8 December 2010: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN’s (FAO) Regional Conference for the Near East held its 30th session in Khartoum, Sudan, from 4-8 December 2010.

Participants discussed issues related to food prices, transboundary plant pests and diseases, valuing rangelands for ecosystem and livelihood services, water desalinization, transboundary animal diseases, and new climate change mitigation and adaptation initiatives in agriculture, forestry and fisheries. The information note on climate change highlights climate threats to food production and describes the activities of the multi-disciplinary working group on climate change. It highlights the first Forum on Climate Change in the Near East and North Africa in November 2009, a regional workshop on Ecosystem Approach to Fisheries and Aquaculture, and the June 2008 “High-Level Conference on World Food Security: the Challenges of Climate Change and Bioenergy.”

The note also describes country activities including, the implementation of a joint programme on climate change risk management in Egypt and Jordan. The note calls for more work on capacity development, integration of stakeholder opinions into national strategies, scientific assessments, integration of sectors into national responses, and increased engagement with national decision-makers and funding mechanisms. [Meeting Documents]