A working session of the APEC High-Level Policy Dialogue on Enhancing Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture in Response to Climate Change that took place in Vietnam's Can Tho city in August 2017 (Source: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) – Vietnam, a country grounded on agriculture and an importantplayer in the global food system, is partnering withother members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum to ensurefood security in the face of climate change.
Between 2005 and 2014, the region suffered 1,625natural disasters or 40 percent of total disasters in the globe, with nearly500,000 deaths and 1.4 billion others affected, accounting for 80 percent ofaffected people worldwide.
Property losses in the period amounted to 520 billion USD, some45 percent of total global economic losses caused by natural calamities.
According to areport released by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and thePacific, natural disasters killed 4,987 people in 2016, affected 35 millionpeople and caused estimated damage of 77 billion USD.
In recent years,on average, agriculture absorbed 17 percent of total economic impacts caused bynatural hazards. The agriculture sector is linked with industry and servicesthrough both demand and production. Reduced agricultural output, therefore, slowsdown overall economic growth.
Disasters haveundermined all aspects of food security by reducing food supplies and cutting incomesof poor communities. Poor communities can take years to recover from theseinccidents, trapping them in a cycle of hunger and poverty.
Beingaware of the challenges, APEC ministers in charge of food security met for thefirst time in October 2010 in Niigata, Japan, where they approved the NiigataDeclaration on APEC Food Security, the first comprehensive APEC plan onregional food security.
Underthe declaration, the ministers agreed that APEC economies would collectively pursueshared goals of sustainable development for the agriculture sector andfacilitate investment, trade and markets.
Following the first APEC Ministerial Meeting onFood Security (AMMFS) in Niigata, the ministers have gathered every two yearsto approve action plans on food security.
Of note, within the framework of the APEC Year 2014 in China, APEC seniorofficials approved the APEC Food Security Roadmap towards 2020.
The roadmap set a long-term goal of building aregional food system that ensures sustainable food security for APEC membereconomies, improves productivity and provides food at prices within the reachof low-income earners.
Apartfrom AMMFS, in 2011, APEC established the APEC PolicyPartnership on Food Security (PPFS) to intensify coordination between the APEC Business AdvisoryCouncil (ABAC), the private sector and other stakeholders in an effort topractically ensure food security in theregion.
At the same time, a numberof committees and working groupx of APEC have also met regularly to discussfood security.
To realise the plans,Vietnam has worked with many regional countries to implement projects onclimate change and food security.
Canada, for example, hasfunded a project worth 1.1 million CAD (roughly 838,000 USD) to promote foodsecurity in Vietnam’s three northern mountainous provinces of Lao Cai, Lai Chauand Ha Giang.
The project, launched inApril 2016, aims to provide complementary food for children and create higherand more stable sources of income for small-scale female farmers. It isexpected to benefit 15,000 malnourished children and 1,500 poor mothers in thethree provinces.
The project has also promotedappropriate post-harvest processing and agro-ecological practices amongsmall-scale farmers, and launched an integrated food security analysis intopublic policy and programming at the National Institute of Nutrition and othergovernment institutions in Vietnam.
Japan has also assisted Vietnam in ensuring food security through a range ofprojects and programmes, including a 360 million JPY (3.6 million USD) projectto help poor farmers buy fertiliser, a project valued at 469,131 USD to improvenutrition for children and ensure food security for the poorest andanotherworth 149,208 USD to enhancefood security for small-scale farming households incentral Quang Nam province, among others.
Vietnam’s initiatives for food securityin APEC Year 2017
As the host of the APEC Year 2017, Vietnam selected “enhancing food securityand sustainable agriculture in response to climate change” as one of the fourcooperation priorities of this year’s agenda, aiming to help APEC membereconomies cope with the increasingly severe impacts of climate change.
Atthe PPFS Forum in the central coastal city of Nha Trang in February 2017, theVietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development raised threeinitiatives, including an action plan to realize the APEC Programme on FoodSecurity and Climate Change; the Can Tho Statement on Enhancing Food Securityand Sustainable Agriculture in Response to Climate Change; and an action planto realise the APEC Strategic Framework onRural-Urban Development to Strengthen Food Security and Quality Growth.
The ministry also suggested focusing on the development ofagribusiness to support the transformation of rural labourers in APEC membereconomies and on the impacts of climate change adaptation on food securitystrategies.
These proposals were hailed by other APEC members, accordingto Tran Kim Long, head of the International Cooperation Department under theMinistry of Agriculture and Rural Development.
The APEC 2017 Food Security Week and the APEC High-LevelPolicy Dialogue on Enhancing Food Security and Sustainable Agriculture inResponse to Climate Change were held in the Mekong Delta city of Can Tho fromAugust 18-25.
