Forum global sur la sécurité alimentaire et la nutrition (Forum FSN)

Let me begin by identifying the justifiable areas of pragmatic action we may undertake under the ægis of FAO to address the issue. But before we can make our first move, we run into two very thorny problems. First, achieving a more or less common notion of poverty, and the second, what are the actual poverty-inducing mechanisms one may justifiably associate with climate change in our target area?

In many a discussion on this forum and elsewhere, I have emphasized the obvious unjustifiability of using any economic yardstick to measure poverty, for it is based on unstated assumption the human beings are mere numbers devoid of needs common to all people of flesh and blood. I have tried to bring about the awareness that all economic activities and value tokens like money have no value in vacuo, but they acquire a value commensurate with their instrumentality in enabling man to satisfy any one of his six fundamental needs.

Let me offer an extreme example. Imagine a man with sacks of gold coins marooned on a lush tropical island whose inhabitants have a superfluity of food and know nothing about gold coins, and are peaceful but not at all generous to strangers. On this mythical tropical paradise, our visitor will most likely perish of starvation, just like any other penniless waif in a big city during a harsh winter.

Why do not we consider the common cause of suffering and death of both, thwarted ability to satisfy the need for nutrition as a justifiable indicator of poverty? Clearly, having money alone could not have alleviated poverty in both cases. This may be rejected as based on an artificial example, but the assumption, having means to procure food ensures one an adequate nutrition is simply illogical. In addition to having the financial means, food will have to be available for purchase, and the purchaser will have to have the dietary and culinary competence needed to prepare it before one can address one’s need for nutrition.

Just a few more words on our remaining fundamental needs. They are health, education and security in their real general sense, procreation, and a set of non-material needs. The latter are so called, because their satisfaction does not involve any material gain whatsoever; æstetic enjoyment, taking part in games and sports, etc., are some of the means used to meet this need. Their importance to life is not equal in degree, but they all make a contribution to one’s quality of life as a human being.

Many navigators during the great era of exploration, and naturalists and anthropologists (Cook, Dampier, Malinowski, Bougainville, etc., etc.) have left us vivid descriptions of life on islands in the Pacific, while some mediaeval Islamic travelers like Ibn Battuta has given us a picture of life on the Maldives. Allowing for their individual bias (Malinowski was free of it); one cannot help but notice that those islanders enjoyed a higher quality of life during those pre-monetary days than they do now.

I postulate that this is because they cannot now satisfy those six needs as adequately as they did earlier, and it has nothing to do with economic wealth per se. Therefore, it is reasonable to postulate that poverty is one’s state of life when one is unable to adequately satisfy any one or more of our six fundamental needs. After all, many of us agree that there is such a thing as cultural poverty, not an uncommon state of affairs in many an affluent country.

However, FAO has a limited capacity to address all six manifestations of poverty, even though there is a complex link among them. For instance, lack of appropriate agricultural competence (derived from suitable education and training) may induce hunger induced poverty even when other necessary conditions to overcome it obtains. Likewise, a lack of proper health facilities may reduce both one’s ability to produce and/or procure an adequate supply of food. Hence, I will confine myself to poverty alleviation with respect to nutrition, particularly as it is affected by adverse climate change.

After narrowing down our efforts to the most relevant area of a possible way forward, let us look at some of the most important criteria any appropriate and successful action should meet. These criteria fall into two categories, viz., those that apply to non-producers of food, and those that their counterpart should meet. The former group includes politicians, administrators, traders, consumers as well as the food producers, while the second group only includes those who either produce or harvest (fishermen) food. Thus, the consumers overlap the producers, but the latter remains distinct.

From this it should be evident that unless both groups act in unison to achieve our common objective, use of no technological improvement in food production/harvesting per se could ever make a significant improvement in poverty manifesting as hunger or some form of malnutrition. And it will also be evident that appropriate action each group should undertake is distinct and different; while the first group undertakes enabling action, the latter ought to engage itself in actual food production.

