COP28 Global Leaders Group on AMR Side Event: “Political Action for AMR and the Environment on the road to the UNGA High-Level Meeting on AMR in 2024” Closing Remarks

COP28

Global Leaders Group on AMR Side Event:

“Political Action for AMR and the Environment on the road to the

UNGA High-Level Meeting on AMR in 2024”

 

Closing Remarks

By

Dr QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General

 

2 December 2023

 

 

Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

 

Thank you for joining us in this call for political action on antimicrobial resistance (AMR) at COP28.

 

We are gathered here to take urgent global action on the climate crisis. But we must not leave AMR aside.

 

Climate, AMR, biodiversity loss, and pollution are interlinked.

 

Hunger, malnutrition, and rural poverty are also interlinked.

 

Our actions must address all these challenges together.

 

Antimicrobial drugs are key in treating diseases and safeguarding both human and animal health, and environmental wellbeing, but they must be used responsibly to avoid serious consequences.

 

These past years we saw up close that health and environmental problems do not have borders.

 

We learned that only coordinated global responses across governments, sectors, and society, together with high political commitment from leaders, are effective.

 

We must apply these approaches for the AMR and the climate crises.

 

At the UN Food Systems Summit +2 Stocktaking Moment held at FAO headquarters in July this year, the Global Leaders Group on AMR issued some key messages to guide future action:

 

First, we need more opportunities for greater collaboration between high-income and low-and-middle-income countries to address AMR.

 

Last month, FAO hosted the first Plenary Assembly of the Antimicrobial Resistance Multi-Stakeholder Partnership Platform, bringing together stakeholders across the human, animal, plant, and environment sectors.

 

We invite more environmental stakeholders from all countries to join the Platform and collaborate in identifying concrete common actions to address AMR through a One Health approach, led by the Quadripartite organizations.

 

Second, we must also work with farmers to promote biosecurity, animal nutrition and disease prevention to reduce the need for antimicrobials. 

 

As the impacts of the climate crisis increase, farmers and livestock producers may face pressure to increase use antimicrobials in plants and animals to address expansion of pathogens in new areas and improve production.

 

Extreme climate events can also damage infrastructure and increase the spread of drug-resistant infections.

 

We must equip producers with the capacities, tools, and knowledge to mitigate AMR and adapt to climate change, and we must target investments to build their resilience and reduce loss and damage.

 

Improving animal health can contribute to general productivity gains, and improved growth rates of animals and can help lower greenhouse gas emissions.

 

Third, we must break silos and work across sectors for a unified response.

 

Ministers of Health, Agriculture, and the Environment play a significant role in the national AMR response.

 

Developing multi-sectoral coordination within countries is critical, and coordinating and collaborating under a One Health framework is necessary to develop, fund and implement national action plans on AMR.

 

As we look towards the UN General Assembly High-level Meeting on AMR in 2024, the Quadripartite will continue to work closely with all partners.

 

We must ensure that the links between AMR and climate change, and between AMR and agrifood systems, are adequately reflected and include clear, actionable commitments. 

 

Through the vision and leadership of the Global Leaders Group, we can promote an equitable climate transition, while ensuring that life-saving medicines remain effective for decades to come.

 

For better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life - leaving no one behind.

 

Thank you.