DEAR EDITOR, is the Solomon Islands getting any help from the FAO and the WHO on how climate change is affecting the country and already impacting on local food systems and food security?
“A high-level meeting in Rome last November warned that climate change posed an “alarming threat to food systems and food security in the Pacific islands.”
“The Food and Agriculture Organisation’s director-general José Graziano da Silva then expressed Pacific leaders’ concerns on how climate impacts contribute to malnutrition and obesity…
“The leaders elaborated on how malnutrition led to non-communicable diseases, which account for 75 per cent of adult deaths in the region.
“Mr da Silva said promoting local products was essential rather than being reliant on imported foods, due to climate change.
“It was said that the FAO was working with the World Health Organisation on a pilot programme in the Marshall Islands, Nauru and Samoa on promoting healthy and fresh foods.
“It was said it was hoped to spread the programme across the Pacific.
“Nine countries participated in the meeting including Kiribati, Vanuatu, Nauru, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Samoa, Cook Islands, Papua New Guinea and French Polynesia.
“In a joint statement, the leaders reiterated their anxiety about ecosystem degradation and other challenges encapsulated in the Sustainable Development Goal 14 and called upon the international community to assist in maximizing the sustainable utilization of the fisheries and aquaculture sectors for the benefit of the small island developing states.
“They further recalled the endorsement of the Global Action Programme on Food Security and Nutrition in SIDS and called for immediate implementation.” Source: RNZI 2017 (All Rights Reserved)
I know only of the project initiated with help from New Zealand in promoting fish farming in the country but very little else of what might be happening with help from the two international agencies that are already aiding Nauru, Samoa and the Marshall Islands, but all with less populations than the Solomon Islands
Perhaps, this piece might induce some answers on the assistance being given to the SIG from the international community.
Yours sincerely
FRANK SHORT
