Nuclear energy is attracting renewed public support. It is a virtually carbon-free energy source and can help produce a sizeable percentage of electricity needs in many countries. But while more people are prepared to accept nuclear energy, loving it is not easy, mainly because of the problem of nuclear waste. Treating it, burying it and generally making it safer are ongoing challenges. Can waste be minimised in the first place?

“You cannot really manage the environment without a strong economy.” The remark seems oddly appropriate, sitting in an office overlooking the expansive woodland of the Bois de Boulogne, a “green lung” in the wealthy if congested west of Paris.

On 22 March, World Water Day 2007, 21 Chinese environmental NGOs came together to launch a new “Green Choice Initiative”. Aimed at China’s vast consumer population, the hope is to encourage all individuals to consider a company’s environmental performance in guiding their daily purchasing decisions.

Dear editor, Angel Gurría is right to argue that “subsidies … should target cleaner energy innovations and practices, and not distort or protect markets.” (No. 258/259, December 2006). Unfortunately, apart from a few billion dollars being spent on R&D, distortions and protected markets are exactly what we are witnessing in the biofuels area.

Global electricity demand is growing rapidly. Demand for transport energy is also rising. Renewable energy is as yet not capable of matching the energy-density of fossil fuels, and it absorbs a lot of land, whether for cultivating biofuels or laying out solar panels. From solar to hydro, renewable sources are also unevenly distributed and supply can be irregular.

Global warming, finite fossil fuels and geopolitical risks make a shift to renewable energies inevitable. Though it is a challenge fraught with uncertainties, no action would be worse. An alternative, workable energy strategy is within reach.

Transport is the main cause of carbon dioxide emissions, ahead of power generation or industry. While aviation accounts for 14% of transport-based CO2 emissions in the EU, roads have a larger effect. In OECD countries, road transport accounts for over 80% of all transport-related energy consumption, for most of the accidents and the majority of air pollutant emissions, noise and habitat degradation.

A decade ago, used tyres ended up mostly in stockpiles, as an eyesore for landfill. Some 62% of old tyres went that way in 1994. Today, more are recycled for use in adhesives, insulation, brake linings, and conveyor belts, for instance.

Are we about to switch to new energy sources? Grandiose plans are being drawn up for installing veritable forests of giant wind turbines, turning crops and straw into fuel ethanol and biodiesel, and for tapping solar radiation by fields of photovoltaic cells. As with most innovations, there is excitement and high expectation. Will these developments and other renewable energy conversions one day replace fossil fuels? Eventually they will have to, but a reality check is in order.

Although natural phenomena such as volcanic eruptions or warm ocean currents, or even the earth’s tilt, might all contribute to global warming, carbon dioxide (CO2) generated by human activity–from running homes and factories to flying planes and mowing lawns–is accepted as a major culprit.

What actions are you taking to make energy more secure, cleaner and cost-effective? OECD Observer Ministers' Roundtable

The fisheries sector in OECD countries receives around $6.4 billion a year in transfers from governments. Around 38% of the transfers are provided for the management, research and enforcement of fisheries while 35% is directed to the provision of fisheries infrastructure, from harbour and landing facilities, to navigation services, and search and rescue support.

Many earlier civilisations at some point found themselves on an economic path that was environmentally unsustainable. Some understood what was happening and were able to make the needed adjustments and survive, even flourish. Others either did not understand the gravity of their situation or, if they did, could not adjust in time. They collapsed. Our global civilisation today is also on an economic path that is environmentally unsustainable, a path that is leading us toward economic decline and collapse.

Reconciling environmental conservation and the necessities of development will be very difficult in a developing county like mine. We know that the source of man’s welfare is the biosphere, and so to grow we must use its resources, particularly natural ones.

Waste processing is nothing new. In ancient Greek legend, Hercules is said to have charged a fee to clean out the Augean stables by diverting water from two rivers through a hole he created in the cattle yard, flushing the waste out the other end. Nowadays, processing waste is a major enterprise, but does it qualify as a good or as a service?

On 4 April OECD development and environment ministers meet in Paris. The aim is to push for more progress on the many areas that link the environment and development.

This is my last editorial for the OECD Observer before I step down as secretary-general in May 2006. Nevertheless, I will focus on the future, rather than dwell on the past. That is not to say that we should ignore John Maynard Keynes’ advice that we should examine the present, in light of the past, for the purposes of the future. But sometimes the present and the future cannot draw many useful lessons from the past.

