This volume foregrounds the importance of regional cooperation in the context of food security challenges in South Asia. South Asia holds the key to global achievement of SDG targets of ending hunger and malnutrition - it accounts for nearly one-third of food-insecure people on the planet, with every third child suffering from stunting due to malnutrition. Similar food preferences, production systems, and the transboundary nature of agrarian ecosystems call for coordinated action by South Asian countries, complementing national actions dealing with food security challenges.
In this volume, leading experts discuss the perspectives of key South Asian countries in leveraging regional cooperation for addressing food security challenges and reflect on the potential of cooperative actions in different areas. The book proposes a ten-point regional policy agenda covering cooperation for combatting climate change, regional trade liberalization, operationalization of regional food reserves, leveraging technology, sharing of good practices, regional institution building, coordinated positions in multilateral trade negotiations, addressing trans-boundary outbreak of livestock diseases, strengthening food safety standards, and the management of shared natural resources.
A key volume on accomplishing SDGs in the South Asian context, this book will be of immense interest to policy makers, researchers, and development practitioners. It is also essential reading for scholars and researchers in the areas of development studies, South Asia studies, food security, environment and sustainability.
About the Author: Nagesh Kumar is Director and Head of the South and South-West Asia Office, New Delhi, of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP). He has previously served as the UNESCAP Chief Economist and Director, Macroeconomic Policy and Development Division, and Director of Social Development Division at UNESCAP headquarters in Bangkok.
Joseph George is a trade and development analyst with ten years of experience in the field of regional economic integration in South Asia. Currently serving as a Research Associate at the South and South-West Asia Office of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), he provides research support for implementation of UNESCAP's programmes on regional cooperation for sustainable development in the South Asian region.
