A Saudi-led initiative aids the study of climate change’s potential impact on food security

An Ethiopian pastoralist tends to his herd. (Supplied/ILRI)
Short Url
Updated 31 October 2021
Follow

A Saudi-led initiative aids the study of climate change’s potential impact on food security

  • As world leaders gather in Glasgow for COP26, data and technology are being used to prepare for climate shocks 
  • In September Community Jameel announced the creation of the Jameel Observatory for Food Security Early Action

DUBAI: A Saudi-based organization has partnered with leading researchers and humanitarian agencies to harness the power of data and technology in the hope of preventing climate shocks from causing hunger among vulnerable livestock-farming communities.

Community Jameel announced in September the creation of the Jameel Observatory for Food Security Early Action to help tackle the growing threat to such communities from increasingly severe and frequent climate-related disasters.

Its launch coincided with preparations for COP26, the UN Climate Change Conference, which begins in Glasgow on Sunday. World leaders will gather in the Scottish city to discuss collective action on carbon emissions, fossil fuels and other efforts to prevent global temperatures rising 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, a target set by the Paris Agreement in 2015.

The new venture combines the expertise of five partners, including the University of Edinburgh, the International Livestock Research Institute, Save the Children, the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab and Community Jameel.

Rising temperatures mean droughts are becoming more frequent, depriving livestock of reliable water sources and turning once lush pasture into desert. By recording changes at a local level, the observatory aims to help communities adapt and adjust before disaster strikes.

“Community Jameel has for a long time been focused on the question of food security and, particularly, how climate change puts pressure on access to safe and plentiful food,” George Richards, Community Jameel’s director, told Arab News. “But we gradually saw an increase in need and pressure on access to food, as a result of increasing pressures from climate change.”

Community Jameel, an international non-governmental organization, was launched to tackle some of the world’s most pressing issues using an approach grounded in evidence, science, data and technology. In 2014, it established an institution at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, the Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab, that focuses on developing new technologies and solutions for clean water and food security.

“We went back to our roots and thought about how we can support researchers and scientists who are using data and science effectively to monitor, forecast and give early warnings about outbreaks of hunger, famine and other drivers of malnutrition, particularly where those are the result of climate change,” Richards said.




Ethiopian pastoralists tends their herd. (Supplied/ILRI)

The observatory partnership combines cutting-edge technology and data surveillance to detect the early-warning signs of severe weather events and systemic climate change with community-driven applications and interventions.

The Jameel Observatory is collaborating with agencies that work with farmers to develop and apply digital and analytical tools that can help farmers shape their own food security, nutrition and livelihoods.

Researchers plan to use community-level data along with satellites, drones, weather data and remote sensing to understand, prepare for and mitigate the likely effects of climate shocks.

The observatory’s first project aims to fill the evidence gaps that currently prevent effective forecast-based action to protect livelihoods and nutrition in parts of East Africa.

As climate change takes center stage at COP26, a sharp focus has been placed on the need to be fully prepared for the vulnerabilities, shocks and stresses triggered by the changing climate.

With drylands accounting for about 40 percent of the world’s land mass, many communities are at risk from fluctuating rainfall, drought, rising temperatures and land degradation.

“In a world increasingly impacted by climate change, forecasting the impact of droughts and severe weather on hunger and malnutrition, and acting early to stop lives from being lost, is of urgent importance,” Joanne Grace, head of hunger and livelihoods at humanitarian organization Save the Children, told Arab News.

“Getting it right would be monumental for the health of children for decades to come. The Jameel Observatory aims to help ensure that acting early to prevent food crises becomes the norm rather than the exception.”

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, dryland ecosystems are home to about 25 percent of the global population, contain half of the world’s livestock and 27 percent of its forests, while storing 30 percent of soil organic carbon and supplying about 60 percent of food production.

However, climate change is resulting in longer periods of drought and accelerated desertification in drylands. This is affecting biodiversity and vegetation cover, which in turn reduces soil fertility and undermines food, nutrition and human security.

“Climate change can therefore push already fragile ecosystems and local communities beyond coping capacity, resulting in forced displacement, increased migration, and tensions related to natural resource access and use,” the FAO said in a paper launched at the UN Food Systems Summit in New York in September.




