TEHRAN - With its recent re-engagement in Iran, the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) provides a viable platform for enhancing effective investment in the sustainable development of the agricultural and rural sector as well as strengthening collaboration amongst stakeholders to amplify the sector’s much needed contribution to bolstering further the country’s economy. During a recent meeting with the FAO Representative to Iran at the Tehran Times headquarters, Serge Nakouzi accorded an exclusive interview in which he candidly discussed the various environmental challenges being faced in the country and elaborated on how FAO’s technical expertise can provide invaluable support in addressing the risks that could undermine the significant achievements that have been realized by Iran towards the UN Millennium Development Goal of attaining Food Security.

Manifesting a genuine affinity for Iran’s culture and language(citing a particular affinity for ‘Farsi’as “a beautiful and lyrical language”), its capabilities and its historical contributions to the advancement of not only agricultural techniques but also as an ancient civilization to the extension of literature and philosophy throughout the centuries, the FAO Representative revealed a legitimate interest and determination to mobilize all potential capacities to assist Iran in redressing the broad range of developmental challenges falling under the mandate of his organization.
The following is an excerpt of the interview conducted with Nakouzi about his mission in Iran.


Q. FAO is being widely recognized as having re-engaged itself in Iran. Can you elaborate?
A. Over the past several years, FAO had regrettably not been as active within the country as it could or should have been. It was particularly unfortunate since a number of the challenges faced by Iran are linked to thematic areas that fall under FAO’s mandate and where the organization has extensive global expertise and experience.
As a specialized technical development agency of the United Nations, FAO is a multidisciplinary organization that retains expertise across a broad spectrum of disciplines pertaining to food and agriculture (ranging from soil, animal and plant biodiversity, sustainable land and water management, nutrition, food safety etc. to specific sectoral specialization in forestry, fisheries and agricultural production, including animal health and husbandry).
The main environmental challenges with which Iran is grappling today are extremely complex, both in terms of magnitude and nature, requiring concerted and holistic interventions that can address all of the interlinked components in a coherent manner so as to yield the desired impacts. These issues, comprising amongst others water scarcity, land and forest degradation, soil erosion, desertification etc., can have a significant adverse impact not only on the nation’s food security and livelihoods of rural populations but also consequently impair the country’s economy. Given the importance of the agricultural sector to the Iranian economy and the need to sustain the notable progress that had been attained to date towards food security as well as in view of the criticality of mitigating the detrimental impact of the environmental challenges, the organization felt that it should ensure all of the requisite technical and policy assistance to strengthen the national institutional capabilities in order that they may deal with these issues in a sustainable manner.
One of the principal objectives of my mission has been to re-engage FAO in the country and forge a strong partnership with all stakeholders, in the quest of ensuring that by coalescing the potentials of all partners concerned, we can collectively invest in securing the effective resolution of these challenges and in deriving the desired benefits for the local communities and people of Iran.

Q. How does FAO contribute to assisting countries?
A. FAO has a long tradition as a global authoritative body in the development of the agricultural and rural sectors. As you may be aware, FAO was established in 1945 (its constitution being signed eight days before the conclusion of the UN Charter) to lead international efforts to defeat hunger. It replaced the International Institute for Agriculture, which had been founded in 1905.
Throughout these years, the organization has repeatedly evidenced its qualities as an inherently technical agency. Serving its member states as a neutral forum for all nations to negotiate agreements and debate policy, FAO has also been source of knowledge and information to improve agriculture, forestry and fisheries practices. The organization has during the past decades, launched a series of initiatives and programs where it has been able to realize noteworthy impact in a wide spectrum of areas, ranging from the setting of normative standards through such global instruments as the International Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, International Plant Protection Convention and Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture, to the introduction of innovative technological approaches and practices that optimize the outputs of agricultural and rural sectors.

Q. In the specific case of Iran, how would FAO add value in dealing with the country’s complex challenges?
A. Some of the initiatives and programs introduced over the recent past are particularly pertinent to supporting Iran in redressing the challenges I highlighted earlier. For example, since over 92% of the water resources in the country are utilized for agriculture, the Regional Initiative on Water Scarcity being implemented by FAO in the countries of the Near East and North Africa, where there are similar water scarcity conditions and where equally high proportions of available water is utilized in the agricultural sector, could prove invaluable in the embedding more efficient and effective management as well as governance of water resources. Furthermore, FAO has formulated the Blue Growth Initiative that focuses on promoting the sustainable use and conservation of aquatic renewable resources in an economically, socially and environmentally responsible manner. Of equal relevance is the myriad of programs and initiatives ushered in by FAO in terms of sustainable forest management, combating desertification and managing sand and dust storms, natural resources management, rehabilitating depleted lake basin, effectively managing agriculture-wetlands-water resources nexus and introduction of ‘climate smart agriculture’ that aims to enable countries to adapt to and mitigate the impact of climate change whilst safeguarding both their natural resources and capacity to enhance agricultural productivity.
I am firmly convinced that, by lending its impartial technical expertise and policy assistance, the organization can make an invaluable contribution and add value to the valiant efforts that are being undertaken by the government of Iran as well as other stakeholders in these areas. FAO can share the extensive experience it has gained in dealing with similar complex challenges in other countries of this region and in other continents to complement the existing knowledge within Iran.