Now I think this is our over-riding difficulty. Locally successful relevant projects are legion, but sadly, sustained nationally successful enabling efforts are hard to come by. Perhaps, FAO might begin to explore with greater vigour suitable ways of encouraging the national decision-makers to undertake sustained efforts to enable food producers to carry out their task with greater convenience and profit to themselves rather than to some middlemen.

After this necessary setting of the scene, let us get down to business, to be precise, dealing with the effects of adverse climate change on poverty that manifests itself as an inadequate ability to procure a varied and wholesome diet in a sustainable way. Here, we run into a bunch of variations. They fall into two distinct groups whose mutual dependence is somewhat one-sided. Let me explain this curious point.

While actions of the relevant decision-makers like politicians, administrators, etc., can easily have an enhancing or an adverse effect on mitigating the consequences of climate change on food production, even the most appropriate actions undertaken by the food producers or harvesters could alleviate poverty with respect to nutrition unless all the consumers in an island state are willing and able to act responsibly in unison. Also, it must be borne in mind that what constitute appropriate behavior on the part of general public shows a considerable variation. A non-exhaustive list of those will include the following reasons for this diversity:

Cultural variation; particularly with reference to food culture which can be ignored only at grave peril to the welfare of the inhabitants, for the bio-diversity on and around islands is highly vulnerable to the introduction of foreign species. This in turn, could only exacerbate the effects of climate change.

Water cycle that supplies its water and how it is retained is variable. For instance, Micronesia and Maldives depends on seasonal rains from a global weather system, which is retained in the ground by a stratum of lime stone. But islands like Tahiti and Pitcairn also receive water from rain through the interaction between mountains and moisture laden air resulting from the daily land and sea breeze.

In a considerable number of islands, fisheries are a vital source of food. But, the possibility of those edible fish living there depends on the health of the coral reefs on or around them. These have been criminally destroyed in several places through the use of Sodium Cyanide and dynamite, primarily to provide fish for markets in China and to a lesser extent, to aquaria in affluent homes in East and West.

Many fertile islands have been denuded of their trees turning them into semi-deserts, and when mountainous, rain water has carried away the top soil into the sea killing the corals around them. This has led to soil infertility on land and scarcity of fish on once rich waters. (examples: Madeira, Celebes now called Sulawesi, and all pacific islands where there are tourist hotels for Japanese now)

Danger of radio-active seepage from French and US nuclear tests, and still unremoved chemical weapons from the Second World War. Even though the focus of this threat is small, nobody can be certain of how living things will react to their long-term exposure even in small quantities.

Disproportionate non-native ownership of island property ostensibly to engage in activities to ‘boost’ the local economy. Unfortunately, many still believe in this modernish myth as GDP’s increase on glossy paper, while the local poor get poorer prey to alcohol, drugs, and lethargy losing the last of their possessions, viz., their dignity.

I hope that the foregoing will make it clear that it is difficult to recommend a simple set of best practices of universal applicability without doing more harm than good to our target groups. Obviously, this does not entitle us to remain inactive, and much can still be done. But, it is crucial to understand that our success depends on our willingness and ability to adopt a holistic approach that would embody simultaneous appropriate action by the various sub-groups in the two main groups, viz., the food consumers and producers.

Unfortunately for the islanders on some isles, it is not just the consumers on them who decide what they are able to do. International trade laws can often hamstring every suitable action towards greater resilience in food production and enhanced local nutrition. For instance, consider the case of Panguna copper mine on the island of Bougainville. A referendum is planned for 2019 to determine whether the island should become independent of Papua-New Guinea, and the inhabitants are now dependent on imported food purchased with money earned through the export of copper ore.

The rich flora and fauna on the island as described by the explorer after whom the island is named is no more. And gone are the traditional sources of food. So, nutritional dependence supported through ore export seems to be the only short-term solution. But, how adequate that nutrition would be, depends on international copper prices, and the willingness of the investors to put in money to the mine for the necessary maintenance and improvement. In view of the present politically unstable situation this remains dubious.

