Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09UNROME72
2009-12-04 21:22:00
UNCLASSIFIED
UN Rome
Cable title:  

HOW BIOVERSITY INTERNATIONAL (AS PART OF THE CONSULTATIVE

Tags:  EAID EAGR ECON PREL UN 
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VZCZCXRO8353
PP RUEHRN
DE RUEHRN #0072/01 3382122
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P R 042122Z DEC 09
FM USMISSION UN ROME
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1209
INFO RUEHRC/USDA FAS WASHDC
RUEHC/USAID WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC
RHEHAAA/NSC WASHINGTON DC
RUCNDT/USMISSION USUN NEW YORK 0420
RUEHBS/USEU BRUSSELS 0264
RUEHGV/USMISSION GENEVA 0319
RUEHRN/USMISSION UN ROME 1285
UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 UN ROME 000072 

SIPDIS

AID FOR SUSAN BRADLEY; TREASURY FOR P.GHANDI; STATE FOR EEB G.CLEMENTS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID EAGR ECON PREL UN
SUBJECT: HOW BIOVERSITY INTERNATIONAL (AS PART OF THE CONSULTATIVE
GROUP ON INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH) CONTRIBUTES TO GLOBAL
FOOD SECURITY

REF: USUN Rome 61 (CFS Reform Plan)

Summary and Action Request

---------------------



UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 UN ROME 000072

SIPDIS

AID FOR SUSAN BRADLEY; TREASURY FOR P.GHANDI; STATE FOR EEB G.CLEMENTS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: EAID EAGR ECON PREL UN
SUBJECT: HOW BIOVERSITY INTERNATIONAL (AS PART OF THE CONSULTATIVE
GROUP ON INTERNATIONAL AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH) CONTRIBUTES TO GLOBAL
FOOD SECURITY

REF: USUN Rome 61 (CFS Reform Plan)

Summary and Action Request

--------------




1. (U) On December 1, the Ambassador met with the Director
General, Emile Frison, and Deputy DG of Bioversity International
(BI) - the Rome-based leg of the Consultative Group on
Agricultural Research (CGIAR) - for an introductory briefing on
BI's work and its contribution to global food security. Frison
provided an overview of BI's Program of Work and its efforts to
consolidate and reform the CGIAR network. In terms of support
to country-led food security strategies, Frison described BI's
policy work in Rome and abroad, and explained technical
challenges associated with launching a "Green Revolution" in
Africa. They were not invited to attend Rwanda's December 7-8
food security strategy launch, but have projects in Rwanda and
staff in Nairobi and Kampala who could attend.




2. (U) On reform of CGIAR (and its 15 research centers),Frison
said a new, legally-independent Consortium would be created by
late-Feb/early-March to give the Group a single voice and higher
political profile. The effort is being led by CGIAR at the
World Bank in Washington. Frison advocated housing the new
Board in Rome to complement work underway at the UN agencies
here, including in the Committee on World Food Security (CFS).
Frison believed that CGIAR's new funding mechanisms, with less
restricted project funding, would promote greater flexibility
and sustainability. The reform effort will help deliver
research results to the field for practical implementation. BI
will also continue to promote strengthened biological diversity
in agricultural development, improved nutrition, assistance with
national legislation in key areas, and stronger value chains
involving government, civil society and the private sector.
Frison encouraged increased USG funding for Bioversity
International, in addition to CGIAR. ACTION REQUEST: If CGIAR
is not already represented at the Rwanda event, we recommend
their inclusion. If the USG supports having the new CGIAR
Consortium/Board based in Rome, we see them as adding value

toward improved coordination of the Rome-based agencies for food
security. We welcome Washington thinking on this topic. END
SUMMARY AND ACTION REQUEST.



Introductory Briefing on CGIAR and Bioversity

--------------




3. (U) Emile Frison (Belgium) and Kwesi Ateh Krah (Ghana),DG
and DDG of Bioversity International, respectively, briefed the
Ambassador on December 1 on the work and ongoing reforms at BI
and its parent network - the CGIAR. During their 90-minute
meeting, Frison detailed the work of BI, its history, and
provided an overview of the research it does as a key part of
the larger CGIAR. Most of the CGIAR centers, he noted,
maintained valuable agricultural seed banks for local use. BI
is developing a "gene portal" for public access to genetic
materials and maintains a seed bank for banana species. Its
real work, however, is focused on global policy issues, given
its location amidst the Rome-based UN food and agriculture
agencies. BI, he noted, is pleased to be speaking more
regularly on behalf of the CGIAR in Rome and elsewhere, and is
particularly content with an active role within the reforming
CFS (reftel).



