Project
In developing and transition countries, up to 80% of the population and 75% of those in absolute poverty live in rural areas.
Agriculture is their main source of income. For the purposes of poverty reduction, agriculture is therefore pivotal.
The prime objectives of SUSTAINET - "Sustainable Agriculture Information Network" - are to reduce poverty and support
sustainable forms of agriculture. SUSTAINET has identified sustainable examples of good agricultural practices (GAPs)
which are capable of bringing about a lasting reduction in rural poverty, and which have the potential for wide
dissemination on a transregional and transcontinental basis.
The aim of SUSTAINET is to support the scaling up of
examples of good practice in sustainable agriculture.
To this end, SUSTAINET networks have been established among institutions at local, regional and international level.
In Germany, members of the network include both state institutions (the German Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture
and Consumer Protection (BMELV), the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Deutsche
Gesellschaft f�r Technische Zusammenarbeit - German Technical Cooperation (GTZ) and the German Council for Sustainable
Development) and non-governmental organisations (Brot f�r die Welt (Bread for the World), Deutsche Welthungerhilfe
(German Agro Action) and Misereor (the German Catholic Bishops' Organisation for Development Cooperation)). In addition
there are SUSTAINET networks in three pilot regions in India, East Africa and the
Andean countries.
SUSTAINET was brought into being in 2003 as part of the German federal government's "Programme of Action 2015:
Poverty Reduction - a Global Responsibility". It is a beacon project of the German Council for Sustainable Development.
The
Programme of Action 2015 has taken up the United Nations Millennium Goal of halving the proportion of people living
in extreme poverty worldwide by the year 2015.
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