Today, we celebrate the World Soil Day at the Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP). This year’s theme of the World Soil Day 2022 and its campaign “Soils, where food begins”. CIRDAP has organized a webinar in collaboration with Bangladesh’s Department of Civil Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) for celebrating the World Soil Day entitled “The use of Vetiver Grass for Protection of Soil Erosion in Bangladesh”. The presentation will be given by Prof. Dr. Mohammad Shariful Islam. You can find the abstract of the presentation in the link:  https://cirdap.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/Abstract.pdf

The closing ceremony of the 1st Flagship Training Programme on Regional Integrated Rural Development, Governance, Trade, and Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific organized by the Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) in collaboration with Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development in Cumilla, Bangladesh was held on 24th November (Thursday), 2022. The ceremony of  this training took place at the CIRDAP International Convention Centre (CICC) from 14:00 – 16:00 hrs. The Secretary of Rural Development & Co-operatives Division, Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Mr. Mashiur Rahman NDC was embraced as the Chief Guest and spoke about the necessity and importance of the training for rural development. Dr. Durga Prasad Paudyal, the course director of the training program, made the closing Address on the accomplishment and achievement of the course. He also highlighted some important features of this training course in particular on the policy formulation and comprehensive implementation, simulationexercise and the roundtable discussion. In the ceremony, the Director General (DG) of CIRDAP Dr. Cherdsak Virapat and the Director General (DG) of BARD Mr. Md. Shahjahan welcomed the participants and addressed the outcome of the training. As collaborative partners, both the director general’s thanked each other for their kind and generous hospitability. A total of 18 participants from Bangladesh, IR Iran, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Vietnam, and AARDO nominated trainee from Zambia completed the training courses successfully. Apart from the certificates of achievement, they also received the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Pins. The course included 39 eminent experts from 10 countries in Asia and the Pacific region and countries around the world. Two of the representatives of the successful trainees Ms. Irin Parvin from Bangladesh and Mr. Trywell Moonga from Zambia come up on stage to give his/her address in appreciation of the training programme on behalf of the cohort 2022. Ms. Meydy DS Malonda, Indonesia also provided a token of appreciation to the Course Director Dr. Durga Prasad Paudyal. The closing ceremony was officially concluded with the special Award Ceremony of the Aziz-Ul Haq Rural Development Medal in 2022. CIRDAP took the initiatives to honor its former Director Generals and the focal ministries of the CIRDAP member countries (CMC)for their outstanding contributions towards the improvement of the organization and to improve the life standards of thousands of the marginalized rural people. The awardees are the first Director General, the late Mr. Aziz-Ul Haq Bangladesh, 1979- 1984; the former Director General the Late Mr. ATM Shamsul Haque, Bangladesh, 1984- 1992; the former Director General Dr. Durga P. Paudyal, Nepal, 2004-2012; and the Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, Bangladesh. Hurain Jannat Communication Officer, CIRDAP, Chameli House, 17 Topkhana Road 24th November 2022

CIRDAP 2021 Annual Report is Published. Click on the Cover to download the PDF

The opening ceremony of the 1st Flagship Training Programme on Regional Integrated Rural Development, Governance, Trade, and Sustainable Development in Asia and the Pacific organized by the Centre on Integrated Rural Development for Asia and the Pacific (CIRDAP) in collaboration with Bangladesh Academy for Rural Development in Cumilla, Bangladesh was held on 5 th November, 2022. The training will be organized from 5 th November 2022 to 24 th November 2022. The Honorable Minister, Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives, Local Government Division, Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, His Excellency Mr. Md Tazul Islam, MP was embraced as the Chief Guest. The Secretary of Rural Development & Co-operatives Division, Ministry of Local Government, Rural Development and Cooperatives Mr. Mashiur Rahman NDC was presented the Special Guest. The former Director General of CIRDAP Dr. Durga Prasad Paudyal was also joined as the course director of the training programme. In the ceremony, honorable Director General (DG) of CIRDAP Dr. Cherdsak Virapat and respected Director General (DG) of BARD Mr. Md. Shahjahan also attended and spoke about the objectives and purposes of organizing such an important flagship training. Please click here to download the News as PDF.

