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 effect of the COVID-19 pandemic at the heart of 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 the measures taken to involve it pose significant challenges, namely for the most vulnerable communities, as an annoying risk to existing crises such as conflicts, herbal disasters, climate change, pests and pests. “This underscores the need for coordinated, evidence-based and investment-based political action to make 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 struggle for productivity agricultural and food accessibility. He also commented that some countries had been affected by locust infestations.
The region’s heavy reliance on food imports raised considerations early in the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic: The dangers of food availability have been minimized through immediate action through governments and farmers in the region. and beyond to keep food markets functioning. aid and investment food formula is key to mitigating long-term hazards and speeding 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 in fact a coherent and built-in institutional reaction to its 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 calendar 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 Near East and North Africa (NENA) region is not on track to meet the Sustainable Development Goal 2 target on hunger and malnutrition in its entire bureaucracy by 2030. Hunger is increasing in the region, basically due to to conflicts and crisis. At the same time, the levels of obesity and obesity in adults and young people are skyrocketing.
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 highlighted fao’s Hand-to-Hand Initiative as a new business style of collaboration to determine where and how movements can be directed to succeed in the most vulnerable and to have an effect on poverty and hunger. The initiative is supported through teams and technologies, such as the Hand in Hand geospatial platform and the Statistical Innovation Data Lab.
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 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 brought 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.