A farmers havests leafy vegetables in a field on the mountain range of Jabel Jais, in Ras Al Khaimah, on January 24, 2021. (AFP/File Photo)

The Jameel Observatory examines the relationship between climate change and health to try to mitigate the threat from rising temperatures as a driver of hunger and famine. The organization has partnered with Aeon, a Riyadh-based think tank, to coordinate and convene researchers in Saudi Arabia and internationally to examine this relationship.

“There is a lot of external research about the risks that accelerating climate change will impose, particularly in places that have climates which are naturally hot and humid, including the Gulf,” Richards said.

“What they call the rise of the ‘wet-bulb temperature,’ which is the combined measure of heat and humidity, could make parts of the Gulf uninhabitable in a few years. But there is very little research that is actually done by or with researchers in Gulf Cooperation Council countries.”

That is why the initiative has also brought together researchers from King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, the King Abdullah Petroleum Studies and Research Center, MIT, the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab, the Jameel Water and Food Systems Lab, and Imperial College in London to untangle the relationship between health and climate change in the GCC area. Their findings are expected in April 2022.

In parallel, Community Jameel will be co-hosting an event in the Saudi Pavilion at COP26 in partnership with Aeon, at which researchers will present some of their interim findings. Along with the Jameel Observatory, it will also welcome representatives of organizations from Nairobi, the UK and the US, in collaboration with Cooking Sections, an arts duo based in London who were nominated for the 2021 Turner Prize.

“Their arts practice is focused on the question of food and sustainability,” Richards said. “So Community Jameel, Cooking Sections and Michelin Star chefs are coming together to co-curate a culinary gastronomic experience to emphasize the importance of sustainable food systems, which is at the core of what the Jameel Observatory is trying to do in terms of leveraging data to make food systems more efficient and mitigate the risks of outbreaks of famine and hunger.”




Rising temperatures mean droughts are becoming more frequent, depriving livestock of reliable water sources and turning once lush pasture into desert. (AFP/File Photo)

Richards also highlighted the opening season of Hayy Jameel, Art Jameel’s new hub in Jeddah that is due to open on Dec. 6, which will have a strong focus on questions relating to food.

“There is something so fundamental to the way that human society tends to construct itself around food, that even the most basic act of community is centered around breaking bread or the joint meal together,” he said.

“And, as we face greater challenges, whether it’s from the COVID-19 pandemic or climate change, there is an ever-greater need for humanity to lock hands and work together to tackle those challenges.

“For us, it’s really in our name. We are all about community and we feel that food is at the heart of that community. So making sure that people everywhere have access to safe and plentiful food is really at our core.”

--------------

Twitter: @CalineMalek


Saudi minister holds talks with Chinese, EU officials on climate, global issues 

Updated 58 min 33 sec ago
Follow

Saudi minister holds talks with Chinese, EU officials on climate, global issues 

RIYADH: Saudi Arabia's Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and Climate Envoy Adel Al-Jubeir received China's Special Envoy for Climate Change Liu Zhenmin in Riyadh on Sunday.

During the meeting, they discussed strengthening cooperation in climate action and environmental conservation, along with other topics of mutual interest.

Both officials also reviewed the Kingdom’s ongoing initiatives and achievements in this field, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

In a separate meeting, Al-Jubeir received the deputy secretary-general for political affairs at the European External Action Service, Olof Skoog, and his accompanying delegation.

The meeting reviewed international developments and the efforts being made to address them, in addition to discussing topics of mutual interest.


Sheikh Saleh bin Humaid to deliver Arafah sermon during Hajj 2025

Sheikh Saleh bin Humaid will deliver the Arafah sermon during this year’s Hajj. (@PRAGOVSA)
Updated 25 May 2025
Follow

Sheikh Saleh bin Humaid to deliver Arafah sermon during Hajj 2025

  • The day of Arafah (the 9th of Dhul Hijjah) is widely considered the pinnacle of Hajj, marking the most important day for pilgrims
  • The sermon is delivered from Masjid Al-Nimra on Mount Arafat before Dhuhr and Asr prayers are performed together on Dhul Hijjah 9

RIYADH: Sheikh Saleh bin Humaid will deliver the Arafah sermon during this year’s Hajj, the Presidency of Religious Affairs announced on Sunday.

