FAO drops mention of J&K, Arunachal as separate countries

UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation has dropped references to Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as "independent entities" in its 2010 report and initiated a review of designating countries and territories.

UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) has dropped references to Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh as "independent entities" in its 2010 report and initiated a review of designating countries and territories.

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"In matters of this nature, FAO, as a specialised agency of the UN system, follows the principles and practice of the UN, specifically its Cartographic Section. The territories of Jammu and Kashmir and Arunachal Pradesh are documented by the UN as disputed ones," Gavin Wall, FAO representative in India, said.

"Nevertheless, references to these territories have been promptly removed from annexure five to the publication-Greenhouse Gas Emissions from the Dairy Sector," he said.

The categorisation had come as a surprise to many here.

In its report, FAO has shown J&K and Arunachal Pradesh as separate countries along with India. The two Indian states figured in country grouping for East Asia.

Wall said, "a review of FAO's system for designating country and regional data, which is based on the designations of countries and territories as established by the UN, has been immediately initiated in consultation with the UN with a view to promptly making any further adjustments as may be necessary."

The FAO representative had on Friday stated that the the country grouping was based on FAO's Global Administrative Unit Layers(GAUL) and that "controversial" boundaries cannot be ignored.

"The selected approach is to treat disputed areas as independent entities not dependent from countries," he had said.