So, we need the real cooperation of consumer groups everywhere to help the islanders in two main directions. The reasons for this are very simple, for island climatic changes are mainly due to what happens elsewhere in the world. These events fall into two distinct categories; first, the natural cyclical changes in sun’s and earth’s movements, and fluctuations in solar activity, and secondly, human behavior throughout the globe.

Thus, nothing short of a coordinated and sincere global effort could halt the wide-spread suffering and degradation of island peoples, and help them on the way to regaining their dignity as human beings. Trade is certainly not the way there, for it has so far only led to exploitation and scarcely publicized cruelty and misery. It is not easy to remain unmoved if one is aware of the enormous injustices past and present, and how they are being glossed over even today. But, let us try to be objective lest we be labelled too unfashionable.

I will not go into the wide variety of measures each of us could take to improve our immediate environment, for they have been well publicized. But what we have failed to do is to mitigate some of the greatest hindrances to their wider application, which are beyond the power of the individual to overcome. After dealing with them in outline, I will try to make some general recommendations, which must be adapted to suit a given island’s climatic, geographic and food cultural norms. Under no circumstance should they be coloured by external trade considerations.

We are not born with even a trace of the knowledge and skills needed to enable us to live as civilized humans according to our cultural norms. These including those norms must be acquired through education in its inclusive sense as I have noted earlier in this discussion. At present, trend everywhere is to ‘tailor the individual’s education as dictated by trade and industry’.

This is called a ‘practical education’, but for whom it is most practical, obviously to the owners of industry and traders, is never emphasized. The poor student is made to believe that his interest and that of the trader or industrialist is the same, even though he is often no more than a mere hard-working automaton whose economic status is a far cry from that of his big boss. When you compare the proportional gains the two categories make, it is inevitable that the gap between the rich and poor will continue to increase even if other things remain equal.

But it is not in the mind set of traders and industrialists to keep the status quo. They are merely motivated by increasing their annual gains whether they are able to enjoy them within their life span or not. The principal tool used to achieve this desire for increasing gain is humourously called, “promoting economic growth” or “diversification of investment portfolios”, or even better, “re-location of production units”. The last wonder often leads to many job losses in the newly “de-located” country, and many a derelict factory.

Meanwhile, the country of ‘re-location’ (I will continue to use this semantic monstrosity, ‘re-location’ even though it needs only a vestigial intelligence to realise that one can only relocate something that has already been there and removed.) will begin to contribute even more to adverse climate change than the previous one for two reasons.

Building factories in otherwise virgin areas (country of re-location usually is.) leads to a greater imbalance in solar heat exchange between the ground and space than it did in the country of origin.

Owing to rather flexible standards of production often result in greater emissions of green-house gases and other toxic substances.

Recalling once more oft loudly supported ‘right to culture’, let us try to put into the test, for many a small island state, there seems to be no refuge from their current misery other than in reclaiming as much of their island norms as possible. Apart from a few unfortunate islands containing industrial raw materials like metal ore, petroleum, etc., there is no other practical choice. I wish to underline with greatest emphasis possible that turning them into artificial holiday resorts for the affluent foreigners is worse than the traditional colonialism. Turning islands into tourist camps of various kinds will make a few corrupt islanders, foreign food and drink suppliers, and foreign hotel owners rich, leaving the majority of the local people to work as minions for minimal wages to buy imported ‘food’. This horrid picture can be turned into impressive numbers showing economic boom! But for whom?

I hope that the discussion so far has made it amply clear that amelioration of adverse climate changes as they affects nutrition in small island states depends principally on the actions of the world outside, while some actions often undertaken by foreigners on them have a slightly less disruptive and land impoverishing effect. Let us now see what pragmatic actions might be carried out under FAO in order to mitigate them. These fall into two categories; first, the institutional endeavours that influence the various groups among the consumers, and secondly, field activities tailored to suit the conditions prevailing in specific locations.

