UNGA: Building resilience to sand and dust storm hazards and innovating agriculture

At today’s UN General Assembly Second Committee deliberations, FAO and other UN partners called for integrated disaster risk management to combat sand and dust storms, and for agriculture technologies to accelerate sustainable development

11 October, New York – FAO’s active participation at UNGA Second Committee deliberations continued this week, starting with the presentation of the Secretary-General Reports on combatting sand and dust storms (SDS), on behalf of the UN Coalition on Combatting Sand and Dust Storms, and on agriculture technologies for sustainable development, together with the UN Department for Economic and Social Affairs (DESA).

Building on the reports presented by FAO earlier this week to the Committee, the reports on SDS and agriculture technologies further underscored the need to employ a systems approach in understanding, financing, and scaling up responses for an efficient, sustainable, resilient, and inclusive transformation of our agri-food systems to deliver on the 2030 Agenda.

Enhancing resilience from an intersectoral and regional lens

Presenting on behalf of the 15 UN entities that comprise the UN Coalition on Combatting Sand and Dust Storms, which is chaired by FAO, the Director of the FAO Land and Water Division, LI Lifeng, spoke on the report’s findings and risk assessments, including on how SDS affect the health, agriculture, environment, transport, and energy sectors.

The report outlines crosscutting developments in combatting SDS by UN entities, Member States, and a wide array of stakeholders. It also discusses the importance of monitoring, prediction, and early warning systems to mitigate the harmful impacts on different sectors and to enhance their resilience moving forward.

SDS occur as a result of certain land use practices and climate change, and its impacts cross borders and touch many sectors and livelihoods. Left unaddressed, the drivers and impacts of SDS can destabilize other gains and efforts to deliver on the 2030 Agenda, especially since “sand and dust storms directly affect 11 of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals and threaten the means of implementation and revitalization of the global partnership for sustainable development,” Lifeng said.

“The report reflects the growing awareness around sand and dust storms, and the human, economic, social and environmental costs associated with them,” he added, pointing to how the report has helped for SDS to be recognized as an issue of international concern. As such, the report makes the case for regional and inter-regional policy formulation and collaboration to build resilience to this transboundary hazard.

As the UN Coalition moves from a planning to an implementation phase, the report calls for funding and resources to respond and build resilience to these storms, especially given the technical and institutional capacity and information gaps still present to safeguard societies, economies and livelihoods from SDS hazards. FAO remains at the forefront of the Coalition’s efforts to mobilize investments and coordinate actions to enhance resilience against SDS in agriculture.

Agriculture technologies as a means to transform our agri-food systems

In turn, the report on agriculture technologies for sustainable development, drafted by FAO and presented together with DESA, focused on trends and risks inherent to current agri-food systems. It also touched on the opportunities that technological advances represent in transforming agri-food systems and accelerating progress on the SDGs and the Paris Agreement on climate change. 

The report outlines how emerging technologies, including biological, digital, mechanization and data-driven technologies, stand to increase equitable access to sufficient and nutritious foods for all while minimizing environmental impacts of food production and creating decent work opportunities. 

Moreover, the report sees science and technology as a lever to innovate the way we produce and consume food and, in doing so, reduce hunger and malnutrition, adapt to and mitigate the effects of climate change, safeguard biodiversity, and create sustainable livelihoods and income-generating opportunities. 

However, the report warns that a transformative change in our agri-food systems can only happen if the deployment of agriculture technologies is accompanied by enabling social, political, financial, and institutional pillars that will ensure these technologies are inclusive of the most vulnerable and respond to existing inequalities. 

In calling for technological innovations, the report also cautions that the application of science and technology must be people-centred, rights-based, and mindful of our natural resources. In doing so, the food security, the climate, and the biodiversity agendas stand a better chance of working together as one and advancing in tandem towards the SDGs.

Related links

• Watch the recording from today’s Second Committee deliberations.
• Read more on FAO’s role in presenting the SG Reports on rural poverty; agriculture, food security and nutrition; and family farming.
• Revisit FAO’s engagements and highlights during the UNGA 76 High-level week.
• Visit the dedicated website of the UNGA Second Committee.