US embassy cable - 04ROME4769

UNCLAS  ROME 004769 
 
SIPDIS 
 
 
STATE FOR OES/ETC, OES/PCI, IO/EDA; PASS EPA/OIA 
USDA FOR FAS/ICD/DHUGHES 
USAID FOR EGAT/EST 
 
FROM U.S. MISSION TO THE U.N. AGENCIES IN ROME 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SENV, EAID, AORC, EAGR, NL, FAO 
SUBJECT: FAO/NETHERLANDS INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON 
WATER FOR FOOD AND ECOSYSTEMS, January 31 - February 5, 
2005 
 
1. At a Briefing Session at the FAO on December 15, 
2004, member countries were invited to send participants 
to the "FAO/Netherlands International Conference on 
Water for Food and Ecosystems: Make it Happen!", to be 
held in The Hague,January 31 -February 5, 2005.  The 
stated conference aim is the implementation of the 
existing international commitments on sustainable water 
use in relation to food and ecosystems.  Intended to 
provide a high-level platform to assist governments in 
identifying management practices, practical lessons 
learned and the necessary enabling environments that 
lead to sustainable water use at the river-basin level 
and harmonization of food production and ecosystem 
management, with a view to facilitating implementation, 
the organizers of the Conference are counting on the 
participation of FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf, the 
Prince of Orange, and the Vice Prime Minister of 
Ethiopia. 
 
2.   The organizers expect that (inter)national 
Partnerships in Water for Food and Ecosystems will be 
reinforced and established, furthering the development 
and implementation of international water-related 
policies and programs adopted by the World Summit on 
Sustainable Development, FAO, the Convention on 
Biological Diversity, the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands 
and other international fora.  The conclusions and 
recommendations of the FAO/Netherlands Conference will 
be forwarded to the Thirteenth Session of the Commission 
on Sustainable Development (New York, April 2005) the 
Thirty-third Session of the FAO Conference (Rome, 
November 2005), Ramsar COP 9 (2005), CBD COP 8 (2006) 
and the Fourth World Water Forum (Mexico, March 2006). 
Additional information is to be found at 
http://www.fao.org/ag/sfe2005/, including information 
about pre-Conference activities, such as an electronic 
forum, an African pre-Conference (Addis Ababa, November 
2004), Regional Partner Workshops: Water Resources for 
Local Development: Governance, Institutions and Policies 
(Loskop Dam, South Africa), Large and Small Rice Based 
Systems: from multiple roles to multiple uses (INWEPF, 
Asia), International Seminar on the links between river 
basin management and rural development in the Andes 
Region (Colombia, November 2004). 
 
4.   Conference themes to promote sustainable management 
of water for food and ecosystems emphasize a stakeholder- 
centered approach.  They are: 
 
(1) Fostering implementation: know-how for action; a) 
how to enhance effective stakeholder involvement, and b) 
how to integrate and apply knowledge for managing the 
intertwined relation between water for food and 
ecosystems. 
 
(2) A New Economy for water for food and ecosystems; a) 
how to assess the various positive and negative values 
of water use, and b) how to ensure that the diverse 
values of water are included in decision making 
processes by stakeholders. 
(3) The enabling environment; a) what institutional 
arrangements and policies enable local stakeholders to 
manage their resources and to accommodate the diverse 
users and uses of water, and b) how can institutions and 
organizations offer a platform for joint decision 
making/negotiation involving fishers, pastoralists, 
rainfed agriculturalists and industries and including 
the specific needs of nature and environment. 
 
5.   During the briefing, Louise Fresco, FAO Assistant 
Director-General for Agriculture, provided context for 
this conference. She noted that agriculture and the 
environment, traditionally viewed as being in opposition 
to each other, are being looked at increasingly as two 
facets of the same thing, particularly since the World 
Summite on Sustainable Development.  Agriculture, the 
greatest user of water resources, is seen as a partner 
in the endeavor to find new solutions to environmental 
problems -- a partnership which seeks to put 
agricultural work on a sound scientific basis.  Concrete 
case studies presented at the pre-Conference activity in 
Addis Ababa showed how to combine environmental and 
productive resources to address Millennium Development 
Goals 1 and 7. 
 
6.  In his introductory remarks, Hans Hoogeveen, 
 
Director of International Affairs, Netherlands Ministry 
of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, The 
Netherlands, lauded the importance of water and said 
that the Johannisberg Summit had served to put water 
high on the political agenda along with sanitation.  He 
would like to see the conference avoid lengthy political 
statements and focus on implementation and build on 
lessons learned and quick results taken from experts' 
own experience.  The product would be recommendations 
and partnerships between the private sector, NGOs and 
governments, although it was admitted that thusfar 
private interest in the Conference had been limited. 
Planned were Plenary Sessions, Working Groups, a 
Ministerial Roundtable, exhibits, brochures and Side- 
Events (6/day). 
 
7.   Another Dutch speaker described the pre-Conference 
event in Ethiopia.  Six practical cases were presented 
by the government for discussion to encourage the 
identification of broader or general issues.  Immediate 
conclusions were: 1) local knowledge is already 
available and sufficient, implementation of decisions 
was problematic, 2) ecological services were not taken 
into account, i.e. global services addressing the 
climate, water, etc, 3) capacity building was important. 
 
8.  Comment: The planned Netherlands/FAO conference 
advances themes of sustainable development, science and 
technology, and partnerships with a focus on 
implementation that are in line with the USG-advocated 
approach to water resources.  We will want to ensure 
that the US is represented there with policymakers and 
technical experts at the appropriate level. 
CLEVERLEY 
 
 
NNNN 
	2004ROME04769 - Classification: UNCLASSIFIED