Beirut, 1 November 2019 (ESCWA)--Over the past two weeks, staff members from ESCWA partook in a series of events on the topics of climate change and food security, environment, green economy, and water.
In Rome, ESCWA organized on 15 October a meeting on “Informed decision making on Arab food security in the context of climate change”, in collaboration with FAO and the Arab Organization for Agriculture Development (AOAD). The event was held on the sidelines of the 46th session of the Committee on World Food Security at FAO headquarters. The main objective of the meeting was to discuss the outcomes of tracking food security in the Arab region and the impact of climate change on the agricultural sector in the framework of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and related Arab strategies and initiatives.
Environment and development
In Cairo, ESCWA took part in the twenty-first session of the Joint Committee on Environment and Development (JCEDAR) and the thirty-first session of the Council of Arab Ministers Responsible for the Environment (CAMRE) of the League of Arab States (LAS), from 20 to 24 October. The events concluded in a series of resolutions approved by CAMRE, many of which being of direct relevance to ESCWA, particularly relating to the environmental dimension of the 2030 Agenda, climate change negotiations, sustainable consumption and production in the Arab region, and technical support to the State of Palestine on environmental issues.
Green economy
In Dubai, on 20 and 21 October, ESCWA participated in the 2019 Global Ministerial Conference on Green Economy, during which it moderated a session entitled “From climate ambition to climate action: facilitating the transition to low greenhouse gas emissions and climate resilient economies and societies”, which addressed adaptation and mitigations needs of developing countries and aligning the financial system with the Paris Agreement. The session also explored how moving from a traditional economy to a low-greenhouse-gas-emissions and climate-resilient economy creates new job opportunities.
Water Week in Cairo
During the Cairo Water Week 2019 stretching from 20 to 24 October, ESCWA cooperated in the organization of the 2nd African Young Water Professional Forum along with the African Regional Working Group of the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID), the Egyptian Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, the Islamic Development Bank (IsDB), and other international bodies. ESCWA also conducted a training on climate change impacts on agricultural productivity, based on the climate modelling outputs of the Regional Initiative for the Assessment of Climate Change Impacts on Water Resources and Socio-Economic Vulnerability in the Arab Region (RICCAR).
For more information:
-Ms Rania Harb, Public Information Assistant, +961-70-008-879; email: harb1@un.org