Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development in Mountain Regions: First Meeting of the Adelboden Group in September 2003

Following the Adelboden International Conference on Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development in Mountain Regions (SARD-M) held in Switzerland on June 2002 (see August 2002 Network update on this conference), the First Meeting of the Adelboden Group will take place on 11-12 September 2003 at FAO Headquarters in Rome.

At the end of the International Conference on SARD-M organized by the Swiss Government in close collaboration with FAO, participants from 57 countries adopted by consensus the Adelboden Declaration. This political Declaration calls on governments, international organizations and civil society groups to develop and improve, in a participatory approach, SARD policies and actions for mountain areas, in order to enhance the livelihoods of their populations.

To concretely achieve this, the declaration invited “FAO, governments and other relevant organizations to make proposals for follow-up in line with the recommendations of this declaration”, and established the Adelboden Group “as a platform for discussion of policies and policy instruments, exchange of experience, and preparation of initiatives.”

In the framework of the Swiss-funded and FAO-led “One-year Support Project to SARD-M in Follow-up to the Adelboden International Conference”, representatives from 24 governments, 14 civil society groups and 8 international organizations have been invited to the First Meeting of the Adelboden Group, with the aim of discussing and agreeing on the objectives and the activities of a multi-donor four-year project proposal on SARD-M.

This meeting follows a brainstorming session held in early June 2003 in which about 20 sustainable development experts from governments, civil society groups and FAO departments discussed and agreed on preliminary orientations and activities for the mid-term SARD-M project proposal. The results of this workshop were then presented to several countries representatives attending the FAO Council at the end of June 2003.

The First Meeting of the Adelboden Group, therefore, will develop the contents of a four-year project proposal on SARD-M, which is expected to contribute to the overall implementation of Chapters 14 (Promoting SARD) and 13 (Managing Fragile Ecosystem: Sustainable Mountain Development) of Agenda 21, as well as to the SARD-related elements of the Millennium Development Goals and the Plan of Implementation of the Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development.

For more information on the Adelboden International Conference on SARD-M, see the official site of the conference (where you can find the Adelboden Declaration and other related documents) or the detailed minutes of the conference works.