@fao rne Group photo to the participants at the Pre-COP 22 dialogue for the League of Arab States

Cairo, October 3^rd: The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) today organized a Pre-COP22 Dialogue for Countries of the League of Arab States on the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) and Climate Finance at the Arab League's headquarters. The Pre-COP22 Dialogue will last for two days.

During the opening ceremony of the event; Abdessalam Ould Ahmed, FAO Assistant-Director and Regional Representative for the Near East and North Africa said that climate change is one of the most formidable challenges facing humanity.

"Our region, is one of the most arid and water scarce regions in the world, is particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts," Ould Ahmed addressed the meeting.

This meeting is part of a series of consultations initiated by FAO in collaboration with the League of Arab States (LAS), the Arab Maghreb Union (UMA) and the governments of Egypt and Morocco to better understand countries' visions and pledges to address climate change as they relate to agriculture and food security. It will discuss the INDC`s agricultural related issues and priority areas where FAO can assist countries of the region to strengthen their adaptation capacities to climate change.

Ould Ahmed said that overall climate change will reduce food availability because of its impact on agriculture production, adding that it will affect access to food because of its negative impact on rural population income and on poverty.

"It will impact food utilization, because less water in rural areas means greater risks of water contamination," he revealed.

Climate change is likely to increase the dependency of the region on imports as well as the instability of local production because of the increased frequency of droughts, he said.

"Evidence from worldwide studies suggests that countries that pursue sustainable water resource management and agriculture strategies are better able to wither the impacts of climate change," Ould Ahmed explained.

He stressed that mismanagement of natural resources and climate change are likely to contribute to instability and protracted crisis.

"It is therefore imperative for the region to implement now a comprehensive reform agenda to put firmly the water and agriculture sectors on the path of sustainability and adapt to the likely impacts of climate change," he said.

Ould Ahmed said there will be no improved food security and no eradication of poverty in our region without adaptation to climate change and vice-versa.

Ambassador Jamal Jaballah, Director of environmental management, housing, water resources and sustainable development of the Arab League said: “Today's meeting is an opportunity to know the latest update on Agriculture related Intended National Determined Contributions (INDC`s) and Climate Finance, with focusing on the agricultural component, as well as the available funding opportunities currently and in the future and the readiness of Arab states to gain access to funding for adaptation and mitigation in the agriculture sector”.

Jaballah expressed his wishes that the meeting concludes a regional vision for cooperation opportunities to get access to climate funds through regional projects in line with the priorities of countries in collaboration with FAO and its partners.

On behalf of Ministry of Environment, Ms. Yasmin Fouad said: "The threats, that began to appear in the Arab States, especially in Egypt, were monitored and documented in numerous international, regional and national reports, which mentioned to that global climate recycling models confirm that temperatures in the Arab region has been rising during the past thirty years in rate more than 50% of the global averages.”

“The direct losses of disasters caused by climate change in the Arab world amounted to 11.5 billion dollar despite the fact that these estimates are low because the losses that have been reported only cover 17% of the disasters, and it is worth mentioning that 30% of the fruit, crops and livestock originated in the Arab region are threatened with extinction because of the temperatures rising, and it is likely that climate change will reduce water by 10 percent, which increases the pressure on the water shortage in the Arab region” Ms. Fouad added.

On 12 December 2015, 195 countries made history as they adopted the Paris Agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as the first global climate change agreement, marking a major milestone in a political process that has lasted for decades.