MEDIA ADVISORY ANDall Island Developing States (SIDS) Solutions Fo

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the Government of Samoa, through its Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries (MAF) and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT), have invited leaders from Small Island Developing States (SIDS) in the Pacific, as well as heads of technical and resource partner organizations, to attend the Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Solutions Forum. 

Scheduled for 28-30 November 2022, the event will convene in Apia, Samoa.

A significant number of public policymakers and practitioners, community leaders, farmers, entrepreneurs and private sector stakeholders will also join the event to present and discuss innovative Pacific-based solutions and opportunities to help bring about an agrifood systems transformation and defeat hunger and malnutrition for all.

With the theme “working together to leave no one behind,” the 2022 Pacific SIDS Solutions Forum is convened to follow up, and build upon, the global SIDS Solutions Forum of 2021. Participants will identify both challenges and country-specific and regional successes (good practices) from the Pacific.

They will then consider the next steps of advancing the achievement of the SAMOA Pathway and 2030 agenda through a holistic agrifood systems approach, in the context of post-COVID-19, climate change and the 5F crisis (food, fuel, feed, fertilizer, and financing) recovery.

Throughout the Forum, participants will be provided with new analysis, tools and knowledge to develop country-specific follow-up action points on:

• COVID-19 recovery efforts and strategies to address agriculturally related impacts on the Pacific Islands due to the Ukraine crisis;
• the progress and lessons learned from existing work linked to national food systems transformation;
• identification and expansion of innovation and digitalization in agrifood systems;
• South-South and Triangular Cooperation in action in the Pacific;
• creative approaches to addressing non-communicable diseases (NDCs) in the Pacific;
• learning about, and promoting, the multidimensional Vulnerability Index.

The event will also present an opportunity to present preliminary findings and policy recommendations from the Pacific overview study of the situation of nutrition and food security report as well as present the FAO Pacific Multicountry Programming Framework for 2023-2027.

Held physically in Apia, Samoa, the Forum will also accommodate virtual participation of country officials, partners and attendees via Zoom. Media representatives are invited to participate either in-person or virtually.

Why Pacific SIDS

The 2022 tsunami in Tonga, which nearly destroyed the entire economy of the country, is but one example of the devastating context of natural disasters confronted by Pacific Small Island Developing States (SIDS). Like other SIDS, Pacific SIDSs (the Cook Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, Republic of the Marshall Islands, Nauru, Niue, Palau, Samoa, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu) are challenged by their remoteness, high vulnerability to climate change-induced disasters, dependence on imported foods, and a high incidence of diet-related diseases.

The impacts of COVID-19 are disproportionately significant for the Pacific Islands, largely because of their economic lifelines (food imports, tourism and dependence of remittances), agricultural limitations (short value chains) and health concerns (diet-related diseases). Governments’ preventive measures, such as international and domestic border closures as well as restrictions on on government and business hours, unintentionally triggered near total economic paralysis. The tourism sector collapsed with far reaching ramifications for livelihoods, agriculture and food security.

In addition, COVID-19 recovery efforts by Pacific SIDS are being undermined by the disruption of global supply chains linked to the war in Ukraine.

For example, in Samoa, petroleum prices from January to August 2022 increased by 44 percent and 60 percent for unleaded and diesel respectively (MAF Samoa), imported food prices have risen 22 percent and 13 percent for locally produced foods from January to September this year. At the same time, fertilizer costs in Tonga and Samoa have increased by more than 40 since last year. These impacts are reversing critical successes and progress made in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the SAMOA Pathway in the Pacific SIDS.

Building on previous successes

The Pacific SIDS Solutions Forum is organized to collaboratively report on the partnerships developed to advance the recommendations of the 2021 global SIDS Solutions Forum, and also invite partners to share national experiences and formulate concrete follow up actions that can accelerate collective progress in achieving the SDGs in Pacific SIDS. Since the 2021 global SIDS Solutions Forum, FAO has committed resources and invested in partnership-building at community, national, regional and global levels to facilitate the implementation of the Forum’s recommendations. The Pacific SIDS Solutions Forum will provide a platform to highlight, strengthen and expand these partnerships for the benefit of the Pacific people.