The future of food seems more and more uncertain in the Near East and North Africa (NENA), as it faces growing food insecurity and malnutrition. We can and must act now to address the root causes of this situation and transform the structures governing how what we eat is produced, distributed and consumed.
As things stand now, protracted crises driven by conflict and other humanitarian crisis, as well as a rapidly growing population, are leading to increasing dependence on food imports. These often overlapping risks are also combining with economic shocks to undermine livelihoods and push millions into high acute food insecurity. Poverty, widespread inequalities and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic are exacerbating the situation.
Most importantly, the region faces increasing pressure from the impacts of the climate crisis, extreme water scarcity and the degradation of natural resources, which further aggravate the severity and impact of shocks and erode resilience.
The NENA region has a long way to go to achieve the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 2 – targeting zero hunger by 2030. In 2020, 59.3 million people were undernourished in the region alone, which corresponds to 14.2 per cent of the region’s total population.
Around 165 million of the region’s inhabitants live in rural areas, where the majority of the poor have to put up with inadequate basic services, low opportunities for innovation, limited access to productive infrastructure, services and value chains and a lack of available jobs.
Increased migration to the region’s cities has been fuelling the ever-growing number of urban poor. Many are young people, who often do not find the opportunities they are seeking there.
The NENA region has to cope with structural challenges that make feeding a growing population particularly difficult. The result is that our agrifood systems are failing to support healthy diets. The food provides calories, but insufficient nutrition leading to the triple burden of malnutrition: stunting, obesity and micronutrient deficiencies.
We urgently need to transform our agrifood systems to make them more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable. The warning coming from science is unequivocal: simply scaling up is not going to be enough. We need structural change and we need to ensure it happens fast.
The first priority is to bring everyone to the table. Policymakers need to find solutions that can help reshape the future of the agrifood sector in the NENA region. This requires broad partnerships with all stakeholders, including the private sector, academia and civil society, to implement them.
We are now just eight planting seasons away from the 2030 timeline for achieving the Agenda for Sustainable Development. FAO has been advocating the importance of a comprehensive and coherent strategy to achieve these 17 goals, with agrifood systems at the center. Problems and solutions are inseparable. Our natural resources will only be preserved for future generations if we succeed in alleviating poverty and hunger by promoting sustainable agrifood systems and strengthening the resilience of rural communities. We must rethink our agrifood systems to reshape our future.
There is a range of short, medium and long-term actions we can take right now to build sustainable, inclusive and healthy agrifood systems. We must harness the potential of technologies and innovation across agrifood value chains to support rural transformation. There must be incentives, standards and norms to drive changes in patterns of consumption, reducing food losses and waste, scaling up land restoration and reforestation. It is important to set limits for agriculture water withdrawals, while increasing water productivity.
Solidarity and co-operation among countries and regions are key drivers for eradicating hunger
We will not reach our shared goal of zero hunger if the vulnerable are left behind. In countries experiencing complex emergencies, which are often also among the largest food crises in the world, stepping up investment in agriculture as a frontline humanitarian response not only saves lives and protects livelihoods in the short term, but can lay the foundations for future recovery and resilience building. Development efforts must combine with these efforts, engaging with peace and climate actors to secure sustainable transformation of agrifood systems.
FAO has decades of experience working on both humanitarian and development programmes. Through its focus on responses that strengthen resilience, FAO is simultaneously addressing the multiple risks and vulnerabilities facing populations, meeting immediate humanitarian needs and enabling them to be better prepared and more able to cope in the face of the next shock or stress.
Greater solidarity and co-operation among countries and regions are also key drivers for eradicating hunger, ending food insecurity and ensuring sustainability. We need to work together efficiently, effectively and in a coherent manner. Peace is an overarching requirement for many of these win-win solutions.
The FAO will continue to support countries' efforts to collaborate closely with international organizations, academia, the private sector, civil society, international financial institutions and all relevant stakeholder through a number of initiatives such as the Hand in Hand Initiative. FAO is committed to continue supporting members in the region design and implement the policies they need for inclusive productivity growth and food security for all.
