Colombo – The challenges of attaining the UN Sustainable Growth Objectives, the perils of the local weather disaster and the complexities of leveraging finance had been among the many subjects mentioned at a gathering in the present day of ministers from most of the Asia-Pacific Area’s nations most weak to international financial and local weather shocks.
A key objective of the gathering – a particular occasion forming a part of the thirty seventh session of the Meals and Agriculture Group of the Unted Nations (FAO) Regional Convention for Asia and the Pacific – was additionally to canvass views on what nations want from a proposed community bringing them collectively to collectively tackle shared challenges.
“The rising developments of globalization” present “many benefits and downsides,” for the area’s SIDS (Small Island Growing States), LDCs (Least Developed International locations) and LLDCs (Landlocked Growing International locations), FAO Director-Basic QU Dongyu stated in opening remarks. For instance, “small-scale farmers and fishery households take pleasure in rising entry to international markets but are additionally extraordinarily weak to the impacts of worldwide financial turbulence as we’ve got just lately seen with the cascading impacts of COVID-19 and the rise in costs of meals, agricultural inputs, and vitality.”
Challenges and alternatives
Among the many points mentioned had been challenges and alternatives in attaining the SDGs agrifood techniques transformation aims; local weather challenges confronted by nations and options or improvements that may be shared for adaptation or mitigation; experiences with science, innovation and digitalization; in addition to successes that may be shared on leveraging finance or creating partnerships for at-scale funding.
Younten Phuntsho, Minister of Agriculture and Livestock of Bhutan, highlighted the logistical challenges his nation faces, with international turmoil and disaster a stark reminder of its vulnerability.
Aishath Rameela, Minister of Agriculture and Animal Welfare of the Maldives underlined the issues of soil degradation and biodiversity loss, but additionally the alternatives introduced by the archipelago’s pure magnificence and home market potential.
Bedu Ram Bhusal, Minister of Agriculture and Livestock Growth of Nepal, stated that for a rustic like his, entry to funding was at all times restricted, regardless of a lot advocacy on the problem of local weather financing for such a extremely impacted nation.
Steven Victor, Minister for Agriculture Fisheries and the Surroundings of Palau, singled out the query of human capability and other people’s attitudes in the direction of farming as a crucial problem.
Among the many different panelists had been Tomasi Tunabuna, Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Waterways, Fiji; Emani Fakatimanava-Lui, Affiliate Minister for Pure Sources, Niue; Titimaea Tafua, Affiliate Minister for Pure Sources and Surroundings, Samoa.
Essential follow-up
Right this moment’s assembly is a vital follow-up to the Excessive-Degree Ministerial Occasion, “Remodeling Agrifood Methods to Enhance Resilience and Obtain the 2030 Agenda: Harnessing the potential of SIDS, LDCs and LLDCs”, convened by FAO in June final yr in Rome.
Along with the proposal for a Ministerial community, final June’s occasion additionally led to a name for motion from Ministers and high-level representatives, with focus areas together with motion to boost data and knowledge, innovation, funding and entry to finance and inclusivity.
FAO’s position
SIDS, LDCs and LLDCs have been a key focus for FAO, with the Director-Basic establishing a division particularly addressing their wants shortly after taking workplace in 2019.
They’re additionally an essential goal of the FAO Hand-in-Hand Initiative, launched in September 2019, which is an revolutionary method for nations to work collectively at scale for measurable affect to handle the multifaceted challenges they face.
These embody rising starvation and malnutrition, rising inequality, vulnerability to the local weather disaster, soil degradation and depletion of freshwater assets.
Different FAO initiatives that may assist to implement these aims are: The One Nation One Precedence Product Initiative; The Inexperienced Cities Initiative and the Modern Local weather Financing, together with assist to entry the Inexperienced Local weather Fund (GCF) and International Surroundings Facility (GEF).
A significant improvement in FAO’s engagement with SIDS, was the institution in 2021 of the SIDS Options Platform, with the first Discussion board co-hosted nearly by FAO and Fiji in 2021, and a second Discussion board particularly devoted to the Pacific SIDS, co-hosted by FAO and Samoa in 2022.
The SIDS Options Platform facilitates data sharing amongst SIDS and between SIDS, LDCs, LLDCs and different nations to catalyze and inject improvements, investments, and resilience in agrifood techniques.
Options-oriented method
This solutions-oriented method can also be embedded within the International Roadmap: Attaining SDG 2 with out breaching the 1.5C threshold, launched at COP28, aimed toward guaranteeing good meals for all for in the present day and tomorrow via a package deal of options throughout 10 domains and with 120 actions.
One other important challenge has additionally been applied, with the assist of the Authorities of the Republic of Korea, to facilitate exchanges between authorities representatives and native agrifood techniques actors from SIDS in Asia and the Pacific and Korean farmers, with a foreseen $3 million grant in six Pacific nations.
FAO has additionally secured $5 million from the China-FAO South-South Cooperation Belief Fund to assist SIDS in all areas to speed up the transformation of their agrifood techniques to construct sustainable and resilient livelihoods.
