Foro Global sobre Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutrición (Foro FSN)

Recommendations for Enhancing CFS-FFA Implementation

1. Policy Integration:
   • Encourage governments to integrate CFS-FFA principles into national policies and strategies for food security and crisis management.
   • Strengthen policy coherence across humanitarian aid, development, and human rights frameworks.
2. Capacity Building:
   • Provide technical and financial support to local stakeholders for implementing CFS-FFA principles.
   • Facilitate knowledge sharing through regional and global platforms.
3. Scaling Grassroots Innovations:
   • Promote grassroots innovations that demonstrate success in addressing food security challenges in protracted crises.
   • Provide platforms for grassroots organizations to share experiences and receive support for scaling their initiatives.

Thank you for this important initiative! The CFS Framework for Action in Protracted Crises is a critical tool for addressing the unique challenges faced in these complex situations. Its emphasis on resilience-building, multi-stakeholder collaboration, and sustainable recovery provides a solid foundation for impactful interventions. I look forward to learning from the shared experiences and innovative approaches from contributors worldwide.

Here is my brief write-up in the context of Southeast Asia for consideration. Please find it attached

Sincerely

Rishiraj Dutta

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Use and Application of the CFS Framework for Action for Food Security and Nutrition in Protracted Crises (CFS-FFA): Context from Southeast Asia through the SERVIR SEA Program of Asian Disaster Preparedness Center

The SERVIR Southeast Asia (SERVIR SEA)1 program is a joint initiative of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that has put into practice some good examples of how the FAO CFS- FFA framework has been institutionalized in the region. this has been done by leveraging geospatial technology and Earth observation data to address food security and nutrition programs for the affected regions of Southeast Asia focusing on the most vulnerable and marginalized communities.

1. Enhancing Early Warning Systems

• Practice: SERVIR SEA develop tools for real-time monitoring and forecasting of climate-related risks. For example, the Southeast Asia Drought Watch (SEADW)2 provides near real-time drought monitoring and forecasting capabilities that enables governments and other stakeholders to mitigate the impacts of drought on agriculture and food systems.
• Benefit: SEADW acts as an early warning system minimizing risk by ensuring timely interventions to marginalized farmers in drought-prone areas of countries such as Cambodia and Vietnam.

2. Capacity Building using Geospatial Technology

• Practice: Capacity building is the cornerstone of SERVIR SEA program that strengthens the technical capacity of stakeholders to use geospatial data for appropriate decision-making. The programs offer customized and tailored training programs on remote sensing and geographic information systems (GIS) and machine learning to support agriculture and food security as well as ecosystem and carbon management. One good example is the Myanmar Land and Agriculture Monitoring Project (LAMP)3 which equips stakeholders such as international agencies, non-government organizations and civil society organizations to assess crop yields, fire hotspots, and vegetation health.
• Benefit: LAMP has been able to empower capacity of humanitarian communities to address food security challenges in the country particularly in areas affected by protracted crises.

3. Developing Decision-Support Tools based on User Needs

• Practice: SERVIR SEA has been engaged in designing tools and platforms that are well tailored to regional and national needs for food security assessment and crisis management. The Myanmar Land and Agriculture Monitoring Project (LAMP) is a good example of how it is making high-resolution land cover maps and crop area estimations data available to the humanitarian agencies and the public therefore, enhancing the information access to stakeholders towards improving the overall food security assessment in the country.
• Benefit: Improving data accessibility for food security planning and minimizing the impact of climate change on vulnerable populations.

4. Fostering Regional Collaboration

• Practice: SERVIR SEA is working to promote knowledge exchange and collaboration among Southeast Asian nations. It promotes collaborative projects and joint activities in the Greater Mekong Subregion that have enabled stakeholders in the region to share best practices for addressing food security risks during crises.
• Benefit: Such initiatives have helped increase regional partnerships to address common challenges, resulting in more integrated and effective responses to food security risks.

5. Gender and Social Inclusion

• Practice: SERVIR SEA prioritizes gender equality and social inclusion (GESI)4. The initiative guarantees that GESI is fully incorporated into their training programs utilizing gender-sensitive approaches while increasing stakeholders' capacity to use geospatial tools for agricultural decision-making.
• Benefit: Integrating GESI, benefits women and marginalized groups by providing equitable access to technology and resources, leading to improved food security outcomes across communities.

Conclusion

The integration of geospatial technology, capacity building, and regional collaboration of SERVIR SEA aligns well with the concepts of the FAO CFS-FFA framework. These experiences show how creative technologies and participatory techniques can improve food security and nutrition during long-term crises, particularly among Southeast Asia's most vulnerable communities.

1 https://servir.adpc.net/ 

2 https://servir.adpc.net/tools/southeast-asia-drought-watch-seadw 

3 https://servir.adpc.net/tools/land-and-agriculture-monitoring-project-lamp

4  https://servir.adpc.net/news/3d-participatory-mapping-model-promote-socially-inclusive-climate-action 

Rice is staple food of many countries in the Asia. Rice cultivation entails huge amount of chemical fertilizer application which causes environmental pollution and also creating problem for human health. Among the nutrient elements nitrogen is the most limiting nutrient for rice production and unfortunately its use efficiency by the rice crop is very poor (30 to 50%). In the wetland field condition, ammonium (NH4+) and nitrate (NO3-)are the primary forms of nitrogen that resulted immediate after urea application. Rice plant uptake about 40% of the applied nitrogen either as NH4+ or NO3- and rest of them are lost and back to the environment as NH3, NO2, N2O and NO3 that pollute air and water, respectively. The reactive forms of ammonia (NH3) that returned to the air via volatilization is major contributor to the fine particulate matter (PM2.5) and causes serious air pollution and a threat to human health and biodiversity. Reduction of NO3 produced nitrous oxide (N2O) and it is a greenhouse gas having global warming potential 300 times higher than per molecule CO2 that destroying ozone layer of the atmosphere (Gu and Yang, 2022). Moreover, synthesis of nitrogenous fertilizer through the Haber-Bosch process burns about 2% of global energy (Sutton et al., 2013). 

Global demand for food production forces intensive agriculture to lean toward synthetic fertilizer use and simultaneously increases risks of soil degradation by altering the earth’s biogeochemical processes. Among the agricultural inputs, synthetic fertilizers are required in huge amounts for crop production. Potential management of free-living N2 fixing and phosphate solubilizing bacteria (PSB) may decrease the demand for synthetic N and P fertilizer requirements for rice production. Considering soil health and the environment, we hypothesized that BNF by free-living N2 fixing bacteria might compensate at least 30% of Nr in rice production, and co-composting of biodegradable kitchen waste with rock phosphate and PSB may fulfill the required P demand of rice and consecutively improve soil health via the addition of organic matter. Hence, a biofertilizer was produced that can supplement 30% N and eliminate 100% TSP i8n rice production. This biofertilizer may be a tool for climate smart rice production and also ensure safe food production with healthy environment. Front. Plant Sci. doi: 10.3389/fpls.2021.602052