The 3rd GMS Agricultural Ministers' Meeting (AMM3) was organized by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) in Kunming, China, during 19-22 November 2024. With the theme “Transforming Agrifood Systems for a Resilient GMS”, the AMM3 focused on strategies to achieve the goals to transform the agrifood systems to be more sustainable, resilience and inclusive. It also provided platform for sharing best practices and fostering collaborative efforts on several thematic and cross-cutting issues.
At the invitation of the ADB to lead a session at the AMM3, UNEP-IEMP hosted the session “Gender and Agrifood System Transformation”. Ms Tatirose Vijitpan, UNEP-IEMP Focal Point of the Greater Mekong Sub-region Portfolio, led the session preparation and organization. As inclusivity has been identified as a key contributing factor to the agrifood system transformation, the session aimed to showcase evidence on gender equality and women’s empowerment in agrifood systems in the GMS in addressing the socio-economic and environmental challenges, including climate change and biodiversity. The session featured a good combination of panelists, offering insights from various angles, i.e. the GMS Gender Strategy in agriculture sector, gender policy in Lao agriculture sector, financial mechanisms for women farmers in Vietnam, empowerment of ethnic minority women in Yunnan and Guangxi of China, and gender inclusive climate-friendly agribusiness. The session concluded with questions from the audience which would inspire replication and upscaling some of the successful initiatives shared during the session.
The group photo of the panelists
Apart from the gender session, UNEP-IEMP also participated in the AMM3’s “Development Partners' Dialogue” session, sharing the work of the UNEP-IEMP in the region on climate, ecosystems and livelihoods aspects related to agriculture, highlighting areas and opportunities to cooperate with other development partners and agencies in the region.
