10 December 2008: The High-level Regional Policy Dialogue on “The Food-Fuel Crisis and Climate Change – Reshaping the Development Agenda,” jointly organized by the Government of Indonesia and the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), convened from 9-10 December 2008, in Bali, Indonesia. The meeting recommended urgent, comprehensive and coordinated action to deal with the food, energy and financial crises, and climate change in the region.

The recommendations are contained in the “Bali Outcome Document,” which
will be used to provide a framework for regional action in handling the
triple crises. ESCAP’s Executive Secretary, UN Under-Secretary-General
Noeleen Heyzer, said she would take the Bali Outcome Document to
ESCAP’s Heads of State and governments, and to all global and regional
initiatives that tackle the crises and climate change. The document
will also be used to inform various inter-governmental regional
processes, including the ASEAN-UN Summit in March 2009, and the
ministerial discussions scheduled to be held during ESCAP’s 65th
Commission Session in April 2009.
The Bali Outcome Document includes a range of regional recommendations
and actionable initiatives for addressing food, energy and financial
security in the context of climate change, in an effort to mitigate the
convergence of the crises. In relation to food and energy security, the
participants’ recommendations included the need to strengthen the
region’s food security via a comprehensive framework encompassing
sustainable agriculture and forestry, climate change adaptation and
mitigation, social protection and well-functioning markets.
Participants also urged ESCAP to strengthen and expand technical
cooperation for reinforcing national food security programmes,
undertake initiatives for preventing and reacting to crises caused by
price volatility, and develop and implement a sustainable energy
security framework for Asia and the Pacific. [UN Press Release] [Bali Outcome Document]