The county of Kent, known romantically as the “Garden of England”, has suffered its worst winter drought since the 1920s. In response, the UK Environment Agency warned in February 2006 that, unless serious water conservation measures were brought in by April, the county could within months witness scenes of people queueing in the streets for water as domestic supplies were being cut off.

Fish piracy, or illegal fishing activity, depletes global fish stocks and undermines efforts to ensure continued, renewable stocks for the future. It also damages the economic and social welfare of those involved in legal fishing, and reduces incentives to play by the rules. But despite national and international efforts, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing continues to thrive worldwide.

The development of wind power has accelerated in recent years, thanks to lower costs and better technology. Within the 19 countries participating in wind energy projects in the International Energy Agency (IEA), a sister organisation of the OECD, wind energy has now seen an average growth rate of 28% over the last nine years. According to the latest IEA Wind annual report, at end-2004, total wind capacity reached 47.9 GW.

Can biofuels truly compete with petrol? Recent projections suggest that ethanol could represent up to 5% of the world’s transport fuel by 2010. That figure may seem modest at first glance, but it is significant, considering no other alternative fuel has had an equivalent impact on the gasoline market in over 100 years.

Can the Kyoto protocol, which came into force on 16 February this year, work? Although natural phenomena such as large volcanic eruptions, ocean currents, the likes of El Niño or even changes in the earth’s tilt might all be contributing factors, carbon dioxide (CO2) generated by human activity–whether running homes and factories or driving cars and lawnmowers–is cited as a major culprit in the rise of global temperatures.

How can we feed future generations without causing significant environmental damage? This was the challenge agricultural, food and fisheries scientists grappled with at a meeting in Rome in May to launch the next phase of the OECD’s Co-operative Research Programme, which contributes to providing the scientific knowledge needed for effective food and agriculture policies.*

With oil prices historically high and worries about global warming, greater attention is being paid to renewable energy potential. Take solar energy, for instance, which is already used for water heating and cooling systems.

If ever there was an industry that should depend on the supply of a highly skilled and competent workforce, nuclear energy must be it. From operations and process, to oversight and safety, slip-ups are not an option. The skill levels required are high and take time to learn. Yet, though it gets relatively little public attention, the loss of experienced and competent personnel in nuclear technology is a growing concern to both regulators and the nuclear industry.

The Kyoto Protocol will be implemented in mid-February, while the size of the challenge presented by climate change is becoming more daunting than expected. Yet, basic steps could be taken that will not only tackle the effects of global warming, but promote development as well.

Whenever oil prices rise, we set about thinking of alternative sources of energy. What if plants and animal waste could be harnessed better, would this be a viable option? Yes, if governments changed strategies, according to a new report out now called Biomass and agriculture: sustainability, markets and policies.

Three years after the adoption of the OECD 10-year Environmental Strategy, ministers acknowledged that they are “not on track” for implementing it by 2010 and that more ambitious action is needed. OECD and non-OECD ministers or deputy-ministers met in Paris to assess progress.

Demography and climate change: as I read the literature and consult the experts, I am increasingly convinced that many of this century’s important challenges, especially for our children and grandchildren, will flow from these two phenomena. Let me sketch some scenarios and questions with respect to each.

Socially responsible development is becoming a buzzword among private equity funds. But can this business community reconcile commercial and developmental objectives in investment? Yes, though there are certain conditions.

OECD Observer, No 242, March 2004

Overfishing remains a major problem on our high seas. Stopping illegal and unrecorded fishing should help. The question is, how?

Voluntary approaches in environmental policy are increasingly popular in a number of countries, but a new OECD report, Voluntary Approaches for Environmental Policy: Effectiveness, Efficiency and Usage in Policy Mixes, questions their environmental effectiveness and economic efficiency.

While bemoaning the global impact of rich countries’ subsidies on poorer economies, environmentalists are taking a closer look at how the elimination of some subsidies may be detrimental to the environment.

Putting together a water financing and management strategy requires looking at a range of questions. The most important one is, can we afford it? This is particularly tricky to answer realistically for large environmental projects that require heavy capital investments in public infrastructure and have a long lifespan. To keep to spending targets, decision-makers have to work out how much they have to spend on everything from buying capital and land to maintenance and operation expenditure. Their calculations have to be realistic and multi-annual.

