@fao-rne Group picture of the participants at the Pre-COP22 consultative dialogue at LAS

Cairo 5 October 2016

The Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO) concluded today at the Headquarters of the League of Arab States in Cairo, the series of the regional Pre-COP22 dialogues on the Intended Nationally Determined Contributions (INDCs) and Climate Finance.

The three days’ meeting, organized jointly by the Government of Egypt, the League of Arab States and the Food and Agricultural Organization of the United Nations (FAO), allowed High-ranking officials from 10 Arab countries from the Mashreq and the GCC, namely Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Palestine, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Sudan and Yemen to discuss and exchange views on the climate change risks for agriculture and water, the nationally determined contributions and to make recommendations on priorities areas for the collaboration between the region and FAO. The meeting brought together representatives from the Ministries of agriculture, water and environment, the Green Climate Fund (GCF) and Global Environment Facility (GEF) national focal points as well as FAO senior staff.  A similar meeting organized with the countries of the Maghreb Union was held on 29-30 August in Rabat, Morocco

Summarizing the outcome of the regional dialogues, held in Rabat and Cairo, Abdessalam Ould Ahmed, FAO Assistant-Director and Regional Representative for the Near East and North Africa said that these dialogues clearly demonstrated the great awareness of the Arab countries of the threats posed by climate change to the sustainable development of the entire region, as well as their strong determination and clear vision to address the related challenges.

He added that the discussions have converged towards a set of clear commendations on the major issues requiring action and on the priority areas for FAO support to the countries, in collaboration with the League of Arab States and the Union du Maghreb Arab (UMA). 

Mr. Ould Ahmed reiterated FAO’s commitment to work with member states, in collaboration with regional and international partners and financial institutions to respond to the major priorities that emanated from the dialogues, summarizing them as follows:  

1-         Enhancement of human resources and institutional capacities for climate change adaptation in the agricultural sector.

2-         Development of national and regional portfolio of projects for GEF and GCF.

3-         Development of national policy agenda for climate change adaptation.

4-         Development of early warning systems in agriculture.

5-         Building Resilience to climate change impacts, in particular with regard to hydrological extremes.

6-         Improving agriculture water productivity to mitigate climate change impacts on farmers’ incomes.

Participants from across the region hailed the FAO and the league of Arab states initiative to convene the regional dialogues on climate change and agriculture ahead of the COP 22 in Marrakesh and called on both institutions to work together towards the implementation of their recommendations. COP 22 will chart the way forward for the implementation of the COP 21 Agreement concluded in Paris under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, marking a major milestone in a political process that has stalled for decades.