Lebanon-Syria F2R-CWANA Launch
Beirut, Lebanon – July 4th 2022: The inception meeting of the CGIAR Initiative From Fragility to Resilience in Central and West Asia, and North Africa (F2R-CWANA) - Lebanon and Syria will take place to showcase CGIAR's significant advances in agricultural research-for-development (R4D) and plans for this region.
F2R-CWANA is one of CGIAR's new global portfolio of 33 initiatives developed by CGIAR and its partners to deliver more relevant, consistent, and efficient outcomes through the strengthened collaboration of our global research centers to improve knowledge and asset sharing and reduce institutional boundaries.
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July 2022 - From Fragility to Resilience in Central and West Asia, and North Africa (F2R-CWANA) Lebanon and Syria Inception Workshop – Beirut, Lebanon
On July 4th, CGIAR is excited to kick off its first F2R-CWANA national inception workshop in Lebanon with the participation of Syria jointly with its NARS partners with an aim to develop a common vision of F2R-CWANA impact in both countries and validate an action plan for F2R-CWANA activities.
At its core, the F2R-CWANA initiative aims to provide options for climate adaptation and mitigation that respond to, and are effective for, smallholder farmers in Lebanon and Syria – two of the most climate-affected countries in all of CWANA – to scale up and out the best bet solutions.
Syria and Lebanon are among the most vulnerable countries in terms of climate change. Without additional measures of resource conservation, the countries may face a shortage of water resources because of changing rainfall patterns and water pollution, building on the agricultural lands in both countries, population increase, economic crises, conflicts and migration due to that, increased desertification; and land degradation, which will cause instability in agricultural production and pose a threat to the country's food security.
To address agricultural resilience challenges in Lebanon and Syria, F2R-CWANA is collaborating with partners to test and upscale various innovations to secure better livelihoods for small farmers, improve land and water rational use, and increase prosperity for the two countries as a whole.
Nature-based solutions, resilient food and feed crops, and farm-to-basin smart tools for water efficiency and management are just some of the many innovations that will be deployed and out-scaled in Lebanon and Syria as part of this CGIAR Initiative.
The F2R Workshop will be launched by:
Prof. Michael Afram, ICARDA Board of Trustees Chairman and President of LARI, Lebanon
Mr. Aly Abousabaa, Regional Director, Central, and West Asia and North Africa (CWANA); Director-General of ICARDA
Dr. Martin Kropff, Global Director, Resilient Agri-food Systems Science Area (RAFS)
Dr. Michael Baum, F2R-CWANA Lead - ICARDA
Dr. Maha Al-Zu'bi, F2R-CWANA Co-Lead - IWMI