ACC Network:News:May 1998

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Posted 1 May 1998

News: May 1998

See also News for July 1998, June 1998 and April 1998

Committee on World Food Security

The 24th Session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) will meet from 2-5 June 1998 to consider, among other items, the first progress report since the World Food Summit took place in November 1996, on implementation of the Summit Plan of Action. The Committee's discussion will be based on a document synthesising reports received from 68 countries as well as United Nations agencies, intergovernmental and regional organisations on actions in this area.

Under its consideration of progress, it will also assess the world food security situation. In addition, the meeting will review alternative approaches and formats for all such future reporting on implementation of the World Food Summit Plan of Action, a subject which will first be debated at an Open-ended Working Group of the CFS to be held on 1 June 1998 - just one-day prior to the Committee meeting. The CFS will also consider a report on the development of a Food Insecurity and Vulnerability Information and Mapping System (FIVIMS) and as well as national guidelines for FIVIMS. The official reports submitted to the CFS will soon be available on-line at: ../../../../waicent/faoinfo/economic/esa/foodsec/cfs1.htm

For further information, contact: Barbara Huddleston, Chief, ESAF, FAO, Viale delle Terme di Carcalla, 00100 Rome, Italy; e-mail: barbara.huddleston@fao.org.

Knowledge Network on Civil Society Initiatives in Land Reform and Tenurial Security

The Knowledge Network on Civil Society Initiatives in Land Reform and Tenurial Security was launched on 10 February 1998, in Rome, at the end of a two-day meeting and workshop to mark IFAD's 20th Anniversary. The Knowledge Network is one of the activities of the Popular Coalition to Eradicate Hunger and Poverty. Its goal is to collect, review, assess and disseminate information and data on civil society initiatives to improve the access of poor rural people to land and water resources, including common property resources.

The event was attended by about 40 regional, national and local people's groups and NGOs and international experts in the field of land reform. It was also attended and addressed by the President of IFAD and senior officials from FAO and the World Bank. In addition, the workshop provided an occasion to present another major effort supported by the Popular Coalition to Eradicate Hunger and Poverty: the Network on Negotiated Land Reform (NERALEN). Initiated jointly by FAO, IFAD and the World Bank, with FAO as the lead agency, NERALEN aims to explore comparative experiences in the use of land markets and other negotiated processes in national agrarian reform programmes. The Network will start by focusing on four pilot countries, Brazil, Colombia, the Philippines and the Republic of South Africa.

For further information, please contact: Ms. Sappho Haralambous, IFAD, via del Serafico 107, 00142 Rome, Italy; e-mail: s.haralambous@ifad.org.

UNDP's collaborative efforts with civil society

UNDP's CSO programme supports three objectives: i) to enhance civic participation in selected countries; ii) to generate new knowledge and strengthen CSOs' competencies to promote sustainable human development (SHD) policies; and iii) to promote learning through the dissemination of SHD practices drawn from different contexts.

In 1997, UNDP strengthened the participation of CSOs in its policy work by approving: a policy statement that reiterates the importance that UNDP attaches to people-centred processes and provides a framework for collaboration with CSOs; procedures for programme execution by non-governmental organisations; and a policy on information disclosure.

The Private Sector Development Programme (PSDP) launched the Umbrella Programme for Engaging the Private Sector in Support of SHD. The programme requires private sector partners to co-finance joint development initiatives. PSDP is currently providing support to nine programme countries throughout the five regions under this programme.

For further information, please contact: Mr. Peter Matlon, Chief, Food Security and Agriculture Programme, UNDP, 1 United Nations Plaza, New York, N.Y. 10017, USA; E-mail: peter.matlon@undp.org.

People's Summit "Beyond Growth: Consumption and well-being - a new synthesis for tomorrow's world"

This one-day event, comprising a morning conference on sustainable consumption followed by six seminars on key issues in the sustainable consumption debate, will take place in Birmingham, U.K on Friday 15 May 1998. Planned to coincide with the meeting of the G8 Nations Summit in Birmingham, the People's Summit is being jointly organized by Friends of the Earth and the New Economics Foundation in collaboration with a number of other development and environment organizations.

The People's Summit is a long-running citizens' event designed to debate ecological, economic and social issues of global importance and to challenge the right of the G8 countries to take decisions that affect the world. This year's event seeks to demonstrate that achieving sustainable consumption is the central challenge in the transition to a just and sustainable society.

For further information, please contact: Joanna Watson or Tom Solly at Friends of the Earth, 26-28 Underwood St., London, N1 7JQ; e-mail joannaw@foe.co.uk.

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