Issue
April - May 2001

THE 17th APDA PARLIAMENTARIAN SEMINAR - 4th & 5th MAY 2001

ASIAN PARLIAMENTARIANS PLEDGE TO WORK TOWARDS FOOD SECURITY AND WATER AVAILABILITY

Auckland - In total, seventy-six parliamentarians and observers gathered in the ‘Heritage Hotel’, Auckland, for the 17th Asian Parliamentarian Seminar which took place on the 4th and 5th of May 2001. The theme was based on food security, water resources, population issues in Asia and the Pacific and sustainable development for the future of humankind.

The seminar was addressed by Ms.Judith Tizard, Minister of State, (NZ), who spoke on behalf of Hon. Ms. Annette King, Minister of Health, (NZ), Ms. Steve Chadwick, MP and Chairperson for the New Zealand Parliamentary Group on Population and Development, Mr. Yoshio Yatsu, MP (Japan) and AFPPD’s Chairman, Mr. Collin Hollis, MP (Australia) and AFPPD’s Secretary General, Mr. Kunio Waki, UNFPA’s Deputy Executive Director and Ms. Kayoko Shimizu, MP (Japan) who spoke on behalf of Dr. Taro Nakayama.

The seminar was organised by APDA and the Asian Forum in cooperation with the New Zealand Parliamentary Group.

Ms. Judith Tizard, Minister of State spoke on behalf of Hon. Ms. Annette King in her opening speech at the 17th Asian Parliamentarians Seminar on food security, water resources and population issues. She stated that New Zealand has a different kind of food security problem. She said "The Asian region, home to 60% of the world’s population, must provide a strong lead to the rest of the world on population and development issues. This meeting provides a strong ideal forum through which to provide such a lead. It must be accepted that New Zealand today is in fact no different to other countries the world over in facing many challenges in addressing important health and population issues.

There is a strong emphasis within the strategy on taking an inter-sectoral approach to reducing health inequalities, particularly the inequalities between the Maori and Pacific people and other New Zealanders. The inter-sectoral approach recognises that determinants such as poverty, education, employment and housing are just as important as promoting healthy lifestyles and providing accessible health services.

We have a worsening situation with respect to diabetes, where New Zealand is part of a worldwide epidemic. There is also growing awareness that the distribution of food at a family and individual level is unequal amongst certain populations. Food security affects two broad aspects of life; ill health due to poor nutrition and a lower quality of life. Both are important public health issues in New Zealand.

In developed countries, indicators of food security are not as pronounced as the more usual symptoms of malnutrition that occur in developing countries. However, issues arising from ill health and poor nutrition due to food insecurity, include increased rates of death from cancers, heart disease and infection, food-borne illnesses, increased obesity and lower intakes of fruit and vegetables. Quality of life issues include psychological stress and social isolation.

Food security for our indigenous Maori population in particular, embraces the much broader issues of the safety and quality of the water supply, foreshores, forests and other areas of traditional collection of seafood.

Of particular concern is the increasing level of obesity and over-weight people in New Zealand - fifty percent of New Zealanders are now considered as overweight. This association may well be due to the consumption of low cost food containing high fat and sugar contents, resulting in increasing bodyweight.

The New Zealand Government supports the good work of APDA / AFPPD and agrees that affordable, appropriate and accessible food is vital if people are to lead healthy, productive and happy lives."

Opening Ceremony

TEENAGE PREGNANCY CAUSE FOR CONCERN IN NEW ZEALAND - MS. STEVE CHADWICK, MP

Ms.Steve Chadwick, an MP and Chairperson for the New Zealand Parliamentarians Group on Population and Development, said in her opening address to Asian Parliamentarians that the aim of the seminar was to revisit and confront issues that impact on the balance of Asian and Pacific populations. These issues, she told the parliamentarians, are the importance of the environment, water quality, the food chain, access to basic health services and education. She then went on to say that each and every country must endeavour to protect these crucial components in order to enhance the greatest assets of all – the people of the world.

‘We are grappling with environmental protection that is balanced with primary production and tourism as our prime sources of earning.

We are rebuilding our connection with communities while facing increasing competition for economic survival.

We are defining our millennium nation state while endeavouring to protect the Tangata Whenua as the first nation people of the land.

We are confronting our own fabric of society with increasing pressures on morality and changing values.

We are developing skills and focusing on education to meet production demands while facing population shifts of our own children overseas. Immigration policy is being revised to open our country to those with the skills we need.

We have reshaped our health service to prevent ill health and rebuild democratic participation in decision making.’

"The New Zealand Parliamentarian Group has develop-ed an agenda item for the Common-wealth Heads of Government meeting towards the end of this year. This calls upon the Commonwealth to focus on addressing access to quality education, especially for girls and women in the Pacific Region.

We also asked for a renewed commitment to addressing the HIV/AIDS pandemic and requested an audit of the commitments made at the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo in1994.

We have a long way to go as evidenced by two major reviews of cancer sufferers that are very topical at the moment. We are also concerned by our worsening STI rate and teenage pregnancy rate. New Zealand has a higher teenage pregnancy rate than other OECD countries. Our rates are similar to those in the UK, Wales and Scotland.

