Regional consultation on “Trade, climate change and food security in South Asia”
The program is organized by South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWTEE) and Oxfam Novib. About 50 experts from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are participating in the program. The discussions during the program cover issues such as the Doha climate conference and global climate negotiations; SAARC Food Bank; SAARC Seed Bank; liberalization of environmental goods; regional trade in agriculture and food products; climate change adaptation; biofuel and food security; and technology transfer, among others.
Inaugurating the program, Dr. Abdur Rahim Mikrani, Member, National Planning Commission, Government of Nepal, said the meeting was timely in the context of severe impacts of climate change on agriculture, and the need for assessing the inter-linkages between trade, climate change and food security. He lauded SAWTEE’s key role in lobbying for a regional seed bank in South Asia, an agreement on which was signed at the 17th SAARC Summit in Male. He stressed the need to work out guidelines for the effective operationalization of the SAARC Food Bank, which has not been drawn upon by any member state even five years since its establishment although several countries have been hit by natural calamities resulting in food shortages.
A two-day Regional Consultation on “Trade, Climate Change and Food Security in South Asia” began in Kathmandu on 20 December, with participants from around the region calling for policies and strategies to cope with the impacts on agriculture and food production from a highly likely increase in global temperature of more than 2 percentage points above pre-industrial levels. They also called for simplifying the operational modalities of the SAARC Food Bank and making them more pragmatic for member countries to benefit from it in times of need.
The program is organized by South Asia Watch on Trade, Economics and Environment (SAWTEE) and Oxfam Novib. About 50 experts from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka are participating in the program. The discussions during the program cover issues such as the Doha climate conference and global climate negotiations; SAARC Food Bank; SAARC Seed Bank; liberalization of environmental goods; regional trade in agriculture and food products; climate change adaptation; biofuel and food security; and technology transfer, among others.
Inaugurating the program, Dr. Abdur Rahim Mikrani, Member, National Planning Commission, Government of Nepal, said the meeting was timely in the context of severe impacts of climate change on agriculture, and the need for assessing the inter-linkages between trade, climate change and food security. He lauded SAWTEE’s key role in lobbying for a regional seed bank in South Asia, an agreement on which was signed at the 17th SAARC Summit in Male. He stressed the need to work out guidelines for the effective operationalization of the SAARC Food Bank, which has not been drawn upon by any member state even five years since its establishment although several countries have been hit by natural calamities resulting in food shortages.
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