Representatives of APEC economies had a fact-finding trip to the Cuu Long (Mekong) Delta Rice Research Institute and Trung An Hi-Tech Farming JSC in Can Tho city on August 24 (Photo: VNA) During the week, the APEC members adopted three documents -the Action Plan to implement the Multi-Year Framework Programme on FoodSecurity and Climate Change, the Action Plan to implement the StrategicFramework on Rural-Urban Development to Strengthen Food Security and QualityGrowth, and the Can Tho Statement on Enhancing Food Security and SustainableAgriculture in Response to Climate Change.
Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment Le Quoc Doanh said that the event contributed to implementing thepriorities proposed by Vietnam while demonstrating APEC member economies’commitment to realising the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
As part of Vietnam’s initiatives, the Agricultural TechnicalCooperation Working Group, the Policy Partnership on Food Security, theOceans and Fisheries Working Group (OFWG), and the High-Level Policy Dialogueon Agricultural Biotechnology met for the first time, aiming to shareexperience, avoid overlapping activities and cooperate effectively.
The groups considered whether they should meet for a second time in 2018 andevaluated the meeting's contributions to coordination in enhancing food securityamong APEC economies.
Asked about cooperation prospects of the four groups afterthis meeting, Patrick Moran, head of the OFWG, said the event offered anopportunity to improve collaboration between the groups, consistent with APECgoals that all groups work together so that food security dialogues representthe interests of all APEC economies.
Notably, at the high-level policy dialogue, Vietnamese DeputyPrime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung called on APEC member economies to support eachother in building and developing sustainable, green agriculture adaptable toclimate change.
Hecalled for greater efforts to implement the APEC Disaster Reduction RiskFramework, build a disaster prevention system, and improve post-disastersustainability and restoration ability, with attention paid to community-baseddisaster risk management, sustainable rural development and ensuring the rightsof coastal residents.
APEC should connectwith regional programmes from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) and Mekong Delta Sub-region programmes, he said.
TheVietnamese Government has paid heed to cooperation within APEC and will coordinatewith other APEC members and development partners to ensure food security, henoted.
Vietnam’shosting of the APEC Food Security Week as well as its initiatives raised duringthe event were lauded by representatives of other APEC member economies.
PavelKrasilnikov, Deputy Director of the Eurasian Centre for Food Security of theMoscow State University, said Vietnam’s proposals are timely, explaining thatglobally, there are huge concerns about the impacts of agriculture on theenvironment.
JohnPaul Kendiga, Director of the Economic Research, Policy Planning, Programmingand Coordination Branch under the Department of Agriculture and Livestock ofPapua New Guinea, said the Food Security Week is very useful as his country isfacing climate change impacts similar to Vietnam’s.-VNA
Vietnamese Deputy Minister of Agriculture and RuralDevelopment Le Quoc Doanh said that the event contributed to implementing thepriorities proposed by Vietnam while demonstrating APEC member economies’commitment to realising the UN Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
As part of Vietnam’s initiatives, the Agricultural TechnicalCooperation Working Group, the Policy Partnership on Food Security, theOceans and Fisheries Working Group (OFWG), and the High-Level Policy Dialogueon Agricultural Biotechnology met for the first time, aiming to shareexperience, avoid overlapping activities and cooperate effectively.
The groups considered whether they should meet for a second time in 2018 andevaluated the meeting's contributions to coordination in enhancing food securityamong APEC economies.
Asked about cooperation prospects of the four groups afterthis meeting, Patrick Moran, head of the OFWG, said the event offered anopportunity to improve collaboration between the groups, consistent with APECgoals that all groups work together so that food security dialogues representthe interests of all APEC economies.
Notably, at the high-level policy dialogue, Vietnamese DeputyPrime Minister Trinh Dinh Dung called on APEC member economies to support eachother in building and developing sustainable, green agriculture adaptable toclimate change.
Hecalled for greater efforts to implement the APEC Disaster Reduction RiskFramework, build a disaster prevention system, and improve post-disastersustainability and restoration ability, with attention paid to community-baseddisaster risk management, sustainable rural development and ensuring the rightsof coastal residents.
APEC should connectwith regional programmes from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations(ASEAN) and Mekong Delta Sub-region programmes, he said.
TheVietnamese Government has paid heed to cooperation within APEC and will coordinatewith other APEC members and development partners to ensure food security, henoted.
Vietnam’shosting of the APEC Food Security Week as well as its initiatives raised duringthe event were lauded by representatives of other APEC member economies.
PavelKrasilnikov, Deputy Director of the Eurasian Centre for Food Security of theMoscow State University, said Vietnam’s proposals are timely, explaining thatglobally, there are huge concerns about the impacts of agriculture on theenvironment.
JohnPaul Kendiga, Director of the Economic Research, Policy Planning, Programmingand Coordination Branch under the Department of Agriculture and Livestock ofPapua New Guinea, said the Food Security Week is very useful as his country isfacing climate change impacts similar to Vietnam’s.-VNA
VNA
