• The world's aquatic ecosystems are made up of approximately 175 000 species of fish, mollusks, crustaceans and aquatic plants. Just ten species account for the world's haul in capture fisheries, while ten species account for half of global fish farming production;
• There are 80 000 tree species worldwide, but just 1 percent have been studied in any depth. Forests are home to 80 percent of terrestrial biodiversity, while forests are being cleared at an alarming rate - with consequences for global warming;
• Invertebrates constitute 95 percent of all animal life, while the hidden treasure trove of biodiversity of micro-organisms is incalculable.

The purpose of the High-Level Meeting on National Drought Policy is to encourage countries to move from crisis management to disaster risk reduction – an approach already successfully embraced for hazards such as tropical cyclones and floods.

Specific targets include:

• Proactive mitigation and planning measures, risk management, public outreach and resource stewardship as key elements of effective national drought policy;
• Greater collaboration to enhance the national, regional and global observation networks and information delivery systems to improve public understanding of, and preparedness for, drought;
• Incorporation of comprehensive governmental and private insurance and financial strategies into drought preparedness plans;
• Recognition of a safety net of emergency relief based on sound stewardship of natural resources and self-help at diverse governance levels;
• Coordination of drought programmes and response in an effective, efficient and customer-oriented manner.

• Improve information on drylands to support sustainable management of land and water resources.
• Scale up the sustainable intensification of agriculture and adapt production to climate change.
• Build resilience in rural communities and increase responsible investments in agriculture and rural development.
• Strengthen global food security governance, building on the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), the intergovernmental food policy body.

Since 2009, the EU has been supporting a wide-ranging initiative of the government and FAO to raise nutrition levels of the rural population and stimulate their economic growth potential, known as the Swaziland Agricultural Development Project (SADP), a 5-years programme funded with over €14 million of EU and almost €350 000 by FAO.

Although it was challenging to get such a complex project off the ground, Amadou Traoré, the EU's chargé d'affaires a.i. in Swaziland feels that things are moving in the right direction. "European taxpayers are willing to show their generosity," he says, "but especially now, when Europe itself experiences financial and economic difficulties, they want to see results." 

Louise McDonald, country program manager for the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) for Swaziland, says that SADP's achievements have strengthened collaboration between IFAD and FAO in assisting the government and smallholder farmers. "Together, we will work on bridging SADP's activities with a US$ 47 million program to be co-financed by IFAD", she says.

Smallholders

Fundamentally, SADP is all about smallholders, says Nehru Essomba, the project's Chief Technical Advisor: "You cannot tackle rural poverty, if you don't put the smallholder farmers first."

Connecting farmers to the market is a major challenge, Essomba says. So close to South Africa with its big scale producers, the environment is extremely competitive. SADP is setting up a €1 million Marketing Investing Fund, particularly to promote niche crops that offer small farmers a comparative advantage on the market place.

Equally important is to improve the environment in which the agricultural sector operates, both institutionally and physically. While major infrastructural rehabilitation works are being prepared, policies relating to research and extension are being updated and large scale capacity building of farmers, organisations and extension workers is underway.

At the same time, SADP helps spreading good agricultural practices, important for farmers to increase their productivity, while preserving the environment and lessen the pressure on Swaziland's limited natural resources. So far, more than 2 000 farmers have been trained in a wide range of practices, including conservation agriculture and agro-forestry.

Holding on

"Food security will come in two ways: by growing your own food and by growing to sell at the market," says Dr. Robert Thwala, Principal Secretary of Swaziland's Ministry of Agriculture, explaining SADP's focus on improving crop and livestock production and on agro-business development.

In Swaziland, where HIV prevalence is the highest in the world, the most vulnerable among the rural poor are the elderly and the youth, who have lost either parents or children, as the generation in between was decimated by the aids pandemic.

A total of 340 vegetable gardens have been established for vulnerable families to grow vegetables and herbs for household consumption, or in case of excess production, for sales to community members. Over 2000 people have directly benefited from the gardens, while also receiving nutritional education, through demonstrations in food preparation and processing. 

To support the younger generation, SADP is helping youth groups set up small agricultural businesses. Sixty groups, comprising around 2 500 youngsters, are engaged in poultry farming, pig production or vegetable and field crop production. They get the equipment, tools, inputs, medicines and training to make their business run.

The Mhawu Youth Club from the Ngudzine area in southern Swaziland is raising chickens. Sixteen year old member Nomcebo Simelane finds a lot of encouragement at her club: "Your peers tell you that when you want to make your dreams come true, you should just hold on."

Moreover, the poultry business offers her a way to do just that. She hopes that she will make enough money out of it to go to university and become a nurse.

1. 100% access to adequate food all year round.

2. Zero stunted children under 2 years, no more malnutrition in pregnancy and early childhood.

3. All food systems are sustainable.

4. 100% growth in smallholder productivity and income, particularly for women.

