Food insecurity is a growing challenge for the Pacific

Food insecurity is a growing challenge for Pacific Island countries in the face of more frequent climate disasters, rising sea levels, and the economic fallout of Covid-19 lockdowns.

This was the consistent message of Pacific Island government representatives at the 36th Regional Conference of Asia and the Pacific, hosted by the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) last week.

"Papua New Guinea and the Pacific are the most vulnerable," said Papua New Guinea's Minister for Agriculture, John Simon.

"Taking climate resilience sustainable approach in the agriculture sector including in all aspects of our livelihood is seen as very critical," he added.

Simon was the only Pacific Island leader to attend the conference in person with most delegates making their speeches via zoom.

The four-day discussion held in Dhaka, Bangladesh involved the participation of 40 Pacific and Asian countries as well various international agencies.

The threat of climate change was stressed by Pacific delegates who reminded the conference about the Pacific region's vulnerability to climate change.

"Tonga is currently ranked second as the world's most at-risk nation to tropical cyclones, droughts, tsunamis and earthquakes," said Tonga's Prime Minister Hu'akavameiliku Siaosi Sovaleni, whose country was still in a state of emergency and repair from a catastrophic volcanic and tsunami disaster that occurred on January 15.

According to Hu'akavameiliku, the cost of recovery is estimated to be close to $US100 million.

"Tonga is also ranked the third most at-risk nation to climate change with 87 percent of its population living next to the coastline," he said without mentioning that Tonga was still in recovery from a devastating category 4 Tropical Cyclone Gita that struck the country in 2018.

Tonga's embattled Prime Minister who had only taken office on January 12 was confronted with two unprecedented crises in his nation's history; a one-in-a-thousand-year volcanic eruption followed by a one-in-hundred-year pandemic.

On February 2, Tonga recorded its first Covid-19 outbreak after two-port workers caught the disease while offloading emergency supplies from aid ships.

Over a thousand Tongans have contracted the disease now including Hu'akavameiliku who announced on Sunday that he had tested positive for the disease - two days after the conference ended.

"The impact of the subsequent lockdowns on Tonga's food and agriculture status has slowly materialised since then," he said towards the end of the speech.

Covid-free countries not Immune to food insecurity

Representatives from Covid-19 free nations like Samoa and Nauru told the conference that even though they had avoided an outbreak, the economic impacts of border closures and restrictions on food security were significant.

Samoa's Minister of Agriculture Laauli Leuatea said that national initiatives to lessen Samoa's chronic dependency on food imports were being held back.

"Our efforts have been slowed down due to the closing down of our borders and our state of emergency rules to limit the introduction and spread of the Covid-19 virus," said Leautea.

"These have resulted in further reductions in our food and income security due to the financial pressures of the regular disruptions in the food supply chain."

"Agriculture is the backbone of our economy and livelihoods, it contributes directly and indirectly to incomes of about 90 percent of our household investments."

Nauru's Minister of Commerce Rennier Gadabu said that shipping disruptions resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic led to food shortages in Nauru - which has little arable land and depends on imported food to feed its population.

"We received a harsh wakeup call in the early months of the pandemic when shipping links to our island were interrupted for several weeks and our stocks quickly disappeared," said Gadabu.

"The transporter that we are completely reliant on quickly recognised their monopoly positions and significantly raised prices. Then again last year word got out that a shipping vessel was turned away because one of the crew tested positive for Covid-19 and there was an immediate grounding of grocery stores.

Nauru commerce dissatisfied with FAO and International Organisations

Over 80 percent of Nauru's land is unusable due to a history of intensive phosphate mining. Rennier Gadabu emphasised Nauru's dependency on food imports and the threat of climate change.

"The issue of food security in Nauru has become a matter of national security. Nauru is almost completely reliant on expenses for imports which exacts a painful economic toll,'' said Gadabu.

"There is currently almost no arable land for traditional farming and the country's development continues to be impacted by climate events such as droughts and sea level rises."

He expressed his dissatisfaction with international agencies to improve Nauru's self-reliance and complained of under-representation.

"The FAO and other development partners need to take notice. While incremental measures such as training, workshops and kitchen gardens can make significant margins they alone cannot improve our situations. We need game changers and we need them quickly.

"Quite frankly we are not seeing a single commitment of innovation from international agencies. This institutional problem is further compounded by the under-represented agencies in countries in the Micronesian region," he said.