This initiative showcases a sophisticated synthesis of biotechnology and digital governance to address a critical ecological threat. However, the true test lies in translating these high-level technocratic frameworks into accessible, ground-level solutions for the world's most vulnerable farmers.
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research institution, private sector partners and prows. Um, this session focus on one of the most serious and rapidly expanding threats uh to the pump system uh globally the pump.
Um when it comes to a solution for this this problem, a global integrated response led by Jakarta in close partnership with the government of UEIE national and international partners um is here to present today. So please allow me to walk you very briefly through the agenda that we have for today and then we will go ahead and move on.
If like you see in the agenda, we will begin with opening remarks from our distinguished house.
Follow this will followed by a keynote presentation that I will provide introducing the consortium for red legal initiative, its vision, structure and global significance and then we will go to um hear a presentation from different scientific work streams and then after a short coffee break we will conduct uh a panel discussion on integrated redcom management and also the closing remark at the end. So right now without the further ado I want to um uh it's my pleasure now to invite uh Fatima uh from the international affair office UE presidential court to kindly deliver the opening remark but Good morning everybody. Thank you for being with us today. For those of you who don't know me, my name is Papa. I work at the international affairs office of the UAE presidential court under the leadership of her excellency.
I'm gonna I'm gonna give you a speech, but before I do that, uh I just want to touch on a little bit of what Dr. is saying about the work that we're doing for the red people. I think this is something that we in the region have been working on for many many years. It's been a challenge and really the goal of bringing the international community and the local stakeholders is try and build on the science to build up the innovation to harness the the knowledge from the CGI and bring this into the UAE. So without further ado, it is my great privilege to welcome you to Abu for those of you who are visiting us and we've really been looking forward to people returning to the country. So welcome and we're all g This is a very difficult yet very very beautiful red in the UAB is part of our identity. It's woven into our history, our hospitality, our vision and the vision of the day.
His legacy was rooted in spirit and stewardship of the land of water of agriculture and These are values that still continue to drive us today. And protecting the day is therefore not only a national responsibility but also it's a shared cause of community. And in more than 50 countries we see that day sustain the livelihood heritage and the red has challenged the scientific community for decades and many of you who've been working in the industry probably know this better than I do.
And the case for acting together has never been more clear. This is why the UAE and the Gates Foundation have come together to develop the the consortium for red people. Underart's leadership, the consortium brings together our national partners such as the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, the Abuabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority who've been great partners and international award for dam and agriculture innovation and as well as we've been working together alongside some of the world's most leading research institutions and six months ago Um this was this was a commitment I would say more than six months ago. This was uh during COP 28 when we announced the partnership between the UAE and the Gates Foundation. One of the main things that we did was join the CGI and through this commitment today this program has now been delivered and is running across the UAE uh Egypt Morocco and the consortium has built a foundation that's required in order to now start this work. So we have the laboratories established, we have partnerships formalized and 40 pilot farms identified across the UAE.
are already under assessment and in February we will we've entered the next phase moving from the preparation to the work in the field and this is the kind of work that the UAB's partnership with the Gates Foundation has built to deliver convening the best science the right partners and the resolve to see it through the day has sustained this region for generations and what this consortium does and what you do will ensure that this kind of work So to bring this work to to life, I'd like to leave you with this short film before we get started. Thank you.
The consortium for redcoming control was formed by the UAE and the Gates Foundation to tackle a beautiful yet deadly pest, the redcom.
This project is done in partnership with Icarda and our national partners including the Ministry of Climate Change and Environment, the Abu Dhabi Agriculture and Food Safety Authority and the Hindu International Awards for Day and Agricultural Innovation and brings in some of the world's leading research institutions. Together, we are mobilizing the international community right here in the UAE, directing some of the best science and innovation toward tackling one of the biggest test challenges in the UAE and the region.
>> The innovations you see emerge from a partnership led by the UAE's presidential office hold immense potential to drive sustainable production particularly small farmers.
The consortium of redcoming control is a huge part of the effort and I want to recognize the important progress achieved thanks to UA efforts.
The redcom is so devastating because it attacks silently from inside the tree.
By the time you see the damage, it's often already too late. That's why early detection and integrated solutions are so important.
The program is built around five areas each led by a partner to design and function as one approach. ECPA begins with safe nature pollution using biological control and smart chemicals and build long-term resilient.
Meanwhile, the IITA is developing precise innovative method that disrupt the best protection and following is using AI remote sensing and machine learning for early detection, early warning and early action. IGBAR drives key good agricultural practices including irrigation, soil health, sanitation and sacrifice.
>> That is the model we have built and the UAE's role is to make sure that this knowledge reaches the farms, the farmers and the communities across this region who need it most. That is what this consortium makes possible.
And secondly, Hello.
Okay.
Excellencies, distinguished colleagues, ladies and gentlemen, it is a pleasure to welcome you to this side event held alongside the eighth international farm conference.
Uh this session is not about presenting a finished solution. It is about collective learning, alignment and strengthening of a platform that is still evolving.
One designed to address a challenge that continues to test all of us.
Red reminds us that agricultural threats today do not respect borders, mandates or decisions.
They require responses that are integrated anticipatory and sustained.
The consortium for red bound control was created precisely to respond to this reality.
It brings together research, innovation, regulation and field practice within a single but a coordinated framework.
Today's agenda reflects the intent that you will hear about advances in early detection technologies, the role of digital tools in risk participation, biotechnology innovations and the responsible development and the importance of good agriculture practices as the backbone of the prevention.
But equally important are the conversations that will take place beyond the presentations around data sharing, regulatory alignment, capacity development and scaling patterns.
This event is an opportunity to test assumptions, identify gaps and strengthen partnerships. It is also an opportunity to ensure that the consortium for required labor control remains responsive to country needs and continuously learn from each other as we advance this scientifically robust and implementation focus and the work.
As we move forward, your feedback and engagement will be directly shaped the next phase of this consortium. I encourage open dialogue, constructive challenges and a focus on how we move from promising innovations to sustain national human regional development.
Thank you.
I finished my forward part of the speech. Now allow me to Now allow me to add a few words of my own.
I think it's important uh first of all to recognize uh the leadership of UAE uh through the uh presidential uh court the international defense office together with the Gates Foundation who actually enabled uh maybe for the first time the scale of response that we have seen today.
But what we have the success that we are being to that we are seeing today is an important milestone of a process that started many years ago since we've been coming here meeting around the dead pan on the margins of the Khalif has been quite instrumental in bringing the ministerial group from the GCC and entire Arab world and beyond together with the technical partners from ADAPS from many of the local region and institutions even within the GCC countries to uh underscore how important uh it is that we come together to address this challenge. No single country, no single institution, no matter how much capabilities or funding or knowledge you have will be able to resolve it at all.
So I think the key work here is a collective action and once you're able to control the human in one location you should make sure that it doesn't go around or come back again from one place to another.
So uh the uh series of Abu Dhabi declarations I think yesterday there was the third commitment from the ministerial group yesterday during the main event of the Khalifa war launch. I think we've heard it loudly from ministers that confirmation and commitment to continue to work together and I think uh you know if you look around in this room and also on the screen you will see many scientists that come uh from across the world putting their knowledge their experience uh their capabilities together and I think that has been the central piece as we trying to conceive this right from the very beginning it was recognized you know is providing a leading role but does not have all the capabilities does not have all the answers don't have all the solutions but it's important now that we bring that ecosystem of knowledge and capabilities from across the globe to be able to achieve this very important task of controlling here at but also within the GCC and then spread to many other parts in North Africa and also in the southern part of the hemisphere and we have seen the excellent of the impact of the across the globe.
