Tag: sustainable development goals

Lisa Singh, who is the UN Resident Coordinator in Mauritius and Seychelles, was speaking ahead of the UN Food Systems Summit +2 which is taking place in Italy from 24 to 26 July.

“This is a particularly compelling time to be the Resident Coordinator for a small island state like Mauritius. Since my arrival here in 2022, I have experienced examples of extreme weather conditions such as flooding and cyclones on the one hand and water shortages on the other.

This visible effect of climate change combined with our geographical remoteness, small scale of economies, and high import costs have grave consequences for our island’s food security. It has gained greater momentum since the COVID-19 pandemic and Ukraine war-related supply and commodity shocks, raising strong preoccupations with food security as a key to the sustainable economic transformation agenda.

Food systems have emerged not only as an agricultural challenge but as a game-changer to catalyse results across multiple SDGs. The upcoming event in Italy provides an opportunity for the two countries to focus on the way forward to accelerate the transformative power of food systems.

Food production must be viewed across sectors and not in isolation. Water and energy are direct inputs at all stages of the food value chain, while natural resources, ecosystems, and their services underpin the security of these inputs. Agriculture accounts for 30 per cent of water use in Mauritius alone. Globally, one third of the world’s available energy is consumed by the food production value chain.

Taking holisitic approach

Addressing water scarcity and investing in renewable energy is critical to food security. Mauritius imports three quarters of its energy with renewable energy, accounting for 24 per cent of its current energy mix. It imports over 77 per cent of its food requirements with households under strain as food prices on staple goods such as bread, black lentils, powdered milk, and cooking oil continue to rise. Our reliance on imports such as seeds, fertilizers, pesticides, technology, and equipment leave it vulnerable to worldwide commodity and supply disruptions.

Transforming food systems can play a key role in countries’ climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies. For instance, in line with its nationally determined contributions, Mauritius has re-affirmed its commitments to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from the agricultural sector. The country has also identified agriculture as a priority sector for climate change adaptation with much focus on efficient irrigation techniques and climate-smart agriculture.

Clearly for the UN team, supporting a holistic systems approach to address the interlinkages between food, climate, water, energy, and gender is critical.

Power of partnerships

We are taking a dual focus. There is the institutional engagement to inform the strategies, policies, and budgets necessary to transform food systems as well as influencing budget allocations.

We also aim at strengthening community resilience, leveraging the power of partnerships, digital platforms, private-public modalities, and data, with the inclusion of women and youth at the centre.

For countries like Mauritius, where tourism is a significant source of GDP earnings, the impact of climate change poses a sustainability risk given its rare yet fragile natural ecosystems.

Lives and livelihoods of communities, particularly in coastal areas, are directly impacted. Coral bleaching and human pollution is putting pressure on the lagoon ecosystem affecting our artisanal fishers like Nazma and her family.

She has been an artisanal fisher for over 30 years along with her husband and several of her children. This is a sustainable way of fishing, as only lines are used unlike in commercial fishing. Furthermore, most of the fish caught by them are for consumption in Mauritius as opposed to export.

Nazma says that she loves everything about fishing. It is a passion that has become her job. But, she emphasizes that life is expensive, fuel is expensive, and there are fewer fish in the lagoon.

The UN, in collaboration with the European Union through the Ecofish project, is using innovations in technology to empower artisanal fishers to move out of over-exploited lagoons.

Nurturing ‘smart’ agriculture

By improving the economic resilience of these traditional fisher communities, food security will be strengthened through better-managed marine resources.

In Rodrigues, which is part of the archipelago of Mauritius, we are working with eight women who have formed the Rodrigues Turmeric Producers Association to grow and process turmeric into powder for sale.

Addressing the energy inputs into agriculture, one of the association members, Marie-Anne, says that with financial backing from the Small Grants Programme (SGP) of the UN-supported Global Environment Facility (GEF), she and her peers were able to buy a solar dryer to replace an electric one that consumed a lot of energy and cost a lot of money.

Her colleague and friend, Perrine, explains how the business allows women to emancipate themselves. It will also enable their grandchildren to continue this work because turmeric will always be there.

There are other innovative sustainable food systems solutions being piloted by UN agencies in Mauritius. The UN Development Programme (UNDP), together with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and UN Women under the Joint SDG Fund, are promoting low-cost biofertilizers made locally from seaweed.

Initiatives to nurture smart agriculture are being supported by FAO, UNDP, the UN Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), and the UN Population Fund (UNFPA).

With only seven years left to deliver on the 2030 Agenda our UN Country Team in Mauritius will continue its efforts to support the diversification of the economy, strengthen the circular economy, and invest in human capital to combat supply shocks.

