The UAE calls for ensuring freedom of navigation and supply chains to support global food security

The UAE affirmed that food security represents a sovereign pillar and an integral part of the comprehensive national security system of countries, stressing the importance of adopting proactive and flexible strategies to ensure the stability of supply chains and protect regional and global food systems from the repercussions of external shocks and accelerating geopolitical and climate variables. The UAE chairs the thirty-eighth session of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Regional Conference for the Near East and North Africa, which was held in the Italian capital, Rome, with broad participation from ministers and senior officials in the region.

Proactive system
During her opening speech as the head of the current session, Dr. Amna bint Abdullah Al-Dahhak, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, stressed that the UAE’s presidency of this session comes at a critical stage that requires the region to move from a crisis management framework to leading an actual path to making positive transformations.

Al-Dahhak highlighted the country’s success in transforming the challenges of water scarcity and scarcity of agricultural land into strategic opportunities for innovation, calling on member states to mobilize climate finance and work on the principle of fairness to protect the rural groups most affected by environmental changes.
She also stressed that the historical outcomes of the “COP28 UAE Declaration on Food Systems, Sustainable Agriculture and Climate Action” will not remain just an international commitment, but rather will be the basic pillar and compass that guides regional action in the Near East and North Africa towards building resilient food systems.
Al-Dahhak revealed that nature-based solutions are capable of achieving lucrative economic returns, which makes protecting ecosystems a profitable investment and a development necessity. Her Excellency warned that land degradation was now threatening the livelihoods of more than 410 million people in the region, stressing that every dollar withheld today to support food security will cost the world hundreds of times more tomorrow in the face of crises. It also sent a message to the international community about the need to address what it described as an unjust climate, presenting data showing that women and poor rural families bear income losses due to climate shocks that are much greater than those incurred by affluent groups, which requires reformulating financing mechanisms to ensure equity and inclusion.

Conference agenda
The ministerial meeting, which was held under the slogan “Innovation for Transformation of Agricultural and Food Systems,” reviewed an extensive work agenda that focused on urgent responses to systemic shocks resulting from conflicts and climate variables. The conference included a high-level round table on accelerating circular solutions in agricultural value chains, and discussed ways to bridge the climate financing gap in the region, in support of sustainable rural development paths.

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) presented its recent assessment of the repercussions of the conflict in the Middle East on food systems, with discussions warning of the severe impact of geopolitical tensions on supply chains and the trade in fertilizers and energy. The assessment indicated that the disruption of navigation traffic in strategic sea lanes, especially the Strait of Hormuz, through which about 30% of global fertilizer trade passes, directly leads to an increase in the costs of agricultural production inputs. Reports indicated that these imbalances, represented by increased fertilizer and fuel costs, threaten to decline crop yields and shrink global grain supplies, which severely affects countries that depend on imports.

Development investments
For his part, Mohammed Saeed Al Nuaimi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, stressed that the forward-looking vision of the wise leadership established proactiveness as an institutional doctrine in managing the national food security file, which gave the national system superior operational flexibility and a high ability to anticipate the challenges and pressures that recently affected vital waterways.
He added: “The UAE’s thoughtful approach has proven exceptional efficiency in securing the flow of goods and ensuring the stability of local markets without interruption, based on an advanced logistical infrastructure and broad international partnerships that ensure the diversification of import sources and the fortification of supply lines, stressing the utmost importance of ensuring freedom of navigation and opening and facilitating global supply chains, as a basic condition for ensuring the availability of agricultural inputs and the stability of regional and global food security, especially in light of the high sensitivity of fertilizer and energy markets to the current geopolitical tensions.”

Al Nuaimi also referred to the state’s vision of transforming policies into tangible operational reality, stressing that the UAE is leading a comprehensive institutional transformation to support the agricultural sector and secure supply chains. During the ministerial roundtables, which were held on the sidelines of the event, he stressed the importance of activating development and innovative financing as an effective tool to support the economy and food system in the region, highlighting the strategic investments led by the state through the Abu Dhabi Fund for Development to build water dams and land reclamation projects in several regional and international countries, in addition to the Emirates Development Bank’s allocation of a portfolio worth 100 million dirhams to finance agricultural technology projects internally.

In a strategic step to ensure economic returns for farmers, Al Nuaimi revealed the UAE’s pioneering efforts that aim to create guaranteed market demand for local products. His Excellency also called on the FAO to adopt a proactive approach to protect countries dependent on imports, by developing early warning systems to monitor food, energy and fertilizer markets, similar to the “Observatory Initiative”, in a way that enhances the ability of countries in the region to predict future shocks and contain them before they occur.

Voice of youth
The UAE delegation stressed the importance of the role of youth in leading change in the regional and global agricultural sector, as Laila Ahmed Al Dhaheri, agricultural development researcher at the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, said during her speech that investing in young people and innovators in agricultural technology is the only guarantee for transforming barren lands into global production centers. She called for transforming young people from beneficiaries into partners in decision-making, noting that innovative financing for emerging projects is the actual engine for localizing climate-smart agricultural technology in the hands of young people.

Roadmap
The ministerial meeting concluded its work with regional consensus on formulating a comprehensive road map under the UAE presidency, aiming to harmonize policies and deepen inter-integration to secure vital trade and logistics corridors. Participants in the ministerial declaration recognized the need to accelerate the adoption of bio-circular innovations, expand investment in climate-smart agriculture solutions, and strengthen programs to restore degraded ecosystems to address the challenges of water scarcity and climate change.

The conference stressed that this session constitutes a historic turning point, as it moves regional action from the stage of diagnosing challenges to the stage of coordinated field implementation, with a focus on mobilizing financing and facilitating the exchange of knowledge and modern agricultural technologies, ensuring the building of flexible and comprehensive food systems capable of withstanding geopolitical changes and protecting the future of future generations.