5. Zero loss or waste of food, including responsible consumption.
 

“Many leaders attending this conference have pledged to work for an end to hunger. I know they will respond to my Zero Hunger Challenge,” added the Secretary-General.

Pope’s commitment

Last week in Rome Pope Benedict XVI underscored his support to the fight against hunger when he received Graziano da Silva.

In launching his Zero Hunger Challenge in Brazil, Ban Ki-moon recognized the inspiration provided by the country’s national Zero Hunger campaign and acknowledged the role played by FAO’s Director-General in designing and implementing that hunger-defeating strategy.

Between 2003 and 2010, Brazil’s Fome Zero programme helped lift 28 million people out of extreme poverty. It also inspired a new set of public policies aimed at promoting economic and social development in the country.

“With almost 900 million hungry, no half-measures can be accepted,” Graziano da Silva added. “With hunger, the only acceptable number is zero.” 

• Identify country-specific opportunities for expansion of existing climate-smart practices or implementation of new ones
• Study the constraints that need to be overcome to promote wider adoption of climate-smart agriculture, including investment costs
• Promote integration of national climate change and agricultural strategies to support the implementation of climate-smart agriculture
• Identify innovative mechanisms for linking climate finance with climate-smart agriculture investments
• Build capacity for planning and implementing climate-smart projects capable of attracting international investments

FAO will take the overall lead on the project, working in partnership with national policy and research institutions, as well as global organizations such as the Global Crop Diversity Trust.

By tackling the urgent need to incorporate climate change concerns into agricultural development planning, this new project represents a concrete step forward, said Ghanem. "The problems of climate change are increasingly being felt on the ground, and thus early actions to address the problem are needed, even as international negotiations continue in the search for a global climate agreement," he said.

Indigenous and tribal peoples comprise around five per cent of the world's population but make up about 15 per cent of the extremely poor.

The "FAO Policy on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples" aims to provide guidance to the agency's various technical units and encourage staff in headquarters and in the regions to engage more systematically and responsibly with indigenous peoples and their organizations.

This will help facilitate the exchange of knowledge and ideas ranging from land tenure issues, sustainable management of natural resources to conservation of traditional knowledge and diversity of traditional food systems for the benefit of rural communities and indigenous peoples.

"With the preparation of this policy paper, FAO aspires to play an important role in the international community's efforts to ensure a better life for indigenous peoples and rural populations" said FAO Director General Jacques Diouf in the preface to the report. "The fight against hunger cannot be won without them."

Environmental harmony  
            

 Many indigenous peoples live in symbiosis with the environment and are highly dependent on natural resources for their livelihoods. They also often have specialized knowledge about nature's resources and diversity, both on land and water.

"However, efforts to achieve food security and sustainable development are being compromised by continuing environmental degradation and the erosion of traditional skills" the FAO policy notes.

In addition, many of the lands inhabited by indigenous peoples are highly vulnerable to climate change. As a result, the inhabitants of these areas have advanced knowledge and coping strategies that may prove useful in broader adaptation to future climate scenarios.

The policy was prepared in close consultation with indigenous representatives, the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and other UN agencies, as well as numerous individual experts. The content of the policy is based on international legal instruments such as the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, adopted in 2007.

The Ministry of Agricultural Food and Forestry policies and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs underlined in a joint statement that Italy has supported all aspects of the International Treaty since its inception.

By investing in the Treaty’s new Benefit-sharing Fund Italy is directly and positively addressing global biodiversity and agro-biodiversity for a sustainable management of the rural areas and natural resources also by supporting smallholder farmers preserve and use crop diversity in developing countries, the two Ministries said.

Climate change is expected to act as a "threat multiplier" in a region that is already under severe ecological and economic stress, according to the FAO policy brief Climate Change and Food Security in the Pacific prepared for Copenhagen.

Pacific islands will have to face sea levels rise, ocean warming and acidification, changing rainfall patterns, changing sunshine hours and cloud cover, altered ocean and atmospheric circulation patterns and an increased frequency of extreme weather events such as tropical cyclones and droughts.

Many of these impacts could lead to cumulative and adverse effects on agricultural and fishery yields and food security. Land and marine ecosystem degradation, heat stress, soil erosion, salinization and nutrient depletion, the spread of plant pests and diseases, more frequent forest fires, droughts and flooding pose an acute and serious risk to food production.

Adapt and diversify

"Farmers should not be left alone when it comes to climate change," said FAO Assistant Director-General Alexander Müller. "Countries and their development partners need to ensure that farmers receive the best available information on the choice of crop varieties as well as soil and water management options to adapt to climate change," he added.

Those Pacific islands with monoculture crop production will need to assess their food security potential closely, as diversified agricultural systems will fare better under all climate change scenarios. "Integrated systems of crops, trees and possibly livestock offer opportunities for sustainable intensification of food production while creating a more resilient ecosystem," Müller said.

