FAO intensifies cooperation for sustainable development in SIDS

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is scaling up its support to Small Island Developing States (SIDS) announced Ms. Carla Mucavi, Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the United Nations in New York, at the event “AOSIS vision for 2020: advancing ambition, building bridges and mobilizing means,” hosted by the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) at the United Nations (UN) on 27 February.

Mucavi explained that FAO established in January 2020 an office for SIDS, Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and Landlocked Developing Countries (LLDCs), adding that least developed SIDS, LDCs, LLDCs and countries in food crises would be prioritized in the roll-out of its Hand-in-Hand Initiative. Affirming that FAO was encouraged to see food security and nutrition and sustainable food systems highlighted in the call for action of the mid-term review of the SAMOA Pathway, Mucavi said that the establishment of the office would help FAO better respond to the specific needs of SIDS. “SIDS have unique vulnerabilities and multidimensional challenges that need to be addressed if we are to ‘leave no one behind’,” said Mucavi.

AOSIS welcomed the establishment of FAO’s new Office for SIDS, LDCs and LLDCs. The Office will coordinate FAO’s work in support of national government priorities through an approach aligned to the specific needs of these populations. The Office will also facilitate the implementation of the Hand-in-Hand Initiative, that will identify recipient needs and match it with support from other countries, including donors, private sector, academia and other actors to accelerate agricultural transformation and sustainable rural development to eradicate poverty and end hunger and all forms of malnutrition.

These initiatives build on FAO’s ongoing work to implement the Global Action Programme on Food Security and Nutrition for SIDS, developed in response to the SAMOA Pathway.

Delivering keynote remarks at the event, UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina Mohammed emphasized the need for enhanced climate ambition to ensure a sustainable future for SIDS, and applauded these countries, in particular the Marshall Islands and Surinam, for their leading role in this effort. “The most vulnerable countries in the world are setting the benchmark for global ambition,” she said.

Hosting the event, the Chair of AOSIS and Permanent Representative of Belize, Ambassador Lois Young, said that 2019’s High-level Mid-term Review of the SAMOA Pathway reinforced the urgency to support SIDS in the face of a tumultuous global economic, social and environmental landscape.


For Carla Mucavi’s full speech, please visit our Statements webpage.