Thank you so much uh for setting the stage in Yusaba and also the global context for this initiative. Um it is now my honor to invite his excellency professor Dr. Secretary General award of the day in agriculture innovation to provide an opening remarks for you.
Distinguished guests, excellencies, ladies and gentlemen, it is my pleasure to welcome you all to this important gathering of the combat great consortium held in conjunction with the aational conference in Abu Dhabi.
The red people continues to represent one of the most serious means to death cultivation worldwide.
It impact extend beyond agriculture affecting food security, the rural livelihood and the sustainability of this vital sector particularly across the Middle East, North Africa and beyond.
Before I talk about today's gathering, I would like to just share with you how important this subject is to the United States.
For the last 10 years, even international war to as part of its commitment to prepare, you know, land project which was achieved. I remember that in 2019 we had the first ministerial meeting in Abu Dhabi which concluded what was called Abu Dhabi declaration great meeting number one in light of that meeting $5 million was raised and it was provided to Food and agriculture organization of the United Nation and after five years 2024 organized the second international gathering for the great and was invited to provide you know to provide all of us with the funding.
So then the aration number two. Now two years later we have the Abu declaration which concluded it work yesterday with the presence of various ministers honorable ministers in the Arab world.
All this was prepared within the scope and in full collaboration with the international affairs office. So I would like that the history is important so we can see all together where to go from now.
Today's meeting reflects our shared commitment to strengthening international cooperation, advancing science, research, and promoting innovative and sustainable solutions to combat these destructive pests.
The C4 RPWC proc program platform. We have witnesses the power of collaboration. This is very important.
Bringing together governments, research institutions and international organizations and a unified vision.
We are part practically encouraged by the processes made so far, including enhanced knowledge exchange, coordinated research efforts, and the development of integrated pest management strategies.
However, much remains to be done.
This meeting provides us with a valuable opportunity to build one of the momentum generated by our previous engagements.
Align our strategy, progress and priorities and further strengthen partnership that will enable us to move from research into effectful implementation on the ground.
On behalf of the organizers, I would like to express our sincere appreciation to all partners and participant for your continued dedication and contribution to this important initiative.
As you know from the this international program today, the full day was programmed just for the great Now there is a new A B and C are also presenting research and results of the great studies all around the world. So I am very pleased and we look forward to productive discussions and positive outcomes. Thank you for your time.
Thank you so much your excellency for emphasizing the importance of innovation partnership and also providing the history of what has happened so far in UE and also in the region. Um so with that I will go ahead and transition to um some few slides regarding the the project itself and then after that we will go to each work stream uh and provide you with much more uh detail.
So first of all when it comes to um the the challenge the global challenge that we have uh in front of us. So the consortium for human control is a flagship research for development platform led by a partner under the CGI system. It brings together government CGI center national agriculture research system advance research uh institutes the private sector in broad is one of the most damaging crossboundary pest affecting the palm system worldwide. The diversity of partners reflects the complexity of red palm we challenge that we have in front of us. So the red pal we is one of the most destructive and vast pace affecting harm system worldwide. It spread across Asia, the Middle East, Africa, the Mediterranean also has turned into a global bio security concerns. Um uh at the moment beyond production losses, red pal threatens agricultural trade, quarantine system, rural livelihood and cultural heritage. So late detection as you've heard before also in the video often means irreversible damage.
So this makes prevention and early detection not just preferable but essential.
So why consortium for redcom?
Consortium for red pal has created because red pal cannot be solved through isolated intervention or short responses. Red pal is cross boundary in the system uh in a systematic problem to to everyone. Addressing it requires coordinated action. Coordinated action across science, digital intelligence and farm practices. And also along with that policy system when it comes to the consortium model, consortium for rent people represents a new innovative global consortium model.
It is led by CGI globally connected and designed as a long-term platform rather than a short-term project. It is a single project. It is not treated in a way like a single project but rather a technology pipeline and also a global platform that align research excellence in national priorities in field realities. This structure is essential for addressing the pest itself that threatens globally food system and trade. This allows us to make advances in real worldwide implementation.
The vision and strategic approach to the program is is very clear. The consortium vis vision is to build around one simple word. It is early detection, early warning and early action.
This shift red control from reaction to anticipation.
It is supported by digital innovation by ways in uh biotechnical solutions and good agriculture practices and strong participating system uh that we have uh built in the overall program governance and architecture is very uh strong consortium for redcom operates through five interlink work streams that we will hear about later in software representation.
each addressing a critical component of the real world management. Scientific coherence and rigor uh are provided by independent uh technical steering committee that we have around the program. This structures ensures credibility, integration and accountability at the same time.
Normally when we talk about consortium for red people we are talking about an integrated solution bundle.
When it comes to integrated solution bundle what it what it is a key innovation of the consortium for people is the concept of the integrated solution bundle.
We do not deploy individual technologies in isolation.
Instead, we bundle technologies, data tools, management practices, and policy support into a deployable and scalable package.
The workstream contributions that we have, workstream one and four that we have for the program generates scientific and technical innovation.
Workstream 5 integrates, validates, and prepares these contribution for deployment adapting it and also scaling it uh more to other low in medium income countries.
This in so ensures the solution work under a field conditions uh in different variations.
The overall program UAE as you've heard also before from our colleagues the UEE plays a a central leadership role in the innovation and also accessibility innovation hub solutions are tested here before being adopted and scaled to other countries including low and medium income countries since the UE and right now we also have added Egypt are selected as in the GIS path year or more for the primary engagement and testing the bundle that I just talked about and then uh moving it on the progress of the program will be explained a little bit detail by my colleagues describing each work stream but phase one of the program focused on building strong foundation.
This includes redcom risk modeling digital digital dashboard sensor evaluation in field readiness in the UEE and also in a ensure scientific rigorous system alignment and credibility laying the groundwork for durable impact in phase 2 and beyond.
early value that we talk about an impact early evidence shows that prevention focus systems significantly reduce losses and long-term costs. You will hear about this in much more detail in in work stream presentation. This integrates model also reduces uh uh reliance on chemical control that we are all uh so fed up about.
So right now what happened next?
The slide that we have here summarizes how strong foundation we have already established translate into clear field level objectives moving forward. This integrated approach spanning science, digital innovation and system level develop adaptation is exactly what our upcoming P panel uh will explore. They will talk about that how integrated rate of power legal management can move from pilot to policies and then lasting impact.
We have also shown um the the system that we talk about. Now let's talk about each practice separately.
This last slide bring us very naturally to um each of our um presentations that will be provided by my colleagues.
So here I want to end my presentation and then start to uh ask each of my colleagues to come and present part of their presentation for you.
Yeah, thank you so much. So we begin right now with the work stream one by way solution focusing on ecological and naturebased innovation as the backbone of sustainable rain management. So it is my pleasure to invite Dr. Samira Muhammad Paris from ECA Kenya to present the progress in key innovation under work stream one. Dr. Samira Okay.
is focused on development of nature based lime disease solution for the management of and just for the benefit of those who are not familiar with it.
One of them is existing.
Of course, we are not saying there are just more efficient new ones for coast and coast.
