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Showing posts with label achieving. Show all posts
Showing posts with label achieving. Show all posts

Monday, November 12, 2018

‘Strengthen indigenous food systems key to achieving zero-hunger world’ - NaijaAgroNet

NaijaAgroNet:
Indigenous Food systems and indigenous traditional knowledge have survived hundreds and sometimes thousands of years, therefore they may have some of the answers we are looking for, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva, reports NaijaAgroNet.

According to him, FAO considers indigenous and tribal peoples as fundamental actors in the fight against poverty, hunger and all other forms of malnutrition, as well as in the promotion of sustainable agriculture practices.

Graziano da Silva also said in a keynote speech wrapping up High-Level Expert Seminar on Indigenous Food Systems held to explore how to build on traditional knowledge to achieve Zero Hunger. Failing to grasp and support indigenous food systems risks losing ancestral knowledge and centuries of know-how.

"The loss of biodiversity, is also the loss of our identity of our foods and medicines, said Taita Ignacio Morales, a traditional healer from the Muiska-Piuret people of Colombia.

Seventy panelists coming from indigenous communities and organizations; universities; research centers and more than 180 attendees and 49 countries, exchanged their expertise and knowledge on indigenous food systems. By combining presentations on traditional knowledge and expertise from scientific knowledge, the seminar allowed to increase the understanding and contributions that indigenous food systems have been making to the world.

Participants reviewed some of the analytical and field studies done over the past year by a task force set up by FAO and Bioversity International, the Center for International Forestry Research, France's Institut de recherche pour le développement (IRD) and the Indigenous Partnership for Food Security and Sovereignty, as well as several local indigenous organizations, on how indigenous communities around the world generate food while managing the territory and the environment in a sustainable way.

"In the path to achieve the Zero Hunger Goal we need more efficient food production methods. We need to cease environmentally unsound practices. We need to innovate on and open to all manner of food systems" highlighted Patrick Rata, New Zealand Ambassador.

Co-organized by FAO, UNESCO, UNPFII, FILAC and DOCIP, the expert seminar was an opportunity to exchange knowledge, understandings and concepts, which will be articulated in a future publication. The expert seminar and the publication are key contributions to the global debate on sustainability and climate resilience in the context of the 2030 Agenda and the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition.

Indigenous peoples number more than 370 million people speaking more than 4,000 languages in 90 countries and occupying around 22 percent of the earth's surface while acting as custodians of 80 percent of the planet's biodiversity. Yet while representing around 5 percent of the world's population, they make up 15 percent of the world's poor.

Isaac Oyimah/GEE

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Pix: FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva

Monday, October 3, 2016

Climate adaptation, resilience vital for achieving Sustainable Development Goals

Evidence is increasing that climate change is taking the largest toll on poor and vulnerable people, and these impacts are largely caused by inequalities that increase the risks from climate hazards, according to a new report launched by the United Nations.
The World Economic and Social Survey 2016: Climate Change Resilience—an Opportunity for Reducing Inequalities (#WESS2016), found that governments can play a significant role in reducing the risks of climate change to vulnerable populations. Through transformative policies,  the report shows that governments could address the root causes of inequalities and build climate change resilience.
While there is considerable anecdotal evidence that the poor and the vulnerable suffer greater harm from climate-related disasters, the report determined that much of the harm is not by accident, but that it is due to the failure of governments to close the development gaps that leave large population groups at risk.
In the past 20 years, 4.2 billion people have been affected by weather-related disasters, including a significant loss of lives. Developing countries are the most affected by climate change impacts. Low-income countries suffered the greatest losses, including economic costs estimated at 5 per cent of GDP.
“Sadly, the people at greater risk from climate hazards are the poor, the vulnerable and the marginalized who, in many cases, have been excluded from socioeconomic progress,” noted United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in the report. “We have no time to waste—and a great deal to gain—when it comes to addressing the socioeconomic inequalities that deepen poverty and leave people behind.”
The report argues that while climate adaptation and resilience are overshadowed by mitigation in climate discussions, they are vital for addressing climate change and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.


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Friday, September 16, 2016

NEPAD says support for under-5 children, mothers dynamics to achieving 2025 zero hunger

The Senior Advisor on Programme Development to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), Mr. Martin Bwalya, has said that support for under-5 children and mothers as one of the dynamics of achieving zero hunger on the continent by 2025, reports NaijaAgroNet.

Bwalya said this at the formal launch of the Zero Hunger Report 2025 by NEPAD in conjunction with Pardee Center for International Futures in Pretoria, South Africa, outlining some conditions that must be met in order for Africa to realise this goal.

As said by him, the demand side on agriculture produce is increasing access, including incomes, consumer subsidies, prices, school feeding programmes, support to under-5 children and mothers, as well as pregnant women.

This, he said will not happen without the supply side which is productivity and production by way of expansion of cropland, yield increase, livestock heads and reduction of post-harvest losses.

Bwalya pointed out that overall, the food availability needs to be increased by 437 million metric tonnes by 2025 or 47 per cent of current demand.

“To do this requires cropland to increase by 1.5 per cent; crop yields need to increase by 3.2 per cent, and livestock head size needs to increase by 5.8 per cent year,” he said.

Insisting that in order for Africa to attain its goal by 2025, a wide range of actions by different actors to bring about the necessary substantial change in the dynamics of demand and supply is requisite, just as any efforts to eliminate hunger will have to factor in robust risk assessments, including climate change.

Corroborating Bwalya, the Regional Director for World Food Programme in Johannesburg, Chris Nikoi, emphasized that “If we continue on the current trajectory, we will not be able to achieve the Malabo Declaration target of ending hunger by 2025 and eliminating child stunting. Conditions for success include political will, as well as addressing the challenges of the impact of climate change and weather shocks.”


Isaac Oyimah/GEE
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Pix: Senior Advisor on Programme Development to the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) at the New Partnership for Africa's Development (NEPAD), Mr. Martin Bwalya