A discussion held at the Trade and Sustainability Hub
The pandemic has exposed the recurring challenges faced by the food supply chains in the Asia-Pacific region. Thus, ensuring their resilience and sustainability, enabling seamless connectivity and promoting robust trade practices is of paramount importance to eventually assure food and nutrition security in this region.
In particular, intra-regional trade within the BBIN (Bangladesh Bhutan India Nepal) is exceedingly poor owing to deplorable trade facilitation and monumental infrastructural challenges making this region function at a much lower level than its potential.
The Trade and Sustainability Hub, organised by International Institute for Sustainable Development (IISD), Consumer Unity and Trust Society (CUTS) International, Jaipur and Indian Institute of Sustainability (IIS), Gujarat University, held virtually between 1st to 3rd December, 2021, conducted a session on “Resilient and Sustainable Supply Chains: Role of Efficient Connectivity and Trade Facilitation Measures for Food and Nutrition Security in the BBIN Sub-Region” on 3rd December, 2021 to discuss this matter.
Pradeep Singh Mehta, Secretary General, CUTS International spoke on the nutritional vulnerability and food challenges being faced as an aftermath and direct result of COVID-19 as it continues to rage across the globe, “When we talk specifically about the BBIN region, we note that despite being home to 21% of the world’s population, it is one of the least integrated and connected sub-regions in the world. Moreover, the sub-region problems of high unemployment, poverty, inequality and is extremely vulnerable to climate related disasters. All these factors combine to make the BBIN region much more susceptible to food insecurity in similar geographies elsewhere. This pandemic has provided us an opportunity to re-evaluate how we tackle major drivers of hunger and malnutrition and re-focus our efforts to build better. An efficient environment-friendly multimodal transport system in the BBIN region will promote both resilience and sustainability of supply chains.”
Dr Didar Singh, retired IAS and Former Secretary General, Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) commented of sustainable development and public-private partnerships to combat the problems, “Food security has become an issue around the whole world after the pandemic. We have seen a major pushback against globalisation round the world and the world is moving to services from the agri sector, not manufacturing. My recommendation here is you can do nothing without private business and civil society being part of any discussion. Unless they are all on the same table, this issue will never get addressed.”
Adding further suggestions, Alexey Kravchenko, Economic Affairs Officer, Trade Policy and Facilitation, Trade, Investment and Innovation Division, United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific presented the Asia-Pacific Trade and Investment Report, 2021, “While globalisation has lifted hundreds of civilians from poverty in the Asia-Pacific region, the economic growth supported by existing trade policies has come as a very steep environmental cost. Greenhouse gases emission from human activities is the main driving force behind climate change in the region. The bulk of greenhouse gases emission growth has been from the increased consumption due to increased economic growth rather than from manufacturing products destined for developed markets.”
The BBIN region, being a poverty-stricken area, is extremely vulnerable to various climate and environmental issues along with difficulties to assure food and nutrition security for the expanding population. In the ongoing pandemic, pre-existing trade policies and problems have exacerbated, inducing discussions among the private and public sectors on how to deal with the issue at hand. Collaboration and joint endeavours are, thus, the only way ahead at this point.