November 2023: FAO experts in Brussels-engaging with partners and sharing knowledge

Throughout the month of November, FAO experts participated in key events in Brussels, contributing to discussions on vital topics related to climate change, agriculture, and sustainable agrifood systems.

Rosa Rolle, FAO's Senior Enterprise Development Officer, participated at the 14th meeting of the EU Platform on Food Losses and Food Waste on 7 and 8 November. Rolle presented FAO’s activities in promoting the reduction of food loss and waste while emphasizing that raising awareness must be an ongoing process to realize meaningful change in reducing food waste.

On 9 November, Maxwell Sibhensana, the newly appointed Deputy Director of the FAO Office of Emergencies and Resilience (OER) and the WFP Emergency Director, Kyung Nan Park presented jointly to the EU Council working party on Humanitarian Aid and Food Aid (COHAFA). The presentation gave an overview of the Hunger Hotspots report with a focus on the Sahel region.

The Hunger Hotspots is a joint FAO-WFP report within the framework of the Global Network Against Food Crises, providing a forward-looking analysis of hunger hotspots and early warnings on acute food insecurity.
Following the FAO-WFP presentation, Park and Sibhensana gave a joint interview that you can watch here.

Zitouni Ould-Dada, Deputy Director of the FAO Office for Climate Change, Biodiversity, and Environment participated at the "Climate Change, Geopolitics, and Food Security" dialogue hosted by the European Policy Centre on 13 November. During his intervention, Ould-Dada underscored the need for comprehensive solutions to the climate crisis and global food security, and for increased financing for climate adaptation, harnessing technological innovation, and leveraging local knowledge to deploy innovative solutions.

Mohamed Manssouri, Director of the FAO Investment Centre headed a delegation of experts in a visit to Brussels on 20-21 November, where they met with EU counterparts in relation to the Sustainable Agrifood Systems Transformation Initiative, the Sustainable Cocoa Initiative and other joint activities. Manssouri was accompanied by James Tefft, FAO Investment Center senior economist, Beatrice Ngirabacu, the Center's programme support specialist and Alessandro Marini, the Center's Chief of the West and Central Africa service.

On 21 November, Kirstin De Value from FAO’s Forestry Division participated at the meeting of the Amsterdam Declarations Partnership where the recently launched OECD-FAO Business Handbook on Deforestation and Due Diligence was discussed. On 22 November, she attended a meeting organized by GIZ and NGO partners on “Small-scale farmers, big challenges - Ensuring the EUDR is an opportunity for all". You may read more on the OECD-FAO Business Handbook on Deforestation and Due Diligence here.

José Valls Bedeau from FAO’s Systems and Food Safety Division delivered the keynote speech during a policy coherence workshop organized by the Joint Programming Initiative on Agriculture, Food Security and Climate Change and Healthy Diet, Healthy Life, on 27 November.

Hubert Boulet, Programme Coordinator of the Sustainable Wildlife Management (SWM) Programme, travelled to Brussels for exchanges with counterparts in the European Commission and other SWM Programme consortium partners on 29 and 30 November 2023.