8 October 2014: The 24th session of the Committee on Agriculture (COAG) of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO), which took place from 29 September to 3 October in Rome, Italy, discussed soil management, food safety and water governance among its central themes. The biennial meeting also heard a vocal call by FAO to implement a paradigm shift to sustainable and productive agriculture, forestry and fisheries. A number of common issues, relevant for other UN entities and partnerships, were also highlighted.

Issues on the COAG agenda comprised: programme matters, including family farmers, sustainable food systems, food safety, water governance, and new data for agriculture; and policy and regulatory matters, inter alia, sustainable livestock and livestock disease, agricultural heritage, and the Global Soil Partnership (GSP). Other matters discussed included the multi-year programme of work and amendments to the rules of procedure of the COAG.

On the GSP, the COAG reviewed the report of the second meeting of the GSP Plenary Assembly, held from 22-24 July in Rome, Italy. The Committee expressed appreciation of the work by the GSP, and highlighted progress in its: Plans of Action; arrangements for the International Year of Soils (IYS) 2015 and the World Soil Day (WSD); and plans to publish a report on the ‘Status of World Soil Resources’ at the end of 2015. The COAG also stressed the importance of the GSP Healthy Soils Facility, and strongly supported the submission of the updated text of the World Soil Charter, transmitted to the COAG by the GSP Plenary Assembly, for consideration by the FAO Council in December 2014, and FAO Conference in June 2015.

Speaking at the opening of the session, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva called for a “paradigm shift” consisting of moving away from input-intensive models and towards lower use of water and chemicals. This shift, according to da Silva, would set “agriculture, forestry and fisheries on a more sustainable and productive long-term path.”

On links to relevant entities, participating countries expressed support for the GSP, the WSD on 5 December and the World Soil Week, to be held in April 2014. A representative of the Global Mechanism of the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) expressed the Convention’s willingness to cooperate with FAO on enabling countries to address the agriculture-water-land nexus “through viable and integrated approaches.” The potential linkages between the GSP and the UNCCD were also recognized, with a participant highlighting potential synergies between the GSP’s Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils (ITPS) and the UNCCD’s Science-Policy Interface (SPI).

The report of COAG 24 will be made available on the FAO website. [GSP Press Release] [FAO Press Release] [Global Mechanism Press Release] [FAO COAG Website] [COAG 24 Provisional Agenda] [IISD RS Story on GSP Second Plenary Assembly Outcomes]