859 



global or multilateral basis for detecting and reacting to the onset of 

 agricultural plagues or blights. In the earlier report, "The Politics of 

 Global Health," it was suggested that such a system needed to be estab- 

 lished by the World Health Organization for human epidemic diseases. 

 The same logic applies, it would seem, to the protection of the plant 

 life on which man depends. The diplomatic aspects of such a program 

 include not only its initial design, but also the problem of overcoming 

 resistance on the part of a country afficted with a plant virus or blight 

 to the measures necessary to contain and eradicate it. 



Since all nations have at least some interest in further technological 

 advances in nutrition chemistry — in particular, the development of 

 new, perhaps synthetic, protein concentrates and additives—a sub- 

 stantial research program under U.N. auspices might be a logical ex- 

 tension. Other areas of scientific research might also be pursued on 

 such a multilateral basis. Moreover, the statistics of agricultural pro- 

 duction and marketing have been identified as a particularly difl&cult 

 field for a developing country and could thus be an area for con- 

 certed international assistance. 



In addition, there is widespread interest in the concept of stabilizing 

 farm products and prices on a global basis. This was illustrated by the 

 statement of the Director-General of FAO, Addeke H. Boerma, that 

 the subject of international agricultural adjustment would be a main 

 theme of the FAO Conference to be held in 1973. Boerma has sug- 

 gested that international commodity agreements might be developed 

 one at a time, or combined into an integrated scheme for international 

 commodity control. This would mean, he said, 



* * ♦ adjustment in terms of what is produced in individual countries [with] 

 the greatest attention possible being paid to the question of comparative ad- 

 vantage. It is also adjustment in the rules affecting the international movement 

 of commodities. This, of course, includes problems of access, problems-:-relating 

 to commodity arrangements in order to ensure reasonable and stable prices, and — 

 assuming that surpluses are likely to continue for some time — problems as to 

 the use of agricultural commodities in food aid.^*® 



The asserted advantages of the multilateral approach to world agri- 

 culture should not obscure the evident weaknesses of present institu- 

 tions to accomplish purposes generally sought. Some of the weaknesses 

 attributed to the U.N. complex have included: Uncertain funding, 

 varied quality of technical personnel, wavering political support, con- 

 fused lines of functional organization, want of firmness in manage- 

 ment, and absence of accepted overall authority. The desirability of a 

 clearer mandate for specific global chores to be implemented by this 

 system, and a general overhaul and strengthening, would appear to 

 warrant early legislative and diplomatic consideration. 



The Politics and Diplomacy of Stemrrhing the Population Explosion 



The population issue presents modem diplomacy with its most 

 fundamental, difficult, sensitive, and universal challenge. The issue 

 concerns the intimate human act of sex, the deep emotional values of 

 self-perpetuation, and the spiritual forces of all religions, as well as 

 questions of national power and prestige. The fact of the population 

 explosion is everywhere perceived. The technology for its control is 



"'Boorma. "Ad(1r«»ss to the EJighteeiith General Conference of the International Federa- 

 tion of Agricultural Producers " op. clt., pages 16-17. 



