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Launch
Meeting Report
Launch
Meeting of the Regional Programme on
Farmers’ Rights
to Livelihood
12-13 July 2001, Kathmandu
Background
The
Programme
The
Launch Workshop
Objectives
Issues
discussed
Organisers
Participants
Contact:
Us
Background
The natural and social capital
of the Hindu Kush-Himalayan region is facing new challenges unleashed by
complex forces of the market in the current nomenclature of liberalisation
and globalisation. While open economies and regions are likely to
bring new opportunities to spur economic growth and development they will
not be without the accompanying negative aspects. For example, the multilateral
agreement on trade liberalisation under the World Trade Organisation (WTO)
will have a definitive impact on mountain resources, upon which mountain
people are dependent for their subsistence.
Whatever limited resources
mountain communities have at their disposal are also coming under threat
from the rich corporations from developed countries because of already
documented evidence of “bio-piracy” which is likely to be accentuated due
to the frightening provisions of the Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual
Property Rights (TRIPS) Agreement of the WTO. The patenting of life form
and imperatives to provide protection to plant variety either through patent
or a home-grown (sui generis) system are further limiting the rights of
farming communities of the developing countries in general and small and
marginal mountain farmers in particular. The rights of breeders are gaining
prominence in the international agreements and that of farmers are relegated
to the back burner. Besides, other agreement of WTO, namely, Agreement
on Agriculture, Sanitary and Phyto-sanitary Measures and Technical Barriers
to Trade are also likely to pose enormous threat to livelihood security
of the mountain farmers.
The
Programme
Against this backdrop, South
Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWTEE) and International
Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) are jointly conducting
a programme to protect the rights of the farmers and marginal communities
of the Hindu Kush Himalayan region. The programme will focus on raising
the level of debate on issues relating to protection and promotion of farmers
rights in the WTO era at the level of civil society, national alliance
institutions and policy makers; conducting research on crucial issues;
and generating series of demystified documents on some of these issues
(including in vernacular languages) for the wider dissemination of the
findings of the research works.
The porgramme focuses on
the Hindu Kush Himalayan region, except in Sri Lanka, which is not a part
of the range. During the initial three-year phase, the activities will
be concentrated in Bangladesh, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, with
the possible replication in other countries within the Hindu Kush range.
The goal of the programme is to protect the rights of the farmers and marginal
communities of the Hindu Kush Himalayan region particularly in the context
of various international trade agreements.
The programme involves
three distinct components. Firstly, making the parliamentarians of the
mountain region and policy makers aware of the impact of WTO Agreements
on farmers of the HKH region. Secondly, regularly feeding the negotiators
on the issues at stake in the WTO negotiations which could have some bearing
mountain issues. Thirdly, in the context of United Nations having declared
year 2002 as the International Year of Mountains 2002 (IYM), the project
intends to use this leverage to make a policy impact at the national, regional
as well as international levels to protect the rights of farmers in the
mountain region. The main target group of the project are the poor, marginalised
and vulnerable farmers.
The
Launch Workshop
Though the member organisations
have already started their part of the preliminary activities, the formal
launch workshop was organised in Kathmandu. This workshop was successful in setting
up the stage for the activities to be conducted by the participating organizations
over the period of next three years. The workshop was also expected to provide
a platform for interaction amongst people working on issues
of farmers’ rights, mountain issues and trade and development issues. The
objective of the workshop are summarised as follows:
Objectives
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To help participants understand
the intricate relationship between trade liberalisation and rights of mountain
farmers.
-
To devise strategies and develop
plan of action for the implementation of “Farmers’ Rights to Livelihood”
Programme in the Hindu Kush Himalayan region.
-
To develop advocacy and dissemination
strategies for the International Year of the Mountains 2002) and beyond.
Issues discussed
The following issues have been discussed during the workshop:
-
Programme Overview and Objectives
of the Workshop
-
Socio-economic Condition of
Communities Living in the HKH Region
-
Farmers’ Rights Issues: In General
Terms
-
Farmers’ Rights Issues: At Country
Level
-
Advocacy and Dissemination Strategies
-
Cross Cutting Regional Research
Agenda
-
Programme of Action
Organisers
South Asia Watch on Trade,
Economics and Environment (SAWTEE), Kathmandu, a regional network of South
Asian non-governmental organisations working in the areas of trade policy,
regional cooperation and sustainable development.
International Centre for
Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD), Kathmandu, an international organisation
engaged in promoting sustainable development in the Hindu-Kush Himlayan
Region.
Participants
Thirty participants representing
the members/network partners of SAWTEE, representatives of ICIMOD,
NGOs and INGOs actively involved farmer rights issues, and media from South
Asia and Southern and Eastern Africa will participate at the programme.
For
further information, please contact:
Mr. Ratnakar Adhikari, e-mail:
rmadi@propublic.wlink.com.np
Mr. Navin K. Verma, e-mail:
navin@hqsawtee.wlink.com.np
South Asia Watch on Trade,
Economics and Environment (SAWTEE)
G.P.O. Box 4360, Sahyog Marg, Anam Nagar, Kathmandu, Nepal
Tel: 977-1-229 759;
Fax:
977-1-268022 E-mail:
hqsawtee@wlink.com.np
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