Near East food security drying up?

Experts and officials from some 30 countries across the Middle East and North Africa are meeting this week at the Rome headquarters of the United Nations’ Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) to coordinate responses to food insecurity and climate change.

The FAO calls the region one of the world’s driest and “vulnerable to extreme climatic events, which degrade natural resources and further impact food production.”

In preparatory documents for the conference, the FAO says “a high population growth rate has increased both rural and urban unemployment which, coupled with widespread poverty, exacerbates the food insecurity situation and undernourishment. The region is a net importer of food and major importer of cereals making it vulnerable to the effects of volatile food prices that have marked the recent global economic and financial crisis.”

An FAO official responsible for the Near East, Moujahad Achouri says the impact of water scarcity on food production is perhaps the major concern for countries in the region. And some scenarios indicate climate change could mean a 20 to even 50% reduction in rainfall in coming years.

In this interview with Tracey McClure, Achouri outlines other contributing factors to food insecurity in the region such as high youth unemployment and the Arab Spring. At the same time, he suggests they could also present opportunities for sustainable development. He says experts are working out strategies such as trans-boundary water agreements and cross-border food production to combat the problems of food security….

Listen to the full interview: