Arab leaders and their representatives at the recent UN Summit on Sustainable Development in New York were part of the global consensus to ensure that every person will be food secure “year round” by 2030.
Food Security is Goal 2 of the 17 global Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) unanimously approved at the Summit on September 25, 2015. And there is a sense of urgency and mobilization, especially for the achievement of SDG 2 on Food Security.
However, all current expectations are that unless drastic—but achievable—changes are implemented immediately, the Region, again, will miss the food security target. “Again” because on poverty and on hunger and nutrition the Arab Region was one of the rare regions of the world where the previous global goals (Millenium Development Goals or MDGs) were not met. The main reason then (and now) is violence and conflict, causing an increase in hunger and malnutrition in the last four years–we closed in on the end of the MDG period, in December, 2015.
With violence and dysfunction still plaguing the Region, what can we do differently to ensure that SDG2 is achieved? What are the signals from the global context on SDG implementation? How can these be mobilized for the good of the peoples of the Region?
In the global SDG context, “means of implementation” and “accountability frameworks” have been under discussion for at least 2 years and principles for the follow-up and implementation of SDGs were approved together with the SDGs. The Arab Countries had provided an input in this global accountability exercise. Three principles stand out in the implementation of the SDGs and SDG2 in particular—with specific opportunities for immediate action, lest the September SDG-momentum be allowed to fade away:
- Country-led actions: The global consensus was very clear: no single UN or similar agency would be mandated with the implementation of any of the SDGs. The actions, at any level—National, Regional or Global—would be in the hands of countries and their peoples. On SDG2 (Food Security), the League of Arab States (LAS) has enacted since 2009 an “Emergency Food Security Program” that is now overdue for a re-consideration in view of the new realities in the Region since the onset of Arab uprisings and the realization that very little progress was being achieved even without the uprisings. Whether through this Program or outside of it, urgent regional decisions are needed to agree on a framework for action in the implementation of SDG2. This framework would include regional-level issues but also share experiences in the implementation of priorities at the national level;
- Priorities at the National Level: (i) Areas under conflict are the main cause of hunger in the Region. We now have evidence that investing in food security and other developmental work actually contributes to decreasing conflict: Countries and areas of the Arab World that are under conflict should receive support to feed the displaced and others affected by conflicts, but also receive assistance for longer term development of their regions—especially in the dry, rain-fed areas, the main suppliers of the internally displaced and refugee populations; (ii) While there is a quasi-consensus in the Region that no workable plan can be found for complete food self-sufficiency, there is still an inordinate waste in resources (especially non-renewable water resources) for reaching a momentary level of “strategic” supply of agriculture products—a review of policies to reverse non-sustainable production practices is a priority;
- Data: In the coming months (and until March 2016) the UN Statistical Commission will be finalizing its discussions of a set of indicators for all SDGs, including SDG2. Countries of the Region should take active part in these discussions. Of particular importance to the Region are indicators of governance of food security including under emergency conditions, child stunting, obesity, efficiency of production systems especially with respect to energy and water use, increased and equitable access to food. Also, universities and research centers should be front and center in providing to national statistics offices and to decision makers evidence and data: (i) for the diagnostics of food security in the Region; (ii) monitoring of progress made; and (iii) lessons learned on the ground from various strategies for food security (as an example, the Arab Spatial, the platform housing the present blog, will incorporate the relevant SDG indicators for tracking and reporting as an input to the monitoring of SDG progress in the Region
Do not wait for the guns to stop but foster peace –including through food security interventions; Do not bemoan the lack of data but support those who generate and analyze it; and, most importantly, support the Arab Countries in their efforts to fix their governance in general—perhaps starting with the SDGs and implementation of SDG2 on food security in particular. This is the hope.