Institutional changes:

Trade policies and legislation to halt further building of tourist facilities on small island states, particularly on beaches once covered by coconut palm, and encourage their gradual dismantling. Their effect on local solar heat exchange is dramatic, and its worst consequence is a greatly reduced monsoon rain fall on which islanders depend in many places. This change also affects sea temperature around coral reefs killing the coral with drastic results for local fisheries.

Institute policies and enforceable laws to ensure that the fishing fleets of technically advanced nations (especially Japan, China including Taiwan and Korea) adhere and respect the 200 Kn. Economic zones of the island states. Unfortunately sometimes, political corruption at home enables the technically but not ethically advanced nations to obtain permission to fish in those zones with the help of bribery. As far as I can see, continued media exposure seems to be the only way to elicit enough shame in the corrupting and corrupted nations to behave more responsibly.

World-wide checks and controls to ascertain and ensure that ‘re-located industries follow adequate guidelines on factory emissions especially when‘re-located’ in various categories of ‘developing countries’.

Instruments necessary to halt further global deforestation and initiate immediate environmental regeneration projects like planting native tree species in denuded areas, public spaces, along roads and highways, river banks; initiate research and development of roofing and external wall paint having similar thermal properties as grass or the tree canopy to achieve a solar heat exchange rate more or less similar to that of a natural habitat.

Encouragement of the use of appropriate technology that supports the full use of all renewable resources including human labour, and active discouragement of labour-saving methods for they benefit not the labour, but those who employ it. It is time the experts began to appreciate the simple fact that while labour-saving methods may boost the profits of the investors, it leaves fewer and fewer opportunities to the ever-growing global population for very few of them are able and willing to become experts or investors. Therefore, it would be wise to initiate family planning and economic devolution. One can make a start with some sound anti-trust legislation.

Empowerment of people everywhere through sound public education on the relationship between climate and our environment, and what each and every one of us could easily do.

Local actions to be adapted to suit specific needs:

Increase the local people’s awareness (especially among the younger generation) of how fragile is their environment owing to their limited natural biodiversity in flora and flora, and that of their marine resources despite its great diversity. Once this is understood, it would be easier for them to realise that some of the ‘old practices’ were based on sound scientific fact, and they were sustainable.

Refrain from introducing ‘improved strains’ for most islands (of course, there are some exceptions) has soil best suited for local cultivars that require no fertilisers, biocides etc. It is easier for the latter to be carried to the sea from islands causing great damage to fisheries.

Extensive replanting of local species of utility like coconut, sweet potato, yams, taro, some edible species of Pandanus (Papua New Guinea), etc.

Strict coast-line and coral reef protection and preservation for not only do the local fisheries, but also the safety of the coastal areas from marine erosion depend on them.

Use of the local building materials for housing and deprecating the use of corrugated iron and concrete for the purpose, for the latter entails the extra cost of cooling and the use of fossil fuel.

When a small island nation depends on mineral extraction as a main source of revenue as in Cyprus and Bougainville, it would be wise to establish some fund derived from the profits that may finance appropriate and sustainable agricultural projects with a view to the future.

I am sure that many other contributors will continue to offer many concrete projects while I have limited myself to the conditions they should meet, and to creating an atmosphere more receptive to what is good and sound in the past, and what is destructive and self-defeating in some of the highly advertised modern ways. Island youth might not know what price the affluent pay for their gleaming labour-saving machines and gadgets, but a short documentary on the incidence of obesity and consequent diseases, and money spent on ‘health studios’ and what they do there , should prove to be salutary.

I am afraid that I have been rather polemical here, but I am convinced that the plight of small island states is a problem they will never be able to address on their own, for it is a problem caused by the outsiders in the first place, and then, they were made dependent on outside powers. As most of them have little or no raw material needed by industry, this dependence is near total in some cases. On top of this, their environment is among the most fragile on earth, poor on land in diversity, but enormous in the surrounding seas.

