Egypt is taking an active role in preparing for the 2021 Global Presidential Summit on Food Systems, scheduled to be held on the sidelines of the United Nations General Assembly meetings in New York, next September, with the aim of taking urgent measures to transition to sustainable and resilient food systems, in light of global environmental crises.

The Egyptian role in preparing for this global summit is not limited to the governmental side only, but extends to civil society organizations as well, most notably the Arab Bureau for Youth and Environment Association, the headquarters of the secretariat of the Arab Network for Environment and Development “Raed,” where the association participated in the workshop organized by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Late last July.

The workshop, which came within the framework of the national dialogue, which Egypt began in December 2020, in preparation for the Food Summit, aimed to enhance cooperation between the relevant authorities in the government, the private sector, civil society, unions, and other actors and stakeholders relevant to and influencing food security in Egypt, to reach To identify the challenges facing Egypt in this regard, and to develop national solutions to confront them.

The workshop sought to involve non-governmental agencies in the process of preparing for the global summit, developing the outcomes of the national dialogue, learning about their vision of the challenges and solutions proposed by governmental agencies and international organizations, as well as providing them with the opportunity to present their vision.

The workshop included 3 sessions, which included speakers from the Ministries of Foreign Affairs, Agriculture, and Parliament, in addition to the United Nations Resident Representative, and a representative of civil society. It also included 5 round tables, held in parallel, on the topics of the summit’s five work streams. The workshop concluded with a panel discussion, in which participants participated. It includes the rapporteurs of the five working groups, to review the most prominent recommendations reached within the framework of each group.

At the level of government preparations for the World Food Systems Summit, the Minister of Environment, Dr. Yasmine Fouad, in her capacity as President of the 14th Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Convention on Biological Diversity, participated in the ministerial preparatory meeting for the United Nations Food Summit 2021, which is scheduled to be held at the level of leaders and heads of state at the United Nations headquarters in New York. During the month of next September.

In her speech before the meeting, the Egyptian Minister of Environment stressed the importance of food sustainability issues, especially in light of what the world is suffering as a result of the “Corona pandemic,” and stressed that it is time to take effective and urgent measures to achieve food security and the sustainability of food systems.

Fouad reviewed the pivotal issues in food sustainability, which include reformulating the procedures and governance system of the three current Rio conventions (biodiversity, climate change and desertification), to better serve the transition to sustainable food systems, with the need to move towards more sustainable, flexible and resilient food systems. Adapting to climate change and working to provide the necessary financial resources, which constitutes one of the most important challenges.

She also pointed out the importance of agreeing on a new, innovative and advanced framework to provide financing that allows supporting the transition towards the sustainability of food systems, within the framework of implementing the three agreements, especially when implementing projects to preserve and restore the efficiency of ecosystems, which is what the “Green Climate Fund” can contribute to achieving. By supporting projects aimed at preserving and restoring the efficiency of ecosystems.

The Minister of Environment reviewed Egypt’s experience in achieving the concepts of transformation towards sustainable agriculture, by setting a number of standards for financing development projects in the country. To this end, she issued the Environmental Sustainability Standards Guide, which includes standards for achieving and measuring the transformation towards the sustainability of all development sectors, especially the agricultural sectors.

Fouad concluded her speech by calling for the completion of the successes that have been achieved at the global level, and learning from previous efforts, by supporting the implementation of local initiatives and efforts, investing in the private sector, providing a set of positive incentives, and preserving and benefiting from the current political momentum, in order to achieve the transformation to sustainability. Food Systems S.A.L