“FAO cannot be a renegade” says SVG’s agriculture minister

St Vincent and the Grenadines Minister of Agriculture, Saboto Caesar made a call at the thirty-seventh Regional Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), in Ecuador to focus on mitigation and adaptation strategies to address the negative impacts of Climate Change on the Small Island Developing States (SIDs) in the Caribbean region with greater urgency.

“The FAO cannot be a renegade by divorcing itself from the recommendations of the Samoa Pathway, or from the calls made by the global climate justice platforms,” a release quotes Caesar as saying.

“ Sustainable agriculture is critical to the very survivability of Caribbean SIDs. I wish to place on record that food security and food sovereignty cannot be discussed outside of the need for a comprehensive well planned, structured and conceived climate strategy supported by the FAO”, noted Minister Caesar.

It was also emphasised that the FAO must continue to support the financing of interventions which will bring tangible returns to the stakeholders in the agriculture sector.

St. Vincent and the Grenadines has been impacted markedly in the last two decades by rising sea levels on coastlines; Hurricane Tomas and other cyclonic events and resultant implications; the worst drought in over 50 years; variations in rainfall from the normal monthly expectations; and fishers of lobster and conch have expressed concerns that warmer waters have caused significant habitat migration. St. Vincent and the Grenadines also expressed thanks at the meeting for the support from the FAO in its recovery efforts during the period of the recent volcanic eruptions.