UNITED NATIONS UNIVERSITY PUBLIC FORUM

The Sustainable Management of Renewable Natural Resources

18 June 1997

United Nations, New York

Introduction

In implementation of Agenda 21 adopted at Rio's Earth Summit, the United Nations University (UNU) initiated in 1993 a programme on environmentally sustainable development entitled UNU Agenda 21. The purpose of this on-going programme is to help promote environmentally sound development and identify innovative solutions to the pressing problems outlined in Agenda 21 through research, capacity-building, and the dissemination of knowledge in close cooperation with governments, universities, the private sector, and the United Nations system.

In anticipation of the General Assembly's Special Session five years after the Earth Summit (Earth Summit+5), a United Nations University Public Forum was held focusing on the University's work in promoting the sustainable management of renewable natural resources, including biological diversity, freshwater, and land. The approaches developed through and the policy results of UNU research and capacity-building activities since Rio five years ago were highlighted. The Forum also dealt with future directions of the UNU programme in light of the priority concerns of the international community.

The Forum's guest speakers were as follows: Juha I. Uitto, Academic Officer, UNU; Christine Padoch, Associate Scientific Coordinator, UNU Project on People, Land Management and Environmental Change (UNU/PLEC); Uzo Mokwunye, Director, UNU Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU/INRA); and Ralph J. Daley, Director, UNU International Network on Water, Environment and Health (UNU/INWEH). This report provides a brief overview of Public Forum's proceedings.

UNU Agenda 21

The environment and the management of natural resources have been central features in the UNU's research programmes and training activities since its inception 22 years ago. The University's work in the field of environment focuses on resource systems in various ecological contexts, including coastal zones, rainforests, and highlands. The University is also engaged in work on agro-forestry systems, home gardens, and fuelwood problems in developing countries.

The UNU's project on Mountain Ecology and Sustainable Development has provided notable inputs into the work of the United Nations system. In fact, UNU researchers played a key role in drafting Agenda 21's chapter 13 -- Managing Fragile Ecosystems: Sustainable Mountain Development. For the Earth Summit+5, the UNU, along with the Swiss Development Cooperation, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), and the International Development Research Center/International Potato Center (IDRC/IPC), participated in the UN inter-agency and NGO follow-up process to Agenda 21's chapter 13. The result of this effort is a recently published book, Mountains of the World: A Global Priority, and a related policy document which addresses the priorities in the field of sustainable mountain development.

Following the Rio Conference, the University set up a high-level advisory team consisting of representatives from relevant UN agencies, including the UN Development Programme (UNDP), the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), as well as from academic institutions and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) to devise the principles that would guide the UNU's work in response to Agenda 21. The resulting ten-year programme -- the UNU Agenda 21 -- aims to promote environmentally sound development through research, capacity-building and training activities, and dissemination efforts.

The UNU Agenda 21 identifies the following three focal points for the University's work in the environmental field:

- Eco-restructuring

The basic objective of this area is to better understand how economic growth can become technically feasible in view of rapidly increasing population growth and rising consumption patterns.

- Capacity of Ecosystems

The second focal point is concerned with the sustainable management of renewable natural resources, both from a regional/geographic perspective, and from the perspective of critical resources.

- Environmental Governance

This area concentrates on the complex set of values, norms, processes, and institutions by which society manages its development and resolves conflict related to the environment at local, national, regional, and global levels.

The programmes and projects presented in this report are primarily concerned with the capacity of ecosystems, while also encompassing issues relating to environmental governance.

People, Land Management and Environmental Change

The UNU project on People, Land Management and Environmental Change (UNU/PLEC) is a multidisciplinary network of scholars and practitioners from twelve developing countries in Africa, Asia, and Latin America, who work closely with local farmers and pastoralists at the field level in trying to find ways of preserving biodiversity in agricultural ecosystems in the midst of rapid change.

Global in scope, UNU/PLEC devotes its attention to small-farm regions, the management of land and its biological diversity. The project was recently approved for funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and, as a result, the project has been able to continue field and experimental research, and undertake additional capacity-building and demonstration activities.

