Pandemics/Epidemics, Drought and Agriculture: Building back better
This webinar was organized by leading institutions on drought management, including the Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP), the UNCCD Drought Initiative and the WASAG working group on “Drought Preparedness.”
COVID-19 does not discriminate, but its impact does. COVID-19 will have a disproportionate impact on vulnerable individuals and groups with precarious labor conditions, economies and those who are unemployed and those not able to work. Ongoing drought effects on the livelihoods and health of the poorest and most vulnerable people make them also the most vulnerable to COVID-19 and its effects on human immune systems, supply chains and economies. The global initiatives to achieve a green recovery offer a defining moment that could either strengthen or weaken current efforts to achieve a drought resilient and sustainable society.
This webinar discussed the pathways through which drought vulnerable groups have been hit by COVID-19 and left behind during the lockdown. It raised the point that they must not also be left out of the global green recovery. We discussed what are the options and policy recommendations for an inclusive green recovery. We also discussed ways to identify and mitigate the unintended economic and health consequences of the COVID-19 response and how to include drought vulnerable groups in COVID-19 decision-making and management by ensuring targeted messaging reaches all drought vulnerable groups.
Presentations
- Impacts of Drought on Human Health in a Global Pandemic - Presentation by Jesse E. Bell, PhD, Professor of Health and Environment at the College of Public Health at the University of Nebraska Medical Center
- Locking in Livelihoods, Locking out COVID-19? Impacts and insights for post-pandemic recovery in drought-vulnerable communities of Western Africa - Presentation by Dr Festus Asaaga, UK Center for Ecology and Hydrology
- Drought, infectious diseases and multiple stressors on vulnerable communities - Presentation by Dr Beth Purse, UK Center for Ecology and Hydrology
- Drought-COVID-19 Interface: Insights for Post Pandemic Recovery in Pastoral Systems - Presentation by Oliver Wasonga
Speakers
Remi Nono Womdim - Deputy Director, FAO AGPM
Dr Ismahane Elouafi - Director General, ICBA
Dr Didier BAZILE - Senior Biodiversity Advisor at the French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development (CIRAD)
Dr Rakesh Kumar Singh - Program Leader Crop Diversification and Genetics section and Principal Scientist (Plant Breeding)
Ms Ndeye Ndack Diop - Agricultural officer, AGP, FAO
Ms Tania Santivanez - Agricultural Officer for Europa and Central Asia and Delivery manager of Regional initiative “Natural resources management under a changing climate” FAO
Programme
| 15:00-15:05 | Moderator: Remi Nono Womdim, Deputy Director, FAO AGPM |
| 15:05-15:10 | Opening Remarks – Dr Ismahane Elouafi, Director General, ICBA |
| 15:10-15:20 | Characterization and sharing of quinoa's biodiversity : its global spreading beyond its origins – Didier BAZILE, CIRAD |
| 15:20-15:30 | Germplasm improvement for the saline and dry marginal environments – Rakesh Kumar Singh, ICBA |
| 15:30-15:40 | Emerging opportunities in quinoa production - Ndeye Ndack Diop, FAO AGPM |
| 15:40-15:55 | Questions and answers |
| 15:55-16:00 | Closing remarks - Tania Santivanez, FAO REU |
10/07/2020