Ethics and Sustainable Agriculture: S K Joshi

ETHICS AND
SUSTAINABLE
AGRICULTURE
S K JOSHI
 Foreword
 Introduction
 Ethics in food and Agriculture
 Current trends
CONTENTS  The issues

 Balancing interests and resolving conflicts
 Building a more equitable and ethical food and agriculture
system
 Criticism
 In recent years food and agriculture have undergone
major changes, including rapid technological advances,
a restructuring of the resource base, the creation of
new and expanded international markets, and closer
ties with environmental management
 A fiscal crisis in Asia may depress farm prices in North
America.
 A food-borne disease originating in one farmer's field
may wreak havoc in several continents.
 value differences have emerged for a range of issues,
INTRODUCTION including animal welfare, genetically modified foods,
use of designations of origins, and acceptable levels of
economic concentration in the food and agriculture
system.
 They challenge age-old and deeply held values and, in
particular, the new technologies and institutions often
carry with them hidden assumptions.
 These include specific (usually Western) definitions of
private property rights, a bias against common
property resources, an emphasis on individual initiative
rather than respect for family or community traditions.
 The production, transformation and distribution
of food are routine aspects of daily life around
the world. Therefore, it is rarely been addressed
within the realm of ethics.
 The value of food.
ETHICS IN  The value of enhanced well-being.
FOOD AND  The value of human health.
AGRICULTURE
 The value of natural resources.
 The value of nature.
To sum up, these values define in part who we

are and what we should do and, while different
cultures may vary in their interpretation of them,
all agree as to their importance.
CURRENT
TRENDS
DEMOGRAPHIC SHIFTS
PRESSURE ON NATURAL
RESOURCES
INDUSTRIALIZATION OF
AGRICULTURE
CONCENTRATION OF
ECONOMIC POWER
GLOBALIZATION
HUMAN INDUCED CHANGE
CURRENT TRENDS
TRENDS IN CAUSES OF FOOD

EMERGENCIES
CERTAIN BIOTECHNOLOGIES
HAVE BEEN USED TO
GENERATE FOOD AND
AGRICULTURAL PRODUCTS
FOR MILLENIA; THE NEW
TECHNOLOGIES ARE
EXPANDING THAT CAPACITY
EVEN FURTHER -
FAO/20193/G. DIANA
NEW TECHNOLOGIES CAN
INTRUDE ON THE PRIVATE
LIVES OF CITIZENS IN WAYS
THAT WERE NEVER POSSIBLE
BEFORE.
Trends in causes of food emergencies, 1981-1999

ISSUES
BIAS AGAINST THE POOR
NATURAL RESOURCES
Number of people living in poverty or World capture fisheries reaches maximum potenti
lacking access to essential services
ISSUES
CULTURAL IDENTITY AND DIVERSITY
INDIVIDUALS' AND PEOPLES' RIGHTS
AN EMERGING GLOBAL ECONOMY, BUT NOT A GLOBAL SOCIETY
Proportion of the world's farm animal breeds

Today's limited use of plant biodiversity at risk, by region
for food production
BALANCING
INTERESTS
AND RESOLVING
CONFLICTS
 The gap between the

poor and the affluent
Charity, or aid, responds only to short-term

needs and fails to foster self-respect or
dignity
-
OFF-FARM
IMPACTS
THE GAP BETWEEN THE
FOOD-SECURE AND THE
FOOD-INSECURE
Average food deficit of the world's undernourished

SIDE EFFECTS
AND THE
EXTERNALITIES
THE GAP BETWEEN THE
WINNERS AND LOSERS
OF
GLOBALIZATION
THE GAP BETWEEN
CULTURES
THE GAP BETWEEN

GENERATIONS
We must conserve options that those who succeed us might wish to pursue
BUILDING A MORE
EQUITABLE AND
ETHICAL FOOD
AND AGRICULTURE
SYSTEM
IMPROVED WELL- PROTECTION OF IMPROVED PUBLIC

BEING THE HEALTH
ENVIRONMENT
FIRST STEP  Creating the mechanisms necessary to balance
interests and resolve conflicts.
INDIVIDUALS,  Supporting and encouraging broad stakeholder
STATES, participation in policies, programmes and projects.
 Encouraging individuals, communities and nations
CORPORATIONS AND to engage in dialogue and, ultimately, to do what is
VOLUNTARY ethical.
ORGANIZATIONS IN  Developing and disseminating widely the
information and analyses necessary to make wise
THE INTERNATIONAL and ethical decisions.
COMMUNITY CAN  Ensuring that decision-making procedures in
HELP PROGRESS TO international food and agriculture policy as well as
the content of deliberations are well understood
BE MADE THROUGH and open to public scrutiny.
THE FOLLOWING  Developing and periodically reviewing codes of
ACTIONS: ethical conduct where they do not currently exist.

 Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries (1995)
Codex Alimentarius Commission (1963)
Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and
Agriculture (1995), formerly the Commission on Plant
Genetic Resources (1983)
Convention on Biological Diversity (1992) and Cartagena
Protocol on Biosafety (2000)
Earth Charter (2000)
FAO Constitution (1945)
REFERENCES Rio Declaration on Environment and Development (1992)
Rome Declaration on World Food Security (1996)
Stockholm Declaration on the Human Environment (1972)
United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (1982)
United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change
(1992)
Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948)
WHO Constitution (1946)
World Charter for Nature (1982)
World Commission on Culture and Development (1995)

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ETHICS AND

CONTENTS  The issues

FOOD AND  The value of human health.

To sum up, these values define in part who we

TRENDS IN CAUSES OF FOOD

Trends in causes of food emergencies, 1981-1999

Proportion of the world's farm animal breeds

 The gap between the

Charity, or aid, responds only to short-term

Average food deficit of the world's undernourished

THE GAP BETWEEN

IMPROVED WELL- PROTECTION OF IMPROVED PUBLIC

ACTIONS: ethical conduct where they do not currently exist.

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