Further liberalisation of the world’s fish markets must first be led by effective management if the sea is to have plenty of fish for everyone. This has long been the mantra of the OECD Fisheries’ Committee and was confirmed at a press briefing by OECD fisheries experts in March to mark the launch of a new report, Liberalising Fisheries Markets: Scopes and Effects. The OECD maintains that both developed and developing countries stand to benefit from additional tariff and subsidy reductions, but cautions governments to ensure that their trade and fisheries management policies are mutually supportive.

“Agenda for growth and development” was the theme of this year’s annual OECD Ministerial Council. The meeting was chaired by New Zealand’s prime minister, Helen Clark. Here are some key points from the chair’s summary, issued after the meeting.

The OECD grew out of a heightened recognition at the end of the Second World War of interdependence on two levels: between nations, and between security and economic development. In some ways the current international environment brings us back to that starting point. The OECD Ministerial Council and the Forum which precedes it provide an occasion for ministers and civil society to take stock of the achievements of the past half-century, and to update and refine the policy agenda for promoting shared growth and development.

Richard Manning, a senior British civil servant, has been elected chairman of the OECD’s Development Assistance Committee (DAC), succeeding Jean-Claude Faure who has held the post since 1999. Mr Manning will take up his duties in June 2003.

Water is a precious and finite resource and population is on the increase. Rain-fed and irrigated agriculture play a key role in ensuring food security for everybody. Currently 840 million people in the world still go hungry and are chronically undernourished. So will it be possible to feed an additional 2 billion people and manage water consumption in a sustainable way?

When it comes to water, as with most environmental problems, it is easy to overemphasise the failures. To be sure, in the OECD area, there is much room for improvement, from tightening up on human health aspects and pollution to reviewing farming and industrial subsidies. But there are also several successes that are worth learning from.

Civilisation was born with water. Water is indeed the basis of life. Yet mankind has not been wise enough to live with water. Time has come to act, and that is why Japan will be hosting the 3rd World Water Forum and an International Ministerial Conference in the Kyoto region, cradle of Japanese civilization since more than 2,000 years ago.

Anything scarce and in demand commands a price; this is one of the basic principles of economics. Water is scarce in some contexts (drought, degraded quality), so water pricing is increasingly seen as an acceptable instrument of public policy. Water-use charges, pollution charges, tradable permits for water withdrawals or release of specific pollutants, and fines are all market-based approaches that can contribute to making water more accessible, healthier and more sustainable over the long term. For this reason, OECD countries are working toward the goal of “internalising” the full marginal costs (including environment costs) into decisions that affect water use and water quality.

Water-borne pathogens are agents that cause disease. They are a growing international hazard, not to mention a global economic burden. Waterborne pathogens can also kill; the vast majority of preventable deaths occur in children below five years of age, particularly in developing countries.

A desiccated floodplain in Cameroon is restored to life and again provides grains and fish to local people. An agreement in Canada has assured indigenous peoples access to water from a nearby dam. And water is now supplied to a village in Nepal, thanks to a successful partnership between users, government and a donor.

Halving the population without access to safe drinking water by 2015: achieving this Millennium Development Goal is feasible, but it will not be easy.

To most people, water is a public good, like air. Yet in practice, its proper management and distribution raise inherent challenges of allocation, which is where economic principles can help. Supplying water costs money. Moreover, though a renewable resource, it is fragile and can be spoiled.

The key arguments for private commercial involvement in water are simple: to use the marketplace to boost investment and enhance efficiency at lower public cost. Many cities, particularly in the developing world, urgently need to stop water infrastructure deterioration, promote efficient and sustainable water use, and generate revenue for needed investments. But given the essential nature of water and the need for the public to feel assured about safety and access, how far should private participation be allowed to go?

The OECD might not be thought of as playing a role in water supply and management, but in fact it has a leading role, as it does in all areas of sustainable development.

Rock and pop have been linked to social protest since the 1960s. But the advocacy role of major stars took on a whole new dimension when Irish pop star, Bob Geldoff, successfully raised over $100 million for African famine relief by organising the all-star televised Live Aid rock concerts in London and Philadelphia in July 1985.