The 36th Session of the FAO Regional Conference for the Near East (NERC36), starting this week, will provide an opportunity for the Ministers for Agriculture from the region to meet in Baghdad on February 7 and 8 to discuss challenges and priorities, and commit to take ownership and actions on transforming agrifood systems for the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Regional Conference is an important path towards the implementation of the FAO Strategic Framework 2022-2031 to ensure better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life for all, leaving no-one behind.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
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Hales' batting career
Tests 11; Runs 573; 100s 0; 50s 5; Avg 27.38; Best 94
ODIs 58; Runs 1,957; 100s 5; 50s 11; Avg 36.24; Best 171
T20s 52; Runs 1,456; 100s 1; 50s 7; Avg 31.65; Best 116 not out
MATCH INFO
Barcelona 4 (Messi 23' pen, 45 1', 48', Busquets 85')
Celta Vigo 1 (Olaza 42')
Results
Women finals: 48kg - Urantsetseg Munkhbat (MGL) bt Distria Krasniqi (KOS); 52kg - Odette Guiffrida (ITA) bt Majlinda Kelmendi (KOS); 57kg - Nora Gjakova (KOS) bt Anastasiia Konkina (Rus)
Men’s finals: 60kg - Amiran Papinashvili (GEO) bt Francisco Garrigos (ESP); 66kg - Vazha Margvelashvili (Geo) bt Yerlan Serikzhanov (KAZ)
Know before you go
- Jebel Akhdar is a two-hour drive from Muscat airport or a six-hour drive from Dubai. It’s impossible to visit by car unless you have a 4x4. Phone ahead to the hotel to arrange a transfer.
- If you’re driving, make sure your insurance covers Oman.
- By air: Budget airlines Air Arabia, Flydubai and SalamAir offer direct routes to Muscat from the UAE.
- Tourists from the Emirates (UAE nationals not included) must apply for an Omani visa online before arrival at evisa.rop.gov.om. The process typically takes several days.
- Flash floods are probable due to the terrain and a lack of drainage. Always check the weather before venturing into any canyons or other remote areas and identify a plan of escape that includes high ground, shelter and parking where your car won’t be overtaken by sudden downpours.
The specs
Engine: 6.2-litre V8
Power: 502hp at 7,600rpm
Torque: 637Nm at 5,150rpm
Transmission: 8-speed dual-clutch auto
Price: from Dh317,671
On sale: now
Brief scores:
Kashima Antlers 0
River Plate 4
Zuculini 24', Martinez 73', 90 2', Borre 89' (pen)
Groom and Two Brides
Director: Elie Semaan
Starring: Abdullah Boushehri, Laila Abdallah, Lulwa Almulla
Rating: 3/5
More on animal trafficking
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
Day 1, Dubai Test: At a glance
Moment of the day Sadeera Samarawickrama set pulses racing with his strokeplay on his introduction to Test cricket. It reached a feverish peak when he stepped down the wicket and launched Yasir Shah, who many regard as the world’s leading spinner, back over his head for six. No matter that he was out soon after: it felt as though the future had arrived.
Stat of the day - 5 The last time Sri Lanka played a Test in Dubai – they won here in 2013 – they had four players in their XI who were known as wicketkeepers. This time they have gone one better. Each of Dinesh Chandimal, Kaushal Silva, Samarawickrama, Kusal Mendis, and Niroshan Dickwella – the nominated gloveman here – can keep wicket.
The verdict Sri Lanka want to make history by becoming the first team to beat Pakistan in a full Test series in the UAE. They could not have made a better start, first by winning the toss, then by scoring freely on an easy-paced pitch. The fact Yasir Shah found some turn on Day 1, too, will have interested their own spin bowlers.
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THE SPECS
Engine: 1.5-litre
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Power: 110 horsepower
Torque: 147Nm
Price: From Dh59,700
On sale: now
Tributes from the UAE's personal finance community
• Sebastien Aguilar, who heads SimplyFI.org, a non-profit community where people learn to invest Bogleheads’ style
“It is thanks to Jack Bogle’s work that this community exists and thanks to his work that many investors now get the full benefits of long term, buy and hold stock market investing.
