Forum on E-Agriculture and the use of ICTs for Resilience
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and e-Agriculture.org launched an online forum discussion on "Information and Communication Technologies for Resilience" that will continue until 13 December 2016.
Sustainable development cannot be achieved without resilient livelihoods. People around the world are increasingly exposed to natural hazards and crises – from drought, floods, earthquakes and disease epidemics to conflict, market shocks and complex, protracted crises. Worldwide, 75 percent of poor and food insecure people rely on agriculture and natural resources for their living. People who rely on farming, livestock, forests or fishing for their food and income – around one-third of the world’s population – are often the most vulnerable and affected. Climate change, in particular extreme weather-related shocks, is exacerbating the situation.
Today, more and more ICTs are used in agriculture, fishery or forestry. The use of such technologies in agriculture and rural development is called e-Agriculture. ICTs that can be harnessed for e-Agriculture may include devices, networks, services and applications. These can range from cutting edge Internet-based technologies and sensing tools to other technologies that have been around for much longer, such as radio, telephones, televisions, mobile phones and satellites.
Many successful experiences on the use of ICTs for Resilience at FAO have already been documented such as eLocust, SWALIM, OpenForis, EMA-i, EMPRES-i, Drought preparedness in Uganda, Disaster preparedness in Dominican Republic etc. Based on these experiences and others from the partners and members of the e-Agriculture Community of Practice, the two week discussion forum aims at capitalizing on these experiences, sharing knowledge and working towards overall recommendations on the use of ICTs for Resilience.
Within the global discussion on Resilience, FAO and e-Agriculture want to bring forward specific solutions ICTs can bring. The forum will take place from 28 November till 13 December. Members of the platform can share their views continuously during those two weeks, once they have logged in.
The discussion will be guided by Subject Matter Experts from different organisations and facilitated by FAO's Knowledge Outreach Team. The forum can be accessed through the link below. In order to participate / comment you will have to register and login during the forum.