So, one can only draw one logical conclusion; it is incumbent upon us to help, but not help to turn their shores into cheap tourist brochures while the once proud and independent islanders are left to perform menial tasks for tourists, but to help them to be independent from our interference, to make amends at least by supporting them to be once more free, and regain their dignity we deprived them for so long.

Let me share a few considerations, which I realize are fairly simplistic and not very original. By and large, plantation systems have drastically changed SIDS initially subsistence-based economies. Plantation workers and their households became increasingly dependent on imported foods and progressively abandoned traditional foods and local varieties. The environment impact of plantations was not factored in and local communities lost access to land.

As a result, SIDS now face all forms of malnutrition (and in particular diet-related non-communicable diseases), the environment is degraded and biodiversity eroded, communities are disempowered and poverty is on the rise. Tourists are fed imported foods and it is difficult to find local fruits in market or supermarkets. And in isolated islands in the South Pacific when the boat does not come, food insecurity becomes a problem. Water levels rise and hurricanes and cyclones are on the increase

Re-localizing food systems, including sustainable management of local biodiversity (often more resilient to prevailing climate hazards), in order to make best use of the island natural resources and revive local food cultures, seems an obvious starting point to shorten food chains and diversify diets, facilitating consumer access to and supplying local markets with fresh and micro-nutrient rich foods and identifying and promoting niche (and organic/seasonal?) products, to provide job and employment all along the food chain, contribute to local economies and overall contributing to SIDS resilience.

SUBJ: A few humble thoughts and observations from Isla Colon, Panama a Caribbean Region, with a permacultures’ perspective to contribute to ; What story can Small Island Developing States (SIDS) tell on addressing the relationship between poverty and climate change?

Island life inherently calls for a certain amount of sustainability. On the island where the Nutritional Diversity study in Bocas del Toro, Panama is located, having a water tank and a septic system is a necessity. The central distribution of water in the community comes on once or twice a day, and water is often collected in a storage tank (5$ bucket to 500$ plastic) of your own to have it at your home tap all day long. Many home tap water pressure is aided with a home water pump (150$). If one cannot afford a human waist septic system they will go into the ocean or behind a tree. Unfortunately, I told by local residents even large hotels are at times responsible for significant waist spills into the waters just right there at the beaches.

The ex-pat, tourist communities that come from where these garbage products are created do most of the humanitarian work to clean it up on the Panama island beaches and unfortunate dumping sites from my brief observations. The island has greatly benefited (in most eyes) from tourism and expatriotism. Still many will say that further development along this path will end up being too much and the quality will slide down a degree from a peak quality of life marker.

This particular Island boasts many benefits, such as no storms, insulated calm archipelago waters, and during the last cycle of damaging hurricanes the island experienced minor storm weather.

Sudden booms in population, and large ship traffic and boat traffic around the town of Almirante, Panama where much of the Chiquita Banana crop was once farmed, with large port equipment installations has created water quite toxic in its bay. Water is essential to all human life and always has been this community has surely suffered greatly it is water condition.

Many local people feel a certain level of resentment to the foreign occupation of their country that almost mirrors them is population size now. It's hard to say if foreign influxes motivate new hopes or ideas.

Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Sustainable Technologies:

Barbados was a big customer of home roof top water heater systems. The system has a 500 gallon tank and compression, vacuum tube heaters and ends up being 6 foot by 4 foot roughly and be very careful, the water coming out of this tank is hot! I have not seen this here yet.

Barbados is different than normal volcanic earth island terrain, it is a surfaced natural water purifying reef. The locals simply drill into the reef and disposes waist into it. Coastal water there was as clean as can be and the run distilled there, is famously some of the best here is. Barbados is the only other island I have had the pleasure to visit in the Caribbean.

