Appeal for WFS (fwd)

kerry miller (mailto:astingsh@KSU.EDU)
Wed, 25 Sep 1996 16:09:26 -0500 

Message-ID:  <Pine.SOL.3.91.960925160631.391E-100000@fox.ksu.ksu.edu>
Date:         Wed, 25 Sep 1996 16:09:26 -0500
From: kerry miller <mailto:astingsh@KSU.EDU>
Subject:      Appeal for WFS (fwd)
To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>


---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 25 Sep 1995 10:28:39 +0100
From: G.T. Scarascia Mugnozza <mailto:gtsm.ias@UNITUS.IT>
To: mailto:BIOSPH-L@LISTSERV.AOL.COM
Subject: Appeal for WFS


                     ACCADEMIA NAZIONALE DELLE SCIENZE


                               Detta Dei XL


Il Presidente






            APPEAL TO CONCERNED SCIENTISTS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD,
            FOR THE SAFE CONSERVATION AND OPTIMAL UTILIZATION OF
        BIODIVERSITY AND GENETIC RESOURCES FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE,
            AND THE FAIR AND EQUITABLE SHARING OF THE BENEFITS


Rome, Italy


7 August 1996




           -----------------------------------------------------


Biodiversity and genetic resources are crucial for assuring food security
for the growing population of our planet.


We, the Presidents of the Academies of Science of Italy and of India,
therefore wish to present a strong appeal by scientists everywhere to the
governments at the World Food Summit that will be convened by the Food and
Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome, Italy, from 13 to
17 November 1996. We wish to urge them to take immediate steps to put world
food security upon a sounder footing, by promoting the secure conservation
and optimal utilization of biological diversity of interest to food and
agriculture, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits derived
from their utilization.


As scientists, we have the responsibility and the duty of forming public
opinion and policy. We therefore decided to launch the attached "Appeal to
Concerned scientists throughout the World".


We are asking you, as a scientist, to join us in the appeal to all
governments. To register your support for the appeal, please send your
name, title, institution, postal address, and e-mail address, before 5
November 1996, to:


   Prof. G.T. Scarascia Mugnozza
   Italian Academy of Sciences
   Villa Lontana, Via Cassia Antica, 35
   00191 - Rome


   Fax: +39 6 36300057
   E-mail: mailto:gtsm.ias@unitus.it




This cover letter and the appeal can also be found at the following
URL:
              http://www.unitus.it/relcult/wfs-appeal.html


Please forward this Appeal to your colleagues, with a request that they too
join with us.


Prof. Gian Tommaso Scarascia Mugnozza


  President National Academy of Sciences-Rome and
  Rector University of Tuscia-Viterbo, Italy




M.S. Swaminathan


  President National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and
  Chairman of M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation-Madras, India


               ---------------------------------------------




            APPEAL TO CONCERNED SCIENTISTS THROUGHOUT THE WORLD




  We, scientists from many countries, both developing and developed, working
with biological diversity and using genetic resources for food and
agriculture;
  Aware of our moral responsibility, and our role in ensuring that all the
world's citizens can effectively exercise their natural right to food and
to peaceful development;
  Convinced of the absolute importance of conserving and using sustainably
the agricultural genetic resources that countries have inherited from the
skills, dedication and creativity of many millennia of their farmers, for
the benefit not only of our generation, but of generations to come;
  Deeply concerned that these crucially important genetic resources for
agriculture are being eroded and irreversibly lost;
  Convinced, moreover, that all countries depend and will continue to depend,
for a very large part of their agriculture and food production, on genetic
resources that have originated in other countries and on other continents,
are interdependent, and must therefore collaborate fully in their common
interest;
  Aware of the rapid progress that scientists throughout the world are making
in agricultural science and in biotechnology in the fields of food and
agriculture;
  Certain that, if we are to be able to assure food security for the growing
population of our planet, and a just and equitable sharing of the benefits
of agricultural biological diversity, the results of the work must be put
at the service of farmers everywhere, in a true partnership between
politicians, scientists, farmers and the public at large;
  Recalling the major commitments of countries in adopting the International
Undertaking on Plant Genetic Resources, in adopting the Convention on
Biological Diversity (UNCED, Rio de Janeiro, June 1992), in establishing
the FAO Global System for the Conservation and Utilization of Plan Genetic
Resources for Food and Agriculture, and in approving the Global Plan of
Action for the Conservation and Sustainable Utilization of Plant Genetic
Resources for Food and Agriculture;
  Believing that it is the moral duty of all men and women of culture and
science towards humanity to contribute to forming public policy, and to
educating public opinion about the fundamental need to conserve biological
diversity, to use its components sustainably, and to share fairly and
equitably the benefits arising from the utilization of these resources;


  1. Express our complete support for the objectives and aims of the World
     Food Summit being convened by the Food and Agriculture Organization of
     the United Nations in Rome, between 13 and 17 November 1996;


  2. Appeal to our fellow scientists in all countries - particularly those
     of us with the responsibility of advising our governments on
     biological diversity, and on the implementation of Article 10 of the
     Convention on Biological Diversity, which foresees the need to
     "integrate consideration of the conservation and sustainable use of
     biological resources into national decision-making", to:
        - Join together in a strong movement of ideas to support the
          complete and expeditious application of the principles and rules
          of the Convention on Biological Diversity;
        - Express explicitly their willingness to put their knowledge and
          experience at the disposal of their fellow countrymen and women,
          their governments, and the United Nations, to strengthen the
          foundations of multilateral cooperation in this field, for the
          betterment of all peoples and the good of generations to come;
        - Work with governments, supranational and international agencies,
          the mass media and public opinion in general, to make a reality
          of the farsighted programmes initiated a long time ago by the
          United Nations and the Food and Agriculture Organization in
          favour of an equitable and sustainable use of biological
          diversity, which is the key element in the achievement of
          sustainable food and nutrition security;
        - Promote, in collaboration with national authorities in developing
          countries, and with scientific bodies and private industry,
             - the effective conservation in situ of the wild relatives of
               crops and agricultural animals and the development of in
               situ gene parks;
             - dynamic on-farm conservation strategies which aim both at
               ensuring the long-term conservation of agricultural genetic
               diversity, and at the economic and social development of the
               farmers themselves, and their farming communities;
             - the secure conservation of resources by completing ex situ
               collections, particularly of materials at risk, and also by
               bringing such collections to the International Network of ex
               situ collections under the auspices of FAO;
             - intensive evaluation of the immense reservoir of
               characteristics of agricultural genetic resources, for
               improving and extending utilization;
             - optimal utilization of agricultural genetic resources,
               through biotechnology in the service of the fundamental
               needs of humanity;
        - Ensure that farmer's rights are regarded as fundamental rights
          and that their past and on-going contributions to genetic
          resources cooperation and enhancement are recognized and
          employed.


  3. Call for:
        - the full respect of the rights of the countries in which
          agricultural biodiversity is found, and of their farmers and
          farming communities, so as to avert the grave continuing danger
          of genetic erosion and the irreparable loss of these resources;
        - the rapid and effective completion of the revision of the
          International Undertaking and the strengthening of the FAO Global
          System for the Conservation and Utilization of Plant Genetic
          Resources, and the funding for the implementation of its Global
          Plan of Action;
        - the realization of Farmers' Rights within the context of the
          revision of the International Undertaking, and the development of
          mechanisms for its implementation. The revised International
          Undertaking may then become a protocol of the Conventions on
          Biological Diversity.


  4. Remind that international, planetary cooperation is imperative without
     delay. If the danger is incumbent on all, the benefits of
     collaboration will also be for all.




Prof. Gian Tommaso Scarascia Mugnozza


  President National Academy of Sciences-Rome and
  Rector University of Tuscia-Viterbo, Italy




M.S. Swaminathan


  President National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and
  Chairman of M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation-Madras, India