Another one and for for those insects. Whoever gets sick, the insect gets and also those that can hold in but here a different opportunity when we talk about it in the subsequent Again we also we are using modeling approach to to guide our intervention the model this particular is suitable for the particular but not this is good for implementing the university and of course it has already very We also of course partnership is very important as we say you can collab so partnership is crucial okay we don't want to we want to know what is exist and we did this what kind of technologies are existing where they how efficient they are, whether they are available or not. And this work most of most of the research so far is done in in Asia and in Africa and Europe and this is I mean in the Americas and things related to that that is widely used both of course preventive and and there are also some research by control whether some of those are this review is very I'm very as for now going in Egypt but for now and there are some commonality among those to see whether they have any attractiveness or evidence for the When it comes to already we starting what we have and some which have been tested for we have tested for other and effective and we are hoping they be effective against This is yet to be. Yes, we also have heat tolerant for other want to see whether doesn't require So we want to establish where the incidence and the spirit in east and for the right But we didn't find but we did not find even African but the one which the best also then weed our in But people are using it for other suspicious. Some of them look like we have taken them to just And we establish and we are doing some preliminary testing for whatever I want to see if they One of our promises to have a safe weather here very already have for and here we get the lighting which can produce and use it for about as I mentioned initially we are seeking control which is this approach at the table for best region without so far there is no record of where any fish were in the southeast Asia the question they for and this could be for for many people.
The the problem is the reading they are unable to establish.
The good thing we have a very we have a very good knowledge of reading.
So when we get that another toe and I was in some time back in UAE but they have here to realize this process.
Now we want to establish how far this state has east Africa using approach and what we use in this because it does not get the so we will supplement it with another approach and become more.
As you can see in future but more than that we need to be overcome but there are other map for which can establish in the Middle East and even Next, of course, all the we need them to make them more sustainable and we can only make sustainable by building the system. So, currently we are different and already we are two master PhD students and the first thing we have for application. We have and we are trying also to be necessit.
Thank you.
>> Thank you very much, Dr. Thank you for highlighting how B uh Based approaches contribute to the prevention um suppression and also a long-term sustainability.
So we move to workstream t the two now workstream two biotechnological solutions which explore uh precision next generation tool to strengthen palm resistance in reduced reliance on chemical control uh I kindly invite Dr. Lena uh to present the progress uh of uh and also the vision uh for this work stream Dr. Ina was not able to come in person so she will be participating uh with us virtually in providing uh the presentation. Dr. Kina the floor is yours.
We apologize for difficulties we are facing.
>> Uh good morning everyone. Uh Dr. Miz can you confirm if you can hear me?
>> Yes we can.
>> Hello. Can you hear me?
>> Yes. Yes we can.
>> Good morning everyone.
>> We can hear you.
Okay. Uh so I'm going to present on the work stream two which is biotechnological innovations for uh control of red palm evil. Maybe next slide please.
Yeah. So the main objective of this work stream two is to develop and implement the sustainable biotechnological driven solutions for controlling the red palm evil wolf which is a devastating the global date farm cultivation. So basically it has three component. The first is the genomic and and we are using the crisper cast based genome editing for both for insect as well as for the plant. So in the insect actually we are in the in the beles we are actually uh targeting more like essential genes which are involved in the reproduction so that you know the the insect can become eststerile and then for the plants we are we are targeting some of the genes which are can control can provide the resistance the host plant resistance into the plant for the controlling the red red bar. So it basically develops the resistance and it minimizes the infestation. The second technology is the RNA interference which is also known as RNAI and apply the double stranded RNA and so we can deliver the double stranded RNA as like a biopesticide for the control of the red pal and this is like a solution which we feel is a very safe because it will reduce the use of the pesticide and and also it can be developed uh shortly and can be scaled up during the period of the the phase one of the project. The third technology is the microbiome based intervention which explore the microbiome uh for like naturally suppressing the red bomb evil population and the damage because of it. Next slide please.
So if I go a little bit more detail on like you know how the genomearitain can or the double stranded RNA based by pesticide can be harnessed for controlling of the red pump. So we are applying actually genome editing to knock out the as I mentioned the the fertility genes in the male and uh and then you know which is like very very uh targeted and precise and specific so that it will not affect anything else and then the insects will become become sterile. So that means you can reduce the population using that and using the crisper cast 9 uh based genome. Uh the second technology for the insect as I mentioned is like double stranded RNA technology to silence the essential genes which are required for reproduction but also the survival of the red people. So both these technologies support the integrated pest management practice to reduce the pesticide residues and the and the resistance development. The key consideration here include the identifying the requirement for the scalable double standard RNA production which I think we will manage because we have like already planned we already started working on it and the cost effective formulation so that you know farmers are the growers will be able um to afford that but then the major thing we are working on is like a delivery system how these biopics RNA based pesticides will be delivered to the big farms of the dairy farm and definitely we will take the regulatory clearance before these these technologies can be deployed at the large scale. Next slide please and now we are working so the the previous slide was more working on the vivo now I will talk about more how what we are doing on the date farm because we are trying to develop the date farm using the general the distance for the red bound. Here you are using the crisper cast technology for additive um and precisely we will knock out the susceptibility genes. So these are the genes which are like you know essential for a weevil to infect the plant. So if we will make these genes nonfunctional means we will not we will not be able to infest the dead part. So here we are using genomate which can strengthen uh the uh defense pathway in the lake farm modifying the endogenous susceptibility gene without introducing any foreign genes. So we will make like a very precise small changes in the endogenous gene and not introduce anything new. uh then the another technology in the in the plants itself we are also using is the RNA interference because the delivery um through like you know the sprays or something sometimes is like you know uh quite labor intensive but also um uh maybe sometimes the double stranded RNA are not stable so there is another approach is also you can express the double stranded RNA within the plant itself so we are developing that that technology in the plant by like you know expressing the insect derived double stranded RNA resulting in the mortality of the red pal. So both genome editing and the RNAi technology reduce the vulnerability of the date pump to the red palm evil infestation and uh also decrease the dependence on uh the synthetic insecticides and we will also in this um consortium we also trying to see like you know we can create the enabling environment like a regulatory environment in which the genome And then um which will be like a nonGM as there will be no foreign gene integrated uh can be like you know there will policies developed so that they are treated similar to the uh conventional uh varieties. There are actually in several countries there is already these type of policies in place but we will also see like where if there is no quarantine integration that the giomandate products are treated as the conventional uh uh in within Africa there are Kenya, Nigeria, Ethiopia, Malawi, Ghana these are the countries where there are already these type of policies in place and we will make sure that you know we can like you to sensitize the regulators and work with the regulators together so that in our beneficiary target countries these type of technologies can be can be um uh like you know utilized in and which are more environmental friendly. You know last week we did this uh a workshop uh not last week actually earlier this week it was started on in on Sunday in Egypt and where we were we actually gave this presentation on on the genome to the regulators uh and the and the high level policy makers so that they can understand the technologies but then also consider creating the enabling environment for this technology. Next slide please.
So the third approach in this uh workstream two is the microbiome based technologies to control the red bomb uh we so this utilizes the beneficiary organisms which are present either in the in the gut of the day pump but also sorry in the gut of the red palm eagle but also surrounding in the soil in the in the date palm. And so we will be using this um beneficial micro microorganism to disrupt the pest survival and the behavior. So this is more like a a targeting the gut symbiome uh as an emerging biological control strategy with low ecological disruption because it will not create any any changes into the environment. will also disrupt the essential microbiome pest partnership which will impair the uh red pal survival and the and the growth by affecting mating and reproduction. So key consideration here includes integrating the microbiome intervention with enhanced monitoring tools and also enabling the regulatory um framework and this will contribute to scalable environmentally friendly uh responsible and comfortable control and which will benefit uh the growers and um small holder growers as well as the commercial uh growers. Next slide please.
