A United Nations Global Action Programme, launched recently at the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), seeks to address the pressing challenges related to food security, nutrition and the impacts of climate change facing the world’s Small Island Developing States (SIDS).
The initiative was developed jointly by FAO, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA) and the Office of the High Representative for Least Developed Countries, Landlocked Developing Countries and Small Island Developing States (OHRLLS).
Because of their small size and isolation, SIDS are particularly threatened by natural disasters and the impacts of climate change. Many have limited arable agricultural land and are dependent on small-scale agriculture, ocean resources and high-priced imports.
The Global Action Programme aims to achieve three objectives: (i) the creation of enabling environments for food security and nutrition; (ii) the promotion of sustainable, resilient and nutrition-sensitive food systems, and (iii) the empowerment of people and communities for improved food security and nutrition.
José Graziano da Silva, director general, FAO, stressed that the Global Action Programme was the fruit of wide-ranging consultations in the SIDS regions, where food security and nutrition needs to be addressed together with issues such as climate change, the health of oceans, land degradation, social inclusion education and gender equality.
Peter Thomson, president, UN General Assembly, and Fiji’s permanent representative to the UN, said at the event that the launch of the programme represented an important step towards implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) targets as related to the SIDS for addressing poverty, health, water, sanitation, economic development, inequalities, climate change, and of course, the oceans.
FAO has scaled up its work with the SIDS in recent years, including in areas aimed at improving the management and use of natural resources, promoting integrated rural development, and building resilience to extreme weather events.
Last month during the Ocean Conference in New York, FAO presented a commitment to increase economic benefits to SIDS countries through the Blue Growth Initiative. In particular, this will be done through three specific regional SIDS projects, with funding worth approximately $16 million from FAO’s budget.