Working in partnership to further climate action and foster resilient pathways is key to protecting the future of Mauritius for our people, planet, prosperity, and peace.”

The unpaved road to the village is bumpy and sandy. For people living here, however, the path and the intense heat are part of daily life.

High temperatures have not stopped Foureyratou Saidou, a single mother of four and recent widow, from tending to the community garden next to the village. The payoffs are worth it, she said.

“In this garden, we now grow and harvest onions, tomatoes, lettuce, and other vegetables that we eat and that we can sell in the local market,” she says. “Before, we didn’t have much to live for. Now we do, and we don’t want to leave.”

Ms. Saidou is among thousands of farmers benefiting from the World Food Programme’s (WFP) integrated resilience programme, launched nearly a decade ago in Niger and four other Sahel countries – Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali and Mauritania.

Harvesting hope

She is also among millions of women farmers across the world who are harvesting hope ahead of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, observed on 17 June. Her leafy garden represents a step towards cultivating land into a livelihood.

Supporting the Niger government’s national priorities and in partnership with multiple UN and non-governmental partners, the WFP initiative covers such areas as land rehabilitation, livelihood diversification, school meals, nutrition interventions, and improved agricultural production and market access.

So far, the effort is assisting 3 million people across the Sahel region, including 1.8 million in 2,000 villages in Niger last year, to better prepare for and recover from myriad interconnected shocks, including climate change, land degradation, soaring prices, and conflict.

Turning the tables

In regions severely affected by the ongoing food crisis, 80 per cent of villages benefitting from WFP resilience activities did not require humanitarian assistance in 2022, according to the agency. That translates into about 500,000 people who did not need emergency support, or about $30 million in savings, according to the UN agency.

Unrolled across the country, the programmes also promote women’s participation and empowerment, with a sharp focus on areas with the highest food insecurity that tend to face conflict or host large concentrations of displaced people, intensifying demand for scarce resources.

The initiatives include land rehabilitation, using such innovative techniques as digging in half-moon shapes that slow and capture rainwater flow, which helps to improve plant growth.

So far, more than 233,000 hectares have been rehabilitated since the initiative’s launch in 2014, with WFP now planning to expand to new areas and equip more people with the tools they need.

Tools to thrive

Such efforts are critical, as newly released expert findings show that acute food insecurity in the Sahel is expected to reach a ten-year-high by June, the agency said. In Niger, the findings predict some 3.3 million people will be acutely hungry during the June-August lean season, up from 2.5 million now.

“Turning around these numbers requires not only short-term actions but, above all, actors coming together to implement more sustainable and transformative solutions at an impactful scale,” WFP Niger Country Director Jean-Noel Gentile said. “Through our integrated resilience projects, WFP with the government and partners are together empowering vulnerable populations to have the tools they need to thrive.”

‘It all starts with the land’

WFP has scaled up its resilience activities in Niger, after findings showed they have restored natural resources, increased farm revenues, reduced migration and conflict over scarce resources, and improved education and nutrition.

“It all starts with the land,” said Volli Carucci, who heads WFP’s resilience programme. “Without productive land, there’s no food production. The land is the starting point of resilient food systems, which communities can count on.”

That’s the case in Satara, where a WFP-supported community gardening initiative has transformed once-barren land.

Reasons for staying

Ms. Saidou is now a member of a village market cooperative that sells the garden’s surplus, beyond what members keep to feed their families, in the local market.

Profits are plowed back into village-level investments to improve land productivity, the UN food agency said. It is also one of many examples where WFP is better linking farmers to markets and expanding their profits and overall food access.

While many men have left villages like Satara in search of work, Ms. Saidou now sees reasons for staying.

“I am working for the good health of my children and to give them the chance to study and stay in our village,” she said. “I want the garden to grow bigger, so that we have more to sell and more income to invest in the family and in the community.”

Community role model

Around southeastern Niger’s Gaffati village, for example, some 300 people are participating in a WFP-supported reforestation project that sees acacia trees, native shrubs, and grasses for fodder sprouting across a region made barren by seasonal drought, floods, overgrazing, and other harmful practices.

“I am determined to teach other women everything I learned in the past years on how to cook healthy and nutritious meals to feed our children, and how to take care of ourselves as mothers,” says 40-year-old Alia Issaka, a single mother of eight, who is enrolled in a community-based nutrition programme.

“It is not an easy job to be a role model for the community,” said Ms. Issaka, who also heads a local women’s association. “But, I feel a responsibility, so more women can participate in decision-making and in improving their family’s health.”

Learn more about WFP’s work in Niger here.