The State of Qatar joined a consortium of founding member countries in initialing the agreement of establishment of the Global Green Growth Institute (GGGI). His Excellency Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Attiyah, Chairman of Qatar’s Administrative Control and Transparency Authority who initialed the agreement on behalf of the State of Qatar, described the GGGI as an important initiative to address the challenge of climate change.
H.E. Al-Attiya stated that, “GGGI plays a critical role in (our) collective effort to promote the paradigm of green growth, and ultimately improve the economic, environmental and social conditions of both developing and emerging countries.”
H.E. Al-Attiya, who is also the incoming President of the Conference of Parties of the United Nations Convention on Climate Change stressed the importance of institutions like GGGI in advancing climate change discussions. The agreement will be signed by the State of Qatar on the margins of the United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development (Rio +20).
With the establishment of the GGGI, the founding member countries move towards shaping the global knowledge agenda for green growth, a global initiative that will work on identifying and addressing major knowledge gaps in green growth theory and practice. Qatar’s endorsement of the agreement reflects its willingness to promote green economy strategies and to forge collaborative partnerships with member states, notably the Republic of Korea.
The GGGI will identify areas of opportunity that promote economic growth while increasing overall environmental sustainability. It will also help member countries to work together in designing and implementing initiatives that achieve green growth goals.
By joining the initiative, Qatar aims to play an active role in promoting a more resource-efficient and low carbon economic development while helping developing countries embrace green growth. This event marks the formal launch of essential international cooperation on testing, exploring, and refining policies and actions on green growth for practical implementation in both developed and developing countries.
Present at the initialing ceremony, Mr. Fahad bin Mohammed Al-Attiya, Chairman of the Qatar National Food Security Program (QNFSP), called upon arid and semi-arid countries to work together to confront the threat of food insecurity on sustainable basis. In line with the GGGI vision and goals, he welcomed the dry land countries who recently expressed willingness to join the Global Dry Land Alliance (GDLA).
The Global Dry Land Alliance initiative (GDLA) will be a joint collaboration among dry land areas around the world to take action amid zones vulnerable to agricultural perils and food crisis. Mr. Al-Attiya explained that the GDLA will offer partnership between developed and developing countries with dry lands to harness the best of science and technology to meet the challenges of food and water security as well as environmental sustainability. During the opening ceremony of the Global Green Growth Summit, H.E. President Lee Myung-bak of the Republic of Korea also highlighted Qatar’s leadership in launching the GDLA.
New research and technical innovation supported by the GDLA would be targeted to the specific conditions of the members; the knowledge and best practices developed in this way could then be shared widely with dry land countries around the world, particularly those suffering from poverty and hunger. Members of the GDLA would be dry land countries facing similar challenges, but it would be open to partnerships with other interested countries and with multilateral institutions.
About Qatar National Food Security Programme (QNFSP)
Qatar National Food Security Programme (QNFSP) is a national initiative established in 2008 by His Highness Sheikh Tamim Bin Hamad Al-Thani, the Heir Apparent of the State of Qatar. QNFSP is a policy initiative consisting of an inter-governmental task force to develop the Food Security Master Plan for Qatar.
The Master Plan will lay out a holistic sustainable solution that will be implemented by the executive branch of the Qatari government through the QNFSP Task Force. Implementation of the Master Plan will assist the State of Qatar in the fulfillment of the goals and objectives set by the Qatar National Vision (QNV) of 2030, leading to Human, Social, Economic and Environmental development.
QNFSP’s task is to develop a comprehensive, long-term solution to the challenges that Qatar faces with regards to its Food Security. The objective is to increase and enhance domestic agricultural production and, in parallel, strengthening the security of food imports to alleviate the food supply deficit that Qatar faces. QNFSP could also serve as a model to other dry land countries in the region and globally. The program will present its findings to the State of Qatar in the form of a Master Plan.
Press release
13 May
