Figure SR-TM4. Market concentration offers fewer opportunities for small-scale farmers.

     Finally, improved local, national and global governance will enhance the ability of AKST systems to maximize agri­culture as a driver for development. Governance is weakest in many agriculture-based developing countries, and gover­nance of the agricultural sector is weak compared to other sectors. Enhanced global governance is also needed to sup­port national sustainable development agendas.

Synthesis of priority challenges across regions
Many of the urgent challenges reported in the IAASTD are widely shared across the developing regions, or indeed, as in the case of climate and water crises, around the world. Food security is a priority agricultural trade policy chal­lenge across the developing South. Trade policies designed to ensure sufficient levels of domestic production of food (not just sufficient currency reserves to import food) are an important component of food security and sovereignty strategies for many countries [CWANA; ESAP; LAC]. Ap­proaches to balance domestic production with food stocks and foreign exchange reserves are noted in ESAP. A number of regions express significant concern over whether smaller economies would have sufficient foreign exchange reserves to cover increased food imports in light of declining terms of trade, and volatile international prices to import food [ESAP; SSA].
     Additionally developing countries face significant new regulatory costs related to international trade. Tariff revenue losses have not been made up by other, domestic tax collec­tions; tariffs used to represent a significant percentage of tax revenues in many developing countries. There are concerns that the high costs of regulatory measures to comply with

sanitary and phytosanitary standards will divert resources form national food and animal safety priorities. Investments to implement these standards should be approached as part of improvements needed to protect local populations from food-borne diseases and not only to comply with trade regu­lations.
     Increased technical and financial assistance, as contem­plated in the SPS Agreement, will be required to build and improve developing countries' own systems of quality con­trol for meeting health and safety standards. Small produc­ers, in particular, need technical, financial and management support to improve their production to meet health and safety standards.
     Improving small scale farmers' linkages with local, ur­ban and regional markets, as well as international markets, is noted across the developing country regions. Enhancing regional market integration to increase the size of markets (creating more constant demand and less price volatility), and negotiate from common platforms is a priority in SSA, LAC and ESAP. Assisting the small-scale farmer sector to ac­cess markets on more favorable terms, and capture greater value in global chains is emphasized [CWANA; ESAP; LAC; SSA].
     Promoting investment for local value addition to in­crease diversity and competitiveness of agricultural products and generate off farm rural employment is a priority across the developing regions. It is widely noted that tariff escala­tion in industrialized countries has made it more difficult to stimulate investment in local value addition, exacerbating terms of trade problems [ESAP; LAC; SSA]. Concerns over preference erosion are also widespread [CWANA; Global; LAC; SSA].
     The expansion of the agricultural landscape into for­ested areas and the potential for land planted for biofuels feedstocks to displace food crops and increase deforesta­tion is a concern across the regions. Concerns about the vulnerability of agriculture to climate and water crises, eq­uitable risk management and adaptation approaches, and the urgency of focusing AKST to reduce the environmental footprint of agriculture, emerge as clear global priorities [CWANA; ESAP; Global; LAC; NAE; SSA].
     There is a concern expressed in many regions that intel­lectual property (IP) regimes have contributed to a shift in AKST research and development away from public goods provisioning. IP rights may restrict access to research, tech­nologies, and genetic materials, with consequences for food security and development [ESAP; Global; LAC]. Improving the equitable capture of benefits from AKST systems is a priority in LAC and other regions. There often is a trade-off between rewarding the development of AKST through IP rights and, inhibiting dissemination and utilization. Coun­tries may consider regional and bilateral cooperation in the formulation of national IPR systems and removing IPR from the ambit of WTO trade rules. Allowing greater scope to more effectively addressing situations involving traditional knowledge and genetic resources in international IP regimes would help advance development and sustainability goals.
     Finally, the need to significantly improve the domestic policies for sustainable agricultural development to advance IAASTD objectives is noted across the developing South [CWANA; ESAP; Global; LAC; SSA]. This includes increas-