Compared to the industry, investing using the common sense approach of a Boglehead saves a lot in costs and guarantees higher returns than the average actively managed fund over the long term.
From a personal perspective, learning how to invest using Bogle’s approach was a turning point in my life. I quickly realised there was no point chasing returns and paying expensive advisers or platforms. Once money is taken care off, you can work on what truly matters, such as family, relationships or other projects. I owe Jack Bogle for that.”
• Sam Instone, director of financial advisory firm AES International
"Thought to have saved investors over a trillion dollars, Jack Bogle’s ideas truly changed the way the world invests. Shaped by his own personal experiences, his philosophy and basic rules for investors challenged the status quo of a self-interested global industry and eventually prevailed. Loathed by many big companies and commission-driven salespeople, he has transformed the way well-informed investors and professional advisers make decisions."
• Demos Kyprianou, a board member of SimplyFI.org
"Jack Bogle for me was a rebel, a revolutionary who changed the industry and gave the little guy like me, a chance. He was also a mentor who inspired me to take the leap and take control of my own finances."
• Steve Cronin, founder of DeadSimpleSaving.com
"Obsessed with reducing fees, Jack Bogle structured Vanguard to be owned by its clients – that way the priority would be fee minimisation for clients rather than profit maximisation for the company.
His real gift to us has been the ability to invest in the stock market (buy and hold for the long term) rather than be forced to speculate (try to make profits in the shorter term) or even worse have others speculate on our behalf.
Bogle has given countless investors the ability to get on with their life while growing their wealth in the background as fast as possible. The Financial Independence movement would barely exist without this."
• Zach Holz, who blogs about financial independence at The Happiest Teacher
"Jack Bogle was one of the greatest forces for wealth democratisation the world has ever seen. He allowed people a way to be free from the parasitical "financial advisers" whose only real concern are the fat fees they get from selling you over-complicated "products" that have caused millions of people all around the world real harm.”
• Tuan Phan, a board member of SimplyFI.org
"In an industry that’s synonymous with greed, Jack Bogle was a lone wolf, swimming against the tide. When others were incentivised to enrich themselves, he stood by the ‘fiduciary’ standard – something that is badly needed in the financial industry of the UAE."
The five pillars of Islam
1. Fasting
2. Prayer
3. Hajj
4. Shahada
5. Zakat
Muslim Council of Elders condemns terrorism on religious sites
The Muslim Council of Elders has strongly condemned the criminal attacks on religious sites in Britain.
It firmly rejected “acts of terrorism, which constitute a flagrant violation of the sanctity of houses of worship”.
“Attacking places of worship is a form of terrorism and extremism that threatens peace and stability within societies,” it said.
The council also warned against the rise of hate speech, racism, extremism and Islamophobia. It urged the international community to join efforts to promote tolerance and peaceful coexistence.
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Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
Zayed Sustainability Prize
Stuck in a job without a pay rise? Here's what to do
Chris Greaves, the managing director of Hays Gulf Region, says those without a pay rise for an extended period must start asking questions – both of themselves and their employer.
“First, are they happy with that or do they want more?” he says. “Job-seeking is a time-consuming, frustrating and long-winded affair so are they prepared to put themselves through that rigmarole? Before they consider that, they must ask their employer what is happening.”
Most employees bring up pay rise queries at their annual performance appraisal and find out what the company has in store for them from a career perspective.
Those with no formal appraisal system, Mr Greaves says, should ask HR or their line manager for an assessment.
“You want to find out how they value your contribution and where your job could go,” he says. “You’ve got to be brave enough to ask some questions and if you don’t like the answers then you have to develop a strategy or change jobs if you are prepared to go through the job-seeking process.”
For those that do reach the salary negotiation with their current employer, Mr Greaves says there is no point in asking for less than 5 per cent.
“However, this can only really have any chance of success if you can identify where you add value to the business (preferably you can put a monetary value on it), or you can point to a sustained contribution above the call of duty or to other achievements you think your employer will value.”
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