Transition economies are busy reforming their agricultural systems to join the EU, but in one area – agricultural support – most of them have already cut levels to below those of their EU neighbours, a new OECD study has found. And although Producer Support Estimates (PSEs) increased in all seven non-OECD transition economies in 2001, only Slovenia’s support remained above the OECD and EU levels.

The fact that 1.6 billion people in the world have no electricity and 2.4 billion rely on primitive biomass (wood, agricultural residues, dung) for power may be shocking, but what is worse is that without radical new policies, the figures will be virtually the same 30 years from now.

Handbook of Biodiversity Valuation: A Guide for Policy Makers

In his article, Global warming: What comes after Kyoto?, Professor Burton Richter’s arguments are based on two incorrect premises – one explicit, the other implied (OECD Observer No. 233, August 2002). His very first sentence asserts “Every study of global climate change has concluded that world average temperatures are rising…” This is quite clearly contradicted by the best available data, which come from weather satellites: Global atmospheric temperatures show no perceptible warming trend since

Nearly a billion households, particularly the rural poor, rely directly on natural resources for their livelihoods. But global environmental threats are undermining this resource base. Biodiversity loss is proceeding at a rapid rate in many countries, as is the build-up of toxic chemicals. Desertification and drought are problems of global dimensions, affecting all regions. Greenhouse gas emissions pose risks to the world’s climate and developing countries are likely to be the most vulnerable to the impacts. Three UN conventions, on climate change, biological diversity and desertification – closely associated with the Earth Summit, held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 – address these threats, which could undermine collective efforts to eradicate poverty and foster sustainable development worldwide.

Renate Künaste, Germany's minister for consumer protection, food and agriculture, explains why the world's agri-food sector has to change some of its habits.

The current crisis in confidence over corporate financial reports raises questions that go well beyond a company’s financial sustainability. Business failures provide a vivid reminder of how fundamental corporate activity is to the lives and livelihoods of people and communities worldwide. As shareholders, institutional investors, trades unions, and policymakers take stock of the social repercussions of the Enron and WorldCom affairs, and with the UN World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD) still fresh in our minds, it is time for governments to address the limits of financial reporting.

The impact of households on air and water pollution, waste generation and climate change has worsened over the last three decades and, without radical change, are expected to intensify even more in the next 20 years, according to this OECD report.

One key problem is how to stop displaced national fishing vessels from searching for fishing opportunities on the high seas and even re-flagging to jurisdictions that do not provide proper surveillance of fleet activities. Indeed, the number of vessels fishing under flags of convenience (FOC), many of which are of OECD origin, has risen in the past decade.

An economic commentator in a British newspaper once wrote that things have become so bad, you simply have to be an optimist. How appropriate this view may appear now as attempts to give new momentum to the sustainable development train get under way in Johannesburg.

There seems to be a wide variety of definitions and opinions as to what “sustainable development” really means. One might even be tempted to conclude that sustainable development is in the eye of the beholder!

What are the realistic prospects for sustainable development in the first decade of the new millennium? The short answer is that they will be a lot brighter if those who rally behind the sustainable development banner – particularly in developed countries – confine themselves to a less rather than a more ambitious agenda. Why?

How serious are we about sustainable development? Governments are frequently accused of paying lip-service to the idea, but not taking enough action to make it work. We asked ministers from a cross-section of countries – South Africa as a non-OECD country and host to the Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development; Finland as a smaller, though environmentally progressive, OECD member; France, whose government has recently instituted a sustainable development portfolio; Mexico, as one of the largest and poorest OECD countries, and the United States as the OECD’s biggest and perhaps most environmentally important member – to answer the same straightforward question:

Earthworms, bees, Ethiopian wild barley, peregrine falcons, orchids, mangrove swamps and tropical rainforest: on the face of it, these might seem a motley collection, but they are all symbols of both the diversity and the fragility of the linkages between agriculture and nature.

Transport is a cornerstone of modern civilisation, but at what cost? Heavier than you might think.

The agenda at Johannesburg will be wide and the issues interconnected, but one thing is clear: food security in developing countries must be a cornerstone of any notion of sustainable development. Mr Arnold offers a course of action.

One way to deal with pollution is to encourage polluters to buy and sell limited rights or permits to pollute. It is a market that works, though improvements are needed.

Nuclear energy is back in the public eye in light of the concerns about climate change and the need for a sustainable energy supply. Some powerful public voices are unconvinced about the technology’s competitiveness and safety. For Luis Echávarri, Director-General, OECD Nuclear Energy Agency, these doubts should be put to rest.

