Tonga volcanic eruption and tsunami throws the vulnerability of the countries into sharp relief as they struggle to reach Sustainable Development Goals
Rome – The massive volcanic eruption and tsunami in Tonga last month, followed by last week’s earthquake and aftershocks, have highlighted the vulnerability of Small Island Developing States (SIDS), a global meeting focused on the countries and convened by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) has heard.
In opening remarks at the Global SIDS Solutions Dialogue, FAO’s Chief Economist, Máximo Torero Cullen, underscored “the severe challenge that SIDS face in moving towards the (UN’s) 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development” and the pressing need to build the resilience of these states to climate change, natural disasters and other external shocks including the COVID-19 pandemic.
“We have therefore made a concerted decision to prioritize activities for these countries and are working closely with SIDS networks and constituencies to implement them”, Torero Cullen said. “FAO is supporting SIDS to build back better and achieve better production, better nutrition, better environment and a better life,” which are the basis of FAO’s new strategic framework “to ensure more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems, thereby combating hunger, malnutrition, poverty and inequality.”
The Global SIDS Solutions Dialogue was jointly organized by the FAO Liaison Offices in Brussels, Geneva and New York and the FAO Office of SIDS, Least Developed Countries and Landlocked Developing Countries. The event sought to inform governments and development partners of the outcomes of a SIDS Solutions Forum held in Fiji last August. The Dialogue is set to kick-off a series of thematic events on transformation of food systems in SIDS, throughout the next two years.
To achieve recovery from COVID-19 and reach the SDGs, Torero Cullen stressed the importance of identifying homegrown solutions and harnessing innovation using digitalization as a force multiplier to accelerate the process.
