CAIRO, March 27 (Xinhua) -- Food security and nutrition levels in the Near East and North Africa have sharply deteriorated over the last five years, undermining the steady improvement achieved before 2010, a United Nations agency reported Monday.
The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) noted in its latest report that the deterioration is largely driven by the spreading and intensity of conflicts and protracted crises.
The report, released by FAO Regional Overview of Food Insecurity in the Near East and North Africa, said the assessment using the Food Insecurity Experience Scale (FIES) shows that the prevalence of severe food insecurity in the adult population of the Near East and North Africa was close to 9.5 percent in 2014-2015, representing approximately 30 million people.
"The region is facing unprecedented challenges to its food security due to multiple risks arising from conflicts, water scarcity and climate change," Abdessalam Ould Ahmed, FAO Assistant Director-General and Regional Representative for the Near East and North Africa, said in a press release.
He added that countries of the region need to implement long-term and comprehensive sustainable water management to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal of ending hunger by 2030.
"A peaceful and stable environment is an absolute pre-condition for farmers to respond to the challenges of water scarcity and climate change," the FAO official noted.
According to the report, the Syria crisis in particular has deepened during the period 2015-2016, leaving more than half of the population in need of food assistance and 4.8 million refugees, mostly in neighboring countries.
The numbers of food insecure and the internally displaced are also rising in Iraq and Yemen, the report revealed.
Beyond conflicts and crises, the report argued that water scarcity and climate change are the most fundamental challenges to ending hunger, achieving food security, improving nutrition and promoting sustainable agriculture by 2030.
The report also showed that climate change is expected to affect food security in terms of availability, access, stability and utilization. Most of the impacts of climate change will affect water availability.
FAO's report underlined the urgency to develop and implement strategies for sustainable management of water resources and to adapt to the impact of climate change on water resources and agriculture.
The report documented several positive experiences in sustainable management of water resources and climate change adaptation in the region and highlights the importance of accelerating investments aimed at improving water efficiency and water productivity as well as the need for a shift in cropping patterns towards less water-consuming crops.
The report explored other major options for the adaptation to climate change impacts on water and agriculture, including the need for designing and implementing social protection measures for building resilience of farmers to extreme events, cutting food losses and improving trade policies.
It has also stressed the importance of building a strong evidence base for assessing the impact of climate change on food security and for the formulation of sound and flexible water adaptation measures and agricultural policies.
FAO's report called for strengthened regional collaboration to face the massive challenge of water scarcity and climate change, building on the strong political will expressed by the leaders of the region and on the positive experiences in many countries.
"Sustainable agriculture and water management should include strategies and policies to improve irrigation efficiency, establish sustainable ground water management, promote incentives for farmers to shift to crops with higher economic returns per drop, cut food losses and waste, and enhance resilience of vulnerable population and farmers to climate-induced shocks," Ahmed noted.