Fishers have good cause to be unhappy these days. Their resource is dwindling for a start, and yet their prices are being forced lower by competition from alternative cheap food sources. Environmental pressures to go easy on the seas are intensifying, in particular to allow recovery of fish stocks and certain species of fish that are in danger of depletion. Add to the list the growing problem of marine pollution and even global warming, and there really seems to be no end to the plight of fishing communities.

California is famous for blue skies and leading-edge technology parks. Combine the two and, no surprise, you will find that the state may be taking a lead in solar energy too. Then consider the fact that housing developers are simply replacing traditional roof materials with solar panels as part of new buildings and below the cost of a normal mortgage, and this all begins to sound like a movie script from… California.

The debate about energy mix will intensify at Johannesburg and beyond. Technological progress may generate some useful surprises in the years ahead, but for now, Professor Richter presents a cold look ahead at our energy choices.

There is wide acceptance now that aid from wealthy countries is important for development. More assistance is needed, but that is not all.

When the Russian Academy of Sciences singled out the IEA’s World Energy Outlook 2001 for a special award in 2001, they praised it for the breadth of its coverage, the objectivity of its analysis and its balanced geographical treatment. Testimony indeed for anyone keeping track of global energy questions that the World Energy Outlook reference books are essential. The WEO series from the International Energy Agency, a sister organisation of the OECD, helps policymakers prepare for the energy challenges of the future. In even years, the IEA publishes its flagship World Energy Outlook, a global and regional energy forecast that looks ahead 20-30 years. The 2002 edition will be released in Osaka, Japan at the Ministerial meeting of the Consumer-Producer Dialogue (International Energy Forum) in September.

The global talking shop on the environment will soon be upon us – the 2002 Johannesburg Summit on Sustainable Development in August. Remember Rio? That was 10 years ago. And from my reading of UN preparatory meetings (and a few OECD articles), the message will be “it’s time for action” – urgent action in the case of deforestation. I couldn’t agree more. But do we need to spend US$50 million (one-third for security) and have as many as 65,000 people attending to do something? It’s surely an open question.

When electricity shortages blacked out much of California last year, those countries and industries investing in wind and solar-powered energy must have felt a glow of excitement. After the lights came back on, energy experts were boldly predicting that the solar power industry would double its profits by 2005. Nevertheless, according to the latest World Energy Outlook, while its potential is huge, the share of alternative energy sources in the global energy mix is expected to remain small over the next 20 years.

Ever been late for work and blamed the traffic? The likelihood is (assuming the excuse is true) that you were in fact causing the traffic, too. After all, your car forms part of a line and is holding up the car behind. So by definition, we do not just get stuck in traffic, we produce it.

Nuclear power today is an important part of the current energy mix, providing nearly a quarter of power generation. However, its future is uncertain, according to a new book published by the International Energy Agency, Nuclear Power in the OECD Countries, which reviews the status and prospects for nuclear power generation in OECD countries.

The German Council of Environmental Advisors estimates that the drop in finite primary raw materials will significantly influence the price of products based, for instance, on crude oil from the year 2010. According to current prognoses by the Öko Institut in Darmstadt, the quantity of plastic waste produced in Germany will rise to around 6 million tonnes in 2005 due to the increased use of plastics in many branches (in 1995 it was just 3.7 million tonnes).

Over the last decade in particular, there has been much talk about the role of non-governmental organisations and their influence on politics and policymaking, but also on business strategies. Are these NGOs “friend or foe”? The answer to that is largely up to governments.

The collapse of world trade talks in Seattle in 1999 conveyed some crucial messages over and above the protests about globalisation, not least that the approach to trade negotiations inherited from the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), with its concession bargaining and “green rooms”, has had its day. Seattle also showed that trade ministers alone cannot resolve issues that go beyond the sphere of trade, and that the key systemic issues of the day cannot be reduced purely to their trade or financial dimensions. As it was so aptly put by Angel Gurría, Mexico’s former Minister of Finance: “The ultimate systemic threat today is poverty.”

Agriculture is in the spotlight. Almost every day there are reports in the press concerning food-related health and environment scares. Outbreaks of foot and mouth disease are the latest crisis in Europe, quickly following “mad cow” disease and protests over the alleged impact of genetically modified crops on food safety and the environment.