Local growing here on Isla Colon is limited mostly to papaya, platoon, banana, pineapple, and yucca cassava, and surprisingly few people grow things, and when they do , they often grow a small amount, Some growers will have guandu, some more exotic tubers, sandias, zapio, potatoes, tomatoes, celery and perennial vegetables, etc. In the area of the islands of Bocas del Toro, Panama and abundance of incredible foreign entities

Well water, and spring installation is unknown to most of the residents.

Panama however struggles with unfortunate waist spills and dumps that collect in her harbours. Septic waist processing, with leech fields and composting toilets are used many times for septic waist. The archipelago features a warm protected waters, places that dolphins accumulate etc. However, also when toxicity enters the water from the town, it can be around for a few days.

Well Made Educational programs that show families how to receive immediate benefit from sustaineable and permaculture practices could be seriously beneficial. People here I have noticed love the cell phones, they love the video age. Vidoe delivery of permaculture information intheri language and other languages can lead to a more smart, diverse and capable community.

It could be a long shot culturally, but a stern thought is that integrated 'humanuer' processing systems could do great for small permaculture, sustainable properties. These types of larger plant site, type installations can be made for only double the cost of what is common now.

On a home level, Permaculture experiments and farms have narrowed the process to a well defined functional and sanitary process with excellent results as fertilizer for plants. It is almost a motivation to be healthy so that more healthy foods are created for the plants they love on their small farm.

Again, permaculture has the answers within it is doctrine, to solve a host of issues for a communities quality of life. Combined with solar, and developments like the Tesla battery, a modern, compartmentalized, sustainable community is very achievable.

Considering the power for people to motivated most by what effects them most, I have myself determined that Nutritional Diversity diet education, should be a top priority worldwide. Get involved.

I can offer the observation also from this Bocas del Toro Island experience over the last 6 years that , between tourist and retired foreigners the growth and modernization of the island has been exponential. I can offer the right place to stay for your trip to Bocas del Toro

to make sure you get the permaculture experience, at a small but very special, and dedicated study place of different permaculture and tropical farming evolutions as well as Nutritional Diversity food techniques and study.

There have been many like us, foreign relocaters, and students of the tropical nature that have inspired a lot of cool and helpful study in the realms of sustainable living and combined with the incredible talents of the locals, such as chainsaw and wood working, and thatched roof making, very sustainable happy joint communities can be established, and a friend of mine there Henry, on one of the surrounding islands is a perfect example of local family and foreign family integration and appreciation.

Many young talented locals have benefited enormously from foreign sponsorship, and the increase of foreign population and tourists. The knowledge levels of people and the facility of local technologies such as Wi-Fi and local TV station, have been impressive to witness.

The Board of Tourism and many local offices here and across Panama has done a great job keeping things nice, marketing for tourism, and supporting a solid steady development.

The cultural barrier between Panama's natives and it is new comers is a pretty thick one. One side or the other may be good and putting a nice face to things, but time charity, and miracles will be most likely to see a more accepting and appreciative attitudes across the devide. I think it is everyone's observation that the developed world is on it is way to develop Bocas del Toro.

Our SIDS region is the Pacific.

Nature-based solutions for Pacific cities: Integrating seascapes and landscapes for sustainable coastal settlements and communities.

Marine habitats have always been essential for human life. They provide food, building and crafting materials for urban livelihoods, and less-known services such as coastal protection, nutrient cycling and pollution filtration and need to be protected because of their ecological, economic, and social value. Unplanned urban expansion into marine and coastal ecosystems is an issue that countries cannot afford to ignore. Tackling this issue requires addressing the complexities of the marine and coastal environment in urban planning and development through initiatives that provide co-benefits for sustainable development, such as nature-based solutions.

