Table of Contents

INTRODUCTION

OPENING OF THE SESSION

ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA AND TIMETABLE

APPOINTMENT OF RAPPORTEUR

SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF LAND AND WATER RESOURCES: COMBATING DESERTIFICATION AND PREVENTION OF LAND

REPORT OF THE ECA WORKING PARTY ON WOMEN AND THE FAMILY IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT (WPW) AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR FURTHER ACTIVITIES

REVIEW OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE EUROPEAN SYSTEM OF COOPERATIVE RESEARCH NETWORKS IN AGRICULTURE (ESCORENA)

ELECTION OF MEMBES OF THE ECA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

DATE AND PLACE OF THE THIRTY-THIRD SESSION

ADOPTION OF THE REPORT

CLOSURE OF THE SESSION

Appendix A:   LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

Appendix B:   AGENDA

INTRODUCTION

1. The Thirty-second Session of the European Commission on Agriculture (ECA) was held in FAO Headquarters, Rome, Italy from 7 to 8 March 2002 under the Chairmanship of Mr Harald Hildebrand (Germany).

2. The List of Participants is given in Appendix A to this Report.

OPENING OF THE SESSION

3. The Chairperson opened the Session and informed the participants that the Session was taking place within the context of a revised mandate. The Chairperson outlined that the revised mandate was now geared towards reviewing technical aspects of importance to European agriculture and rural development, and to submit the outcome of discussions and recommendations to the FAO European Regional Conference.

4. On behalf of FAO, Ms Claude Forthomme, Regional Representative for Europe, welcomed the participants and underlined the revised mandate for the ECA and its new role in the framework of the European Regional Conference.

ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA AND TIMETABLE

5. The Commission adopted its Agenda, as given in the Appendix B to this report, and the revised Timetable for the session.

APPOINTMENT OF RAPPORTEUR

6. Mr F. Montanaro Mifsud (Malta) was appointed Rapporteur of the Session.

SUSTAINABLE MANAGEMENT OF LAND AND WATER RESOURCES: COMBATING DESERTIFICATION AND PREVENTION OF LAND

7. The Item was introduced by Mr El Hadji Sène, Director of the Forest Resources Division and Chair of the IDWG on Desertification, who provided an overview on the convention to combat desertification and drought (UNCCD) and its application in Europe. He explained the major causes and effects of desertification in Europe, giving particular attention to the situation in Annex IV and Annex V countries. He highlighted policies, strategies and approaches to combat land degradation and desertification. He referred to possible FAO support to priority activities to combat desertification and elements for possible recommendations by the Commission.

• During the discussion, Member Nations:

(a) recognised that land desertification and degradation should be understood as complex issues and that socio-economic factors should also be considered. Land and soil constitute the most obvious natural resource for human societies, serving as a substrate for agriculture, housing, water, biological diversity and raw materials among others;

(b) emphasised that more integrated and coherent action to combat land degradation and desertification was necessary on the part of governments;

(c) stressed that to prevent soil and land cover damage, the three UN Conventions on climate change, biological diversity and desertification (UNFCC, UNCBD and UNCCD) should be implemented under an integrated approach as the most effective way of mainstreaming environmental considerations into development agendas, including the consideration of the results and proposals of the international policy dialogue of the UN Forestry Forum;

(d) highlighted that land degradation was not only limited to Mediterranean countries, but also affected northern and Central European Countries and that action and effective dialogue on land degradation issues are taking place in these countries in the context of framing agriculture policy; it was noted that many countries of Central Europe were affected and should be considered in any regional programme;

(e) underlined that many significant linkages existed between the objectives of the UNCCD, those of EC development cooperation and the FAO overall activities to combat desertification, not solely in the European region, but also in other areas of the world severely affected by land degradation such as ACP countries, Latin America, Asia and the Southern Mediterranean Basin;

(f) called for National Action Plans essential to the implementation of UNCCD to be developed and implemented in countries affected by desertification and land degradation both Annex IV and Annex V countries;

(g) called for provision of training and capacity building in member countries for the implementation of the Convention and respective National Action Plan;

(h) noted experience gained by some countries in conservation agriculture and minimum tillage which had some interesting potential for land degradation control, and emphasised that further research and new developments on the engineering side were necessary. The EC research programmes related to land degradation/desertification in the 5^th Framework Programme or future activities under the 6^th Framework Programme could represent a way of collaboration between the EC and FAO, in particular in the Mediterranean basin in support to the UNCCD.

