SPECIAL MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE ON AGRICULTURE IN SMALL ISLAND DEVELOPING STATES (SIDS)

Mr Chairman, distinguished delegates, ladies and gentlemen. I welcome the opportunity to speak to you briefly about the special circumstances in today's increasingly interdependent world of the Small Islands Developing States, or SIDS if I may use the term.

New Zealand is very conscious of the problems facing SIDS. We are a member of the OECD. But we, too, are relatively small. We are an island country. And we are isolated. We are also part of a region made up almost entirely of small island developing states. We work with them closely. We pride ourselves in understanding their difficulties.

The main themes of our discussions here today are agriculture and fisheries in the SIDS. But I would like to also touch on other equally important issues facing them. As many of you will know, these are being addressed in other international conferences over the course of the year.

Experts have demonstrated that SIDS face particular problems. Per capita incomes are generally higher than large developing states. But income/GDP growth rates are significantly more volatile because of vulnerability to a wide range of external shocks (including natural disasters). Small size implies high per capita costs of providing public goods and limits the possibility of exploiting economies of scale. This disadvantage has been offset in the past by the benefits of greater trade opportunities. But the benefits derived mostly from special preferential access arrangements are now being eroded in the new global trading system as tariffs are removed.

Small states need to take full advantage of the rapid globalisation of trade and finance. They cannot opt out of the system nor expect long term preferential support from the industrial world. But on the other hand the special circumstances of the SIDS need to be taken into account in the next phase of the trade negotiations due to take place under the WTO. We need to acknowledge the importance of fisheries and agriculture exports to their economies. Adjustment is inevitable. But it must be recognised that SIDS face costs in making this transition, before the longer term gains can be realised. It is important to recognise the need for appropriate support over this period.

Analysis of the vulnerability of SIDS has established convincingly that we all must look beyond conventional indices of development such as GNP/GDP measurement. The composite Vulnerability Index being developed by the Commonwealth Secretariat is gaining acceptance as an objective and robust tool supporting SIDS' case for special and differential treatment.

The Plan of Action which we are considering today also points out the particular vulnerability of SIDS to environmental factors such as climate variability, sea level rise and the water scarcity. New Zealand has been supporting work by the South Pacific Geoscience Commission to develop an environmental vulnerability index which we hope in time will be fed into the composite index being developed by the Commonwealth Secretariat.

SIDS face unique challenges and opportunities in developing and sustaining their agriculture. Some SIDS, particularly in the Pacific, are very isolated. The opportunities can stem from such isolation that also creates the challenges. Many of New Zealand's Pacific partners have the advantage of a relatively clean pest and disease status and low input and consequently lower cost farming systems. These advantages could potentially help to open trade access and new markets for their agricultural products. In order to ensure this potential is realised and protected there is a need to ensure strong sanitary and phytosanitary systems with the appropriate specialist expertise. Suitable local, domestic, regional and global marketing infrastructures have been identified as an important step in the agricultural development of SIDS. New Zealand is playing a role by assisting a number of Pacific countries to improve their plant protection and quarantine systems.

The draft plan of action calls for greater agricultural diversification. It is important that farmers are given an opportunity to make wise decisions on agricultural diversification based on real market expectations not distortions created by subsidies. Care should be taken in interpreting the reference to fiscal incentives in the draft plan of action to ensure they are not distortionary. Access restrictions such as tariffs must be removed.

Island environments are fragile and are unforgiving of exploitation. Indigenous communities have developed sustainable farming systems over centuries that have met their subsistence needs. The needs, population and the environment are changing however and with it the farming systems. Changes to these systems need to take account of indigenous knowledge, labour availability, land tenure as well as good science. Practical farmers must be given an opportunity to participate in the planning, research, extension and marketing efforts if practical sustainable systems are to be developed and adopted.

The increasing recognition that farmers in most SIDS include women, challenges Governments and industry to ensure their research, extension and marketing programmes are accessible to women. It is disappointing given FAO's excellent "Women Feed the World" promotion for World Food Day, the importance it was given in the Rome Declaration and the fact that we are meeting during International Women's Week, that gender and agriculture issues, particularly women's access to services is not addressed at all in the draft plan of action.

The World Food Summit has committed SIDS to look more closely at household food security. While the trend is towards increased food importation, the subsistence farming sector still underpins the food security and economy of many Pacific SIDS. As these farming systems become unstable and under threat due to population and environmental pressures, they can no longer be taken for granted.

This year a number of international conferences including this one are being held to consider the particular circumstances of SIDS and how to address the sustainable development of their resources. A Roundtable has just been held in New York at which the issue of effective resource mobilisation in SIDS was discussed. In April the Commission on Sustainable Development will discuss not only the special circumstances of SIDS but other relevant themes such as Oceans, Tourism, and Sustainable Consumption. Then in September there will be a special UN Session on SIDS which will consider the next steps to implement the Barbados Plan of Action for SIDS agreed back in 1994.

All of the conferences involving SIDS this year show that there is considerable momentum internationally to address thoroughly their particular needs and to find ways to develop tools and mechanisms not only to foster their sustainable development but also their further integration into the global financial and economic systems. They cannot afford to develop in isolation from the realities of the global village market.

New Zealand is very supportive of all of this work. We have long been aware of the particular vulnerabilities of SIDS and how these circumstances can inhibit sustainable development. We look forward to working with them to continue to develop mechanisms to address their particular needs, not only in agriculture, fisheries and forestry but across the range of their priority development areas.

Thank you ladies and gentlemen.