WASAG International Forum: presenting Dutch expertise on saline agriculture
Photo by the Salt Doctors
More than 300 participants came together in Praia, Cabo Verde, West Africa to discuss water scarcity and making agriculture resilient to climate change. The gathering was called by FAOs WASAG initiative (the Global Framework of Water Scarcity in Agriculture), which is a partnership hosted by FAO, consisting of government agencies, international organizations, research institutions, advocacy groups and professional/membership organizations The main goal of WASAG is to help to adapt agriculture to (future) water scarcity.
The first WASAG International Forum took place in 2019 and resulted in the Praia Commitments. The second forum took place from 7-10 February 2023 and was intended to mobilize political commitment, to formulate messages that will raise the profile of water scarcity in agriculture in the climate change dialogues at the UN 2023 Water Conference and UNFCCC COP 28 in November 2023. Furthermore, the forum intended to discuss ways of making the partnership more effective and impactful, share relevant knowledge, and showcase the latest technologies.
The forum commenced with the opening ceremony with a notable presence of QU Dongyu, Director General, FAO. During the forum, a technical session was organized on saline agriculture with several interesting talks. On behalf of the Saline Water & Food Systems partnership, convened by Netherlands Food Partnership (NFP) and Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP), Dr. Kate Negacz (IVM VU) introduced the partnership and invited the attendants (both physically present there but also attending online) to join the partnership and exchange experiences on saline agriculture. Among others, Bas Bruning (The Salt Doctors) contributed with a pre-recorded keynote to this technical session.
A preliminary overview of the results of the forum can be found on the forum website.
The forum also served as a main platform to announce the upcoming launch of farmer guidelines, produced by a working group of WASAG, on how to cultivate crops under saline conditions. The Salt Doctors have contributed substantially to these guidelines. The guidelines will be published soon. As a next step, WASAG intends to develop closer relations with member states to support its work.
The forum served as a great platform to give visibility to Dutch expertise on saline agriculture on an international level.
This research/activity was co-financed by the Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and Food Quality, and supported by the Netherlands Food Partnership and the Netherlands Water Partnership. NFP and NWP convene the Saline Water & Food Systems partnership: a multi-stakeholder platform to address salinization..
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It would be interesting to hear from members of this community about salinity related challenges in their respective countries