Summary: July 1, 2003: Statement by H.E. M. Mario Baccini, Under-Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs of Italy, on behalf of the European Union. Promoting an integrated approach to rural development in developing countries for poverty eradication and sustainable development. High-level segment. Substantive Session of ECOSOC (30 June - 25 July 2003) (Geneva)
Mr. Chairman,
I have the honour to take the floor on behalf of the European Union. The Acceding Countries, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia and the Associated Countries Bulgaria, Romania and Turkey align themselves to this statement.
The European Union welcomes this opportunity to discuss "Promoting an integrated approach to rural development in developing countries for poverty eradication and sustainable development" at this High-Level Segment of the Economic and Social Council. We congratulate the Secretary-General for his report on the subject, which has given our deliberations important input.
The EU welcomes the recommendations from the ad hoc working group on the follow up of the UN conferences. In particular the EU considers that the discussion on the promotion of an integrated approach to rural development should take into account the conclusions and recommendations of the Word Food Summit of Rome 2002, the International Conference on Financing for Development of Monterrey 2002, the World Summit on Sustainable Development of Johannesburg 2002. The EU has reiterated that the
relationship between the EU and UN will contribute to the achievement of goals, targets and commitments set in the United Nations Millennium Declaration and by major UN conferences, especially those compiled as the Millennium Development Goals, with particular emphasis on poverty eradication through substantial improvement in the effectiveness and enhanced coherence of development co-operation assistance;
The European Union's development policy is grounded on the principle of sustainable, equitable and participatory human and social development with the main objective of reducing and eventually eradicating poverty. Since poverty and hunger are predominantly rural problems, sustainable rural development and food security have been retained as one of the six priority sectors in the EU Declaration on the Development Policy of November 2000.
Three quarters of the people living in extreme poverty are found in rural areas. Even with rapid urbanisation it is evident that the Millennium Development Goals will not be achieved without sustained economic growth and rapid progress in poverty reduction in rural areas and revival of rural economies on which urban areas often depend.
The EU agrees with the main general conclusion of the report of the Secretary General that rural development efficiency and sustainability can only be achieved through long-term strategies prepared and implemented on a participatory basis and reflecting the priorities of the rural poor people. Each country has the primary responsibility for its own social and economic development and we cannot but overemphasise the role of national policies and development strategies. These policies and
strategies must be developed in the framework of good governance, respect of human rights and solid democratic institutions responsive to the real needs of the people.
In order to mainstream the EU approach to rural development, the European Commission, in close collaboration with the EU Members presented in 2002 the Communication "Fighting Rural Poverty: European Community policy and approach to rural development and sustainable natural resources management in developing countries" that integrates the multidimensional aspects of rural development in a coherent framework. In this regard, the EU continues to collaborate to support the discussion at the
international level and to elaborate and implement innovative approaches to rural development and food security through a ad hoc rural development expert group.
I am also pleased to recall, Mr Chairman, that in the conclusions of in its session of January 27th 2002, the EU General Affairs and External Relations Council has reaffirmed the importance of rural development in fighting poverty and has renewed our commitment to this field;
Mr Chairman,
Turning to challenges ahead, the EU shares the emphasis that the Secretary-General's report gives to the multidimensional aspects of rural poverty and the need for an integrated approach, which adequately deals with the fundamental problems that are common to the rural areas in most developing countries:
- low productivity,
- low income and consumption;
- inequalities in ownership and access to productive assets,
- low health education and nutrition status,
- environmental degradation,
- vulnerability to risk,
- gender inequality,
- weak political power.
In particular the problems faced by the women deserve special attention in rural poverty reduction strategies. Women represent a particularly vulnerable group in rural communities where they suffer from worse social conditions, higher workloads, exclusion from social and economic opportunities and marginalisation in decision making and key rural institutions. Promoting gender equality and empowerment of women in poverty eradication and sustainable development strategies is therefore of
paramount importance.
Before detailing the EU's recent policy orientations and approaches in the field of rural development and sustainable natural resource management in developing countries, I wish to briefly recall the main trends that affect rural development and the context in which rural poverty is evolving:
On the global economic side:
Globalisation: Globalisation offers opportunities and challenges, however until now the benefits of globalisation have been distributed unevenly, particularly to the Least Developed Countries, whose rural sector has been further marginalised by competition from global markets and whose comparative advantages have been eroded by the declining terms of trade for primary goods. The EU is already working to provide support for trade development and implementing actions to enhance the
competitiveness of rural economies through the development of rural infrastructure;
Privatisation: Many developing countries have achieved progress in liberalising and privatising their agricultural filières, but privatisation has fostered the emergence of the private sector only in the most accessible areas. In more remote rural regions, market failures have resulted in small producers not having adequate access to sufficient services, technical support, inputs and credit required to increase the market integration of agricultural production. The EU encourages
privatisation and liberalisation reforms that redefine the role of the state and that are coupled with actions aimed at creating the conditions for equitable and sustainable market-oriented rural development;
On the socio-economic front:
Urbanisation: As the Secretary-General's report stresses, rural areas will be and are already affected by increasing urbanisation and the related permanent or temporary outflows to urban areas. This has significant economic, social, environmental physical and political implications for poor people representing opportunities and threats. Rural and urban are more and more a continuum. The interaction and interdependency between urban and rural development need to be better understood and
rural development strategies must be designed so as to be complementary to and consistent with urban development;
HIV-AIDS : In the coming years accelerated efforts will have to be made to reverse the devastating spread and impact of the HIV/AIDS pandemic including in the rural world. In most cases the epidemic, if not successfully dealt with, means a reduction in the adult workforce, children taken out of school, increased health costs, the sale of productive assets, debt accumulation, changes in the community social fabric, the weakening of community institutions and general economic decline.