So uh so far the we have made quite good progress on the bug stream and uh so we have already identified the target genes and and preparing the delivery system how these genes for the knockout can be um delivered into the insect and as well as in the date and we are optimizing for both for the double stranded RNA as well as crisper and and Then uh so on the main thing main issues are with the there are not that much work has been done on the insect for delivering the crisper reagents. So good progress has been made in in New York University at Abu Dhabi that's the group we who are working on the insect and then similarly in the D farm genome editing and RNAI this is the work which we are doing it at IITA we already have a regulatory approval uh and then also we have imported the date junk plasm from Egypt so now we have some junk plasm already multiplied And we are now optimizing tissue culture transformation but also we have identified the targets uh the for the essential genes knockout and preparing the construct. So the good progress going on here what we are also doing is because um date farm actually feeds the sugar cane and sugar cane is has a short cycle. So we are uh proof for the proof of concept we are testing the technology in the sugar cane so that when we are when we go we know the technology is already working um as as they farm takes long time for the uh for the regeneration and on the microbiome based strategies their samples have been collected from different field sites in in Egypt uh the protocol has been optimized for the sample collection DNA isolation and also the library preparation for the next generation sequencing. So the the samples will be sent for the sequencing soon. Next slide please.
So the the biotechnological tools actually present the pathways for accelerating farmer adoption um and long-term sustainability. Here we are trying to build actually the host plant resistance. So that means once the uh um registered varieties of dig farm are available then you know growers doesn't have to do anything they have to just plant those one those those things so genomeic provides a permanent like you know like a stable I would say non-chemical barrier against the red pal and ensuring the robust chemical free protection for the agriculture product and it is very actually precise technology ology. So it will not affect anything into the plant. It is only precisely affecting these susceptibility genes. And also using the RNAI and the microbiome strategies allow for the targeted pest elimination with zero collateral damage to the surrounding environment because it's it's environmental friendly and it will not affect any biodiversity. So there will be also the economic resilience because it will develop the safeguards multi-million dollar farm industry investment while simultaneously reducing the environmental contamination risk because of the using the pesticides and is a holistic integrated task management. So integrating these advanced tools create a robust a multi-layer different system because we are controlling both the vo and also developing um the resistance in the plant. So it will provide double layer resistance that will remain far more resilient and effective than currently industry standards. Next slide please.
So in the end I would like to thanks uh for the team working on it. So uh there is a team from New York University Abu Dhabi. There's the Iicarda team based in Egypt and the IIO team based in Nairobi.
So the three teams we are working very closely for developing this biotechnological solution. So I I thanks all the acknowledge here all the uh also all the partners and and the funding uh funding support. So thank you very much um for listening to me. Thank you.
>> Thank you so much Dr. Lina for outlining the biotechnology uh and also how biotechnology can come in >> and components of the integrated bundle in uh responsible and scalable way. um part of our presentation in work stream because of the travel uh uh uh issues that some of our colleagues face um Dr. Lena was able to participate virtually and our next group uh presentation is uh for work stream 3 our partners are in India uh in California so they uh we asked them to record their presentation and send it to us. So right now um our next presentation is for workstream 3 and work stream 3 is about digital innovation um smart detection uh which underpin early detection early warning and early action framework uh for the consortium fun and this is presented by our partner in close cooperation with um aarta in uh spectral analytics our sub partner and also UC Davis.
>> Greeting and welcome. We are pleased to present workstream 3 of our project on red palm weevil control. This workstream is all about digital innovations and big data analytics. This video presentation is prepared in collaboration with our partners, the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi- Aarent Tropics, International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas, Spectral Analytics, and UC Davis. Let's start with setting up the context for the work stream 3. The chart on the left shows the Paul Weevil impact timeline across six progressive stages from initial infestation and early laral feeding in the first weeks through visible symptom onset and advanced damage to severe decline and terminal phase beyond week 12. Critically, by the time visible symptoms appear, the tree is often beyond recovery. Several studies reported use of satellite remote sensing technology for detecting RPW damages, but it typically detects damage only from the advanced phase onward. It has been also reported that multisspectral thermal imaging or hyperspectral drone imagery can pick up crown yellowing that may occur during weeks 3 to four after infestation. And acoustic sensors can detect laral feeding as early as weeks 2 to three.
This brings us to our central challenge.
How early can we detect infestation?
That question frames our five guiding research questions. Leveraging the existing knowledge to understand what has worked. How effective are bio acoustic sensors in early detection?
What combination of methodologies are necessary for using highresolution satellite imagery? Identifying the best AI ML models and empowering stakeholders through digital decision support. Now based on this context, the overall objective set for the workstream 3 is to develop a robust early detection, early warning and early action system for RPW management leveraging cuttingedge digital innovations.
This objective is delivered through five interlin outputs. Output 3.1 is about an AI powered chatbot built on a comprehensive literature corpus. Output 3.2 2 where we will be testing efficacy of acoustic sensors for detecting RPW.
Output 3.3 is about multiscale imaging data analysis. Output 3.4 where we will be developing the digital platform for early detection, early warning and early action. And output 3.5 is about multimodal data integration and predictive modeling. Now we will take you through some of these outputs and activities. First, let's start with the data requirements and data sourcing methods. Starting with insitue IoT sensing, a core component of output 3.2.
After an extensive market survey, we shortlisted and procured four commercially mature bio acoustic sensors. Agrant, Palm Air, Peria Sensing, and Palm.
Each of these sensors detects laral feeding activity inside the palm trunk, but they differ in design. Our objective is to rigorously compare their efficacy under identical field conditions. The testing follows a two-phase protocol co-developed by Professor Christian Manson and Dr. Ali B. Phase one involves controlled experimental infestation with sensors inserted at three heights and four cardinal directions on each tree.
Phase two extends this to commercial plantations under natural infestation conditions. The tree level monitoring will be complemented by farm level pheromone trap monitoring to capture population dynamics. Alongside sensor data, we will be systematically collecting NC2 contextual data at each experimental site. This includes agronomic practices, farm operation records captured through farm log books, and continuous microclimate data from weather stations. Crowdsourced observations will be captured through our citizen science mobile application.
The first functional version has already been developed and supports geotagged reporting of infestation symptoms, ground troop imagery, trap counts, and farmerlogged farm operations. Together, these multissource streams, sensors, aronomy, microclimate, satellite imagery, and citizen science feed directly into the predictive analytics layer, which we will now take you through. Coming to predictive analytic, you've just heard about the rich multissource data streams we are generating. Now, the task is to turn that data into intelligence through two linked families of predictive models.
early detection models and risk forecasting models. Here is professor Christian explaining our work about remote sensing analytics. Presentation is to give a brief insight into how satellite imagery will be used in this uh project. I acquired some imaging data three years from three years 2003 to 23 24 and 25 from the same location and I focused on site four in the UAE.
And now I'm going to show what was referred to as a false color um image.