Nature-based solutions are living solutions inspired and supported by the use of natural processes and structures, and are designed to address climate change and various environmental challenges in an efficient and adaptable manner, while simultaneously providing economic, social, and environmental benefits (European Commission, 2015). The core idea is to use the benefits of ecosystem services to address challenges a system faces and create additional benefits. For instance, rehabilitating coastal vegetation such as mangroves and seagrass beds (in combination or instead of built environment solutions) reduces coastal erosion and increases resilience against flooding, while sequestering carbon and providing habitats for wildlife that are central for coastal livelihoods. Types of interventions relevant to Pacific settlements include: ecosystem restoration, greening of grey surfaces (e.g., green rooftops, green walls or greened brownfields), and integrated broad scale climate change mitigation and adaptation measures, e.g., natural flood control through eco-engineering for green infrastructure. Nature-based solutions founded on ecological principles can reduce the impacts of rapid unplanned urban development on natural habitats. However, applications of “blue-green” infrastructure remain largely untested at large scales in the Pacific.

New designs, building strategies and spatial planning that integrate seascapes and landscapes are an opportunity for both ocean-friendly cities and experimentation for the development of successful blue-green technologies. Eco-engineering remains under-utilized in the management of marine urban sprawl in the Pacific partly due to the fragmentation of policies and incentives driving ecologically sustainable development below the waterline. In response to these issues during the launch of the Ocean Pathway championed by Fiji at COP23, UN ESCAP pledged its support for building resilience and protecting ocean health in coastal island settlements from ridge to reef. UN ESCAP is embarking on a new initiative in partnership with the Pacific Centre for Environment and Development (PACE-SD) housed at the University of the South Pacific (USP) to strengthen the capacity of Pacific SIDS member States to develop and apply an integrated policy approach for ocean-friendly and climate-responsive urban development adapted to island systems.

To learn more about this initiative please contact: ESCAP-EDD-SUDS <[email protected]>

1) My SIDS Region is AIMS.

2) Examples of action that are undertaking to reduce poverty, food insecurity and nutrition challenges in response to climate change and climate related events are:

• Established Disaster Management Policy for Zanzibar, a Disaster Management Commission/Department, and an Emergency Preparedness and Response Plan.

• Socio-economic scenarios

Future socio-economic development needs to be considered alongside the future impacts of climate, because these changes – such as population growth, the size of the economy, land-use development - will affect the potential size of future climate impacts (e.g. the number of people potentially affected, the number of people living in flood zones, etc.).

• Climate Screening MKUZA II

This considers how climate resilient existing plans are, identifies any changes that are needed, and can assess whether existing plans are taking advantage of the potential opportunities for low carbon or adaptation finance.

• Implementation of Home School Feeding Program. This program implemented in schools that have the Most Vulnerable Children. In this program the children are given millet porridge and yellow sweet potatoes with vegetables.
• Implemented MWANZO BORA PROGRAM at the selected Districts. This program implemented at selected Districts based on children under malnutrition and their parents are in poor household income. In this program the selected households have given knowledge on capacity building focusing on food security and nutrition. Also they provided capital for establishment of vegetable home garden. 

3) The lesson drawn are:

• More effort is needed to be practiced in the issue of climate change and climate change related events in order to ensure that we can minimize the poverty and food insecurity in all level.
• There is shortage of knowledge to the community regarding to the climate change, food insecurity and nutrition particularly at rural areas.
• The strong and close collaboration is needed between climate change stakeholders and community focusing all issues regarding to climate change, poverty and food insecurity.
• Up to now most people unable to understood the correct time for practice agricultural activities related to climate change.

4) The challenges that faces in reducing the poverty and inequalities and building the adaptive capacity of the poor and vulnerable to climate change and climate-related events are:

• High number of poor and vulnerable children who need close assistant, services including basic need and social services.
• Lack of awareness and insight to the community particularly for climate changes events.
• Shortage of commitment for leader in all level, there is no special strategies that indicated how they take action on all matter concern the climate events, poverty and vulnerability.
• Shortage of financial.
• Lack of equipment such as motor cycles or vehicles.
• Poor infrastructure especial at rural areas.

