World Food Day 2023 will be marked at the FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok on 16 October under the theme “Water is life, water is food. Leave no one behind.”

Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn of Thailand, FAO’s Special Goodwill Ambassador for Asia and the Pacific, will preside over the event, which will be opened by Jong-Jin Kim, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative.

Water is life, water is food.
Leave no one behind.

Water is essential to life on Earth. It makes up over 50 percent of our bodies and covers about 71 percent of the Earth’s surface. Only 2.5 percent of water is fresh, suitable for drinking, agriculture, and most industrial uses. Water is a driving force for people, economies and nature and the foundation of our food. The agricultural sector’s dependence on freshwater for production, which accounts for 70 per cent of global freshwater withdrawals and over 90 per cent of its consumptive use, places strain on local hydrological systems in many areas of the Asia–Pacific region.

In this part of the world, water resources form the basis of agrarian prosperity and economic development. However, increasing water demand due to population growth, rapid industrialization and urbanization, and a changing climate undermine those water resources. Like many parts of the world, Asia–Pacific faces increasing water scarcity, with varying characteristics, causes and trends across a diverse range of countries at different stages of development.
The Asia-Pacific regional World Food Day event will feature a line-up of speakers who will share policy actions and innovative community-driven actions to accelerate efforts and put improved water management for agrifood systems at the top of the agenda. It will look at the crucial role of water for sustainable development, overlapping crises on water, food, energy, biodiversity, climate, and health and the need for integrated management of precious water resources.

Keynote speaker:
Dipak Gyawali, Former Minister, Ministry of Water Resources, Nepal.
Academician, Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, and Guest Senior Research Scholar at International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA)

Presenters:

• Professor. Anamika Barua, Professor, Ecological Economics, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati, India
• Kaneka Keo, Project Manager, Mekong Regional Water Governance Program, Oxfam
• Nguyen Ngoc Ly, Founder and Chairperson, Center for Community Research, Viet Nam

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