So this is essentially the same uh field site uh but now by using false color we can much clear identify the individual um palm trees. So within this orchard I am picking one particular area and the reason why I'm picking that and as as a stock is very uniform. It's almost quadratic. um all the trees are there so no holes uh and it looks very very uniform and if we zoom in even further we can see that with this satellite image we actually getting somewhere between 70 and 90 pixels per day pop from that little study area I did some processing and I basically identified the 5% of pixels that are the most extreme and then did that for the three years the managers must have done a great job at this this particular orchard because there was definitely some stress going on inside the orchard and on southern border here. Then in 24 it started dissipating dissipating and then in 25 it was almost gone and stress was almost exclusively restricted to a row of thick pumps out along the a small road there. So this is a clear indication of management practices something is being done right. If we take this even further and uh look at the entire site um and this is for 2025 You can see that um it is being some certain regions are being highlighted as areas where there probably was some is some stressful one and those would be the places that I think we as a team should focus on if we want to collect field data. But there are clearly other variables that that need to be taken into account. It could also be something about irrigation not working properly.
It could be something about the soil types whether there's some contamination or some drainage or basically some difference in soil types. It could be different varieties of D pumps and maybe even the age range varies in one area compared to another. So I'm in no way saying that this is a clear we already have a signature of red pal stress and this is why we also okay you've just heard how we source multimodal data and how predictive analytics transforms that data into early detection and risk forecasts. The next question is how does all of this reach the end user? That's the role of the digital platform which brings these components together into a single operational system. Functionally, the platform does four things. First, it ingests and harmonizes multissource data, IoT sensor streams, pheromone track counts, weather feeds, satellite and drone imagery, and citizen science observations.
Second, it runs the predictive models to generate near realtime detection events, risk maps, and spread forecasts. Third, it translates these into actionable outputs, multi-layer GIS dashboards for supervisors, policy makers, and targeted advisories for farmers delivered via SMS, WhatsApp, email, and inapp notifications. And fourth, it closes the loop through treatment workflow management so that every alert is tracked through to field inspection, intervention, and outcome. A first draft of the functional requirement specification has been completed and an early working version of the dashboard as you are seeing in this screen recording is already operational supporting plantation registration Sentinel 2 vegetation index time series and IoT sensor integration. The platform will be designed for multi-country deployment ensuring the data privacy.
Let me now briefly walk you through where we stand on overall workstream progress. Despite some early phase delays, workstream 3 has made steady progress across all five outputs. For output 3.1, the AI chatbot, activities were held up pending the UC Davis subcontract, which has now been signed, allowing full implementation to begin.
Under output 3.2, 2 candidate field sites have been identified in the UAE and Egypt. Three of the four IoT sensors have been procured and delivered and testing protocols for phase 1 experimental infestation are finalized.
Sensor deployment was planned for March but temporarily deferred due to regional travel restrictions.
For output 3.3, site prioritization is underway and acquisition of very highresolution satellite imagery is in progress, including engagement with Muhammad bin Mashid Space Center. Output 3.4, the digital platform is actively under development with the FRS and a working dashboard already in place. And output 3.5, multimodal modeling, has commenced with open- source satellite data for unsupervised classification and anomaly detection.
This ends our brief video presentation about Workstream 3. Thank you for your attention. We take this opportunity to thanks our partners and donors. Thank you very much.
>> Thank you. Thank you so much Dr. Munt who is our workstream 3 lead for uh um from also Dr. Christian um and all of the work stream uh three team for the comprehensive overview of work stream three um of the program. Um so we now turn uh to work stream four of the program uh workstream 4 good agriculture practices which forms the foundations of preventing redo spread through dayto-day farm and archer management. So I'm pleased to invite Dr. Muhammad Ali to present the key good agriculture practice innovation and also few practices developed under workstance.
UAE port on good practices and we are doing this work together with three.
What do we do with this this and why this is in this stream? We we are focusing on the practices that are and here we are very sensitive for all department wheultural practice only they will be half of the problem. There are simple practices that deal with sanitation that chemical methods and what do we intend to do in this stream. First of all, we want to assess how these practices how they influence the station of the of the base of the ground. But most importantly, we want to see how We can make this part management strategy of this business.
As you can see in this famous quite significant part of the project was as mentioned earlier the cornerstone of the the IPM approach uh specifically our our very clear simple straightforward but very important what we want to do in the beginning we want to do baseline studies we want to start with happening on the ground. What farmers are doing? How they doing it? Are they doing the right gaps ination?
What are these gaps? Any barriers for implementation and most importantly how we can identify the gaps and them through capacity development following uh learning development.
the baseline to collect data through field survey.
We're also going to do a number of instrument discussion for interviews and we are doing this work in three countries so far differently.
and others uh covering UAE in more than 400 parts.
Uh also we are doing this line studies but also the some of the field experimentation in Egypt.
The world is in the other regions in the focus on the northern part of why is so far living there not yet in the north in the south.
Okay.
One of the first on the What we are doing currently is we want to establish what is what they influence the different practice. One of the most important practice irrigation how the differentation systems impact the vulnerability of the farm.
As you can see there are different methods of obligation what we find what is the level of the different systems and this is going to be very important out but one the different systems. Another important also activity is the the impact of the different practices.
For example, the way the farmers they cut the leaves, the pruning, pruning, pruning, the way they have very strong influence on them on the management of the obvious what the influence of the timing of these practices and also the way they do of type of If I d another important uh out of this understand what this and factors of we know for many for long time this is very evident.
Sudan, Syria right but in many area crops. We want to see what is the behavior of the different influence of the variety also.
The influence of stresses like we have more sustain of The habitat also we are only limiting studation the habitat but we want also go further into pros that in the hands of farmers and as I said not But yet some of the tools that can be used for woods are part of the life of the body.
But if we want to see if we can put in the hand of some of the product that they can be testing of the overall market some use this product for also because we can use some of these products. We are doingization of this at another technology. We are now working on currently at we are optimizing also weating many from one of we areing a method for this chemical relatively safe is only 2% of we are optimizing the washing and this this technology and put it in the hand of the our clients when they move from abroad the protocol is clear of you supposeding by working and also following the protocol for this intervention. The last uh output of this project is on capacity development.
I think we would agree that we talk about this one here on the following protocols, standard operating procedures. clearines on how to do the different operations.
This is part of our work that we can also forming stakeholder platforms different stakeholders and we are designing different we are also having e-learning modules focus on good practice. We are developing together modified farmers and we are also demonstration and different.
Uh last one is also this has to do with policies also we are working protocol foration of production that are free from redist.
Lastly, deployment of our our As I mentioned, we're going to start with the baseline for generate specification levels.
The policy very important component here.
And lastly, is going to be on scale through the government holds the new tools and the rest and the work we are planning on doing now focus on currently on UAE Morocco but also a number of overend countries and we have list of them. So when it comes to protocols, we have a list of work.
Thank you very much.
Thank you so much Dr. Muhammad for clearly demonstrating how strong practices reduces risks and strengthen resilience resiliences.
one request that I've got from our uh friends here that are recording that each presenter if they stand here and present that would be good so that everybody in online um so with that I move into the final fifth work streams of the of the uh the program. So our final work stream presentation is from work stream five deploying pathways and policy. This work stream focuses on translating research uh outputs into field ready scalable and policy supported solutions ensuring adaptation and long-term impact. So with that I invite Dr. Hamatu uh to present the work streaming 3.0 Good morning.
My name is and also the consist of three web packages. Web package one which is economics and web package to science and web.
