Food and agricultural development in the Mediterranean basin
- Author(s):
- Parliamentary Assembly
- Origin
- See Doc. 7090, report of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, Rapporteur: Mr Scheer. Text adopted by the Standing Committee, acting on behalf of the Assembly, on 10 November 1994
- Thesaurus
1. The Assembly believes that access for all to food supplies sufficient to enable people to lead active and healthy lives is a fundamental human right and that the fight against poverty is not only a moral imperative but vital for safeguarding the environment.
2. It notes that the food situation in the southern and eastern Mediterranean countries, despite this region's potential, is steadily deteriorating and that no improvement is expected by the end of the century. This situation is partly due to unsuitable development policies which have promoted economic development through industrialisation, leaving agriculture centred on a small number of export crops and making the countries concerned more vulnerable to price fluctuations on world markets. Agriculture has a crucial role to play in ensuring sustainable development, and production must be geared above all to domestic needs and target foreign markets when this seems feasible.
3. There are major disparities which still exist between the countries making up the Mediterranean region with regard to agriculture, the natural environment, climate and public health, but Europe must, in its own interest and in that of the Mediterranean countries in difficulty, operate the principle of solidarity.
4. There can be no sustainable development without the full involvement of local communities in general, and women in particular, as they have an obvious role to play in the development process, and a fair distribution of national assets is the sole means of breaking the vicious circle of under-development by offering everyone the means to enjoy a decent life while ensuring respect for the Mediterranean environment.
5. The Assembly welcomes the initiative taken by the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development in organising, in Antalya (Turkey) on 7 and 8 September 1993, the 1st Mediterranean Agriculture Forum, with the participation of governments, training bodies, and agricultural producers from the region.
6. It also draws attention to its
Resolution 792 (1983) on Mediterranean agriculture - Problems and prospects,
Resolution 961 (1991) on food aid and food security policies,
Resolution 979 (1992) on agriculture's contribution to enhancing energy security and saving the global environment and it invites the governments of member states, in particular those of Mediterranean countries, together with the European Commission, to open up new prospects for the agricultural sector and rural communities:
a by fostering economic and technical co-operation between the northern and southern shores of the Mediterranean and between the various countries of North Africa and the Middle East so that the region as a whole may enjoy sustainable democratic and economic development that is compatible with respect for the environment;
b by taking urgent measures to reduce pressure on natural non-renewable resources such as soil and water through rational and integrated management; food security must not be threatened by an inadequate supply and quality of soil and water resources;
c by fostering the development of renewable energy forms as a key factor in development in southern and eastern Mediterranean countries and a means of reducing overproduction and desertification of the countryside in the region's northern countries; this strategy should also smooth the way for local development and energy self-sufficiency in these countries;
d by attenuating demographic pressure, the consequences of which have already been spelt out in
Recommendation 1164 (1991) on demographic imbalances between the countries of the Mediterranean basin;
e by fostering access for all, particularly women, to education, information, technology and credit in order to bring about improvements in the food and social situation of local communities and encourage the sustainable use of natural resources;
f by building up means of research and improving systems for gathering data needed for the diversification and promotion of high-quality Mediterranean agricultural produce; in this connection, it is necessary to encourage the setting up and development of intergovernmental bodies such as the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (ICAMAS) and organisations fostering co-operation between agricultural producers, such as the Mediterranean Committee of the International Federation of Agricultural Producers (IFAP).
