RDS HOMEPAGE

ESCAP Home

Preface

Witnessing the dramatic changes taking place at the close of the twentieth century as a result of scientific knowledge and human inventiveness in technology and globalization, it becomes difficult to comprehend how the great mechanical, social and industrial and scientific revolutions – the advances in agricultural sciences, medical sciences, health care and education which changed the industrialized world, could leave millions of farmers, forest dwellers and fishermen of developing and the least developed countries still using techniques and implements which had been devised about 2,500 years ago.

By 1970, the global economy had been transformed, and industrialized societies had experienced economic growth and expansion of trade without parallel in history, sowing the first seeds of doubt about the price of economic growth, the finitude of some physical resources and the destructive powers of by-products (including wastes) derived from production and consumption. The first public disquiet about damage to the environment  came with the publication of Rachel Carson’s book, Silent Spring, in 1962, the scenario which created environmentalism in the popular consciousness.

Poverty had been cited as a major cause of environmental degradation. The need for the rural poor to expand their resource base to accommodate growing families had led many farmers to encroach on land which were marginal for agriculture and hasten the downward spiral towards poverty and environmental degradation.

Sustainable development in popular terms was defined as “meeting the needs of the present without comprising the ability of future generation to meet their needs,” and growth in the context of poverty eradication a new development paradigm in South Asia held that to be effective, the economic political and social dimensions of secular values would have to integrate to reinforce each other – bringing ethics into both politics and economics leading to greater social cohesion. It showed ways to reduce poverty to achieve growth with greater social integration. Sustainable agricultural development required that those entrusted with the responsibility to manage change would have clearly defined their purposes and policies, and their vision of the economic viability, social equity and ecological sustainability for the future of an agrarian society, indeed of the whole society.

The Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), fully cognizant of the links established in Agenda 21 between people, the resources they use, and their survival undertook to consider these links in developing sustainable agricultural development strategies for the least developed countries of Asia and the Pacific. The publication is divided into three parts. Part one gives a regional overview of agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors and strategies for sustainability. Part II provides an assessment of the current state of agriculture and forestry, and looks at possible changes in agricultural policies and strategies for sustainable agricultural development in Bangladesh, Bhutan, Cambodia, Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal and the Pacific Island Countries of Kiribati, Tuvalu. Part III looks at gender and sustainable agricultural development strategies for these countries.

The ESCAP Secretariat expresses its deep appreciation to the Government of the Netherlands for its general financial support in making the study possible.

• Regional Overview (pdf file: 136 kb)
  
• Bangladesh (Prepared by A.T.M. Shamsul Huda, Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, Bangladesh Secretariat, Dhaka) (pdf file: 50 kb)
  
• Bhutan (Prepared by Sherup Gyaltshen, Acting Director, Research, Extension and Irrigation Department, Ministry of Agriculture, Thimphu)
  (pdf file: 36kb)
  
• Cambodia (Prepared by Yang Saing Koma, Lecturer, Royal University of Agriculture of Chamkar Dong and Project Officer in Sustainable Agriculture, Japan International Volunteer Centre,Phnom Penh)
  (pdf file: 61 kb)
  
• Lao PDR (Prepared by Chanthavong Seneamatmountry, Programme Manager, Committee for Cooperation and Investment, Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, Vientiane.)(pdf file: 49 kb)
  
• Maldives (Prepared by M. Zuhair, Deputy Director of Agricultural Services, Ministry of Fisheries and Agriculture, Malé) (pdf file: 57 kb)
  
• Myanmar (Prepared by U Myint Thein, Director-General (Retd), Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation, Yangon) (pdf file: 74 kb)
  
• Nepal (Prepared by Mohan Man Sainju, Executive Chairman, Institute for Integrated Development Studies, Kathmandu, and Ganesh B. Thapa. Programme Leader, Winrock International Institute for Agricultural Development, Kathmandu) (pdf file: 100 kb)
  
• Pacific Island least developed countries: Kiribati, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tuvalu, Vanuatu (Prepared by Bikenibeu Paeniu, Consultant, Funafuti,Tuvalu) (pdf file:95 kb)
  
• Gender and sustainable agricultural development strategies (prepared by Dev Nathan, Consultant, Bangkok) (pdf file42 kb)
  
• Report of the regional workshop on sustainable agricultural development strategies for the least developed countries of the Asian and Pacific region) (pdf file: 38 kb)