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The challenges of ensuring an adequate supply of food for generations to come was the subject under discussion at a series of workshops held on Thursday by the UAE Office for Future Food Security.
Titled ‘Global Food Security Foresight,’ the sessions examined several potential global scenarios for the year 2050 and analysed how these might affect the provision of sustenance for the region’s millions of residents.
Offering up scenarios that differed in their severity of impact on the food supply chain, the workshops assessed the responses that would be needed to address and meet their respective challenges. The discussions assessed the issues in context with the National Food Security Strategy, which the office for Future Food Security is currently developing.
"Providing adequate food for the world’s citizens is a global problem and one that is likely to become more pressing in the coming decades. We are living in an era of increased pressures on food production stemming from a host of interlocking challenges, including accelerating climate change, dwindling fresh water access and escalating energy demands," said Mariam Hareb Almheiri, Minister of State for Food Security.
Included in the scenarios discussed at the workshops was one that saw the world increasingly ungoverned as nations retrench to focus on their internal challenges. Climate change has become a central issue, with food insecurity being maintained by the productive innovations occurring at national and local levels, which have been driven by necessity.
"Although food security is threatened in this scenario, it is one that also sees new technologies emerging that promise to increase efficiency and output. Increased international cooperation will foster more fluid transition of agricultural products across borders, which, in turn, will allow countries to aid one another in addressing shortages. Investments in aquaculture, desalination and urban farming will allow the UAE to make great strides towards sustainable food security," the Minister added.
A more severe scenario that was analysed saw the world amid a period of deep geopolitical instability, where food security, is denominated by establishing effective terms of alliances. Given both unstable global supply chains and climate-driven disruption of agricultural production, food and water security have become central strategic challenges.
Scheduled for launch in September, the National Food Security Strategy is being developed by the Office for Future Food Security in collaboration with prominent decision-makers, academics and experts from the government and private sectors who are collaborating to set sustainable, long-term policies for future food security in the UAE.
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