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FOR IMMEDIATE
RELEASE, 4 June 2003 THE MEXICO ACTION SUMMIT: A CALL TO ACTION - A New Approach for a New Future The Mexican Government and the Monterrey Bridge Coalition convened the Mexico Action Summit at the same time as the G8 Summit. The Summit is part of the continuing global momentum for sustainable development, spanning the Millennium Development Compact, the Doha Development Round, the Monterrey Consensus, the World Summit for Sustainable Development, the G8 and the WTO Ministerial in Cancun and beyond. The participants issued a call to action challenging the G8 and other developing and developed world the leaders of developing countries to act now and decisively to address hunger and poverty while protecting and restoring the world's natural environment for future generations. The Summit, conducted under the patronage of President Vicente Fox, included key world leaders and scientists. Among the leaders were Ahmed Mohamed Ag Hamani, Prime Minister of Mali, The Hon. Susan Whelan, Minister for International Cooperation of Canada, The Honorable Victor Lichtinger, Secretary of Environment and Natural Resources from Mexico and the Honorable Sheila Sisulu, Deputy Executive Director of the World Food Program in Rome. Prominent scientists attending included Nobel Laureate Dr. Norman Borlaug, and Dr. Pedro Sanchez of Columbia University. Representatives of national and international public agencies, private companies and NGOS attended the meeting and made significant contributions. A Call to Action - the Framework:
A Call to Action - A New Policy Paradigm: Poverty Agriculture and Biodiversity. The Summit concluded that radically new approaches to working together are needed in the policy arena at all levels to meet this urgent and ambitious agenda: first, by integrating policies and strategies for food production, improved livelihoods and biodiversity enhancement - and development assistance, and second by scaling up already proven ecologically responsible and socially productive agricultural practices. UNDP calls for "deepening the connections between Environment and Development." A Call to Action - Critical Next Steps:
In the case of tropical and subtropical countries and specifically Sub-Saharan Africa, the participants endorsed a three-pronged approach to be undertaken at the community scale:
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