Q. Iran has historically played a role in developing agricultural practices and systems, would you agree with that statement?
A. Iran is an ancient civilization and had been for centuries the bastion of knowledge and progression in the field of agriculture. Last year, FAO recognized the Qanat system of Kashan in Isfahan Province as a Globally Important Agricultural Heritage System (GIAHS). By registering the Qanat irrigation system, the GIAHS Scientific and Steering Committee acknowledged that Qanats have sustained food and livelihood security over millennia by providing reliable source of water to traditional family farms in most dry areas of Iran where agriculture and farming would be impossible otherwise. The GIAHS Committee had noted that, by making it possible for humans, plants and animals to survive in the harshest climatic conditions, Qanats have supported important biodiversity particularly ancient varieties of pomegranate, figs, pistachio, apples, apricots, and other fruits and vegetables, medicinal plants as well as many livestock breeds. It further had underscored that ingenious water distribution and management systems as well as social and cultural practices had allowed the development of the most ancient agricultural civilizations in Iran, Central Asia, China and elsewhere around the world.
The Qanats paved the path for several other innovative practices which witnessed the introduction of community participatory schemes which had brought cohesiveness, solidarity and strong sense of fraternity to the local communities.
With the envisaged launching of a Nationally Important Agricultural Heritage System (NIAHS) in Iran, we hope that many other agricultural heritage systems existing within the country will be further recognized both at the national level and subsequently by the international community through GIAHS.

Q. When you say “complement the existing knowledge within Iran”, what do you mean by that?
A. Today, Iran possesses a considerable amount of capability, competence and knowledge within the country. The country has sound public and private institutions as well as a wide range of non-state actors involved in the agricultural and rural sectors. It has a vast network of academic and research institutes that retain tremendous skills and proficiency in a broad spectrum of the thematic areas touched by the challengesthat I referred to earlier. In fact, this knowledge has constituted the pillar of the south-south cooperation that Iran has been promoting in the fields of agricultural and rural development. This is indeed why the organization is considering the possibility of having Iran play a more prominent role in sharing its knowledge and expertise to the other countries of the sub-region and region. FAO, for its part, would bring in its global knowledge and technical expertise for handling the complex challenges based on the experience gathered across the world.
As a middle income country, Iran requires primarily supplementary expertise to further bolster its institutional capabilities. The existing capacities within Iran provide not only a firm cornerstone for pursuing concrete programs but also bestow a unique opportunity for us to forge a strong partnership that would yield the desire impact in terms of sustainable development.

Q. Partnership appears to be a fundamental issue for you. Is it an essential factor to achieve the desired objectives?
A. Partnership is indeed essential. If we do not leverage the potential of all stakeholders, we may not be able to achieve sustainable development.
In fact, partnership constitutes the engine of power that determines the success of our endeavors to realize the desired results in developing the agricultural and rural sectors. Such partnership should coalesce all of the stakeholders, including the various governmental ministries and entities concerned, the private sector, other international and intergovernmental bodies as well as non-state actors (such as Non-governmental, civil society and community-based organisations) and ensure that we are all pursuing an aligned and coherent approach.
All of these organizations and entities present a conglomeration of institutions that cover amongst them a whole spectrum of skills and resources. We should be able to harness the specific capacities offered by each entity, bearing in mind their respective mandates and technical capabilities, to not only optimize the investment of resources being channeled to development but also secure the greatest impact. Doing so would be vital if we are to invest wisely the limited resources available in the quest of achieving our common goals of sustainable development and redressing the complex challenges being faced in the country.

Q. What are the innovative approaches that you yourself are seeking to introduce here in Iran to ensure that impact?
A. This year, FAO like a number of other UN organizations is celebrating its 70th Anniversary. Such a commemoration not only highlights the significant amount of work that has been carried out over the past seventy years, but it also provides is with an opportunity to reflect on the immense amount of work that still needs to be done if we are to achieve the goals we have set for ourselves and really make a difference.
Considering these issues, I have sought to introduce a paradigm shift here in the manner in which we deliver our activities in the country. Moving away from an intrinsically project-focused approach, I have sought to introduce integrated programs with a strategic vision that are conducive to build upon the inter-linkages between the various components of an issue and that enable us to adopted a more holistic approach to deal with complex challenges. When facing major environmental challenges such as depletion of lakes, wetlands or watershed bases, it is critical that one looks at every facet of the issue but also ensures technically aligned and synergized interventions.
These programs would allow us to focus on the outcomes and impacts of our interventions, rather than using solely metrics of delivery (i.e. financially expenditures and completion within established timeframes). It is of the utmost importance that we assume greater responsibility in securing results-based approaches and accountability for our interventions.

Q. What will be the focus of FAO’s program in the coming years?
A. In this respect, we are formulating an integrated strategic program that will guide our activities in Iran and which will be focused on four principal priority areas that have been identified jointly with the government authorities concerned. These consist of, firstly, integrated water resources and land management, factoring the environmental impact of climate change; secondly, building resilience for enhanced food security, nutrition and food safety; thirdly, sustainable small-scale agriculture for inclusive development, based on agro-ecological approaches and Climate-Smart Agriculture methodologies; and, lastly, optimization of institutional capabilities, through effective capacity development.
By adopting an alternative approach and working together, I believe that we can make a notable difference in reinforcing Iran’s ability to overcome the challenges faced and improve livelihoods in the foreseeable future.