The only female candidate to the position of Food and Agriculture Organization Director-General is currently on the Pacific leg of her campaign.
Backed by France and the European Union, the 55-year-old candidate recently met with media in Port Moresby.
Out of the five candidates of the agency’s top leadership post, Catherine Geslain-Laneelle is the only female.
She is an engineer in agronomy and has held high-ranking positions at the French Ministry of Agriculture and Food, going from head of international exchanges to Director-General for Food and finally Director-General for the economic and environmental performance of businesses.
And also, for the first time in the history of the FAO, a female candidate is vying for the director-general post.
“Over the last eight months, I have campaigned so it means that I have travelled and met, exchanged and had dialogue with governments, so to seek their support,” she said.
“I have also met with stakeholders, farmers, fishermen, forest men and women, I should say. To have dialogue meaning to listen to them and understand better what their needs are when it comes to the FAO, what are their expectations and how this organisation can help them to deliver sustainable food forum.”
Geslain-Laneelle said her visit to the Pacific is critical as the region is very much affected by climate change.
“The first economic activity which is impacted by climate change is agriculture and this is such an important sector for food security,” she said. “And I start my visit to the Pacific with Papua New Guinea and it’s not by coincidence. This is a large country where agriculture, forestry and fisheries are extremely important.”
The French and EU backed candidate is here to familiarise herself with what PNG is doing to develop its economy and see how she can ensure that in her program for the FAO, she will take into account PNG’s priorities.
She has two objectives for when she is elected.
“My first objective will be to support governments and stakeholders to produce more food, increase the productivity of our food system and in particular of agriculture in a sustainable manner. We need to protect our natural resources if we want to continue to produce our food in the future.
“We need also our farming system and food systems to be more resilient to climate change through diversification and farming practices in particular.
“My second objective is to support governments and stakeholders in developing the value chain in rural areas through attracting more public and private investment in these sectors, where we will be able to create wealth and therefore jobs.”
Election for the agency’s top leadership post, with a four-year term of office starting on August 2019, will take place at the 41st Session of FAO’s Conference (Rome, 22-29 June 2019), the highest governing body of the Organization.
The five candidates, each nominated by his/her government, are listed in alphabetical order by country: Médi Moungui (Cameroon), Qu Dongyu (China), Catherine Geslain-Lanéelle (France), Davit Kirvalidze (Georgia) and Ramesh Chand (India).
(Catherine Geslain-Laneelle)