admin Israel is hosting the first international conference on food scarcity and climate technologies. The conference will be held in the southern coastal city of Eilat from October 18 to 20.
Representatives of Bahrain and Morocco will be attending the International Summit on Food from the Sea & the Desert. Bahrain and Morocco are two signatory countries of the Abraham Accords. Mediterranean countries like Jordan, Cyprus and Malta will also be attending the conference. The conference is organized by the Agriculture Ministry of Israel.
Oded Forer, Israeli Agriculture Minister, stressed the importance of dealing with food security and climate change. “The whole world is currently dealing with the issues of food security and the climate crisis. The connection between the desert and the sea offers much opportunity to develop advanced technologies on which future food growth will be based.”
He also talked about how Israel is in a good place to handle these crises. “The State of Israel has tremendous potential in this field. We are already leading relevant research and technology development. The purpose of thus conference is to set the wheels turning on cooperation with countries across our region with similar challenges and climates,” he added.
The summit is part of the efforts of Israel to strengthen economic and agricultural ties with its Arab and Mediterranean neighbors.
The event will also highlight the increasing costs of climate change in the Middle East and Mediterranean countries. It has been estimated by the World Bank that by 2050, these states can lose around 6-14 percent of their GDP due to water scarcity alone.
Eilat is also feeling the negative impacts of climate change. Other similar seaside spots like the Red Sea coast of Egypt as well as Aqaba in Jordan are not safe from these impacts. The Middle East and South Asia both have felt it. Massive floods devastated large swaths of Pakistan and Iran over the summer, with Pakistan receiving its worst monsoon floods in a decade, leaving a third of the country underwater.
Eilat is attempting to brand itself as an international hub for agritech and foodtech, having last year implemented a multi-year, NIS 170 million ($49 million) development plan for this purpose.
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