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.