Uh the work is about translation of action and I know that the red has been governing government around the world during the last 14 years and I also see this year and then from that time uh the uh let's say start or start to be participating for this uh week. Uh in this uh okay the uh importance In this part we are trying to uh follow a new paradigm new approach the best management uh as you know that the best management there is there's a problem uh particularly with adoption uh the the IP at the field level and the reason that there is a high complexity that the field are in and people are not considering that. So they apply different technology uh in this complex environment and they the results in this case could be either synergistically this technology could act synthesistically and they can be also neutral.
Uh and in this uh this to adopt the new paradigm which is multiple dimension of multiple best medicine or they call it 3 MB and this this paradigm this approach is a holistic depending much on scenario either just making the synergy among the different technology being applied in the fields and these policies uh we are adopting in this uh web speaking.
here the the objective of this uh is to I said is to uh translate the uh uh science to translate scientific to action and the approach we're going to follow in the participatory approach.
The part participator important of this approach is to to hold the farm from the beginning in the in the implementation and this is actually what we we did in this uh work.
We start to deploy the technology together with the farmer so that at the end of the day they feel that this is their own technology and they can adopt it and this participatory appro approach also involve uh other uh stakeholders.
So that like also uh private sector the farmers the community and all these step to be involved uh together. Uh next slide.
Uh this is the progress so far we have made. We uh just specify like 76 farm uh throughout different uh sites and we selected uh different typology. We started with the coastal area or the area and then we selected also farm from the central part and then also we considered the highland which is represented by where they are the highland. And uh we we consider this type of typology, this type of uh different ecosystem of ecosystem because we are expecting uh the the people are going to test perform differently this area. I know that there are different kind different also different ecosystem and also different laws some some kind of the the practice that exactly uh applied by by the farm. So uh within this identified uh farm uh we have just put the traps right for monitoring each trap in a warm one to monitor the population and have a baseline study so that we can stop from this baseline study. the same we did Egypt but the the number of they are less compared with and at the end of the day we are using UAE as a separate to test all this kind of technology and one proven effective and and cost effective environmentally friendly and also socially accepted or accepted by far then we take them and try them in different country country the country uh just uh which are being affected by by the power and I think this is this approach is the most important approach next slide okay uh I'm going just narrate uh some of the success uh we have I will start with uh successful reading of FM we started in this group to work And you know that was a lab for research from the red pal an old project about this lab which are working with the biological control and uh there was no work in this lab for for so many years and we selected uh to be as for the whole project and I was always saying for the people that the The red bomb was first discovered in Rasakas in 1985 and then the red bomb just came back and and the control or the management of the red pal from uh what what actually we we did so far is the testing the efficacy subatification. How the subset can as my colleague say there was no empirical data on this but we did an experiment in in testing three type of regation the regation subification and uh irrigation and uh we we came with a numerical data some statistical analysis uh that the is more efficient and very suitable for the control of that. You can see also here in the picture that uh irrigation should come in the zone. There's no need to flood because the root of the the far concentrating or this root concentrated in the first 30 cm. So there's no uh there's no need to the He's inviting the red pal women to come.
And you know that the red pal is humidity loving. So usually they love the humidity and this is also based on the uh the the composition of the I'm not going to go much for this detail.
they have the the the W the W there very fragile and very can be very affected by the uh the dryness. So it's why always when you find an in try to hide this and and try to find uh this humid area uh I think this you can see there in the graph this sification there was no infestation that uh we have some other severely infested We will uh this paper is publishing many is available there and uh this is one of the phase what we carry out to this subset irrigation effect with empirical data. Next slide. This is yeah uh here also uh I can just by by chance and I found that they are hanging that you can see on the right hand and they claiming that this is or it is usually for the red and and other places. So we we took that and uh subject it to scientific testing and we we designed an experiment also in to see Whether this claim is true or not, we bought the tumor uh cover which is commercially available now right now and this tumor is produced by Kent and uh by the way I am the one who uh just contributed in the production of this tumor when I was in the king university. We work together with international and we produce this tumor and is uh measure.
We we make a just like you can see uh this is this approach you can call it shut down. We put the caron and then we change and by putting the the dil or kin and then without treatment we we put tumor on and we we we just record the data for 3 weeks or for almost two months for these uh these people and you can see here also uh the results are very clear. We captured a tumor and then uh you can you can see also here the uh DZ is not quite yeah it's not quite it can be some kind of repellency compared to the control but it's not that and also I asked some of the farmers who appear in the video you have seen I asked him what was about your opinion in this and he said I tried without knowing when we started the experiment without any idea about this whether it is better or not. So this is one of one of these uh the paper now is accepted also in one together and will appear soon uh just next slide please.
Okay, this is the con conclusion of my talk. I want to to say uh one one message. Uh uh the red wheel is is not a wicked problem.
It is an incident that can be controlled because some of the people around the world start to be desperate saying that oh this is a weapon problem and cannot be solved and this is all just waste of effort and waste of money.
The red will be controlled easily if we uh just have the all the step forward coming together particularly the farmer will be engaged. We have the political support for this. We have the resources for this and we have the coordination.
It needs a very high coordination and then among all this is step and they need consistency. It should have to be continuous because You know that this week for one month that will bring the big views because the the last effort during the last 14 years people could the red and then stay for 2 months relaxing and then coming back again so and will be in this bishop.
We cannot go out of this vicious state unless we have a new approach and a new paradigm and this is going to also we are going to start with creating the population. So if you have an enemy and and you can take it down small pocket so you can win the at the end of the day otherwise you cannot control the finished.
Thank you very much.
Thank you so much Dr. Kamato for highlighting a critical role of integration stakeholder engagement in in policy in in moving the research forward into action. So with that our presentations are um have ended and after the presentation and after we have a coffee break and then we will be here back at 11:15 sharp and then at 11:15 there will be a panel uh that will take questions from you all and also questions from any of our colleagues that they are online and do to prepare your questions and come ready and then the panel will be led by deputy director general for research uh Dr. with our own other panel members. So come back and see you all at 11:5 in this room and come with your questions if you have. Thank you so much and see you soon.
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Hello everyone. I think we can go ahead and get started. If you can please have your seats.
We will go ahead with the final discussions. If you have uh if you can please have your seats for the panel discussions we have so for the panel discussions we have uh Dr. uh deputy director general for research.
So he will be chairing the the panel and then the panel members I want to call on Dr. and his excellency for his representative and then Dr. Muhammad and Dr. Like I mentioned before, the panel is ready to answer any questions you have.
Uh but uh Dr. will take the floor and then set the stage before uh questions are asked.
>> Thank you.
Thank you everyone for being here to today and this is an important event for Ghana farmers.
office. Uh this is a a project that is a landmark of you know innovation science and also to make sustainable products in the in the region. We have a distinguished panel of members. Thank you for for being here to discuss you know how is the redwood project bringing the signs that it needed to stabilize the production date but also to resolve the issue of this this very important conraint production and how you as far on the ground see this project further and I would like to Thank you all.
I would like to start who is bringing the the component of trying to create the biological solutions solutions to make sustainable not only production but to make it safer, cleaner, greener. So can you from your perspective how the project is actually benefiting not solution, but the perspective your research group to go even further to solutions in other places where you know there have been so many organization.
So this have the strength of working together from different different perspective from our purpose having based solution and we are coming up with various innovation and our innovation if you have to win against any any You need to target each and every state of the base for maximum and this is that and what we are following it is very with the donities it's not forett they have their own and this We take it we don't take it. We take it seriously. We work very on our knowledge from other for my next panel.
from the perspective of of the farmer here in the UAP and we are very grateful by the way that you know Absa and others has nominated the farms in which we are going to be testing these technologies and from your perspective how do you see you know our participation and active involvement in the region you know helping you making decisions uh beyond what is currently in Thank you.
