GDA aims to deal with food security in dryland nations

The Global Dryland Alliance (GDA) which held its founding conferenceyesterday, aims to deal with food security and other needs in drylandcountries around the world.Many dryland countries signed the founding treaty of the GDA at theconference. “ A total of 18 countries and five internationalorganisations are represented in the conference. Some countries were notable to sign the alliance because of technicality as they could notproduce the letter of authentication,” said ambassador Bader Omaral-Dafa, executive director, the founding conference of the GlobalDryland Alliance.“The GDA is going to be an international organisation that deals mainlywith countries that have drylands. There are over 50 countries that comeunder the category of dryland. The challenges that most of thesecountries are facing are great. There is shortage of food, water,energy. We will try to help each other,” explained al-Dafa.“If some countries in the alliance are hit hard by climate change, wewill come in for assistance soon.We will have food stored in some safeplace. In case of any crisis, we will move fast to help those countriesaffected by the crisis,” continued al-Dafa.According to al-Dafa the next step is to register the GDA as aninternational organisation. “There are several procedures before the GDAis registered as an International organisation within the UN bodies.The next step for us is to go to UN and register the GDA as aninternational organisation. Once it comes into effect, the apex body orthe executive council will decide the policies and acts and all that isneeded for this organisation. The objective is to deal with foodsecurity in dryland countries,” he elaborated.During the inaugural session of the conference, al-Dafa said that foodsecurity challenges are more critical in dryland countries, most ofwhich are developing countries with limited resources, and more exposedto hunger and disease.Al-Dafa noted, “His Highness the Emir Sheikh Tamim bin Hamad al-Thanihas approved to extend co-ordination and consultation with the concernedparties who are involved in food security like regional andinternational organisations, and leading researches institutes. HisHighness has advised that the Alliance will complement the efforts ofthe international organisations that are specialised in food securityand will not compete or duplicate their efforts.”“The Global Dryland Alliance will be the response to the needs of ourcountries to develop joint initiatives that meet our priorities,establish innovative financing mechanisms for their programmes andprojects, and benefit from the leading technological innovations,policies and developments to enhance their food security,” highlighted al-Dafa.He noted that in the next three decades, the world will witness anincreasing consumption of meat from cereals and crops. “The world’spopulation is increasing by 200,000 each day and is facing constantclimate change. The globe has witnessed a significant deforestation andwater resources have been depleted. Food production should increase to70% in order to feed 9 billion people by 2050,” he added.The official pointed out that a large number of countries, internationalorganisations, UN agencies and development banks have welcomed andsupported the initiative and have contributed to prepare the referencedocuments of the Global Dryland Alliance.