FAO in Timor-Leste

Ikan Adapt Project Formulation Draws Wide Stakeholder Participation

17/07/2020

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) in collaboration with the Directorate General of Fisheries of the Ministry Agriculture and Fisheries and the University of Timor-Leste completed a series of consultations at national, municipality and local levels to inform the project formulation of Ikan-Adapt: Strengthening the adaptive capacity, resilience and biodiversity conservation ability of fisheries and aquaculture-dependent livelihoods in Timor-Leste.  

The results of the assessment were presented at the National Validation Workshop, which took place on Friday, 17 July 2020 at Timor Plaza, Dili. The workshop was attended  by the Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries, H.E. Pedro dos Reis, Vice Minister, H.E. Abílio Xavier de Araújo Director Generals and National Directors from the Agriculture Ministry and Environment Ministries, Agriculture Directors from 7 municipalities, suco chiefs and representatives of and FAO Timor-Leste, UNTL, NGOs, private sector and other development partners.

Horacio Guterres, MAF Aquaculture Director, in his capacity as the Government Focal Point for the project, provided brief introduction to the project and said that the Ikan Adapt project will contribute to achieving national development goals, especially those related to fisheries and aquaculture development, through building the capacity of fisheries and aquaculture dependent communities to adapt to climate change and manage biodiversity conservation.  Paula Lopes da Cruz, FAO Timor-Leste representative, stated in her brief remarks that “Timor-Leste ranks among the top ten countries worldwide with the highest disaster risk and is considered as having high vulnerability, susceptibility, lack of coping and adaptive capacity.  For a combination of geographical, historical, cultural, institutional and human resource factors, Timor-Leste’s fisheries and aquaculture sectors face many challenges, thus it is crucial to improve capacity at all level to adapt to climate change-related effects.”

H.E. Minister Pedro dos Reis, in his opening speech, appreciated the collaboration between MAF, FAO and UNTL to carry out the assessment for making available necessary information to inform decision-making on project area of interventions that will respond to the needs of the fisheries and aquaculture communities to be resilient to climate change.

The presentations at the workshop, which covered findings from community consultations in 7 municipalities (Aileu, Bobonaro, Covalima, Dili (Atauru), Lautem, Oecusse and Viqueque), provided information on socioeconomic situation, state of aquaculture development, opportunities, constraints and potential introduction of new technology, status of marine and coastal resources management and conservation, and existing laws and regulations to support biodiversity conservation and status of coral reefs.

The working groups carefully reviewed each project component and the related outcomes, outputs and activities and agreed on the revisions and additions to the project framework.