Global cooperation needed for food security and agriculture amid climate change: FAO Director General

The agenda on food security and agriculture, as well as fight against climate change, hunger and poverty, can only be implemented through a global cooperation, according to the director of The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, José Graziano da Silva.

Refugee crisis and migration from conflict zones including Syria must be also addressed "at the deepest roots," Silva said in his inauguration speech at the 30th FAO Regional Conference held in Turkey's Antalya on May 4. 

Da Silva also highlighted that the organization's efforts to boost food security resilience of those in Syria. FAO seeks to tackle humanitarian crises, which mostly affect women, according to the FAO chief.

"FAO is aware that food and agriculture lie at the very heart of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) agenda," the FAO chief said.

FAO's governance structure is prioritized for different regions in parallel with efforts on food security on global level and key challenges such as climate change, so as to increase the resilience of rural livelihoods, he explained.

FAO Director General also emphasized the need for the private sector, civil society, academia and regional organizations to work together in directly addressing this year's agenda.

Stressing the importance of Turkey's partnership with FAO to extend technical expertise and better assist neighboring countries, Silva thanked the Turkish government for "hosting Syrian refugees both in local communities and camps, thus [enabling] those to have decent and dignified lives." 

FAO is already helping assist refugees as part of its humanitarian work, he said, while underlining the organization's assistance to farmers "to prevent even more displacement and to...