Eric Byrne (Dublin South Central, Labour) | Oireachtas source

Very briefly. I thank the witnesses. Frankly, I did not know next year was the European Year for Development. Having heard the witnesses' contributions, I am still not quite sure what is the lead agency. I hear the witnesses presenting a number of jobs for this committee to do, so I hope the Chairman was listening, but I do not know that questions are being posed to the witnesses as representatives of the NGO sector. Is Dóchas the lead sector? Has Europe nominated it to be the lead sector?

I lived in Africa for four years, and I know Tanzania very well, but where do we start? The witnesses gave us a great deal of material regarding environmental challenges. The Lima conference has just concluded and we had a debate here in the witnesses' absence, unfortunately, about hen harriers, slugs, snails and bats and the conflict. Some of us recognise how proper farming can actually enhance the environment and one can reintroduce hen harriers and sustain the peregrine falcons, among other things.

There is obviously conflict with the agricultural sector, because the two speakers were arguing very strongly about the rights of the farmers and how there is too much bureaucracy and implementation of law. It is a thematic year, but it seems to be a very vast theme. We heard about the rice farmer and all the rest in Tanzania. Are we talking about the pastoralists in Africa, for example the Maasai or the other pastoralists, whose livelihood has been threatened for various reasons, some political but many climactic, including desertification? The nomadic people are becoming less and less nomadic. Lake Tanganyika is shrinking in volume. There are islands about to disappear. Members may have heard the emotive speech by a woman who had her baby with her and was pregnant about how if we do not do something, her whole island will go under because of the melting ice caps. I am begging for direction from the witnesses. They listed a great deal and they said they made some submission to the committee, which I do not have here but would be very helpful-----