Water is essential for agricultural production and food security. Moreover, water is intrinsically linked to poverty, economic growth, and climate change. Currently, water scarcity is one of the severe constraints in Asia and the Pacific region. The Water Team is supporting FAO’s regional priorities to manage water for agriculture under conditions of water scarcity through Asia Pacific Water Programme. In addition, it makes a significant contribution to achieving SDG6 “Ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all”.
Asia-Pacific Regional Initiatives 2018-2020
Transforming our world through achieving the Sustainable Development Goals is the ideal that underpins the work of FAO. Since 2014 FAO has integrated its work through Regional Initiatives (RIs) as multidisciplinary mechanisms to ensure effective country delivery and impact of FAO’s work on the key priorities of the Regions, contribute to FAO’s Strategic Objectives and support member countries in achieving the SDG’s. There are five regional initiatives: Blue Growth, Climate Change, Interregional Initiative on Small Island Developing States Pacific Component, One Health and Zero Hunger. Integral to each initiative is SDG5 Gender Equality, and each initiative works towards FAO's mandate of achieving an end to hunger and malnutrition. Leave no one behind!
FAO's Blue Growth Initiative (BG) aims at harmonizing the environmental, social and economic aspects of living aquatic resources to ensure equitable benefits for communities. The BG strengthens governance of fisheries and aquaculture, improve management practices in the changing social, environmental and climate context.
Read about FAO's BG work in Asia-Pacific that is improving the life and livelihoods of aquaculture farmers, fishers', their communities and fresh and marine aquatic environments.
Climate Change is adversely affecting every aspect of food security and nutrition. Farmers are among the populations most vulnerable to extreme weather events and climate. The Climate Change RI (CC) will assist Members to scale up climate adaptation and mitigation action in and for agriculture, and to advance the sector’s role in global frameworks.
Read about FAO Asia-Pacific regional work in the region to mitigate climate change.
Read about the FAO Asia-Pacific regional water programme.
Interregional Initiative (IRI) on SIDS - Pacific Component
The Pacific is a vast space of ocean punctuated by small islands. Rising sea levels and ingress of salination are affecting the precious arable land resources. Traditional diets are changing and with the change comes obesity, under-nutrition and food systems change.The Inter-regional Initiative on Pacific SIDS (IRI) will support the joint efforts of governments of Pacific Members and partners to improve the sustainability and nutrition-sensitivity of Pacific SIDS food systems through enhanced multisectoral commitments and scaling up food security and nutrition actions. Read about FAO's IRI work in the Pacific to address the complicated complex of challenges and innovative solutions.
Good health starts with nutrition. But good health goes beyond human health to include the well-being of the entire holistic ecosystem in which we live and co-exist, including plants, animals and humans. In addition to under-nutrition, obesity, childhood stunting and food insecurity, FAO is working on antimicrobial resistance, on transboundary diseases, the interface between animal-human diseases, plant protection, the reduction of pesticides. The One Health Regional Initiative (OH) will build multi-stakeholder platforms for policy making, conduct analyses of rural-urban food systems as well as pilot good practice packages to improve nutrition, food safety and environmental health.
Visit FAO Regional Office for Asia-Pacific's webpages on OneHealth here.
Visit FAO Regional Office for Asia-Pacific's webpages on Food Safety here.
Approximately 60% of the world's undernourished population live in Asia and the Pacific. FAO's vision of the world is a world without hunger, a #ZeroHunger world. It is possible to achieve this vision but it requires concerted and collective action. The Zero Hunger RI (ZH) will continue to support Members to create an enabling environment to nurture ecologically viable, nutrition-sensitive and climate-smart agriculture and food systems within existing resource availability.
Visit the Zero Hunger by 2030 webpage.
Visit the Future Smart Food and Mountain Agriculture webpage.
Visit the webpage on Strengthening food and nutritional security.