Windhoek High-Level Ministerial Declaration on African Agriculture in the 21st Century: Meeting the Challenges, Making a Sustainable Green Revolution, 9-10 February 2009

“18. We underline the potential of the UNCCD to contribute to addressing food security, particularly by protecting land from becoming degraded, we pledge our commitment to implementing the Ten Year Strategy and Framework and call on donors to enhance financial support for UNCCD, including its fourth strategic objective, and further call for substantial, additional resources for the land degradation focal area during the fifth replenish period of the Global Environment Facility (GEF).”

“23. We are convinced that enhanced financial and technical support for crop and livestock research and development is a high priority, including on varieties and methods adapted to climate change. We therefore urge the international financial institutions to increase significantly their support to investment in agriculture and rural development in Africa in order to ensure food security, increase incomes and eradicate poverty.”

“...11. We recognize that agriculture plays a crucial role in addressing the needs of a growing global population and is inextricably linked to poverty eradication, especially in African countries where majority of the population depend on it for their livelihood. We reiterate that supporting integrated and sustainable agriculture and rural development is essential to achieving food security and food safety in Africa.

12. We also recognize that African countries have taken a number of measures at the national, sub-regional and regional levels to boost agriculture and rural development, including policy responses aimed at reversing the decline in agriculture and boosting production to achieve food security.”

“15. We call for concerted and collective response by African countries and the international community, working in partnership to support integrated and sustainable agriculture and rural development approaches, and stress the importance of food security and strengthening the agricultural sector, as set out in, inter alia, the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme of the NEPAD. We call upon development partners including the United Nations system to increase their assistance to Africa, in particular to least developed countries and those that are most negatively affected by high food prices.”