5. a) The World can learn the following from my experiences:

• A participatory approach is very important in introducing and solving the issues of poverty, food insecurity of climate change and climate-related events.
• Involvement of all stakeholders is all level is very important in addressing the issue of poverty, food insecurity nutrition climate change and climate-related events.
• Knowledge on food security, nutrition and climate change and climate-related events is still needed in the community.
• The poverty line in Zanzibar is 30.4% where most of these people found in rural areas.
• There is shortage of forecast knowledge to the most people in the community regarding to climate change and food security.

b) The possible pathways and good practice that I can recommend to follow when addressing poverty, food security and nutrition in the context of the climate change and climate-related events:-

• Providing capacity building to the community.
• Enhancing institutional support networks.
• Increasing household food production to the community.
• Increasing food trade and market chain.
• Increasing income opportunities to the community.
• Educate people on climate change related to food security.

The questions are clear and will trigger peoples’ interest and participation.

What is your SIDS Region (Pacific, AIMS or Caribbean)?

Caribbean

Give examples of what actions you are undertaking to reduce poverty, food insecurity and nutrition challenges in response to climate change and climate-related events? Actions can range from informal to formal and include social protection and multisectoral policies, projects, programmes, activities, among others.

Context is necessary. My interests and actions mainly concern research and outreach in marine small-scale fisheries (SSF) and marine protected areas (MPAs). Most are project linked and hence short-term. They have included:

· Promotion of the global SSF Guidelines at regional, national and local levels to strengthen policy

· Policy influence to include SSF and MPAs in regional climate policy and implementation plans

· Capacity development and empowerment through training, learning by doing, fisher exchanges

· Exploration with stakeholders of adaptive MPA governance options to enhance system resilience

· Understanding fisherfolk perceptions of climate and poverty, and views on risk and resilience

· Examining what fisherfolk do to cope with, or adapt to, new perturbations such as sargassum

· Looking at the links between fisherfolk networks, food security and marine resource governance

What lessons have you drawn from building resilience and adaptive capacity of the poor and vulnerable people in the context of climate change and climate-related events?

Some lessons have included:

Fisherfolk normally accept high levels of risk; so understand why rather than make assumptions

Building adaptive capacity is a long-term process more suited to programmes than projects

Conservation interests such as environmental NGOs can unintentionally undermine resilience

Applied academic research needs to be coupled with outreach and advocacy to have an impact

Fisherfolk have little stamina for policy influence as a long term undertaking; need early results

Rates of climate change and variability are likely to far outstrip adoption of adaptive governance

What are the challenges you face in reducing poverty and inequalities and building the adaptive capacity of the poor and vulnerable to climate change and climate related events?

Some of the challenges are:

· Gender, poverty and youth issues receive very little attention in fisheries and are not mainstreamed

· Low capacity for social science in fisheries and MPA authorities limits the types of matters addressed

· Few gender and poverty scholars have an interest in marine natural resource management issues

· Fisherfolk do not usually consider themselves poor although very sensitive to economic inequalities

Several other responses largely elaborate upon the experiences underlying the lessons learned. Much overlap.

What should the world learn from your experience? What are the plausible pathways and good practices you would recommend to follow when addressing poverty, food security and nutrition in the context of climate change and climate-related events?

Lessons learned are set out above. Some are generalizable, but others are more specific to Caribbean culture and social-ecological situations. Pathways are many and need to be adapted to the conditions at different levels on geographic, institutional, jurisdictional and temporal scales. A key principle is institutionalizing a culture of testing, monitoring, evaluating, learning and adapting to test again. Identifying plausible pathways and good practices leading to resilience or transformation for addressing the listed threats requires detailed knowledge of the specific situations to avoid or reduce collateral damage. The primary pathways are those that lead to adaptive capacity and enable improved self-organisation. Good practices need to be participatory but well-informed and strategically aimed at adaptation. Here, well-informed means sufficient to take a reasonable decision and assess the outputs and outcomes against an ideal. Further specifics require context.