Side events

Regional Rice Strategy, Monday, 10 March, 17:30 – The 31st APRC in March 2012 requested that FAO coordinate the development of a regional rice strategy in response to the deceleration of yield growth rate, increasing scarcity of natural resources (water, land), demographic change, negative environmental impacts, price spikes and disruptions of trade, and effects of climate change on the rice sector. FAO RAP responded to this request by initiating the formulation of a regional rice strategy. The side-event is intended to inform Member Countries about the process and its outcome and will call for government initiatives to develop rice strategy or policies at national level. The associated information paper (APRC/14/INF5) presents the synthesis of the regional rice strategy being formulated based on the detailed analysis underway and on the suggestions and advice from Member countries and the External Rice Advisory Group comprised of leading experts on policy and technical aspects of rice.

Read the: Tentative programme 

Read the: Regional Rice Strategy, final edition

View the: Presentation by David Dawe

Preliminary Results of RAP & SAP Evaluation, Tuesday, 11 March, 17:30 – In 2011, the Programme Committee requested FAO to accelerate its schedule of evaluations of regional and subregional offices. In response, the Office of Evaluation’s (OED’s) work plan for 2013 envisaged that the Evaluation in Asia and the Pacific would be completed in time for presentation at the Programme Committee in May 2014. The Evaluation assessed the relations between FAO and its member countries in Asia and the Pacific as decision-makers and users of the Organization’s services and products.  Member countries of the Asia-Pacific region asked to be briefed about the preliminary outcomes of the Evaluation at the APRC before the formal presentation at the Programme Committee in May. In this side-event Prof Nurul Alam, leader of the evaluation team, will present the key conclusions and recommendations of the evaluation to be followed by a discussion with the Members.

Zero Hunger Challenge in the Asia-Pacific Region, Wednesday, 12 March, 17:30 – The Zero Hunger Challenge was launched by the Secretary-General of the United Nations at the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development in Brazil in June 2012 with his vision for a future without hunger. This message was reinforced at the High Level Consultation on Hunger, Food Security and Nutrition held in Madrid, Spain, in April 2013, which called upon the international community to end hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition by 2025. As a follow-up to the global initiative, the Zero Hunger Challenge in Asia and the Pacific was launched in Bangkok on the occasion of ESCAP’s 69th Commission Session in April 2013 by the UN Deputy Secretary-General, the ESCAP Executive Secretary and the ADG/RR of FAO RAP with the participations of high-level government officials, including the Prime Ministers of Timor-Leste and the Salmon Islands, and the Executive Secretaries of other UN regional Commissions. In December 2013, the Ministerial Conference on Regional Economic Cooperation and Integration in Asia and the Pacific, organized by ESCAP adopted the Bangkok Declaration on Regional Economic Cooperation and Integration in Asia and the Pacific that recognized the Zero Hunger Challenge as a useful framework for regional cooperation in the area of food security and encouraged its implementation at country and regional levels. The same Conference hosted a side event that presented the Regional Guiding Framework for Achieving Zero Hunger in Asia and the Pacific. This Guiding Framework, prepared by the Regional Thematic Working Group on Poverty and Hunger that FAO chairs, would assist the member countries in the region to formulate and implement their own zero hunger initiatives through similar multi-stakeholder consultations. Subsequently, in January 2014, Timor-Leste became the first country to take on the national challenge. The Zero Hunger Challenge in Timor-Leste was launched by the Prime Minister at a special session of the Parliament in the presence of a Royal Princess of Thailand, the Special Advisor of the UN Secretary-General of Timor-Leste, members of the Diplomatic Corps and other dignitaries. A National Action Plan to implement the ZHC in Timor-Lester is being prepared with FAO assistance, and RAP is working to assist other countries, especially India, that may wish to prepare similar action plans. The side event will report on the progress of the Asia-Pacific Zero Hunger Challenge, including the formulation of Guiding Framework and the launch of the National Zero Hunger Challenge in Timor-Leste, and will discuss the way forward for the FAO member countries to set out national initiatives to formulate and implement the Zero Hunger Challenge at country-level through the process of multi-stakeholder consultation and concerted action.

Read the: Tentative Programme 

Read the: Zero Hunger Challenge in the Asia-Pacific Region

View the: Presentation by the Vice Minister, Timor-Leste

View the: Presentation by Hiroyuki Konuma and Naoki Minamiguchi