Transforming food systems for a sustainable world

Freud in Prague

Rome/FAO [ENA] Ahead of the 2023 SDG Summit, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and its partners presented on Sunday 17 September 2023 the High Impact Initiative on Food Systems Transformation aimed at mobilizing commitments to ensure food security and healthy diets for all. “Global agrifood systems are at the nexus of high priority SDGs…This initiative aims to bring all partners and stakeholders

together to transform our agrifood systems for better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind,” said FAO Director-General QU Dongyu, at a high-level event during Acceleration Day of the SDG Action Weekend at UN Headquarters in New York. As world leaders meet at the UN General Assembly to generate renewed momentum halfway through the deadline to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) established in 2015, the initiative calls on international organizations, financial institutions, the private sector, civil society partners, the scientific community, indigenous peoples and all relevant stakeholders to assist countries on transforming their agrifood systems and accelerating the pace

of their national processes. “Increasing and accelerating the pool of existing investments and new needed financial resources, and deploying new financial instruments including risk-management mechanisms remain a top priority,” Qu underscored, reminding participants that with the right conditions in place and targeted concrete actions, agrifood systems can become a powerful means to drive transformative change at local, country and global levels. 122 million more people faced hunger in 2022, compared to 2019, before the COVID-19 pandemic, and the projections show almost 600 million people will suffer from hunger in 2030.

To change this bleak future and transform agrifood systems, Qu said, it is necessary to mobilize around $4 trillion from now to 2030 in Low-and Middle-Income countries—or around $680 billion per year. The FAO-led High Impact Initiative, in collaboration with the other UN Rome-based agencies -  the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and the World Food Programm (WFP) -  the World Bank, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO) and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), builds on the outcomes of the Food Systems Summit 2021 (UNFSS) and the recent UNFSS+2 Stocktaking Moment 2023 and current means of implementation initiatives, including the FAO Hand-in-Hand Initiative which now has 66 countries

and investment plans for over $10 billion. Overall, the High Impact Initiative aims to leverage investment, innovation, science, data and technology including better access to tools and geospatial platforms, as well as building on the result of the work by the Scientific, Youth and Indigenous groups formed ahead of the UNFSS. “The goal is to strengthen and further develop national capacities, for country-led and country-owned agrifood systems transformation that are adapted to the context and tailored to the needs,’’ the FAO Director-General explained.