexibility. The incentive structures which such policies create to encourage the shift towards sustainable farming should be regularly tested and re-evaluated with the participation of the beneficiaries, transforming policy into a mode of "social learning rather than an exercise of political authority." The move towards agroecology should be based on the farmers themselves - its main beneficiaries. Agroecological techniques are best spread from farmer to farmer, since they are often specific to an agroecological zone.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 38
- Paragraph text
- Agroecology is knowledge-intensive. It requires the development of both ecological literacy and decision-making skills in farmer communities. Investments in agricultural extension and agricultural research are key in this regard. While agricultural spending is among the four top contributors to increasing rural welfare, along with public spending in education, health and roads, agricultural research has the greatest overall impact on poverty and agricultural productivity in developing countries. Agricultural research had "the largest impact on agricultural production and second-largest impact on poverty reduction (after rural education) in China, and the second-largest impact on poverty reduction in rural India (after investment in roads)." Research in agroecological practices, in particular, should be prioritized, because of the considerable and largely untapped potential of such practices. Modern science combines with local knowledge in agroecological research. In Central America for instance, the coffee groves grown under high-canopy trees were improved by the identification of the optimal shade conditions, minimizing the entire pest complex and maximizing the beneficial microflora and fauna while maximizing yield and coffee quality. However, perhaps because such practices cannot be rewarded by patents, the private sector has been largely absent from this line of research.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Poverty
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- The best of what scientists can offer and the valuable experience of smallholder farmers should be brought together in order to develop participatory modes of learning. The development of participation can go beyond the field technology itself. In West Africa, for instance, citizens' juries on the governance of food and agricultural research were set up by the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), the Coordination Nationale des Organisations Paysannes (CNOP) and other partners, resulting in farmers formulating 100 recommendations after having heard experts on the models of agriculture, land tenure and property rights, macroeconomic issues and the governance of agricultural research. Not only research and extension services should develop into learning organisations, so too should ministries, and educational and financial institutions. Farmers' organizations and networks have accumulated experience on the dissemination of agroecological practices in the last decade, with proven results. These movements are already functioning as learning organizations; they must now be supported in this role.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- [As part of their obligation to devote the maximum of their available resources to the progressive realization of the right to food, States should implement public policies supporting the adoption of agroecological practices by:] reorienting public spending in agriculture by prioritizing the provision of public goods, such as extension services, rural infrastructures and agricultural research, and by building on the complementary strengths of seeds-and-breeds and agroecological methods, allocating resources to both, and exploring the synergies, such as linking fertilizer subsidies directly to agroecological investments on the farm ("subsidy to sustainability");
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 44
- Paragraph text
- [As part of their obligation to devote the maximum of their available resources to the progressive realization of the right to food, States should implement public policies supporting the adoption of agroecological practices by:] making reference to agroecology and sustainable agriculture in national strategies for the realisation of the right to food and by including measures adopted in the agricultural sector in national adaptation plans of action (NAPAs) and in the list of nationally appropriate mitigation actions (NAMAs) adopted by countries in their efforts to mitigate climate change;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- [Donors should:] engage in long-term relationships with partner countries, supporting ambitious programs and policies to scale up agroecological approaches for lasting change, including genuine multi-polar engagement with public authorities and experts and existing local organizations of food providers (farmers, pastoralists, forest dwellers) and the networks they form, such as ROPPA, ESAFF, La Via Campesina, and PELUM, which have accumulated experience that could be the basis for rapid scaling-up of best practices;
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph
Acroecology and the right to food 2011, para. 45
- Paragraph text
- [Donors should:] fund regional and national knowledge platforms to gather and disseminate best practices in agroecology from the field to landscape levels.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the right to food
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Environment
- Food & Nutrition
- Person(s) affected
- N.A.
- Year
- 2011
Paragraph