(i) indicated that forest fires were among the main causes of land degradation and soil losses, and that legislation to prevent them and discourage any profit accruing from illegal speculation involving fire was necessary; urged that cooperation between countries, organizations and NGOs be strengthened in order to achieve synergies, as well as to improve monitoring;

(j) encouraged the existing collaboration of FAO and the UNCCD, particularly in the context of Annex IV of the Convention for the European Region, and observed that thematic networks being implemented in the Annex IV countries could also be complemented and extended by FAO to other Mediterranean and Annex V countries, especially for conservation projects;

(k) encouraged a reinforcement of the Silva Mediterranea network using FAO as a bridge between the three continents: Europe, Asia and Africa.

9. Two Member Nations emphasised that olive farming in Southern Spain and Portugal was a well appropriated agriculture practice and did not lead to desertification and soil erosion. It was a traditional and adapted way of farming to prevent desertification even in intense modern plantations where minimum conservation measures are taken. Both delegations requested appropriate amendment of paragraph 19 in the document (ECA/02/2).

10. The Commission furthermore considered that FAO had a very important role to play in combating desertification, taking advantage of its technical experience in agricultural and forestry matters.

11. The Commission endorsed the recommendations of the document (ECA 32/02/2). In addition, it considered that besides the Mediterranean, the Balkans and the Caucasus countries, FAO should also formulate for Central European Countries a broadly-based regional umbrella project to strengthen national efforts to combat land degredation and the effects of drought in cooperation with interested agencies.

12. The Commission forwarded the following recommendations to the 23^rd FAO Regional Conference for Europe:

(i) FAO should be ready to assist those countries needing advice in the formulation and implementation of their NAPs, and should also provide assistance to countries in the Region which need guidance in order to start pilot activities and demonstration projects in affected areas, taking into account approaches, successful techniques and best practices, and building on the experience obtained in the Region;

(ii) FAO should actively follow-up the recommendations of the Fire Action Plan, and in particular foster the establishment of fire agreements, establishing partnerships between countries in the prevention and combat of wild forest fires;

(iii) As reflected in some of the reports from European countries to COP-4, there is need for external assistance in establishing and implementing state-of-art monitoring and information systems on desertification. The project on Land Degradation Assessment (LADA), being implemented by FAO in cooperation with the UNCCD Secretariat and other partners, could provide a standard approach and a common frame of reference for the assessment of desertification, as a step forward in determining the real extent and the magnitude of biophysical impacts of desertification processes;

(iv) Information systems and clearing houses are most helpful for the definition of common strategies and for technical and scientific co-operation. Among the various potential areas, Annex IV countries have proposed the creation of a network to gather, evaluate and disseminate information about traditional knowledge and practices for safeguarding the quality of the regional landscape. FAO, in cooperation with other partners, should assist in the development of this network to gather, evaluate and disseminate information about traditional knowledge and practices for safeguarding the quality of the regional landscape. FAO, in cooperation with other partners, should assist in the development of this network, and in classifying and evaluating traditional knowledge, as well as innovative, environmentally- sound and cost- effective practices. The same approach should be considered for the newly agreed upon Annex V and other affected European countries.

(v) FAO should intensify efforts to foster new approaches and strategies of Sustainable Agriculture in Europe as a major strategy to prevent, and even reverse, much of the damage to land productivity that resulted from the industrialisation of agriculture in Europe. Among other areas, conservation agriculture, and water and livestock sustainable management need to be very much strengthened in cooperation with all concerned stakeholders from the public and private sectors, as well as the civil society, in the framework of revitalised environmentally-friendly policies of the European Commission.

REPORT OF THE ECA WORKING PARTY ON WOMEN AND THE FAMILY IN RURAL DEVELOPMENT (WPW) AND RECOMMENDATIONS
FOR FURTHER ACTIVITIES

13. The Commission reviewed the activities of the Working Party on Women and the Family in Rural Development (WPW) and took note of the ripple effect of these activities.

14. Statements by a number of delegations provided an overview of activities in support of rural women. It was observed that in spite of the fact that rural women in the region represented a very heterogenous group, they had similar priorities and needs. The experiences of Cyprus, the EU member states, Ireland, Poland, Slovakia and Spain in enhancing the professional and socio-economic status of rural women, as well as the establishment of the National Observatory on Female Entrepreneurship and Work in Agriculture (ONILFA) by the Italian Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, were noted as innovative approaches to sensitising agricultural and rural development policy formulation and implementation on gender issues, and monitoring progress made. Sweden's initiative to support the organization of an International Seminar on Rural Women during WFS:fyl was welcomed.