Fisheries

Climate change also seriously threatens the sustainability of the fishing industry and has the potential to undermine food security in a region strongly reliant on fish as a source of protein and income derived from renting the sea to foreign fleets. Subsistence and commercial fishing, particularly of tuna species, are mainstays of many Pacific island economies. Changes in the distribution and abundance of tuna have serious implications for the long-term viability of industrial fisheries and canneries in the western Pacific. Subsistence and commercial fishing will have to diversify production, fish industry infrastructure and distribution patterns in order to adapt to abrupt environmental and industry change.  

Forestry

"Climate change impacts, coupled with ongoing overexploitation of forest resources in the region, will place immense pressures on remaining forests," FAO said. Forests and trees provide important staple crops in the Pacific such as breadfruit, mangos, citrus fruits and coconuts. Mangrove forests prevent from coastal erosion, provide protection from storm surges and tsunamis, and offer important habitats for numerous fish species. Governments in the region should be supported in managing forests sustainably and in promoting integrated agro-forestry systems. The potential of forests to contribute to carbon sequestration should be recognised.

Robust adaptation

"International climate change negotiations should consider the close linkages between food security and global warming," Müller said. "All Pacific islands should be supported in implementing their ‘National Adaptation Programmes of Action', also including food security issues."

Research and development should be intensified in agriculture, fisheries and forestry to identify and promote the use of salt- and drought-resistant crop varieties, the rehabilitation of coastal forests and infrastructure development in vulnerable coastal areas.

"Failure to act is likely to lead to increased poverty, political instability and conflict," he stressed

The policy brief was written together with the Pacific Expert Group on Climate Change and Food Security.

Key Findings from the Rapid Assessment Report

• Of all the biological carbon, or green carbon captured in the world, over half (55%) is captured by marine-living organisms - not on land - hence the new term blue carbon.
• Marine-living organisms range from plankton and bacteria to seagrasses, saltmarsh plants and mangrove forests.
• The ocean's vegetative habitats, in particular, mangroves, salt marshes and seagrasses, cover less than 1% of the seabed.
• These form the planet's blue carbon sinks and account for over half of all carbon storage in ocean sediment and perhaps as much as over 70%.
• They comprise only 0.05% of the plant biomass on land, but store a comparable amount of carbon per year, and thus rank among the most intense carbon sinks on the planet.
• Blue carbon sinks and estuaries capture and store between 235-450 Teragrams (Tg C) or 870 to 1,650 million tons of CO2 every year - or the equivalent of up to near half of the emissions from the entire global transport sector which is estimated annually at around 1,000 Tg C, or around 3,700 million tons of CO2, and rising.
• Preventing the further loss and degradation of these ecosystems and catalyzing their recovery can contribute to offsetting 3-7% of current fossil fuel emissions (totaling 7,200 Tg C a year or around 27,000 million tons) of CO2 in two decades - over half of that projected for reducing rainforest deforestation.
• The effect would be equivalent to at least 10% of the reductions needed to keep concentrations of CO2 in the atmosphere below 450 ppm needed to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius.
• Combined with action under REDD, halting the degradation and restoring lost marine ecosystems might deliver up to 25% of emission reductions needed to keep global warming below two degrees Celsius.
• Unlike carbon capture and storage on land, where the carbon may be locked away for decades or centuries, that stored in the oceans remains for millennia.

Currently, on average, between 2-7% of our blue carbon sinks are lost annually, a seven-fold increase compared to only half a century ago.

• In parts of southeast Asia losses of mangroves since the 1940s are as high as 90%.
• Large-scale restoration of mangroves has been successfully achieved in Vietnam's Mekong Delta and salt-marsh restoration in Europe and the United States.

Countries with extensive, shallow coastal areas that could consider enhancing marine carbon sinks include India; many countries in southeast Asia; those on the Black Sea; in West Africa, the Caribbean, the Mediterranean, eastern United States and Russia.

Maintaining and Recovering Marine Ecosystems-the Wider Benefits

Coastal waters account for just seven percent of the total area of the ocean. However, the productivity of ecosystems such as coral reefs, and these blue carbon sinks mean that this small area forms the basis of the world's primary fishing grounds, supplying an estimated 50% of the world's fisheries.

They provide vital nutrition for close to three billion people, as well as 50% of animal protein and minerals to 400 million people of the least developed countries in the world.

The coastal zones, of which these blue carbon sinks are central for productivity, deliver a wide range of benefits to human society. These include filtering water, reducing effects of coastal pollution, nutrient loading, sedimentation, protecting the coast from erosion and buffering the effects of extreme weather events.

• Coastal ecosystem services have been estimated to be worth over US$25,000 billion annually, ranking among the most economically valuable of all ecosystems.
• Much of the degradation of these ecosystems not only comes from unsustainable natural resource use practices, but also from poor watershed management, poor coastal development practices and poor waste management.
• The protection and restoration of coastal zones, through coordinated integrated management would also have significant and multiple benefits for health, labour productivity and food security of communities in these areas.