Dr Cherdsak Virapat, Director-General of CIRDAP, Mr Krit Hansaward, Chairperson, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Thailand, Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, Thank you for the invitation to FAO to this Technical Committee Meeting 37, and thank you in particular to the DG of CIRDAP, Dr Cherdsak Virapat, and his team for the excellent collaboration and commitment in preparation for this TC meeting, despite the many challenges, and to our host, the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives of the Kingdom of Thailand, for all the excellent preparations for this meeting. FAO is greatly honored to receive the Aziz-Ul Haq Rural Development Medal. Over the past two years, the world has been learning to cope with the difficult circumstances brought about by the pandemic. Many sectors, including the agrifood sectors, have been struggling to recover from overlapping shocks. The pandemic has forced us to reconsider our priorities and approaches, and has highlighted the importance of more sustainable and resilient societies, as well as of the urgency to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. It has also made us realize the need to transform our agrifood systems to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable. The pandemic, the impacts of the climate crisis, conflict and other humanitarian emergencies continue to pose daunting challenges to food security and nutrition, especially for rural and vulnerable communities. Ladies and Gentlemen, Since the arrival of the FAO DG Dr Qu Dongyu, FAO has been engaged in a series of actions to make FAO more effective, more efficient and fitter for purpose. The FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31 is aligned with the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda, and it is focused on achieving the Four Betters: Better Production, Better Nutrition, a Better Environment and a Better Life for all, leaving no one behind. The Strategic Framework has 20 Programme Priority Areas that will shape FAO’s actions in supporting countries, and act as pathways towards achieving the SDGs in line with national priorities. Action at country level is at the core of the 2030 Agenda. In the Asia and Pacific region, the pre-pandemic food security situation was already deteriorating in some parts of this vast region. After many years of progress, hunger is on the rise again. Inequalities are increasing, particularly between rural and urban populations, and women and youth are being left behind. In 2019 about 350 million people in the Asia and Pacific region were undernourished – which is approximately 51% of the global total. With 1.9 billion people, almost 40% of the region, unable to afford a healthy diet due to high food prices. Now, the pandemic has further increased the number of undernourished people in the region by 4.3 million, compared with 2019. Global estimates predict that an additional 140 million people were living in extreme poverty in 2020, and the Global Report on Food Crises warns that the number of people facing acute food insecurity nearly doubled between 2016 and 2021 and with 193 million hits new highs. For a region which has consistently led economic growth rates for most of the last 3 decades, these numbers are deeply worrying. These trends in hunger and food insecurity also suggest that it will be very difficult for the region to achieve the SDG 2 target of Zero Hunger by 2030 without extraordinary efforts. Four priorities, identified through an extensive and inclusive consultation process, are driving FAO’s programme of work in the region and are aimed at achieving extraordinary results: One: Transforming agri-food systems for sustainable production and healthy diets; Two: Accelerating sustainable natural resources management for biodiversity conservation and climate action Three: Supporting inclusive rural transformation for sustainable agrifood systems and equitable rural societies; and Four: Building sustainable and resilient agri-food systems in the Pacific SIDS. FAO’s flagship initiatives support implementation of the Strategic Framework across all regions. The Hand-in-Hand Initiative facilitates agrifood systems transformation and sustainable rural development, FAO’s Global Action on One Country One Priority Product, aims to develop green and sustainable production and value chains for special agricultural products. And the 1000 Digital Villages Initiative aims to convert villages across the world into digital hubs to support the acceleration of rural transformation. A regional strategy on digital innovation will further accelerate the trend towards strengthening the use of digital tools in agriculture, and will leverage the entrepreneurial spirit of the youth and women in the region. We have also invested in the development of Regional Technical Platforms that bring together the best knowledge, taking advantage of regional expertise. The FAO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific is currently developing a Regional Technical Platform on aquaculture, which will become a knowledge hub for this sector. Whilst this will cover various forms of aquaculture, it is important to note in this International Year of Artisanal Fisheries and Aquaculture that the integration of aquaculture into small-scale farming systems can be a catalyst for poor communities to address the wider challenges of improving food security and nutrition, increasing farm biodiversity and building resilience. The currently ongoing 35 th session of the FAO Committee on Fisheries emphasizes the importance of an ecosystem approach and encourages FAO to work in partnership with new initiatives to promote sustainable aquaculture. Following the successful SIDS Solution Forum last year, we launched a platform to share innovative solutions developed by Pacific island states to overcome challenging circumstances in unique and fragile environments. Finally, two key thematic strategies are being developed to support the implementation of the Strategic Framework: The FAO Strategy on Science and Innovation and the updated Strategy on Climate Change. Regional consultations with a wide range of stakeholders will ensure that regional perspectives are included in the preparation of both thematic strategies. Ladies and Gentlemen, FAO is committed to working together with you and with all countries and partners in the region in an efficient, effective and coherent manner to reach our collective, regional and global objectives. Thank you once again for the kind recognition of FAO’s efforts towards global rural development and poverty alleviation. We wish a successful