15. The Commission agreed that promotion of equality between men and women was indispensable for sustainable development of rural areas, and stressed the need for increasing awareness on the importance of mainstreaming gender into policies, programmes and institutions.

16. The Commission emphasised the need for gender-disaggregated data collection, analysis and exchange of experiences and knowledge. It further recommended that the networking approach was a cost-effective work methodology. An appeal was made to provide more resources to develop the WPW's work programme and design a regional strategy for the implementation of the Gender and Development Plan of Action recently endorsed by the 31^st Session of the FAO Conference.

17. The Commission supported the conclusions and recommendations contained in document ECA 32/02/3 (paras 25-27). It also approved the report of the Tenth Session of the WPW (4 - 7 October 2000, Innsbruck, Austria) and its Work Plan for the 2002-2003 biennium.

REVIEW OF THE ACTIVITIES OF THE EUROPEAN SYSTEM OF COOPERATIVE RESEARCH NETWORKS IN AGRICULTURE (ESCORENA)

• The Commission generally expressed support for the ESCORENA network system, appreciating progress made and welcomed the interactive website. It noted improvements along previous recommendations made by some of the networks. It noted with regret the lack of activity of other networks and that FAO was no longer in a position to provide secretariat support to ESCORENA. It also took note of the options included in the document (ECA: 32/02/4) for the continuation of ESCORENA’s activities.
• The Commission was informed by the Secretariat in its presentation of the item of a third option of fully funding the previous secretariat arrangement and support to activities based on external resources.

20. The Commission also noted the position of one ERNAC member calling for a solution to the problem and the statement of the representative of CIHEAM, a partner organization in co-supporting three of the ESCORENA networks, who highlighted key results of their collaboration with FAO in this area.

21. Several delegations expressed preference for the second option of future ESCORENA support and indicated that the document presented required complementary information to permit a more thorough debate and consideration of all possible solutions. Therefore, the Commission requested that a revised document be prepared and that the question of support for ESCORENA be submitted for decision to the 23^rd FAO Regional Conference for Europe.

ELECTION OF MEMBES OF THE ECA EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

22. In accordance with the ECA's rules of procedure adopted at its 28^th Session in 1993 and on the basis of nominations received, the Commission unanimously elected France (M Michel Thibier) to the ECA Executive Committee for a two-year term.
The Commission unanimously reelected Austria (Ms Hedwig Wogerbauer), Estonia (Mr Ilmar Mandmets), Slovenia (Ms Bojana Hocevar), and Turkey (Ms S. Serap Ozcoskun) to the ECA Executive Committee for another two-year term.

DATE AND PLACE OF THE THIRTY-THIRD SESSION

23. Considering the revised mandate of the Commission, one delegation proposed that the Commission should not take a decision on the date and place of its Thirty-third session; rather that this should be taken by the 23^rd FAO Regional Conference for Europe. The Commission unanimously endorsed this proposal.

ADOPTION OF THE REPORT

24. With some amendments, the text of the draft report was approved by the Commission.

CLOSURE OF THE SESSION

25. In closing the Session, the Chairperson of the ECA warmly thanked all the participants for their contribution. In particular, he expressed appreciation to the Member Nations for their increased attendance, which augured well for the Commission's future meetings within its new role in the framework of the European Regional Conference. He welcomed the new member of the ECA Executive Committee and wished him, as well as the other members of the Committee success in their work in guiding the Commission's activities.

Appendix A:
 LIST OF PARTICIPANTS
 

Appendix B:
AGENDA

1. Opening of the Session

2. Adoption of the Agenda and Timetable

3. Appointment of Rapporteur

4. Sustainable management of land and water resources: combating desertification and prevention of land degradation

5. Report on Activities of the ECA Working Party on Women and the Family in Rural Development

6. Review of the Activities of the European System of Cooperative Research Networks in Agriculture  (ESCORENA) : Progress report on recommendations made at its 31^st Session

7. Election of Members of the ECA Executive Committee

8. Other Business

9. Date and Place of the Thirty-third Session

10.Adoption of the Report

11.Closing of the Session