Global and national leadership, partnership and the availability of adequate resources are therefore essential to combat HIV/AIDS pandemic;
On the political side:
National policies: Government policies in developing countries have tended to focus on public expenditure at national level, reforms and services provision in urban areas, to the neglect of rural development, which has often been jeopardised by inappropriate policies and institutions. The result has been high costs, inefficiency, highly centralised parastatal organisations and adverse land and agrarian policies that reduce access to and investment in land. While macroeconomic stability
and structural reforms have generally aided poverty reduction, in many cases the reforms needed in the rural sector are still incomplete and discredited old policies have not been replaced with appropriate new sectoral policies and adequate safety nets.
Moreover, to tackle rural poverty a special attention should be paid in supporting a wide range of sectors that make up the rural economy. The agricultural sector is particularly relevant because it contributes to the national income, exports, employment, investments and savings, forms the basis of the livelihoods of the majority of rural poor people and stimulate the growth of the non-farm sector.
The EU welcomes the attention that the Secretary-General's report dedicates to land reform and the establishment of an enabling environment for rural development. In the case of land reform, the EU supports the development of participatory approach based on broad social consensus of the key stakeholders. Such reforms must be designed to ensure improved and safer access to land for the rural poor by providing a comprehensive framework for the regulated co-existence of multiple tenure systems and
procedures in land administration that are accessible to poor people. With regard to the establishment of an enabling environment, the EU believes that rural finance and the development of rural, economic and social infrastructure deserves special attention from national governments supported by the donor community. Isolated rural communities have little access to credit, market, information, institutions and political power. In our opinion, the provision of physical infrastructure, social and
appropriate financial services is a key per-requisite for the alleviation of rural poverty and should represent a top priority in the national development efforts;
Decentralisation: many developing countries have adopted and started to implement decentralisation programmes to transfer, at varying degrees, administrative, decision-making, and financial and fiscal functions to regional and local level. This is an essential step towards fostering dialogue and improving understanding between the central, regional and local level; it is also key in ensuring greater ownership of policies and strategies and promote democratic processes at the stakeholders
level. Local government should be in the best position to address local needs and draft local development plans. However, in rural regions the implementation of a decentralisation policy is often hampered by the lack of local financial autonomy inadequate skills and administrative capacity and the lack of means of local people to define and formalise their own long-term vision of rural development. Institutional support from donors should therefore focus on actions to address the major
shortcomings-such as coverage, effectiveness and accountability-of public and private institutions operating in rural areas.
Community-based development and civil society participation: Development efforts in the past have been hampered by weak expression of demand by poor, especially poor rural, people. But civil society organisations in many developing countries are taking a much more pro-active role in the debate on policy choices and in the delivery of services to the poor. Despite the difficulties in channelling support to civil society and its present limitations, community-based development has so far
proved it has an important role to play in promoting local participation and ownership.
Conflict and insecurity: protracted insecurity, open or latent armed conflict with the subsequent movements of large share of rural population have produced particularly disruptive effects on rural communities in the areas affected and in many case have dramatically biased the traditional pattern of production towards very short term survival and low added value productive cycles resulting in decreasing productivity and food insecurity.
Environmental problems and natural disasters: intensive exploitation of the ecosystems underlying the rural environment has led to land degradation, deforestation, erosion and loss of biodiversity. Rural poverty can aggravate environmental degradation processes because the poor often feel that they have to choose between satisfying their immediate survival needs and managing the sustainability of renewable resources. Large-scale unsustainable environmental management, however, is often
the result of commercial interest or non-rural consumption patterns, such as illegal forest exploitation or bush meat poaching for urban and third country markets.
In each of the areas we have discussed, the rural poor are much more vulnerable than others to risks related to climate, freshwater shortage and pollution, natural disasters, disease, markets and conflict. At the same time they are less capable of reacting. This is why the EU is so concerned about the need to implement actions aimed at reducing, mitigating those risks and , as in the case of climate changes, adapting to them and promoting the establishment of appropriate safety nets to prevent
the most disruptive shocks to rural households and which stimulate recovery of livelihoods and rural economies.
Mr Chairman,
To summarise what I have just explained above in detail and having in mind the fundamental problems affecting the rural poverty, let me reiterate the six policy areas that EU considers to be of particular importance:
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