Dr Cherdsak Virapat, Director-General of CIRDAP, Ms Narumol Sanguanvong, Assistant Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, Thailand. Excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, It is a great honour to accept the Aziz-Ul Haq Rural Development Medal on behalf of FAO Director General Dr QU Dongyu, and thank you for the recognition of FAO’s efforts towards global rural development and poverty alleviation, and for supporting CIRDAP to promote integrated rural development for small-scale aquaculture and agriculture farmers. Ladies and Gentlemen,  The COVID-19 pandemic which unfortunately is still around us has widely exposed the weaknesses of our agrifood systems, and this situation is compounded by conflicts and humanitarian emergencies across the world. World hunger rose again in 2022, reflecting growing inequalities across and within countries. Some 828 million people were affected by hunger in 2021. This is an increase of 46 million from 2020, and 150 million more from 2019, before the COVID 19 pandemic. Food insecurity also increased in 2021, reminding us that more people did not have access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food. If we project these numbers to 2030, we can clearly see that we are off-track to meet SDG2. This must be our wake-up call! We must not only be worried about the recent setbacks in progress towards SDG2, but about the current and future context as well. The ongoing war in Europe, together with other extended conflicts around the world, is pushing up the price of food, grain, fertilizer and energy, leading to shortages and high food price inflation. Furthermore, more frequent and extreme climate events are disrupting supply chains, especially in low-income countries. We are fully aware that adversities will continue to occur. This is why we need to take bolder action to build resilience, and transform our agrifood systems to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable. Ladies and Gentlemen, To do this, FAO has launched the Hand-in-Hand Initiative through which we are supporting 53 countries, in an holistic manner. And we need to work with more partners at global and national levels, to explore opportunities for increasing the provision of public services that support all actors across agrifood systems – implanting policy measures that incentivize the production and consumption of nutritious foods, and make healthy diets more affordable. This spirit of partnership and collaboration is exemplified by the long and successful relationship between CIRDAP and FAO, both firmly committed to working with governments, to ensure ending hunger and all forms of malnutrition, and to accelerate sustainable rural development. From collaborating with governments on national agriculture policies to studying the transformation of agrifood systems; from in-country training and capacity development to support to regional strategies, and collaboration on major events such as the Global Conference on Aquaculture Millennium+20, FAO and CIRDAP continue to build upon the close relationship dating back to the founding of CIRDAP in 1979. Now more than ever our organizations need to continue working jointly, with all key players, to achieve better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life for all, leaving no one behind. Thank you

Dear TIEMS Members and Supporters, Registration for TIEMS 2022 Hybrid Annual Conference or/and TQC & TQAC Workshops on the following link: Registration and Payment The attendance fee is structered as follows: Virtual Attendance to conference is free Virtual Attendance to the Workshop 21st October requires paid TIEMS Membership In person attendance to the conference 18th – 20th October has different fee for regular, transition economy and student In person attendance to the workshop 17th October has different fee for regular, transition economy and student, and has an option to add on attendance to the conference in person for an additional fee Conference Sponsor Opportunities, Bronze, Silver and Gold with attendance tickets The workshops has a limit of 20 attendants in person on 17th October and 20 virtual attendants on 21st October! TIEMS 2022 Hybrid Annual Conference Update Check Latest Final Program! It will be an excellent international event with speakers and participants from more than 30 countries with 90 excellent presentations and two workshops on TIEMS International Certifications – TQC & TQAC. The Conference is sponored by: More Sponsors are welcome! Please, Register your Sponsorship Here The program overview and link to the detailed program, and presentation of Welcome and Keynote Speakers are below: The Final Program  Welcome and Keynote Speakers Join us at Kennesaw State University in Atlanta for TIEMS 2022 Hybrid Annual Conference and TQC & TQAC Workshops 17th – 21st October 2022! An excellent opportunity for international networking! Follow updates on: Conference  web-site. Please, share this message in your network! K. Harald Drager TIEMS President _________________________________________________ Update your subscription settings TIEMS Privacy Policy You may have heard about the new General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”), that came into effect May 25, 2018. To help comply with GDPR consent requirements, we need to ensure that you would like to receive content from TIEMS. We hope that our content is useful to you. If you’d like to continue hearing from us, please update your subscription settings, if you have not already done it. We kindly ask you to follow the below instructions to keep in touch with us. Below TIEMS logo in this message you find: Manage Your Subscription Please, click on the text and manage your subscription. Thank you! HOTEL INFORMATION We recommend the following hotels: Wyndham Garden Marietta Atlanta North 455 Franklin Gateway SE, Marietta, GA 30067 Sales Contact: Stephanie Little – 770-425-9977 KSU Rate: $94 per night Link: Wyndham Radisson Hotel Atlanta Marietta I-75 1775 Parkway Place SE, Marietta, GA 30067 Sales Contact: Richard Leon – 770-420-3533 KSU Rate: $89 per night Link: Radisson Our Mission TIEMS is a Global Forum for Education, Training, Certification and Policy in Emergency and Disaster Management. TIEMS is dedicated to developing and bringing the benefits of modern emergency management tools, techniques and good industry practises to society for a safer world. Rue Des Deux Eglises 39, 1000 Brussels, Belgium.