The environmental progress seen in the 1980s for most OECD countries was consolidated and further enhanced during the 1990s, from lower emissions of many air pollutants to better protection of endangered species. Moreover, the policies that led to these improvements have not in themselves posed significant economic costs, implying total expenditures in the order of only 1-2% of GDP. Nor have they created significant distortions in international trade or had negative effects on employment. On the contrary, environmental policies have often provided incentives for economic restructuring and technological innovation.

More economic growth means more waste to get rid of, or at least that has been the case so far, with a 40% increase in municipal waste in OECD countries between 1980 and 1997 to some 500 kilos of it per person per year.

When we in government look at our collective record on global sustainable development at the start of the 21st century, it is difficult to feel a sense of satisfaction. For despite the progress in some areas, we have been unable to reverse the worrying trends in global development. Too many people still live in abject poverty and in many places exploitation of water, land and other natural resources is well above critical limits.

The share of agricultural land under organic farming has increased significantly over the past ten years. But while several countries actively encourage conversion to organic farming through subsidies, its coverage remains fairly small compared with agriculture under other farming systems.

The United States leads the industrial world when it comes to carbon dioxide emissions, at 20.1 tonnes per inhabitant in 1998, almost double the overall OECD level of 10.9 tonnes per head.

An international coalition of companies, accountants, NGOs and trade unions is quietly changing the way companies report on sustainability issues.

For too long, policymakers have been talking about the deterioration of the world’s environment without taking sufficient action to address the problems. It is time to move from words to action before it is too late, particularly for the industrial countries that are the source of much of the damage.

Species extinction is accelerating at an ever-increasing pace – as many as 10,000 species are now lost annually by some counts. The effects are much more serious than many people think. Harvard University scientist, Professor E. O. Wilson, is stepping up efforts to raise public awareness of this issue and wants politicians and business to listen. A speaker at OECD Forum 2001, Professor Wilson spoke to Environmental Science and Technology’s Kris Christen about the challenges.

The world is a living biological organism, not just a planetary rock with life somehow superimposed on it. This is the so-called gaia hypothesis developed by James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis. In a recent interview Mr Lovelock noted: “Life clearly does more than adapt to Earth. It changes Earth for its own purposes. Evolution is a tightly coupled dance, with life and the material environment as partners.”

Politicians are proving unable to change people’s attitudes to energy use, and non-government organisations need to get involved if energy consumption is to become sustainable, Indian Minister of Power Shri Suresh Prabhu said on Tuesday, May 15. India is concerned about a secure energy supply as are the industrial countries, he told a session on sustainable energy at the OECD’s Forum 2001 on Sustainable Development and the New Economy. But, he said, the task before India – where the per capita consumption of electric power of a unit a day is among the lowest in the world – is somewhat more daunting than that facing OECD countries.

The digital revolution will not automatically bring benefits for the environment, said H. Scott Matthews of Carnegie Mellon University. “The jury is still out on the question of net benefits from e-shopping”, he told a round table on sustainable development in the new economy at the OECD’s Forum 2001. In any case so far it accounts for no more than 1% of total US consumption, Mr. Mellon said. He noted that often e-mail order book purchases led to negative environmental effects, with, for example, popular books being individually shipped to customers using high polluting modes of transport instead of more ecologically-friendly modes such as bulk shipment. Often, too, consumers did not travel less because they were e-shopping but rather used online purchasing to free them up for traffic-augmenting expeditions elsewhere.

The image of hungry, sick refugees shipwrecked on the shores of developed nations may be the public’s impression of migration, but it represents just a sliver of a deeply complex and worsening problem that has far-reaching economic, social, and environmental implications for the entire planet.

Organic farming is not always the best option to boost agricultural production in developing countries, Madagascar’s Jean-Robert Estimé said. Estimé, the director of LDI, a programme designed to help farmers increase their production while sustaining natural resources, was speaking at a round table on agriculture and sustainable development at the OECD’s Forum 2001 on Tuesday May 15. “In Madagascar, we have many rural, small farmers who have never used chemicals and some utilisation of chemicals may be necessary for development,” said Estimé. “Trade liberalisation and market reform is not enough. Farmers must have access to packages including technical assistance, credit and inputs.”

Not only are fossil fuels still the world’s most important ene