The work of UNU/PLEC is essentially field-based and, as such, most of the project's participants spend a great deal of time in the field working with small-scale farmers. The project's principal advisers are local farmers with years of accumulated knowledge and the dynamism required to respond to new problems and opportunities. UNU/PLEC's demonstration plots are usually set up in the fields of the farmers themselves. In addition, the project actively works with local communities in the identification of problems, priorities, and solutions. The project is diverse in its institutional arrangements and interdisciplinary in approach. Its clusters are made up of people with different backgrounds, and include participants from the physical and social sciences, government research institutes, unions, grassroots organizations, and NGOs. Many of the clusters bring together people from different countries within the same region in an effort to encourage regional cooperation.

UNU/PLEC operates in the developing world through the following locally based clusters:

- Mesoamerica (Jamaica and Mexico);

- Amazonia (Brazil and Peru);

- West Africa (Ghana and Guinea);

- East Africa (Kenya,Tanzania and Uganda);

- Montane Mainland, Southeast Asia (China's Yunnan Province and northern Thailand); and

- Papua New Guinea.

The project also deals with "agrodiversity," and focuses on an array of farming practices, often found in areas that are quite small. From this vantage point, it seeks to identify how diversity is conserved through the actions of biodiversity managers. Agrodiversity and other kinds of diversity occur in the fields or close to the fields, and can include highly diverse plant species and genetic varieties such as weeds and pests. The broad concept of agrodiversity also examines various technologies and tools, and their contributions to the maintenance and conservation of diversity in managed areas.

The project's preliminary phases have produced a substantial amount of data and knowledge relating to diversity. For example, a UNU/PLEC cluster in China's Yunnan Province has identified and described 220 different kinds of agro-forestry systems within its area of operation. Such important findings have encouraged other clusters to look at areas beyond agro-forestry systems. As a result, different management technologies and management systems that preserve biological diversity and at the same time yield income for rural families have been identified and studied.

UNU/PLEC's approach recognizes that small-scale farmers often are managers of different kinds of agro-ecosystems or managed forests. In Amazonia, for example, local methods of forest management, which include transplanting from one part of the forest to another, have been observed. Such methods serve to preserve biological diversity. In some instances, they encourage an increase in plant species diversity, while producing a harvest of economically valuable by-products such as timber. This example illustrates how small-holder management can preserve biodiversity and improve the livelihoods of local farmers. The Amazonia cluster, which works specifically in the Amazon flood plain, has identified important agro-forestry systems that have previously never reached the literature on biodiversity.

The Amazonia cluster is currently working on agro-forestry systems that use biological diversity to control pathogens in bananas. Banana crops were a vital export of the region until they were destroyed by disease. Locally developed agro-forestry systems responded to this situation by encouraging the growth of other species and allowing the re-cultivation of bananas and plantains in many of these areas. As a result, the household economy based on these crops is improving.

UNU Institute for Natural Resources in Africa

The UNU Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU/INRA) is a research and training center based in Accra, Ghana, that focuses its efforts on assisting African countries in implementing Agenda 21. In the Institute's conceptual design, a priority has been assigned to human resources development and institution-building in natural resources conservation and management.

UNU/INRA is a manifestation of Africa's desire to better manage its natural resources base. Africa is a continent that is richly endowed with natural resources, but over the years, increasing population growth has caused a degradation in resources. The resulting consequences include reduced agricultural production, increased food insecurity, and the loss of biodiversity. The programmes of UNU/INRA aim to improve Africa's indigenous capacity and strengthen its national institutions in an attempt to address these problems.

In this connection, UNU/INRA has conducted institutional capacity assessments in twenty African countries to determine their potential to carry out research and training. One of the conclusions identified through the assessments is that, with few exceptions, African universities are working in isolation from the research institutes involved in natural resources conservation and development. In other words, the universities are doing science for the sake of science, while the research institutes are undertaking developmental work. To address this problem, UNU/INRA's networking initiatives are working to bring together the universities and research institutes to combine relevant research findings that can contribute to the development of Africa.

The Institute has also conducted three different types of surveys in order to obtain the baseline data required to formulate its programmes. The surveys focused on the following areas: the nature and quality of Africa's soil and water; indigenous food crops and useful plants; and the conservation of mineral resources. In all, 43 survey reports are currently in various stages of production. The surveys used standard techniques for data collection by national experts, and plans are underway to incorporate these experts into UNU/INRA's growing network of research associates.

