Toward a working agenda for sustainable agricultural development
Ensuring the sustainability of agricultural production is the most important challenge on the international agenda for the 1990s. The present document outlines, from a Latin American perspective, the different dimensions involved in moving toward sustainable agriculture. Beginning with a brief analysis of the concept of sustainability, the document then examines the magnitude of the problems to be overcome in achieving sustainable agriculture: deforestation, pollution and ecological imbalance caused by the misuse of agrochemicals, the degradation of soils and the loss of genetic diversity. The options available to the countries of Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) for the sustainable development of agriculture are different from those open to the developed countries. The LAC countries cannot afford to restrict the growth of the agricultural sector in order to conserve natural resources. Also, they face the urgent need to reduce poverty, which, to a great degree, is the cause of over-exploitation of resources. Because of failures in the current market system, sustainable development will be difficult to achieve without a certain amount of government intervention. However, it is not a question of abandoning the market and returning to the old style of State intervention. A first step would be to change existing policies that foster unsustainable development patterns, and then to take measures aimed at correcting the failures of the market. In moving toward sustainable development, it will be necessary to: a) reaffirm the importance of the future and limit the use of a short-term approach b) take a systems approach to problems c) formulate a consistent policy framework that promotes resource conservation d) improve inter-institutional coordination by internalizing externalities e) develop indicators to provide pertinent information for decision making f) develop a new technological strategy that is less harmful to the environment g) change the human resource profile and h) work at the local, national and multinational levels. The basic commitment must, of course, be made by each individual country. Nonetheless, in the short term, it will be necessary to study and discuss the issue, mobilize broad-based support and achieve the minimal political commitment needed to begin bringing about desired changes. This is an area in which international technical cooperation can make a major contribution by facilitating planning, the exchange of experiences and the development of common viewpoints regarding work to be undertaken at the regional and subregional levels.
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| Format: | biblioteca |
| Language: | spa |
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San José (Costa Rica) CATIE
1991
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| Subjects: | SOSTENIBILIDAD, CONSERVACION DE LOS RECURSOS, POLITICA DE DESARROLLO, MODERNIZACION, MEDIO AMBIENTE, DESARROLLO AGRICOLA, |
| Online Access: | http://orton.catie.ac.cr/repdoc/A8503i/A8503i.pdf |
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