However, the influence of an international network such as ours can be very effective if we work collectively to make a difference. We should never be daunted at the enormity of the workload ahead. Occasions such as this seminar are so important in the development of a support network on a geographical, regional basis and to also have the opportunity to learn about our different cultures.

"APDA and AFPPD were born at the same time as an embodiment of our conviction that it was essential for elected representatives to be deeply involved. This, in order to solve the population problems that have a decisive impact on the future of humankind and to realise sustainable development.

The theme of the meeting, ‘Food security, Water Resources and Population in Asia and the Pacific,’ was chosen to reflect the importance of these issues. The 21st century is referred to as the century of water and life. Water, particularly fresh water, is a finite resource and is of great importance to humankind. According to one of various estimations, fresh water resources available for human use is merely nine out of hundred billion parts of the total water on earth itself. In the Antarctic and Greenland there are vast fresh water resources in the form of glaciers and ice-beds, though their use would be a challenge as it would cause new problems such as elevation of sea level.

According to the UN World Population Prospects 2000, the world’s population, originally estimated to reach 8.9 billion in the year 2050, was revised upward to 9.3 billion. The reason being that the population’s rate of increase had not been successfully reduced as had been previously hoped. It is estimated that 70 million people will be added every year for some time to come. In the task to supply food to feed this population, the primary constraining factor is that of fresh water resource. How can we support the growing population with finite water resources?

- MR. YOSHIO YATSU, MP

He went on to say,"food problems are a sequel to population problems. This is to say that the basic food issue is to feed the growing population. The Rome Declaration on World Food Security adopted by the FAO Summit 1996 stated, ‘reaffirm the right of everyone to have access to safe and nutritious food, consistent with the right to adequate food and the fundamental right for everyone to be free of hunger.’ It also pledged, ‘our political will and our common and national commitment to achieving food security for all and to an ongoing effort to eradicate hunger in all countries, with an immediate view to reducing the number of undernourished people to half their present level no later than 2015.’ It is still fresh in my memory what Fidel Castro, Cuban Prime Minister, said challenging all whether the world would allow 400 million people to die of hunger even in the year 2015.

What then is the present state of affairs? It is estimated that world hunger, rather than decreasing, has now in fact increased to 1.2 billion from what had been forecast as 800 million in 1996 when the Rome Declaration was adopted.

The Middle East and North Africa face serious situations due to shortage of water resources. The population increase in these regions is explosive, presenting a serious challenge to feed the rising population. It is predicted that in the future, the focus of world conflict will not be petroleum, but water.

With the shortage of water resources and further pressure of growing population and industrialisation, it is also feared that agriculture may cause destruction to the environment. The resulting soil erosion can compromise the very foundation of food production. Food, of course, is essential for human survival. Without being liberated from hunger, no man can have dignity. In this sense, food is not just a commodity.

Food is traded as an international commodity in accordance with the rules of international trade and, as such, contributes to enriching our lives. In an interdependent world, it is extremely important that food be produced where most appropriate. However, the problem remains to be that present trading rules appear to consider food merely as a commodity.

Under the present trading rules, the principle of comparative advantage determines suitable places of food production. It is considered that in this way, the load on the environment will remain small and that higher production efficiency will maximise the overall utility.

Given the continued population increases and the shortage of fresh water resources, can we be sure that food supply can be guaranteed under the principle of comparative advantage? Let us hypothesize, for argument’s sake, that there was an increase of population in food producing countries. Would they continue to export food when there is less excess food for export?

Ruthless application of the present rules of food trade that considers food as a mere commodity means that countries with high population density or disadvantaged from an environmental point of view can not continue to produce food.

The leading economic principle of comparative advantage does not take into account the possibility of continued population increase, economic effects on environment, water resources and land. In other words, the whole assumption is pegged on a stable population and abundant land and water resources to support food production.

Considering the future of humankind, it will be of great significance to maintain the possibility of food production. Under the present international trading rules and economic perspectives, it is imperative to have the possibility of food production, even if it is not economically viable.

Today, many of the most powerful industrial countries are food exporters. In this context, food is unmistakably an important, strategic commodity. I feel strongly that for humanitarian reasons, food should not be used to satisfy a given country’s political interest or as a strategic tool.

From this perspective, environmental as well as humanitarian, it is unreasonable for industrial countries to invest profits from their industrial sectors into agricultural sectors and to use the export for strategic purposes. Think of the impact this strategy will have in terms of the load on the environment and on the food production base of other countries.

As we turn our eyes to global food security, it is necessary that developed countries change their gluttonous eating habits and lifestyles while developing countries do their utmost to suppress their population increase. At the same time, as declared in the Hague Declaration of the International Fo-rum of Parliamentarians on the ICPD Review in 1999, there is an urgent need to maintain a global perspective as well as establish a long term rationale in international trading rules.

It must be reiterated that what lies beneath all the global problems is the challenge of population increase. Our wills as politicians are extremely important in solving these population problems, realising sustainable developments and to make our collective future brighter. As politicians elected by our peoples to represent them, we have the obligation to feed them and not let them go hungry. It is therefore most important to maintain the potential of agricultural production beyond economic benefits. Let us work together for the future."