The surveys revealed that food insecurity is still the major developmental problem confronting Africa. As a result, over the next five years, UNU/INRA's programmes will work to address the problem of food insecurity in cooperation with relevant agencies. Three primary research, training, and dissemination programme areas have been designed to achieve the following objectives: (1) Restore and Maintain the Productivity of African Soils; (2) Conserve and Improve the Management of Africa's Indigenous Plant Resources; and (3) Develop Profitable, Small-scale Mining Technologies and Processes that Add Value to Africa's Mineral Resources.

The programme on soil fertility restoration and maintenance aims to help the countries in Africa develop a system of helping themselves to address problems such as low fertility soils and declining productivity. UNU/INRA is promoting the creation of national soil fertility action plans and small thinktanks within governments to assist in the identification of the possible methodologies and technologies to improve food production.

In the area of arresting the degeneration of indigenous food crops and useful plants, efforts will concentrate on promoting the cultivation and conservation of indigenous African food crops. This area will contribute to the knowledge on indigenous food uses and their ethnobotanical importance.

In the mineral sector UNU/INRA will focus its efforts on training mineral exploration personnel, improving the capacity for creating appropriate small-scale mining technologies, and searching for ways to rehabilitate environmentally damaged mining sites.

International Network on Water, Environment and Health

The UNU International Network on Water, Environment and Health (UNU/INWEH) is a research and training programme with a focus on water issues in the developing world. One of its primary objectives is to assist emergency-economy nations around the globe in the development of a self-sustaining capacity to protect the health of their environment and people through water quality and water resource management.

Established in November 1996 in Ontario, Canada, UNU/INWEH represents the newest component of the University. The mission of UNU/INWEH is to contribute to capacity-building for better water management in the developing world by creating and fostering a network of specialists engaged in water-related capacity-building. UNU/INWEH's emphasis on water management is holistic and ecosystemic in approach and its programmes have several water-related themes, including protection and management, wastewater treatment, environmental assessment, and eco-toxicology and human health impacts. Its projects are designed to address the following four key objectives of capacity-building: (1) to contribute to human resources development; (2) to strengthen the development and assessment of research and design capabilities; (3) to advance regulation and policymaking in the water management area; and (4) to encourage a stronger engagement in water management on the part of the private sector within developing countries.

UNU/INWEH acts as the hub of a network that includes the participation of agencies, institutions and enterprises, international financial institutions responsible for developing and financing capacity-building projects in emerging economy nations, and experienced environmental professionals in the public, private, NGO and academic sectors in Canada and around the world. It operates on a project basis and organizes seconded professionals into subgroups which are formed to address specific problem areas. In this way, UNU/INWEH acts as an organizational force that strengthens the capacity of individuals to engage in development projects.

A strong focus has been assigned to capacity-building projects in the developing world, with a emphasis on training. In addition, UNU/INWEH intends to undertake research and development, and engage in the dissemination of information using modern methodologies and Internet-based informatics systems.

The work programme of UNU/INWEH is currently in the planning stages. The following represent some of the projects under consideration:

- Monitoring in the LaPlata River Basin in Brazil;

- Water and wastewater utility operators training and certification programme in Mexico and general water management training in El Salvador;

- Solar-powered groundwater pumping in peri-urban areas of West Africa;

- Mining impacts on aquatic environments in Chile;

- Community-based monitoring technologies for drinking water quality and general water quality conditions;

- Coastal marine ecosystem rehabilitation in Indonesia related to coral reef degradation and environmental informatics;

- Coastal marine ecosystem management in the Batabano Gulf of Cuba; and

- River basin training in the Middle East.

Conclusion

UNU/PLEC, UNU/INRA, and UNU/INWEH represent a unified set of initiatives and activities undertaken by the University in the area of renewable natural resources, and in particular, land, water and biological resources. Taken together, they form a concerted effort aimed at developing more environmentally sustainable societies and improving the management of natural resources. In adopting this integrated approach, the University seeks to increase its relevance and enhance its responsiveness to the work of the UN system as a whole.

The University's programmes relating to the sustainable management of renewable natural resources plan to take on two additional areas which will build upon the University's existing capacities and strengths, and contribute to the goals of the international development community. The programmes have been tentatively named as follows: Food, Land and Biodiversity; and Integrated Basin Management. As a cross-cutting priority, it is envisaged that these programmes will focus on the countries of Africa.