21 September 2020, Muscat / Rome – The 35th FAO Regional Conference for the Near East began today with the themes of transforming food systems to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and responding to the impact of the COVID pandemic. -19 at the center of the discussions.
The COVID-19 pandemic “is primarily a physical fitness crisis, but its effect has affected all facets of our lives, especially food security and income,” said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu.
He noted that the pandemic and measures to involve it pose significant challenges, namely for the most vulnerable communities, such as a risk to existing crises such as conflicts, herbal disasters, climate change, pests and pests. “This underscores the need for coordinated testing – action and investment of policies based on making food systems more sustainable,” Qu added.
The President of the Regional Conference, His Excellency Mr. Saud Bin Hamoud AlHabsi, Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries Wealth and Water Resources of the Sultanate of Oman, called for a coordinated reaction to the COVID-19 pandemic as countries fight for agricultural productivity and accessible food. He also commented that some countries had been affected by locust pests.
The region’s strong dependence on food imports raised considerations at the beginning of the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic Food availability hazards have been minimized through immediate action through governments and farmers in the region and beyond to maintain the functioning of food markets. political aid and investment the food formula is key to mitigating long-term hazards and accelerating recovery.
In this context, FAO has developed a comprehensive and holistic reaction and recovery programme in COVID-19, covering seven key precedence spaces where action is urgent and aims to mitigate the immediate effects of the pandemic while strengthening the long-term resilience of food systems. livelihoods.
“FAO’s COVID-19 reaction and recovery programme is a coherent and de facto built-in institutional reaction to their needs, connecting all parties to the Organization, leveraging our technical, operational, normative and knowledge functions for action at the global, regional and national levels,” he said.
The conference’s schedule includes a ministerial roundtable to publicize a high-level political discussion aimed at concrete movements in food systems to achieve the SDGs and respond to the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Transforming systems
The two-day conference, organized practically through the Sultanate of Oman, brings together 30 FAO members, as well as representatives of spouse organizations, civil society, the personal sector and academia to identify cutting-edge policy responses similar to this year’s theme “Transforming Food Systems to Achieve the Sustainable Development Goals”.
The Middle East and North Africa (NENA) region is not on track to meet the Sustainable Development Goal 2 target of hunger and malnutrition throughout its bureaucracy until 2030. Hunger is increasing in the region, mainly due to conflict and crisis. At the same time, the degrees of obesity and obesity in adults and young people are soaring.
The Director-General under pressure that the region’s food systems will need to be replaced to ensure healthy and sustainable nutrition for a developing and increasingly urban population in the face of water scarcity and climate, announced that the first leading scientist in FAO’s history will be from the NENA region. In: Ms. Ismahane Elouafi of Morocco.
Which indicated 4 critical elements to launch a rural nation, boost economic expansion and help food systems in the region: well-designed multisectoral policies that create an enabling environment; innovation in agricultural processes and inputs; well-targeted public and personal investments; and critical agricultural activity.
The Director-General also stressed that FAO’s Hand-to-Hand Initiative is a new operational style of collaboration to determine where and how movements can be directed to succeed in the most vulnerable and to make the largest have an effect on poverty and poverty. Hungry. The initiative is backed by state-of-the-art equipment and technologies such as the Hand in Hand geospatial platform and the Data Lab for Statistical Innovation.
Regional conference
At the end of the first day of the Conference, Members deserve to adopt a Ministerial Declaration confirming their commitment to extra-regional collaboration and dealing well with demanding non-unusual situations, adding food security and nutrition, water scarcity, climate replenishment and demanding cross-border pest and disease situations, mobilizing aid to mitigate adverse effects related to these demanding situations.
At the time of the day, the assembly will discuss the recommendations and conclusions of the regional technical advisory assemblies, a series of preparatory technical sessions held earlier this year, which will bring together senior officials from the ministries of agriculture, water, environment and fitness in 30 countries. , the personal sector and academia. The Conference will agree on the final set of recommendations and movements for countries, FAO and other stakeholders.
FAO members in the Middle East and North Africa meet every two years to discuss problems of non-unusual interest and FAO consultancy work on food and agriculture in the region. and set his pictorial priorities over the next two years.