The “Svalbard Walk For Climate Resilience And Food Security” initiative by AUB and its global partners

The “Svalbard Walk For Climate Resilience And Food Security” initiative by AUB and its global partners

Beirut: The Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences (FAFS) at the American Uniersity of Beirut (AUB) organized the "Svalbard Walk for Climate Resilience and Food Security” to underscore the importance of action to build resilience to climate change through preserving crop biodiversity. The walk was held in partnership with the Government of Norway, the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), to mark the first step of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Regional Goodwill Ambassador Michael Haddad.

The walk capitalized on an important event happening in Norway, namely the yearly summer season opening of the Svalbard Global Seed Vault for the second annual seed deposits thak took place in the week of June 6-12, 2022, to receive seeds from across the world and to spotlight the risks that climate change poses to our global food security. From June 4 till 10, 2022, Michael Haddad completed a challenging physical feat of a 5 km walk in Svalbard, Norway, roughly 1,300 kilometers south of the North Pole, toward the famous Svalbard Global Seed Vault in the Arctic Circle, where he delivered a collection of seeds from