Remarks

In his remarks, James Lynch highlighted the need for new approaches and integrated solutions to achieve carbon neutrality in the region, generate new revenues from renewable energy, and channel more private investments into research and development.

James Lynch

James Lynch was the Director General of the East Asia Department of Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Manila, Philippines. He assumed office in February 2020.

Mr. Lynch managed ADB’s sovereign operations in the People’s Republic of China and Mongolia across multiple sectors and thematic areas, including transport, energy, environment, climate change, health, education, and public finance. He was also responsible for ADB’s relations with Hong Kong, China; Republic of Korea; and Taipei, China.

World Bank: Scaling up Investments in Food Systems Transformation

Dina Umali-Deininger discussed the different challenges, opportunities, and visions for the food system in the East and Asia Pacific. She also shared World Bank’s vision for the food system to achieve a healthy economy, people, and planet; highlighted World Bank’s strong focus on enhancing climate co-benefits trends in agriculture as well as leveraging public-private partnerships; and described how COVID-19 impacted exposed the food system’s weakness and how it made things matter worse.

Dina Umali-Deininger

Dina Umali-Deininger s the Agriculture Practice Manager, Sustainable Development, in the East Asia and Pacific Region of the World Bank. She manages advisory activities and a lending portfolio focused on increasing agricultural productivity, linking farmers to markets and value chain development, and improving climate resilience through climate smart agriculture. Prior to joining the Africa Region, she was the Practice Manager for the Agriculture and Water Global Practices in the Europe and Central Asia Region. She has an M.A. and Ph.D.

Toward Sustainable and Resilient Food Systems in Asia and the Pacific

Yasuyuki Sawada emphasized that COVID-19 reversed the gain in food security, highlighting the need for developing Asia to build back the food system better to reduce hunger and malnutrition. He presented how digitalization and technology can facilitate a post-COVID-19 transition to resilient and efficient food supply chains through institutional and legislative forms and targeted support to poor and smallholder farmers. He also highlighted that digitalization can also help social protection programs for better food security.

Alvaro Lario

Alvaro Lario is part of the Executive Management Committee and is responsible for the design and implementation of the financial strategies and policies at IFAD, including oversight of the Treasury, Controller and Financial Management divisions. Before joining the Fund in early 2018, Lario served as Treasury Capital Markets Lead and Principal Portfolio Officer at the International Finance Corporation (IFC) of the World Bank Group. His earlier positions include various roles in the private sector asset management industry and in academia, including public and business schools.

Shingo Kimura

Shingo is responsible for ADB’s operation on sustainable rural development and food security in East Asia. Prior to joining ADB, he was Economist and Agricultural Policy Analyst at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris, where he conducted a series of policy research for the productive, sustainable, and resilient food and agricultural sector in Europe, North America, and Asia.

Rural Prosperity with Carbon Neutrality and Food Security

Rural regions have the advantage of not only having the space for solar and wind energy production - which are low-carbon electricity technologies - but also have the potential to generate carbon neutral bioenergy. This scenario sets the opportunity on leading the process towards carbon neutrality. However, rural carbon neutrality does have implications for food security as food-land-nexus complicates the interactions.

Opening Remarks

Bambang Susantono called for the need to generate global awareness and momentum for rebuilding and improving the food systems that have been affected by the pandemic. He highlighted the important role of multi-lateral development banks (MDBs) in mobilizing resources towards food system transformation and shared that ADB is developing an innovative natural capital financing facility to scale up investments in sustainable and climate resilient food systems.