Mr. Colin Hollis, an
Australian MP and Asian Forum’s Secretary General, urged parliamentarians across Asia to join together in order to raise the issue of improper usage of WTO rules. Incorrect handling of WTO rules, whilst benefiting a small number of countries, is to the detriment of others. Asian Forum is therefore making a concerted effort to provide an insight into this problem and to create awareness on issues facing the region by organising forums. It has also been deduced that globalisation could in fact be beneficial to countries if properly implemented. Mr. Hollis also emphasized the fact that population issues are of some urgency: people are starving, dying in natural disasters and in some countries, due to population growth, people are even moving into areas previously considered too inhospitable to live. He firmly pointed out that governments must give top priority to population and development related issues. He also advocated the participation of women.

"I would like, at the outset, to acknowledge here the contribution of the Asian Parliamentarians, including Mr. Shin Sakurai and Mr. Yoshio Yatsu, in calling attention to the importance of maintaining a balance between population dynamics, food and water security during the five year review of the ICPD Programme of Action.

Last September, world leaders came together at the United Nations headquarters for the Millenium Summit to reflect on the role of the United Nations in the 21st century. They looked with satisfaction at the progress achieved; longer life expectancy, better nutrition, better health and better education. They also considered the problems that continue to persist, including widespread poverty, inequality, conflict, disease and environmental depletion. The Millenium Declaration, that world leaders adopted, set a number of mutually reinforcing goals to overcome these problems. The goals, based on the global United Nations conferences of the 1990’s, mark a strong commitment to eradicate poverty, to reduce maternal mortality, to protect the environment and promote sustainable development.

UNFPA Support To Find Linkages

Through its country and inter-country programmes, UNFPA is providing support for a number of initiatives aimed at clarifying the relationships between population, the environment and sustainable development. For example, in India, where water scarcity is already acute in many parts of the country, the Fund is supporting a research project on the relationship between population growth and distribution and water availability. The research is looking into the effects of population growth on village water supply for agricultural and domestic use as well as its consequences for land use, housing and sanitation.

At last month’s Commission on Population and Development held in New York, UNFPA was greatly pleased to hear an intervention by Prof. Joel E. Cohen from Rockefeller University and Columbia University in which he asserted that ‘culture matters’. He noted that ‘without an understanding of (the various) aspects of culture, we have little chance of understanding how population, development and the environment interact.’ Interactions are profoundly affected by components of culture, such as politics, laws, institutions and values. Political institutions, like Parliaments, can play a critical role in this interdependent relationship between population, development and the environment.

Asia’s successes can not be taken for granted, as the impact of the financial and economic crisis of the late 1990’s showed. Reductions in government budgets curtailed spending on, inter alia, population and reproductive health programmes, including family planning programmes. In brief, the crisis exposed the vulnerability of population and development programmes in several Asian countries. Particularly affected were the poorest communities, notably women and children, in contexts where social safety nets were lacking and reliance had to be placed on traditional family support systems. Strengthening and sustaining basic social services and targeting them towards the poor and other under-served groups, remains a major challenge.

Adolescent reproductive health continues to be a difficult issue for many Asian nations to address. Sometimes the provision of services and education for young people, especially the unmarried, are considered as too sensitive for government agencies to tackle. Yet in most, if not all, countries, there is increasing recognition that high-risk behaviour amongst adolescents and youth is an important factor in the spread of HIV/AIDS.

Another challenge facing Asian countries is preventing the HIV/AIDS pandemic from reaching the devastating proportions currently experienced in sub-Saharan Africa. Targeting information and creating services aimed at adolescents and youth not infected by HIV is a key strategy for meeting this challenge.

Prehaps the greatest challenge to face Asian countries during the early decades of the 21st century will be meeting the needs of the growing number of older persons in their populations. Population ageing in Asia is occuring much more rapidly than was the case with the earlier experience of the Western countries. Already, the world’s majority of older persons live in Asia.

In conclusion, let me say that parliamentarians have had, and will continue to have, a critical role to play in advocating for, and creating awareness

about, population and development issues. You can also play an important role in enacting appropriate legislation to address population and development issues, including creating an enabling environment for civil society and the private sector to also contribute to sustainable development. UNFPA will continue to support your excellent efforts to ensure food and water security for all. However, a lack of financial resources remains to be one of the chief obstacles blocking the realisation of population and development goals within the ICPD Programme of Action. The need for increased resources, both national and international, is especially urgent in view of the common aim to eradicate poverty, as well as for advancing towards other population and development goals. I know that I can continue to count on each of you for your commitment and support to help mobilise people for the achievement of our common global goals and mobilise financial and manpower resources.

Keynote - Opening Ceremony

Ms. Luamanuvao Winnie Laban, an MP from New Zealand said in her keynote address focusing on the Pacific Island Nations, "The first point I would like to make is that it is increasingly problematic to extract a single issue, such as population and deal with it in isolation. In my view, all development issues are inter-related and need to be addressed in a comprehensive manner. Let me illustrate that point by identifying the key development issues in the Pacific:

Change of diet from fresh, local food to processed, imported Western food, resulting in health problems such as: diabetes, obesity, heart diseases and alcohol abuse.

Change to a cash economy, from subsistence gardening and fishing, with a consequent need to export products and labour to earn cash, resulting in dependence on single crops and economic vulnerability.

