FAO/NETHERLANDS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON

UNCLAS ROME 004769

SIPDIS


STATE FOR OES/ETC, OES/PCI, IO/EDA; PASS EPA/OIA
USDA FOR FAS/ICD/DHUGHES
USAID FOR EGAT/EST

FROM U.S. MISSION TO THE U.N. AGENCIES IN ROME

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: SENV EAID AORC EAGR NL FAO
SUBJECT: FAO/NETHERLANDS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON
WATER FOR FOOD AND ECOSYSTEMS, January 31 - February 5,
2005


1. At a Briefing Session at the FAO on December 15,
2004, member countries were invited to send participants
to the "FAO/Netherlands International Conference on
Water for Food and Ecosystems: Make it Happen!", to be
held in The Hague,January 31 -February 5, 2005. The
stated conference aim is the implementation of the
existing international commitments on sustainable water
use in relation to food and ecosystems. Intended to
provide a high-level platform to assist governments in
identifying management practices, practical lessons
learned and the necessary enabling environments that
lead to sustainable water use at the river-basin level
and harmonization of food production and ecosystem
management, with a view to facilitating implementation,
the organizers of the Conference are counting on the
participation of FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf, the
Prince of Orange, and the Vice Prime Minister of
Ethiopia.


2. The organizers expect that (inter)national
Partnerships in Water for Food and Ecosystems will be
reinforced and established, furthering the development
and implementation of international water-related
policies and programs adopted by the World Summit on
Sustainable Development, FAO, the Convention on
Biological Diversity, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
and other international fora. The conclusions and
recommendations of the FAO/Netherlands Conference will
be forwarded to the Thirteenth Session of the Commission
on Sustainable Development (New York, April 2005) the
Thirty-third Session of the FAO Conference (Rome,
November 2005),Ramsar COP 9 (2005),CBD COP 8 (2006)
and the Fourth World Water Forum (Mexico, March 2006).
Additional information is to be found at
http://www.fao.org/ag/sfe2005/, including information
about pre-Conference activities, such as an electronic
forum, an African pre-Conference (Addis Ababa, November
2004),Regional Partner Workshops: Water Resources for
Local Development: Governance, Institutions and Policies
(Loskop Dam, South Africa),Large and Small Rice Based
Systems: from multiple roles to multiple uses (INWEPF,
Asia),International Seminar on the links between river
basin management and rural development in the Andes
Region (Colombia, November 2004).


4. Conference themes to promote sustainable management
of water for food and ecosystems emphasize a stakeholder-
centered approach. They are:

(1) Fostering implementation: know-how for action; a)
how to enhance effective stakeholder involvement, and b)
how to integrate and apply knowledge for managing the
intertwined relation between water for food and
ecosystems.

(2) A New Economy for water for food and ecosystems; a)
how to assess the various positive and negative values
of water use, and b) how to ensure that the diverse
values of water are included in decision making
processes by stakeholders.
(3) The enabling environment; a) what institutional
arrangements and policies enable local stakeholders to
manage their resources and to accommodate the diverse
users and uses of water, and b) how can institutions and
organizations offer a platform for joint decision
making/negotiation involving fishers, pastoralists,
rainfed agriculturalists and industries and including
the specific needs of nature and environment.


5. During the briefing, Louise Fresco, FAO Assistant
Director-General for Agriculture, provided context for
this conference. She noted that agriculture and the
environment, traditionally viewed as being in opposition
to each other, are being looked at increasingly as two
facets of the same thing, particularly since the World
Summite on Sustainable Development. Agriculture, the
greatest user of water resources, is seen as a partner
in the endeavor to find new solutions to environmental
problems -- a partnership which seeks to put
agricultural work on a sound scientific basis. Concrete
case studies presented at the pre-Conference activity in
Addis Ababa showed how to combine environmental and
productive resources to address Millennium Development
Goals 1 and 7.


6. In his introductory remarks, Hans Hoogeveen,

Director of International Affairs, Netherlands Ministry
of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, The
Netherlands, lauded the importance of water and said
that the Johannisberg Summit had served to put water
high on the political agenda along with sanitation. He
would like to see the conference avoid lengthy political
statements and focus on implementation and build on
lessons learned and quick results taken from experts'
own experience. The product would be recommendations
and partnerships between the private sector, NGOs and
governments, although it was admitted that thusfar
private interest in the Conference had been limited.
Planned were Plenary Sessions, Working Groups, a
Ministerial Roundtable, exhibits, brochures and Side-
Events (6/day).


7. Another Dutch speaker described the pre-Conference
event in Ethiopia. Six practical cases were presented
by the government for discussion to encourage the
identification of broader or general issues. Immediate
conclusions were: 1) local knowledge is already
available and sufficient, implementation of decisions
was problematic, 2) ecological services were not taken
into account, i.e. global services addressing the
climate, water, etc, 3) capacity building was important.


8. Comment: The planned Netherlands/FAO conference
advances themes of sustainable development, science and
technology, and partnerships with a focus on
implementation that are in line with the USG-advocated
approach to water resources. We will want to ensure
that the US is represented there with policymakers and
technical experts at the appropriate level.
CLEVERLEY


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2004ROME04769 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED