Enhancing food security in Asia-Pacific

Overview

Results

The team

Related information

So what's the problem?

This project stems from the Leader's Declaration at the 16th Asia-Pacific Economic Forum (APEC) Economic Leaders' Meeting in Lima, Peru in 2008. Food Security is a concern of APEC, and a first ever ministerial meeting on food security was held by APEC in October 2010. The Ministerial meeting discussed food safety and agricultural trade, and addressed the idea of sustainable development of the agriculture sector to increase the availability of sufficient, safe and nutritious food in the region.

According to the "Strategic Framework for Food Security in APEC," distributed at the meeting, about eight million people die each year of hunger-related causes in the world, and despite good progress in the APEC region there are still tens of millions of people suffering hunger and malnutrition in the region.

This project supports the concerns of the APEC Leader's Declaration and addresses the regional economic challenge of Improving Food Security in the Asia-Pacific. It proposes a workshop on topics including pest management, biosecurity, and management of invasive agricultural pest species.

What is this project doing?

The interactive workshop, supported by appropriate pre-workshop activities, will focus on: i) reviewing existing pest management policies and practices among member economies, particularly the role of stakeholder involvement in these processes; ii) assessing the situation in developing member economies with respect to the development and implementation of biosecurity approaches to the management of invasive agricultural pest species and iii) suggesting appropriate strategies for wide stakeholder participation in enhancing biosecurity management in support of food security objectives.

Workshop deliberations will be guided to opportunities for innovation and joint action in the form of a regional framework for sharing and learning of relevant knowledge, so that interventions to reduce crop losses can be better implemented. A regional and pre-emptive approach to deal with the challenge of effective management of invasive agricultural pests will be put in place. Invasive pests are a common threat to economies in the region, and can best be addressed by collaborative action on quarantine and phytosanitary measures, and regulations governing market access and trade.

Results so far

Project outcomes will be noted shortly.

Project Manager