Movement of population from outer islands and rural villages to urban centres and Pacific Rim cities, creating rural depopulation and urban overcrowding.

Lack of the development of a sustainable economic base, in newly independent island nations following decolonisation, with subsequent dependence on foreign aid and remittances to fund basic services.

Loss of traditional values and leadership, and the change of roles of men and women, due to economic changes, with the subsequent breakdown of families and communities.

Loss of quality of the environment due to the disturbance of the fragile ecosystem by housing, power generation, logging and other extractive industries. Rising sea level, caused by climate change, resulting in the loss of land from coral atolls and low-lying coastal areas.

Dumping of poor quality, imported products and hazardous waste from industrialised nations, creating unsafe marketplaces and environmental dangers.

Fragmentation of cultures and customs, and loss of languages under pressure of the international marketplace.

Change from a traditional, village-based communal lifestyle to a modern, urban, Western style of consumerism and individualism.

Uneven sharing of wealth and benefits from development with gains going to a small, local elite or overseas, whilst problems remain at home and people at the grassroots suffer.

The 17th APDA Parliamentarians Seminar Session One

Chaired by Mr. Zhang Huaixi, a Chinese MP and Vice President of AFPPD, the session on the carrying capacity in Asia and the Pacific with focus on food and water resources was presented by three speakers;

Six billion people are living on the earth and utilising two forms of energy; solar energy and fossil fuel energy. Crops convert solar energy in order to grow, so this represents food energy and as we all know, the solar energy found within foods provides the fundamental energy necessary for survival of all living things. Fossil fuels such as coal, petroleum and natural gases provide us with, and enable us to maintain, the highly civilised human society we recognise today.

Specialists who analyse world food problems expect that the increase in world cereal production will ultimately be weakened in the 21st century, mainly due to environmental constraints such as global warming, shortage of water resources, degradation of cultivated fields and slowdown in development speed of high yielding agrotechnology. Attempts to supply enough food to Asian people would, therefore, require wider expansion of arable lands and greater efforts to produce an elevated crop yield. For this purpose, a significantly larger energy input and many additional water resources than we have at present, would be needed in THE whole of Asia. Needless to say, excessive human appropriation of lands, fresh water and other natural resources would cause irreversible damage to terrestrial and coastal ecosystems on which, not only human beings, but also other wild life depend upon closely. Moreover, such irreversible degradation of global and regional environment would result in human-caused extinction of species. Therefore, problems of supply-demand for foods and carrying capacity would require a highly organised global and regional effort by both the developed and the developing countries.

L to R: Mr. Hiroyuki Hagahama, (MP) - Dr. Muneaki Sambjina, (MP) - Mr. Zenbei Uchijima, (President Miyazaki University, Japan).

Encouraging Response For The Workshop On Elimination Of Violence Against Women, June 19th - 21st, 2001

Since the ICPD Programme of Action in 1994 and the Platform of Action adopted in the Fourth World Conference on women, 1995, increasing attention has been given by governments towards addressing the problems of violence against women. There is a felt need for concerted advocacy aimed at law makers, decision makers, influential leaders and community groups in order to draw their attention to and increase their knowledge on the key issues of VAW. The 3 day workshop has received an overhelming response from parliamentarians. 55 parliamentarians and NGO’s from 13 countries, UNFPA and UNIFEM representatives, (New York), ESCAP’s Population Division, UNESCO and many others will be attending. For more information, please contact AFPPD in Bangkok

During the past few decades, there have been many instances where the monsoonal rains have failed and resulted in prolonged droughts. In addition, the demand for water has risen due to population increase, resulting in greater fresh water usage in agriculture, industry and domestic use. As a result, exploitation of ground water started in the 1950’s. In the dry zone, extensive ground water utilisation is apparent. Groundwater availability comprises approximately 15% of the island’s water resources.

During the past five decades, the population of the country has augmented by 2.5 times and agricultural production by fivefold. Manufacturing output of industrial production has increased during the past two decades by fifteenfold. Demand for water resources was amplifying at a rapid rate. The conventional systems for water availability were no longer adequate to meet these increasing demands. Therefore, in 1978 the Sri Lankan Government launched the ‘Accelerated Mahaweli Development Programme’ to divert the largest river in the country, namely the Mahaweli Ganga, to the dry zone.

The monsoonal pattern of weather in Sri Lanka has encouraged the development of irrigated agriculture. The common system of irrigation in the wet zone is the flood irrigated paddy as in this area, rivers and streams are generally perennial and the rainfall is more or less evenly distributed. Thus, paddy cultivation is mostly rain fed. In the dry zone however, the stream flows are not perennial and the rains occur during the northeast monsoonal season. Therefore, paddy cultivation is achieved by irrigating with reservoir water.

A workable water management system requires the institutional capacity to balance sectoral needs for the benefit of society as a whole and to take into account the needs of the ecosystem. It is necessary to formulate policies that link the supply of freshwater to competing sectoral needs. Meeting sectoral demands is challenging because it demands efficient water management systems and equitable pricing policies.

L to R: Mr. Wang Dongqi - Ms. Li Ying - Mr. Yang Shengwan, (China).

