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High Level Consultation on Biodiversity and the Millennium Development Goals

The Global Facilitation Unit (GFU) for Underutilized Species with support from the GFAR Secretariat teamed up with the International Plant Genetic Resources Institute (IPGRI) and the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) to organize an International Consultation on the Role of Agricultural Biodiversity in achieving the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) of freedom from hunger and poverty. The consultation took place in Chennai, India, from the 18th to the 19th of April 2005. It had about 100 participants from 25 different countries, representing a cross section of people with varied background and expertise. The consultation focused on drawing attention to the unique contribution agricultural biodiversity can make to improving livelihoods (if properly utilized and protected, noting that current losses in biodiversity may threaten future food and nutritional security and adversely impact on achieving the MDG).


A major output of the consultation was a ten-point action plan on conserving biodiversity which provides suggestions and advice that will help national governments and international agencies in their efforts to respond to and meet challenges of the MDG. The action plan called for improved collaboration on a global basis for the conservation and sustainable utilization of agricultural biodiversity, and for the need to promote local markets and facilitate access to international markets for food products derived from these crops. The ten-part action plan is available in various languages on the GFU website. This action plan was first distributed during a G77 and China Group meeting that took place before the September 2005 UN Summit in New York. The GFU has since then published a brochure: "Meeting the Millennium Development Goals with Agricultural Biodiversity" to show case the contribution of a number of underutilized species to improved livelihoods of rural people. The proceedings of the Chennai consultation are scheduled to be published in January 2006.
See the GFU website for further details: www.underutilized-species.org.

O.S.