Challenges in Africa

--------------




4. (U) Asked to explain how BI and the CGIAR (set up in the
1970s) could contribute to the globally-sanctioned food security
strategy and its emphasis on country-led strategies, Frison said

UN ROME 00000072 002 OF 003


BI was already working in many countries around the globe and
with numerous regional research networks, particularly in
Africa. BI had projects in Rwanda, for example, but was unaware
of Kigali's plans to launch a food security strategy in early
December. Nonetheless, if invited, field staff in Nairobi or
Kampala might be able to attend the event.




5. (U) Asked why the Green Revolution that helped feed so many
in Asia during the 1970's had not easily transferred to Africa,
Frison described some of the challenges. Unlike Asia and
elsewhere, Africa did attract the same level of investment to
develop the necessary infrastructure and "support network" built
around new and successful seed varieties engineered during the
Green Revolution in Asia. Soils in Africa, he said, were more
difficult and often do not support intensive agriculture, as
they lose fertility quickly in many areas. The African
approach, as a result, is focused less on maximizing production
as it is on minimizing the risk of major crop failure (due to
limited extension services, credit, etc). Nonetheless, on the
positive side, Frison noted that Africa, due to its shortage of
intensive agriculture and mechanization maintained tremendous
agricultural genetic diversity that should be used to benefit
small-hold and family farmers, improve nutrition, and minimize
risks of plant disease. The approach taken by the Gates
Foundation, he believed, was still too focused on industrial
agriculture models that may be inappropriate in the African
context. Better education and extension services are largely
what is needed there, he added.



New Board Structure; Housed in Rome?

--------------




6. (U) The CGIAR, including BI, is undergoing a major reform
project set to be completed in the coming weeks and months, led
by a team at the CGIAR headquarters at the World Bank in
Washington, DC. A major part of the reform effort will be a
restructuring of the network's governing structure, aimed at
providing a single voice and a higher political stature. Frison
believes this will help ensure a seat at the table for CGIAR/BI,
particularly in Rome among the larger UN agencies. He added
that the 15 CGIAR centers would form a single consortium, with
its own legal identity, with a CEO and Board Chairman with
world-class stature. Names for those positions are expected to
be announced soon. The first meeting of the new Board is
expected to occur next March, ahead of a key meeting on
agriculture biodiversity in Montpellier, France also in March
(http://www.agrobiodiversityplatform.org/wp_m ain/?p=223).
Frison strongly believes the Board should be located in Rome, to
take advantage of the work of the UN agencies, IDLO, the CFS,
and other bodies working to promote global food security.
ACTION REQUEST: Post seeks feed-back on whether this is in the
interest of the USG, and whether we should encourage such a
move. END ACTION REQUEST.



Call for Additional Resources

--------------




7. (U) Before finishing, Frison made a pitch for increased USG
assistance for BI, in addition to the significant assistance it
is already giving the CGIAR headquarters at the World Bank.
Noting that China (USD 160 thousand) was already providing
approximately one half of the USG contribution to BI, Frison
welcomed the core funding already given by USAID, but that more
could be used. Likewise, additional contacts and coordination
between donors and the new Board and its individual centers
would be beneficial for the network, as a whole.



Comment


UN ROME 00000072 003 OF 003


--------------




8. (U) BI and the broader CGIAR are clearly key players in the
food security portfolio, and their role should be clearly
understood and supported, where appropriate. BI's work to
establish and maintain seed banks in the developing world,
promote biological diversity, and nutrition are adding value and
should also be a part of country led food security planning in
Africa and elsewhere. We may want to consider including them in
our thinking and in future roll-out ceremonies like the one
hosted next week by Rwanda. Their work with IDLO to help
develop seed legislation in developing countries, their
collaboration with FAO to promote implementation of the Treaty
on Genetic Resources, work with IFAD and other Rome agencies is
also adding value and is consistent with Principle Four of the
Rome Food Summit declaration, that is leveraging multilateral
institutions. Their prominent inclusion in the CFS will also
help retain and encourage a useful focus on nutrition and
bio-diversity.
COUSIN