At present the balance between population numbers and available resources is such that, under normal circumstances, the basic needs of most of the region’s population are met. Much of the region has relatively low population densities, rich marine resources and, on a whole, the people appear to be well nourished. Those countries that do not produce enough food generally have the means to import what they need.

There is no absolute poverty in the Pacific Region, in that most people have access to sufficient food and water under normal circumstances. The carrying capacity of the Pacific is determined not by absolute potential to produce food, but by population distribution and limited purchasing power, by food and lifestyle preferences, and by lack of capital to exploit resources. When natural disasters occur or when purchasing power is further reduced by economic problems, it is evident that safety margins are very small.

It should also be kept in mind that a major obstacle to more efficient land use and an increase in carrying capacity in the Pacific Region is land tenure. Almost all land is customary land and it is usually very difficult for individuals or families to establish clear titles. This limits sales and consolidation of land and encourages exploitation for quick profit. It also means that many people do not have access to land, even to feed their own household."

L. to R: Dr. U-Wha Chung, (MP) - Mr. Hae-Chan Lee, (MP) - Mr. Kwang-Ho Song, (MP) - Ms. Regina Lee, (Korea).

The 17th APDA Parliamentarians Seminar   Session Two

FOOD SECURITY AND POPULATION ISSUES

Mr. Lakshman Singh, MP and AFPPD India’s Vice Chairman, chaired a session that focused on environment, sustainable food security and population issues.

Dr. Vo Tong Xuan, Professor of Agronomy and President of Angiang University, Vietnam, said, "At the beginning of the New Millenium, the world is still faced by an astonishing contrast: while 800 million people remain hungry, many countries are having great difficulty in disposing of their surplus foodstuffs. A good example of this would be in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta. Last year, 17 million rice farmers produced 17 million metric tons of rice only to find that they were unable to sell their produce. This resulted in the development of a stockpile of rice and a lot of angry farmers; but people are still starving. People in Africa, South Asia, Indonesia, Philippines, etc. are suffering from a state of food deficiency, despite the fact that international donor agencies have been investing billions and billions of dollars for food security. Why have we made so little progress? What did we do wrong? Why haven’t we solved the problem? How committed are we to ending the hunger? What alternatives does the future hold for food security? These are difficult questions that all stakeholders in the food web must seriously ask themselves. In particular, the legislators who are responsible for appropriating the research budget and development at home and abroad may be keen to look into these problems.

Poverty reduction has been the top priority of development endeavours over many years. Yet, despite the fact that significant progress has been made in improving living standards in almost all developing countries, more than 1.3 billion people in the developing world still struggle to survive on less than a dollar a day: they live in absolute poverty. Every year, nearly 8 million children die from diseases linked to dirty water and air pollution, 50 million children are mentally or physically handicapped because of inadequate nutrition and 130 million children, (80% of them girls), are denied the chance to go to school. The shocking fact is that a child born in sub-Saharan Africa is still more likely to be malnourished than to go to a primary school and is just as likely to die before the age of five then enter secondary school. Relative poverty has also risen. Over the past fifteen years, the world has witnessed spectacular economic advances for some countries and unprecedented decline for others. Disparities have grown between rich and poor countries, and within societies as well. Today, the world is more polarised then ever before. While absolute poverty has direct negative implications for human development, increasing economic disparities against a background of widespread poverty puts social fabric at risk.

Water is truly the most limiting natural resource. Competition amongst agriculture, industry and urbanisation for limited water supplies is already constraining development efforts in many countries. As populations expand and economies grow, the competition for limited supplies will intensify and so will conflicts among water users.

At first glance, most of these water problems do not appear to be directly related to the agricultural sector. Yet, by far the largest demand for the world’s water comes from agriculture. More than two thirds of the water drawn from the earth’s rivers, lakes and aquifers are used for irrigation. As competition, conflicts, shortages, waste, overuse and degradation of water resources grow, policy-makers look increasingly to agriculture as the system’s proverbial ‘loose link.’

Dr. Nafis Sadik, former Executive Director for the UNFPA and JOICFP has been awarded the UN Population Award, 2001.

Prof. Ian Pool, a demographer from Waikato University, New Zealand, said, "The most central issues of development revolve around the interface between population and resources and among these, in particular, the most basic of needs – food and water. The problem engendered by food security questions, (and in this context we include water security), are multi-dimensional. They involve all the socio-economic questions of supply, demand, production and distribution.

Cross-cutting all of these are demographic issues that are exacerbated, or mitigated by land tenure systems, and the availability of land for farming. These issues also have major implications for tenure systems, and the availability of land for farming. These issues also have major implications for policy-makers and for politicians. They must address problems relating to the equitable distribution of land resources. In turn, theses must vie in priority with factors affecting production and distribution efficiencies. At the same time, politicians face questions about the growth and geographical profiles of population and the most effective use of human capital.

The population is itself adopting diverse strategies relating primarily to human capital issues. Perhaps, an immediate role of policy is to address the intellectual capitalisation that might support the strategies families are implementing. Along with that must be policies relating to security of tenure to those who remain at home and attempt to increase production."

