Rio+20 recognizes importance of sustainable agriculture

Rio de Janeiro, 25 June 2012 (IICA). The final document of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio+20), which concluded on June 22 in Rio de Janeiro, recognizes the importance of practicing sustainable agriculture that will make it possible to achieve nutrition and food security for the world’s population.

David Williams, manager of the Agriculture, Natural Resource Management and Climate Change Program of the Inter-American Institute for Cooperation on Agriculture (IICA), described the outcome of the meeting as positive, and said that the final document issued -“The Future We Want”- emphasized the need to understand the social dimension of agriculture, that is, the importance of the activity for millions of small farmers, women, and members of indigenous communities, who depend on it for their livelihood.

According to Williams, who headed IICA’s delegation to Rio+20, the consensus reached by the countries is a reaffirmation of the technical support that the Institute provides to its member countries, designed to improve agriculture by making it more efficient and increasing productivity.

“The conclusions of Rio+20 are a ringing endorsement from the global community for IICA’s mission and work, and for our strong commitment to supporting the member countries in the great task of transforming agriculture, so that the sector makes a full contribution to the sustainable development of the hemisphere, and to the responsible management of the region’s still abundant natural resources,” Williams explained in an interview, which you can listen to here.

Find here the Outcome of the Conference, The future we want.

For more information, contact: 
david.williams@iica.int