Synergizing Trade and Climate Change for Food Security and Livelihoods in the EAC

This session organised as part of the ICTSD Trade and Development Symposium on the side lines of the conference aimed to demonstrate how synergizing trade and climate regimes at multilateral, regional and national level can enhance food security and improve livelihoods, in the context of the EAC region. Discussions pointed out that food security is one of the main challenges in East Africa where food production is challenged by extreme weather conditions brought by climate change. While trade can be a tool to mitigate food crises, it is by no means an automatic process and appropriate synergies need to be built with climate change and food security policies. Such synergies are critical since, in their efforts to deal with climate change and food security, governments may for instance adopt trade-related regulatory measures such as taxes, tariffs and subsidies that may be subjected to trade rules and procedures.