L. to R: Mr. Francis Billy Hilly, MP (Solomon Islands)Dr. Teo Ho Din, MP (Singapore) Mr. F. L. Tolfuaivalelei, MP (Samoa)	L. to R: Sen. Dr. Malinee Sukavejworakit - Sen. Maliwan Ngenmune, (Thailand).	L. to R: Mr. Tran Van Thanh, MP - Mr. Le Quoc Khanh, MP - Dr. Nguyen Van Tien, (Vietnam).

Sen. Dr. Timothy Marimuthu, a Malaysian senator, said, "There appear to be differing views on food security and population growth. The optimistic view is that the earth can support a population between 7.7 and 12 billion. Recent history of food production seems to be reassuring. In 1995, world supplies of food per caput for direct food consumption were 18% greater than in 1965 during which period the world’s population had increased by 70%.

This optimistic view is based on the success of biotechnology and the Green Revolution where food production had increased faster than the growth of the population. This increase in agricultural production was largely due to high yielding seeds, the use of chemical fertilisers, machinery and irrigation.

This augmentation in productivity can be obtained by reducing post harvest losses which is estimated at as much as 20 – 30% and other losses associated with weeds, diseases and insects.

A related view is that the world produces adequate food for its population, but the inequitable distributive mechanisms and trade barriers are some of the causes for food insecurity as well as poverty.

One of the reasons given for food insecurity is the existence of trade barriers between nations. It is argued that if tariffs are abolished and trade is liberalised, then greater security of food for the world population would result. This is the underlying assumption of the globalisation process and the WTO Free Trade Principle.

Free trade essentially advocates the free exchanges of commodities across political frontiers without restrictions such as tariffs, quotas or foreign exchange controls. This policy contrasts with safe-guarding policies that use such restrictions to protect or stimulate domestic industries. The liberalisation of trade is one of WTO’s and AFTA’s agendas so as to increase the flow of trade and to reap the benefits of comparative advantage.

It is argued that through trade liberalisation, food security can be attained by allowing agricultural surplus to deficit countries. The system should also allow food deficit, low income countries to export goods in which they have competitive edge so they may earn foreign exchange to pay for their food imports.

The above argument is acceptable in theory, but not in practice because many of the developing agricultural countries face several problems. Many are concerned about the impact of trade liberalisation on the incomes of farmers and food security for their nations. With increasing volatility in the supply of important grains like rice, many countries are sceptical about the intended gains from the Free Trade Principle. They fear that they will have to pay more for food imports and that they will also receive less income from their agricultural produce owing to abolition of subsidies and export incentives. They are in a position of ‘double jeopardy’.

Any review of the Free Trade Principle should not be aimed at more trade liberalisation, but towards instituting safeguards to protect the food deficit countries as stated in the 1994 Marrakesh Decision.

It is argued that the trade liberalisation process will benefit the developed countries of the North more than the Southern, developing countries. Remonstration indicates that the liberalisation of rice trade would destabilise the rice industry and would inevitably add to the Asian Region’s 0.5 million hungry. Since most of the Asian countries pursue a policy of self-sufficiency, he advocates a system of ‘autonomous tariff scheduling,’ under which a country can determine a tariff autonomously according to their need for self-sufficiency. The question is whether food security rises with the level of self-sufficiency. Some researchers claim that this is not necessarily so. Whether the Free Trade Principle will ensure food security for all will depend on how the negotiators balance the desire for self-sufficiency of many developing countries with the principle of free trade – freer, fairer and unfettered trade across international boundaries."

The 17th APDA Parliamentarians Seminar    Panel Discussion

The parliamentarians referred to situations in their own countries and explained how globalisation and unsustainable development, (the unfortunate consequence of an ever growing population), affects their homelands.

The conclusion many of the parliamentarians drew from the discussion was that agriculture should be excluded from WTO rules and globalisation.

"The quality of people’s life is strongly interrelated with population change, patterns and levels of natural resource usage, the state of the environment, and the pace and quality of economic and social development. For example, population growth influences poverty which in turn is often accompanied by malnutrition, low status of women and limited access to social and health services, including reproductive health services. Such complexity cause all countries, particularly developing countries, to face increasing difficulties in improving the quality of life of their people in a sustainable manner.

Population concerns need to be integrated into the formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation of all policies and programmes relating to sustainable development. In Korea, there was a very low level of economic development and a very high level of population growth until the early 1960’s, resulting in poverty being prevalent throughout the country. The Korean Government therefore, adopted the National Family Planning Programme as part of the Five - Year Economic Development Plans, which started in 1962. The population rate has been maintained below the replacement level since the mid-1980’s, the Korean Government adopted a new population policy in 1996, which puts great emphasis on the linkages between population and other development concerns in accordance with the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development.

For legislative support, all countries must also revise the legal systems that discriminate against women in accordance with international mandates such as the ‘Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women’. In Korea’s case, there have been considerable legislative efforts to support the elimination of sex discrimination since the ICPD.

YOUNG PARLIAMENTARIANS MEETING

The Asia-Europe Foundation will be organising the ‘Third Young Parliamentarians Meeting’ which is to be held in Bali, Indonesia from the 1st to the 4th of November this year

According to officials at the Russian Ministry of Health, Russia has an annual abortion rate exceeding two million. This makes the country one of the world’s leading nations in not only abortion, but also maternal mortality.

