International Sustainable Development Meeting

22 May 2002

Federated Farmers At International Sustainable Development Meeting

Federated Farmers will have two representatives at a meeting in Bali that will set the agenda for the World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) to be held in Johannesburg later this year.

The WSSD is a follow up meeting ten years on from the Rio Earth Summit in 1992, from which emerged international agreements such as the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Kyoto Protocol on climate change.

Federated Farmers Vice President Tom Lambie, as a delegate from the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP), will present proposals for achieving sustainable development in agriculture during a meeting with major interest groups from around the world from 27 to 29 May.

Federated Farmers National Board Member and former South Island High Country Committee Chairman John Aspinall is a member of the New Zealand delegation attending the full meeting from 27 May to 7 June.

The meeting will discuss a wide range of proposals for achieving sustainable development put forward by governments and Non Governmental Organisations (NGOs), covering poverty eradication, sustainable consumption and production, managing natural resources, energy, water, health, education, and trade and market access.

"Proposals for action cover almost every topic that has been the subject of national and international debate since the Earth Summit," said Mr Lambie. "However, five key areas are emerging as the focus for proposals for action by Governments, organisations and individuals. These are water access and sanitation, energy access and efficiency, health, agricultural productivity, and biodiversity and ecosystem management.

"New Zealand farmers are tackling many of these issues and by participating in this meeting our experiences will contribute to developing practical approaches for implementing sustainable development."

Federated Farmers is the only New Zealand Business organisation to be represented at the meeting.

ENDS

© Scoop Media