Marcos calls on world leaders to strengthen regional food security

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. called on world leaders to boost food security in the East Asian region, as he cited risks such as climate change which jeopardize the global supply chain.

In his intervention during the 17th East Asia Summit (EAS), Marcos cited the need to band together and work on achieving environmentally-sound economic progress.

“It has become glaringly clear that there is a dire need to strengthen food security towards self-sufficiency in our region, to increase adaptability and resilience in the face of threats to the global supply chain,” he said.

“It is incumbent upon us, for our sake and that of future generations, to act decisively and immediately on climate change,” he added.

Marcos was speaking to global leaders including US President Joe Biden, Chinese Premier Li Keqiang, New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Kate Ardern, Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida, India Vice President Jagdeep Dhankhar, South Korea President Yoon Suk Yeol, and Australia Prime Minister Anthony Norman Albanese.

The Philippines is the 10th most vulnerable country to climate change, based on the “Climate Finance in Asia” report of Oxfam released earlier this month. It is also ranked 113th out of 182 countries in the Notre-Dame Global Adaptation Initiative Index for 2020.

Just last month Severe Tropical Storm Paeng (international name: Nalgae) caused some P2.86-billion worth of damage and losses to the local agriculture sector, according to the Department of Agriculture (DA).

Before this, the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) also said they expect inflation to remain high in the remainder of the year, due to the weak peso and the damage caused by Typhoon Karding (international name: Noru).

Inflation clocked in at a 14-year-high of 7.7% in October due to higher prices of food and non-alcoholic beverages which climbed by 9.4%, accounting for an 80.9% share of the overall inflation.

“Our people look to their leaders, to us, to correctly navigate the uncertain waters of this new world. Our partnerships will make us strong. Our partnerships will give us wisdom,” Marcos said. — DVM, GMA Integrated News