The day of Arafah (the 9th of Dhul Hijjah) is widely considered the pinnacle of Hajj, marking the most important day for pilgrims. Muslims around the world who are not performing the pilgrimage mark the day by fasting and engaging in worship.

The sermon is delivered from Masjid Al-Nimra on Mount Arafat before Dhuhr and Asr prayers are performed together on Dhul Hijjah 9.

Head of Religious Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque Sheikh Abdulrahman Al-Sudais thanked King Salman and Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for the appointment.

The appointment underscores the Kingdom’s global religious leadership, reflects its continued support for religious institutions, and exemplifies the leadership’s care for the two holy mosques, the presidency said.


Saudi deputy FM receives EU official in Riyadh

Updated 25 May 2025
Follow

Saudi deputy FM receives EU official in Riyadh

  • A meeting was also held as part of the third round of political consultations between Saudi Arabia and the EEAS

RIYADH: Saudi Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Waleed Elkhereiji received Olof Skoog, deputy secretary-general for political affairs at the European External Action Service, and his accompanying delegation, in Riyadh on Sunday.

During the meeting, they discussed bilateral relations between the Kingdom and the EU and other topics of common interest, the Foreign Ministry wrote in a post on X.

A meeting was also held as part of the third round of political consultations between the Kingdom and the EEAS. Senior officials from both sides participated in the session, chaired by Raed bin Khalid Qarmli, director-general of the general directorate of policy planning at the Saudi Foreign Ministry, with Skoog representing the European side.

 


Pakistani ambassador to Saudi Arabia meets with CEO of Diriyah Gate Development Authority

Ahmad Farooq, Pakistan’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, meets with Jerry Inzerillo, CEO of Diriyah Gate Development Authority.
Updated 25 May 2025
Follow

Pakistani ambassador to Saudi Arabia meets with CEO of Diriyah Gate Development Authority

  • The meeting focused on strengthening Saudi-Pakistani ties in the field of heritage and culture

RIYADH: Ahmad Farooq, Pakistan’s ambassador to Saudi Arabia, met with Jerry Inzerillo, CEO of Diriyah Gate Development Authority in Riyadh.

The meeting focused on strengthening Saudi-Pakistani ties in the field of heritage and culture, the Pakistani Embassy wrote in a post on X on Sunday.

The ambassador presented Inzerillo with a painting from his own Diriyah-themed series, created to celebrate the Kingdom’s history and heritage.

He also presented him with a made-in-Pakistan FIFA-standard football “symbolizing Pakistan’s craftsmanship and the mutual spirit of friendship.”


Saudi reserve engages pilgrims on biodiversity

Updated 25 May 2025
Follow

Saudi reserve engages pilgrims on biodiversity

  • Pilgrims were welcomed at Al-Shuqaiq in the Jouf region, where more than 4,000 gifts reflecting the reserve’s history and conservation efforts were distributed

RIYADH: Hajj pilgrims arriving in the Kingdom by land were introduced to projects and initiatives of the King Salman bin Abdulaziz Royal Reserve Development Authority.

The initiative aims to enhance biodiversity, restore vegetation and breed endangered species to create a more sustainable natural environment.

The authority also distributed educational brochures to raise awareness about environmental preservation, the Saudi Press Agency reported.

Pilgrims were welcomed at Al-Shuqaiq in the Jouf region, where more than 4,000 gifts reflecting the reserve’s history and conservation efforts were distributed.

Visitors were informed about the reserve’s environmental heritage, biodiversity, and commitment to sustainable ecological stewardship, the SPA added.

The authority works to preserve biodiversity by protecting habitats and creating safe environments for wildlife and plants to thrive.

Its achievements include planting more than 2.4 million trees, scattering four tonnes of native seeds and rehabilitating 250,000 hectares of degraded land.

The reserve hosts more than 290 documented bird species — about 58 percent of those recorded in the Kingdom — and includes five internationally recognized important bird areas.

Covering 130,700 sq. kilometers, the King Salman Reserve is the largest natural terrestrial reserve in the Middle East, spanning four administrative regions: Jouf, Hail, Northern Borders, and Tabuk.