We doing that and we think we can follow for more.
And this is more exciting for us.
They bunch of the farmers and we're looking forward to work together.
Couple things.
One of the things as part of the solution.
Before I answer your question, I'd like to mention that I happen to be about a previous project by the looking.
I think we have a very difficult Number of this is for We fight the work discussions partners.
So this is again the way somehow better The government also follows that prevention.
The beauty of that God's power is in this project we are working on first of all to generate evidence generate evidence on something red less would be also but also some rules.
products that you can put in the hands of you achievement.
from Iraq support the protocol how not to deal with it and know that very important as we go along those to be like maybe 40 years That's to be most important from your perspective. If you What is the lesson different participating this program?
>> Thank you. very much I'd like us to see that this short one uh is about unifying all the global efforts uh in one structure to avoid the historic fragmented efforts. This has been applied. This is one thing and also uh other dimension of this consortium is uh to concentrate on social economic impact of the red part also very important not only technology uh with with just the the red need to take uh also consideration the social economic aspect and also uh other things which is maybe also In addition, what has been made is conclude the uh citizen scientist and this side would involve the citizen some houses have like 200 trees. So it looks like far even in the house and these are are not being taken care of by by the authority of the red and in this by far in the so we have also Under the aity also take care of the ornamental farm.
The roots go here around state there.
Actually uh we started at the beginning of this project to categorize the technology available around the world into three technology technology that can be immediately applied in the uh the field they call it and then other workers are to develop reach the scale of 9 then we can deploy the in the future we we we just cannot wait so we can we cannot wait until the second year or second year to have technology coming out from our project uh and then we deploy them. So we start with existing one the existing technology so that we can keep from the window at hand and then we are waiting for new technology to come out of this project and you have seen from the presentation that we are expecting innovative and innovative technology to come out of this and once they are ready to take them for field testing validation very fast testing evaluation and then one group then we can the ways We involve the government in the deployment so that they will finish their at the first speaker. I would like to touch on the challenge. You mentioned one quite important which is how environment anybody that has decision making power.
So how is your data?
How do you see the project your work policies that these actions are part of the day process.
Okay. I think this is a very important for many policy and regulations. We need to have this is very internal and external uh measure and also the movement of the the power to another. We know that there are laws there are rules in all country but the application of this strict application of this rule uh it's matter just is very important and in our work with our partner whether ina or in Egypt also and we are stressing on this we are talking always about uh this regulation beuh putting And uh I I remember also the this is speaking with me that from hearing the video telling me that I'm I'm doing everything for my but coming from my neighbor they're not caring about it and they're not and he was asking me please in this in this project try to speak with the with These people are concerned to make a law or make rules that every farmer should abide by this law. Every farmer should forward his farm for the team of inspection.
This is very important and this should not be the choice of the farm. This is behind for the is very important and I'm working on it and in the procity of this approach which is will be by help by the uh the social economic web group and we are not going to change those existing code but we are going to propose some of these and we can try to see if you If you can modify to be this way that would be very nice and be very helpful to go.
How do you see How do you see the goal of God in terms of space?
You know, another one.
What are the actual Following for establishment or very important instrument.
Secondly, also following So we are the following.
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Definitely like I don't want no use.
in those very I also mentioned about the protocol for sanitation.
are some of the we can take and most important this point is also concern and the good thing is that are affordable to help I think you see everything.
How do you see this value?
So that We have science connection.
This is the new users from my perspective.
You are solutions.
So how do you see yourself moving forward here and again across even probably have different countries and they need to be tested in and here also happen because we are material and sometime They say they say and if those are not harmonizing some countries they even as a typical subject them to very reputation which is not supposed to be the case. These are all those are organisms that are quite specific and they don't have even similar task they are quite specific and they need for for me once we get I see a lot of prospects for this whether they are or even as I said and most but this one I see they have a lot of this what they did because and most important So we open for I would like to open the floor for questions and this is Yes.
Thank you guys.
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Let me I think one of the things we are working with the national we know very unity but that's in Morocco. They have very rich experience on the situation.
They have been working for years in the rich.
I may name one For example, protocol start from scratch.
How to complement them, how to add similar populations.
Indeed, they have experience complimentary.
The beauty of our So is working hand in hand but I should stress let us make this one really effective not just saying but we want to make sure that we really work with them and find the solution. This is very critical but that was very much in in our mind. You raised very important issues about looking at all the spectrum not farms but looking at amenity trees on the streets closed farms those are potential breeding sites we don't consider them through regulations through intervention guidelines we're going to lose the capacity because we control here and we fail them these are very good consideration and they are very much in the mind of the leader of this program and hoping we are going to work hand in hand to address those ones or the mentors, breeding sites, fall from the streets, bombing, all this concentration. But we need to make more effective our partnership and potential conflict with the national Suicidal camera.
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Six ECC countries research station during that time is now unfortunately after 10 years after 10 million expenditure and a number of of bankrupt but there has been a gap and many years have gone I mean now we don't know there is no pro yeah that but there has been long no activity and no program which now >> and We are not going to we're not going to start from grass all what you have done is very valuable and we are going to baseline pay both of the ground and also talking to people who have already worked you have done a valuable work and that can can make the foundation Thank you so much.
>> Thank you very much. My name is Mahmud.
You know, we know about the losses now.
Thank you for I mean bringing us today on the losses. We understand the numbers.
So we did not have I mean we did not hear two things. what percentage is lost and more important how many millions of dollars I think you know we should know what is this loss $60 million 30% we really need to give figures may I have figures you know and maybe you know we should have a table what are the in United Arab Emirates in Saudi Saudi Arabia in Sudan. I think you know once we know the numbers then we say oh too much I mean why why why shouldn't we do something? I think you know we as aronomists and plant pathologists we should teach people to become aware about the amount of fossil they don't care is 10% or 3% but if you tell them it is 1 billion they will start scratching their heads and they will say we will give money and then we do this. Thank you. Maybe we we have to hear some numbers.
If I get I I think I think the importance of this research is not only just to the current losses but is is this this pest is very resilient and adaptable to climate change. So it could upbringing cycle so that it could actually wipe out the whole industry here. That's how aggressive it is. So I agree with you that numbers will you know mobilize people interest but also what is um bringing this consortion into life is that what we want to do is with the knowledge that is being gathered from here because I I agree there's a lot of knowledge being gathered in the region about how to control the pest and how how the society reacts against the pests and now what we want to do is with this knowledge to go to the local from militant countries outside the UAE. So the UAE is benefiting from the exercise.
We're trying to rescue that information.
But what we know about the pest that this can outbreak to a level that can actually wipe out complete industry oil piping industry can wipe out the the day industry. It's very aggressive. Uh it's very adaptable and if we know more about it, the better we're going to be equipped. So that's that's >> yes I agree with you number is very important and there is some statistics so whe is more more than numbers um the the date and and people are so much attached to it means so much to them a destruction of let's say I am I am a father and I have only five five destruction of two only two those it means so so much to me not only source of income people attach so much so so much value to me it's as it's a blessing so we don't I don't even want to lose one thank you I think I believe that is in the strategy for red movement to globalizing without this aspect of the social economy we don't have clear and validated uh figures on the economically impact this business. This is a real and it is very important for for policy maker for the investment for a number of reasons.
