Chris Justice and Meghavi Prashnani from UMD/NASA Harvest represented GEOGLAM at the G20 First Agricultural Deputies Meeting (ADM) in Indore, India, Feb. 13 to 15.
The meeting included the stock-taking of G20 initiatives and the development of a framework for Food Security and Nutrition.
Chris Justice presented the accomplishments of the GEOGLAM initiative (launched in 2011 by the G20 under the French Presidency), making the case for expanding the role of satellite data in digital agriculture at multiple scales and the need for an international satellite-based rapid response early warning capability.
The Agriculture Working Group (AWG) was established in 2011 at the sixth meeting of G20 during the Cannes Summit, France. The formation of AWG was the outcome of this summit, most notably in the area of agriculture and food security with a special launch of the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS), and the Group on Earth Observations Global Agricultural Monitoring (GEOGLAM) initiatives.
Aligning with India’s G20 Presidency theme of ‘One Earth, One Family, One Future,’ this year AWG strives to improve cooperation among G20 member nations. A number of member countries face challenges in agriculture, including food insecurity, gaps in global value chains, crop productivity due to climate change, and employment.
At the summit, member countries discussed how to coordinate at a policy level in order to maintain global economic stability and growth.
The agenda covered four major themes: Increasing food security and nutrition; Sustainable agriculture with a climate smart approach; Inclusive agri-value chains and food systems; and Digitalization for agricultural transformation.
The meeting was attended by around 100 delegates from the G20 and other invited countries and international organizations.
The next ADM meeting to draft a declaration will be at the end of March at Chandigarh in northern India.