(MENAFN – Emirates News Agency (WAM)) DUBAI, 5th July, 2017 (WAM) — A #UAE delegation, headed by Dr. Thani bin Ahmed Al-Zeyoudi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, is taking part in the FAO Conference 40th Session, attended by Saqr Nasser Al Raisi, #UAE Ambassador to the Republic of #Italy and #UAE Permanent Representative to the Food and #Agriculture Organisation, FAO.
The purpose of the Conference is to convene the Member Nations at FAO headquarters in Rome to review and vote on the Director-General’s proposed programme of work and budget.
Addressing the plenary session of the conference, Dr. Thani Al Zeyoudi said that climate change and its extreme impacts constitute the most important challenge facing agriculture and food production around the world.
He explained that while the world needs to increase agricultural production to meet the rising demand for food due to population growth, we are also required to reduce emissions from the food production sector, which accounts for 21 percent of the total greenhouse gas emissions, in order to achieve the goal of keeping the temperature below two degrees Celsius as compared to the pre-industrial era in accordance with the Paris Agreement.
Dr. Al Zeyoudi added that despite the environmental conditions and constraints, such as limited agricultural land, lack of soil, scarcity of irrigation water and harsh climate, faced by agriculture and food production in the UAE, the country has succeeded in establishing a remarkable agricultural progress based on increasing cultivated large areas of land and supplying water and production rquirements.
The minister explained that the #UAE has adopted flexible and climate-friendly agricultural practices, such as protected, organic and hydroponic agriculture.
The area of hydroponics increased by 124 percent during the period 2013-2016, while organic agriculture increased by more than 368 percent during the same period.
He also highlighted a number of initiatives and projects that the #UAE is working on, such as the Integrated Water and Aquaculture System Initiative, the Sustainable Bioenergy Research Consortium and the Strategic Tunnel Project in Abu Dhabi.
At the end of his speech, the minister extended an invitation to the delegations to participate in the second session of the Climate Change and Food Security Forum, to be held on the sidelines of the World Government Summit in February 2018 in Dubai.
WAM/Nour Salman