Ideally we should have clear information about what is the economical impact of this place. This is this is to me I tell you it is that recently there have been some studies from Egypt and from Saudi Arabia but those ones are not loses but also we don't have information about other also serious area where we lack uh information is availability of data on the station levels almost across the country and without reliable data then There is a major drawback in our strategy and as always say you cannot measure it you cannot manage it I have been in the for the last 20 years I don't know any country which has maybe a few examples but largely we lack data good data for monitoring of state so these are some areas we need to improve I would like to follow up. Sorry. Uh would you all I agree with what you're saying? I want to add like no farmer wants to say how much he loves.
Yeah. We have this problem also with the farm to do some surveys. We ask them how much they spending in the farm, how much they are earning, what's the difference?
Do they have a really good positive income or not? they don't really tell the okay I'm going to say what you said there's no data across the country I don't know about all the country but in Abu Dhabi we like to have solid data here data since we started this program I program since 2012 okay and we we continue to store data database since 201 16 and like we following up each year we want to know the difference we want we are we doing very well with our program so just follow there is one question thank you Abraham.
We are studying this in singing incense.
One of the top five globally density control practices and Now I'm listening to the same studies.
I would come in.
But my question has what is the key outcome? What is the key outcome?
Long stay.
What is the outcome? What is the key outcome by now? Foreign speech. Foreign speech.
We have said this from the beginning.
In the approach you are going to use should be different otherwise we are repeating the same mistake by repeating the same you are repeating it 40 years if you have the same result repeating it the same for 40 years.
So now we uh are adopting uh this uh fragmentation. This is we are going to to look for the the population of the red brown as we call it population.
And for and surrounded by our surrounding by the dooms of this we consider it as isolated population. We are going to apply the very participate parties to suppress the population.
consortium.
We are going to teach the how to do this large scale.
Large scale is not our job.
Not containment, not reduction.
We are also taking other facing consulation.
and multi-dimensional multip the long because the long very junction to control the red. It will control also the longhorn and this transportation also will take it in control.
close the session >> just maybe just final word I would like to and I have one minute for not just talking about data and if you look at the presentation of all work streams we are data first we are generating data but also we are concerned with developing technologies we talked about work stream one they're working on bio agents that they can help in the fight against the pest but talk about developing detection and monitoring tools that works.
We're working on product that farmers technologies and for wound sealing and also foration of of of palm trees. But most importantly, this project works stream five and all of us were working on this um this uh packages what do you call them the the bundles because the idea of controlling is how to put this bundles together for integrated management and this is something new. So this is about technologies this project not just that and hopefully in three years time we'll be able to have products we put in the hands of the farmers and policy makers to help them fight against not only >> thank you and then one more more intervention before we close.
Thank you. Just a very quick question.
Now that the project is underway and all of the uh the agreements in place, can we have a very clear quick summary of what the deliverables and time scales are? Please just be helpful context for everyone who's contributing.
I think I can answer uh this question.
The timeline that we have so far is the uh we like like we mentioned in our presentation, we have just um uh started our first year. is about to complete. So research is ongoing on on all of the five work streams that we have discussed. So right now each research is coming into a conclusion to go ahead and and and offer one of the solutions that works streaming five papas is going ahead and test it in all of these sites that we have selected. So our goal and aim is that by the second year that is starting in two months, we will go ahead and have at least few of the final solutions from each of those work streams to go ahead and scale it up in these these sites and then by before the end of the project which is in 3 years July 2028. We are a we we our aim is that we are able to have like a final package of the bundles that will be selected for all different kind of science that we talked about like each of the uh environmental area and then we'll go ahead and apply it to some of these low and medium income countries.
>> Thank you m and as we now bring this consequential session the certain threat we control I would like to thank our colleagues for um intervention they have been making.
Thank the audience for asking very very timely questions and for the remarks we made about the past investments and the future of this consortia and how can we continue uh supporting the farmers but also getting engaged with industry uh to see how they can actually add value to as we move forward with our interventions. how do we engage other other actors into the into the into the project and I would like to take a moment to reflect upon uh the key lessons that emerge from our discussion of what they mean in our role ahead through today's discussion uh one thing that has clearly emerged is that no single group institution country can address the challenge of presented by alone we heard the strong alignment from our unique uh speakers. Uh we also uh had very distinguished uh important interventions where three has been highlighted very strongly. Early detection, early warning and early action are key when it comes to fight this uh this best. We also seems to be a very clear consensus that we must allow for best global practices in agriculture to guide us in reminding the foundations of any substantial strategy. Finally, we found the alignment of both the potential and the limitations of using advanced technologies and strengthening more coordinated evidence-based response in the fighting against the red women.
But perhaps most importantly, we learned that collective action, this is something that was highlighted by everyone, collective action, everyone is is is is an stakeholder of the solution from the government, from the site, from the farmers uh and everybody else that is involved in this in this process. So uh the so isolated efforts will won't have we have limited ability to to achieve the impact that we want we want to achieve. So today's exchange highlight concrete opportunities for collaboration uh joint validation of detection and monitoring tools regional approaches to surveillance and data and data sharing data sharing are very important coordinating capacity development and training pathway for responsible scaling through public and private engagement is important and these are exactly the kind of connections coordination and share actions that this consortia was designed to be enabled. So I think we are from that perspective I think we have achieved our first year of success and um and before I give the word to to the DG I want to to create the confidence that we can actually work together and looking ahead particularly toward the transition into the the next phases we have enabled solutions we have strengthened policy and regulatory uptakes ensuring the long-term financial sustainability and on so with like pass the thank you very much. Just a word of thanks to all of you and to continue doing the good work. I just want to come back on one very specific point. His excellency Dr. Elder is a former minister of agriculture in Jordan and he made the point about numbers.
If this project success, if this project succeeds, whatever solutions we produce, the ministers who are eventually going to make the decisions need the numbers. We can still highlight the social importance of the small phone holders, but at the end everything needs to be converted into numbers. The challenge and I think Muhammad Ali mentioned there's a lot of information available, but it's not reliable. is not very fine and I think this project will have a very important role in building more reliable databases, data sets about the infestation, economic costs and then eventually at the end will provide information in a way that allows the policy makers in the UE and and across the world to be able to make uh policy decisions to take off and to implement some of these innovations and solutions across the whole country based on economic value that this brings I think we need to understand on the recipient side governments that's how they operate so uh and I'm happy that this point your excellency have been raised now because it needs to be part of the original design it should not come as an afterthought I know you are already doing that but I think bringing a bit more structure bearing in mind what is the end result that we want uh to do and also uh to mention that Dr. is one of the major evaluators, scientific evaluators of the CGI centers more broadly and in card in particular.
So if he raises the point make sure that >> so thank you so much for raising this and thanks to everyone who have been with us throughout the day. It's really important to recognize that. Thank you Fatma. Thank you everyone and you know colleagues from Oman and many others who have been very patiently with us throughout this session. So I just wanted to add my word of thanks to all of you. Thank you.
>> Thank you. So now we are ready to close.
>> Yeah. Um I think we can uh thank you so much for for all the panelists. If if you want to stay here, you can stay here. But if you want to go back to your desk, you can go and uh um yeah. Yes. Um should should we do the okay? Uh so just one word that I know that some of you all uh still have questions. So I have my card here. So we we want this conversation to continue.
We don't want to just stop here. We are here to listen to you to your questions and get back to you all. So uh please make sure that if you have your question remaining in get my card send us your questions and we will be more than happy to engage and answer question right now.
If you all can come please here for
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