DECLARATION AND PLAN OF ACTION FOR GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP IN AGRICULTURAL RESEARCH

We, the representatives of the national agricultural research systems, regional and subregional organizations, universities and advanced research institutions, non-governmental organizations, farmers’ organizations, the private sector, and international agricultural research centers, gathered in a Global Forum on Agricultural Research at the Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research, International Centers Week 1996:

Cognizant of the formidable challenges of the future, in particular the need:

• to alleviate poverty;

• to increase productivity and resource use efficiency to feed an expanding population; and

• to address environmental degradation, sustainably manage the natural resource base, and develop and implement more appropriate agricultural policies and sustainable technologies;

Aware that the world leaders are holding a summit to address the global challenge of ensuring food security;

Convinced that scientific and technological responses and sociocultural factors are essential elements in improving food and nutritional security, as well as more sustainable use of cropland, rangeland, aquatic, and forest resources;

Realizing that the national agricultural research systems are the cornerstones of the emerging global research system; and

Recognizing that current cooperative research arrangements need to be adjusted to meet challenges of unprecedented nature and magnitude:

Hereby affirm our strong commitment to contribute to the development of productive, sustainable, and equitable agriculture. We recognize the crucial role played by farmers, especially women, in agriculture and natural resources management. We agree to work in partnership with them toward their empowerment, building on their indigenous knowledge systems.

We fully recognize the immense value of collaboration and research partnership and urge that such collaboration be governed by the principles of subsidiarity, participatory decisionmaking, complementarity of efforts, adaptability, openness, and, above all, a deep sense of commitment to the common purpose. We agree to meet the challenges of the present and the future through an efficient, effective, and coherent global agricultural research system.

We commit ourselves to undertake the following actions, in the pursuit of our common objectives and the foregoing Declaration:

Mobilize the world scientific community in support of a global framework for agricultural research aimed at:

• alleviating poverty;

• achieving food security; and

• assuring sustainable use of natural resources;

Contribute to the strengthening of national agricultural research systems and the subregional and regional fora;

Foster the participation in research collaboration by national agricultural research institutes, regional and subregional research organizations, international agricultural research centers, advanced research institutes, universities, the private sector, non-governmental organizations, farmers, and farmers’ organizations;

Encourage the identification of concrete collaborative projects through suitable mechanisms, including subregional and regional fora; and

Convene a Global Forum on Agricultural Research every three years to exchange information in order to identify common challenges, confirm principles of collaboration, and propose alternative means of implementing collaborative programs with the purpose of facilitating partnerships.

We strongly believe that, by committing ourselves to this task and establishing the necessary enabling mechanisms, based on a bottom-up approach and strong national, subregional, and regional fora, the global agricultural research system will be capable of addressing the agricultural research priorities required to meet the challenges and opportunities that humanity is facing today and will face in the foreseeable future.

We propose, in order to implement this Plan of Action, to increase efficiency in research management and collaboration through the pooling of resources, and call on the development assistance community, the governments of developing countries, and all stakeholders in agricultural and rural development to increase their support to agricultural research.

We hereby mandate the Global Forum Steering Committee, consulting as necessary, to translate this Plan of Action into a detailed program of activities.