The 17th APDA Parliamentarians Seminar     Closing Session

D r. Gill Greer, Executive Director of the Family Planning Association, (NZ), said in the closing ceremony, " In February 1999, I was fortunate enough to be an observer at the Hague ICPD+5 Parliamentarians meeting. Over two hundred parliamentarians from one hundred and thirty countries met in the Hague to discuss the implementation of the 1994 Cairo Programme of Action. I was privileged to hear the world’s leading decision-makers individually and collectively reaffirm their commitment to the principles of the Cairo Programme and its vital relationship with food security, environment, economic issues and reproductive health and rights. They recommitted themselves to actions which included the removal of barriers to the empowerment of women, both as an end in itself and as an essential factor in achieving sustainable development nationally and globally. In their declaration, they also went on to explain their desire to ensure that all governments gave higher priority to the social well being of adolescents, youth, the elderly and people with disabilities, to ensure food security through the removal of trade and non-trade barriers and collective action to mobilise resources and to persuade governments to re-evaluate debt payment.

They committed themselves to working together in the global network of Parliamentarians on Population and Development, calling on all parliamentarians to play a more active role in monitoring that progress.

We have led the world in our legislation to prevent domestic violence, but sadly this is not the reality for many women and children and we have high rates of unplanned teenage pregnancy and STI’s. All this impacts on the health and well being of individuals – and our society.

At the Hague, parliamentarians urged governments to implement ICPD by working in partnership with members of civil society. I am proud to be here as a representative for an NGO, and one that is affiliated with IPPF. I believe that NGO’s with their volunteer spirit and independence can bring passion, energy and commitment to a truly effective partnership.

It is important to remember, however, the key messages of the youth representatives of one hundred and twenty countries at the Hague – one of which was that they be treated as equal partners at all levels of policy and decision-making. I urge all governments to find ways to give young people an effective voice and to listen to that voice. There is much to be done if their hopes and dreams are

to be realised."

Last row: Mr. C. Avdai, MP (Mongolia) - Ms. Anna Macnaughton,(Interpreter)- Mr. A. Sultanov. Front row: Mr. Seyed Mostafa Hashemi, MP (Iran) - Mr. Surya Chandra Surapaty, MP	The people behind the scenes - L to R: Ms. Yuko Kato and Ms. Chiharu HoshiaiAPDA - Ms. Supaporn Phoopahtragogi, AFPPD

AFPPD’s 29th Executive Committee

The 7th General Assembly of the Asian Forum, hosted by the National Peoples Congress, will meet in China, October 2002. Population and Health Committees and Afro – Asian Parliamentarians will also be meeting in Tokyo in April 2002 to discuss and share experiences concerning Reproductive Health and HIV/AIDS related issues.

This was decided at Asian Forum’s 29th Executive Committee Meeting which was held in Auckland, (New Zealand), under the chairmanship of Mr. Yoshio Yatsu, MP and AFPPD’s Chairman. It was also decided to accept membership of the Kazakstan Parliamentary Committee on Family and organise a CIS countries parliamentarian’s meeting that will be held in Bhishek in August 2001.

WELCOME!

Mr. Tsugo Hirosa, (APDA) - Dr. Ms. Raj Karim, (IPPF).

AFPPD would like to welcome Sen. Dr. Malinee Sukavejwo-rakit who has now become one of AFPPD’s ViceChair-persons. Sen. Malinee Sukavejworakit is replacing Dr. Prasop Ratanakorn.

Baku – Assessing the needs of refugees and displaced persons in the South Caucasus, and finding ways in which the international community could help to meet those needs, were the aims of a parliamentary conference which took place in Baku, Azerbaijan on the 17th to the 19th of May.

Ministers responsible for refugee matters from Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia and Russia, together with parliamentarians, international organisations and NGO’s active in the region, took part in the conference, organised by the Council of Europe Parliamentary Assembly’s Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography in cooperation with the Parliament of Azerbaijan. It is hoped that a similar conference will be held in Eravan, Armenia, in a year’s time.

"It is clear that a final solution to the refugee situation, including the question of displaced people and their return, depends on a peace settlement of the various regional conflicts, " said Tadeusz Iwinski, Chairperson of the Committee on Migration, Refugees and Demography. "However, issues of a humanitarian nature can, and should be discussed, irrespective of political considerations."

India

Delhi – The Indian Association of Parliamentarians on Population and Development, (IAPPD), an affiliate of Asian Forum, could easily be described as one of the most active parliamentarian groups in the Asian region.

This group can not only boast its association with the birth of AFPPD, but also the establishment of its ‘Parliamentarian Center’; a six storey building comprising an auditorium, a conference room, a committee room and a documentation center, all supported by full time staff.

The IAPPD has, in the past, conducted an advocacy programme with national parliamentarians by organising not only national seminars, but also state-level legislator orientation workshops.

Now IAPPD, with support from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare and UNFPA’s county office, has embarked on an ambitious programme dedicated to involving, educating and motivating village-level elected representatives known as ‘panchyat leaders’.

This programme, conducted through sensitisation workshops organised at district headquarters as a one-day orientation course, is geared to provide the panchyat leaders with information on population issues, enabling them to astutely assess problematic situations and then, in the presence of government officials, to find adequate solutions by interacting with experts.

