Stakeholders' Voices

Stakeholders' Voices

The Jakarta Post today presents the last part of a series on the
views and suggestions from the nine major groups participating in
the current preparatory committee meeting for the World Summit on
Sustainable Development in Nusa Dua, Bali. The following is the
views of local authorities, farmers and indigenous people.

Local authorities demand decentralization

Local governments demanded their power be enhanced so that
they would play a more effective role in sustainable development
through the appropriate decentralization of responsibilities and
resources.

Such recognition of the role of local administrations on
sustainable development must be embedded in the outcome of the
World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg later in
August and September, the group said in its report prepared by
the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives.

After their role was recognized, then there must be an action
plan to empower local administrations to pursue sustainable
development in their respective areas and observe multilateral
commitments on sustainable development.

Local authorities urged that the national, international
governments and institutions involve local governments as equal
partners in action-oriented national sustainable development
strategies.

They should also be involved as an equal partner in the United
Nations system and acknowledge its unique role as a sphere of
government, through the enhancement of such initiative as the
United Nations Advisory Committee of Local Authorities.

In the field of capacity building, the local authorities
recommended that national governments should work with local
governments and their associations in order to strengthen their
capacity, competencies and resources including local leadership
development.

Besides such demands, the group also pledged to deal with
poverty eradication and enhance community-based entrepreneurship
and job creation.

It also supports local-level and community based-participatory
planning processes, which provides a voice for poor people, women
and other marginalized group.

The group also plans to develop and promote city-to-city;
municipal international cooperation as an effective tool for the
exchange of good practice, learning, development and capacity
building.

Farmers prioritize poverty eradication

Sustainable agriculture, rural development and agricultural
research should be given the priority to achieve the United
Nations target to reducing by half the number of people living in
poverty, the group of farmers urged in its report to government
delegates.

To effectively implement them, farmers suggested that all
levels of governments involve them in any decision making process
to ensure that all policies benefit them.

In the report written by the International Federation of
Agricultural Producers, farmers demanded effective partnerships
between farmers and other stakeholders to improve farmers'
welfare and incomes.

Farmers in developing countries should be given a chance to
improve access to their own local markets.

Creating a level playing in the global marketplace will
provide the necessary incentives and leeway for farmers to adopt
environmentally friendly farming practices.

They also need policies that focus on access to water and
secure water rights and access to credits.

In order to achieve sustainable agriculture to guarantee food
security, farmers need basic institutional frameworks and policy
incentives as well as investment for integrated rural
development.

To engage in all-related agricultural programs and
partnerships with all parties, farmers need to build their
capacity. Many farmers need effective training's on both
technical and organizational skills.

Farmers also urged the public sectors and scientists to work
on specific issues such renewable energy sources, biodiversity
and phosphorous from towns and cities back to agriculture.

Public funding for research therefore should be increased.

Another important point is to tighten farmers' relationships
with indigenous populations to exchange views and knowledge on
their traditional agricultural technology.

Indigenous people fight for self-determination

Indigenous people all over the world have strongly urged
international communities, corporations and governments to
respect their territories and self-determination as a basic
precondition for strengthening the process of partnership and
governance for sustainable development on an equal footing.

This group of people also want a guarantee for peace,
integrity and demilitarization of indigenous territories and a
halt to military intervention, human rights violations and
security policies and programs affecting indigenous peoples.

In a report prepared by the Indigenous People's Caucus of the
Commission on Sustainable Development, they urge the
establishment of an independent international commission of
indigenous people for mediation and conflict resolutions.

In the economic field, they demanded global efforts to protect
their environmental, political, social cultural, intellectual
property rights and to include them within the economic, trade
and financial arenas in a way that is consistent with existing
and emerging standards on indigenous people.

In relation to corporations, the indigenous people demanded a
legally binding convention on corporate accountability that
upholds indigenous people's rights.

To accelerate their access to global community, indigenous
people pledged to promote international cooperation and financial
resources for the implementation of indigenous people's systems
and networks for information, communications and
telecommunication.

To strengthen their position in the national and global level,
the indigenous people would pursue programs for capacity building
in the area of indigenous people's rights and priorities for
sustainable development.