UN Economic and Social Development
Division for Sustainable Development

High-Level Meeting

Windhoek, Namibia, 9-10 Feb 2009

Co-organized by
Ministry of Environment and Tourism, Government of Namibia
and
UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs
Division for Sustainable Development

During its 16th and 17th sessions, the Commission on Sustainable Development (CSD) is considering the themes: agriculture, rural development, land, drought, desertification and Africa.

Africa faces particular challenges in all of the first five thematic areas. In particular, at the 16th session of the Commission, it was recognized that African agriculture is critical for African development and faces challenges that must be addressed in order to achieve sustainable development for Africa at large.

This High-Level Meeting, being an inter-sessional Ministerial-level meeting of the CSD, will consider how African governments and other stakeholders can meet those challenges and take forceful policy and practical measures, in co-operation with the international community and development partners, to revitalize African agriculture and the broader rural economies in ways that are economically, socially and environmentally sustainable.

The meeting will aim to engage high-level decision makers in a discussion of some of the key challenges related to African agriculture highlighted in the UN Secretary General’s reports for CSD-16/CSD-17.

This meeting will be an opportunity for African policy makers to prepare for the discussions in the CSD by identifying key issues and by initiating discussion on effective responses at all levels.

 

2 Main Themes

The meeting will focus on two main themes:

1. Theme 1: how to operationalize a green revolution in Africa;
2. Theme 2: integrating African agriculture into global markets.

(See agenda overview).

Sub-Themes

Each theme will be divided into 2 sub-themes:

1. Sub-Theme 1.1: Incorporating sustainable land management and agricultural practices into African agriculture
2. Sub-Theme 1.2: Increasing agricultural productivity in Africa
3. Sub-Theme 2.1: Moving African agriculture up the value chain
4. Sub-Theme 2.2: Integration of small farmers into global supply chains.

Additional Session

After the two main themes have been discussed, an additional session will focus on managing Africa’s agricultural transition. This session will use the results of the discussion of the two main themes, including a vision of the future of African agriculture, to address the issue of the transition from the current state to that future.