Sometimes these one-day orientation courses, most of which are attended by state-level elected legislators and MP’s from that particular region,reveal facts and incidents which on proper analysis and correction, lead to the formation of a constructive population programme.

Keeping IAPPD’s network of parliamentarians / legislators all over India in view, MOH&FW and UNFPA have selected two Indian states requiring IAPPD’s support for the advocacy of local leaders for the population programmes; Madhya Pradesh and Rajesthan.

In Madhya Pradesh, the programme was inaugurated by Mr. Digvijay Singh, Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh and was also attended by Mr. Shiv Khare, AFPPD’s Executive Director and other VIP’s. In Rajasthan, the programme was inaugurated by Mr. Ashok Gehlot, Chief Minister of Rajasthan.

The sensitisation programmes were conducted by Mr. Manmohan Sharma and attended by Mr. Lakshman Singh, an Indian MP and Asian Forum’s Vice president, as well as MP’s and MLA’s from the area.

Mr. Francois Farah, UNFPA Representative (India), and Mr. Deepak Gupta, Advocacy Advisor, UNFPA, were also present at a few village level orientation courses.

High-ranking officials from the Department of Family Planning have been reviewing the orientation programme’s progress and population experts from various universities are also associated as resource persons. They will also be part of the evaluation team which will assess the programme’s progress at the end of the first phase.

INDIAN LITERACY RATE GOES UP, POPULATION DECLINES, YET GROWTH RATE IS STILL TOO HIGH

Even as India’s population crossed the 1.02 billion mark, the growth rate showed a sharp decline of 2.25%, according to the provisional population results. Over 16% of the world’s population lives in this country.

"It is heartening to note that this is the first decade since Independence when the increase of literacy rate has been accompanied by a decrease in the illiteracy rate. Earlier, it used to be that even as literacy rate went up, the illiteracy rate would also go up," said Census Commissioner, JK Bantia.

At midnight on March 1st, 2001, the country’s population stood at 1,027,015,247; comprising 531,277,078 men and 495,738,169 women. The sex ratio, (number of females per 1,000 males), is 933 females percent six points over 927 recorded in the1991 Census.

The number of literate people in the country has climbed significantly, comprising three-fourths of the male population and more than half of the female population. For the first time since Independence, the absolute number of illiterates has shown a significant decline, the Census Commissioner added.

Ms. Ingar Brueggmann, Director General for IPPF was the chief guest at the luncheon hosted by AFPPD Attending the luncheon were: Mr. Sippon Krishanachinda, Mr. Montri Pekanan, (PPAT), Ms. Guia M. Yamokgul, (PDA), Dr. Suwanna Warakamin, (MOPH), Mr. Pichet Soontornpipit, (PPAT), Sen. Dr. Malinee Sukavejworakit, Sen. Ms. Prateep Ungsongtham, Ms. Ingar Brueggmann, (IPPF), Ms. Hiroko Tanaka, (ESCAP), Sen. Mr. Jon Ungphakorn, Mr. Jeery Juget, (ESCAP), Mr. Jery De Kort, (Consultant) and Mr. Shiv Khare, (AFPPD).

L. to R: Mr. Ghazi Farooq, Ms. Ingar Brueggmann, Ms. Angela Gomez and Dr. Raj Karim

Ms. Ingar Brueggmann gave a seminar on partnership for HIV/AIDS, ‘How To Make It Work’ was organised by UNFPA / CST Bangkok, HRD Section SDD ESCAP and UNAIDS and held in the ESCAP building, Bangkok, on the 23rd of May.

EUROPEAN PARLIAMENTARIANS ON THE MOVE

The parliamentarians advocacy on population and R.H. issues has gained momentum with the formation of the Inter-European Parliamentary Forum on Population and Development.

The UK All Party Parliamentary Group on Population and Development, London, launched a parliamentary report on female genital mutilation.

The All Party Parliamentary Group on Population, Development and R.H. has been launched in Sweden.

There are effectively nineteen parliamentarian bodies in Spain. Spanish FPA, a FACE to FACE Exhibition, has been travelling to different parts of Spain where local politicians were invited to inaugurate the exihibition. In Cantabria, local MP’s held a hearing on ICPD’s Committment. Special informal groups of parliamentarians on population and development in Spain also asked questions on Spanish overseas development and the contribution to UNFPA.

MR. HERNAN SANHUEZA FROM IAPG VISITED AFPPD

Mr. Hernan Sanhueza, the Executive Co-ordinator for the Inter-American Parliament-arians Group on Population and Development, (IAPG) and also the Regional Director for IPPF Western Hemisphere, (New York), recently visited the Asian Forum office. This was in order to discuss collaboration in a number of activities under the Japan Trust Fund for parliamentarians.

Mr. Sanhueza also attended IPPF’s Governing Council Meeting whilst in Bangkok. He informed Asian Forum that the IAPG will be organising a training session to further inform parliamentarians about the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women.

IAPG and UNIFEM will collaborate for the Women’s Commission of Latin American Parliamentarian’s Meeting in Havana, Cuba and at a meeting due to take place in Ecuador in July this year.