Blog of Liliana Mosca, SI UN Representative at the FAO, Rome.

COHERENT POLICIES, EFFICIENT ACTIONS: HOW TO ADDRESS THE GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS

Held in Berlin and organised by the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture of Germany, a High-Level Forum took place in the context of the 2023 Global Forum for Food and Agriculture (GFFA) from 19 to 21 January 2023. The GFFA 2023 is the first time this event has been held in Berlin since 2020, and focused on the primary theme of “Food Systems Transformation: A Worldwide Response to Multiple Crises”.

This event comprised of a High-Level Debate, which revisited the GFFA from 2021, as well as two High-Level Panels; the Panels were both held on Friday 20 January, the first being promoted by the European Commission, with a focus on creating crisis-proof and climate-friendly food systems, as well as their potential to contribute to preserving biodiversity. Later, the second High-Level Panel was coordinated by the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) and UN-Nutrition (UNN), and addressed the subject of “Coherent policies, efficient actions: how to address the global food crisis”.

The Panel Guests were: Ambassador Gabriel Ferraro Chairperson, Committee on World Food Security (CFS) as the Keynote Speaker; H.E., Esteban Valenzuela Van Treek, Minister of Agriculture, the Republic of Chile; H.E., Mariam Al Mehairi, Minister of Climate Change and Environment, UAE; H.E., Kobenan Kouassi Adjoumani, Minister of State, Minister of Agriculture and Rural Development of the Republic of Côte d’Ivoire, and; Dr Maria Neira, Assistant Director, Public Health and the Environment Department, World Health Organisation.  The moderator was Stineke Oenema, Executive Secretary, UN Nutrition.

All the Panelists recognised the importance of the following key objectives:

>>> Highlight the imperative need for Food Systems Transformation in the wake of the current unpredictable global food security landscape and the key role of CFS as a multi-stakeholder governance platform, and UN Nutrition as an inter-agency coordination mechanism, in promoting collaboration between all relevant actors and building synergies to help advance food system transformation;

>>> Discuss how efforts to implement the CFS Voluntary Guidelines can help countries achieve their evolving national food security and nutrition plans and realise 2030 Agenda – especially SDG-2 on hunger and nutrition;

>>> Promote inclusive governance, policy coherence and increased coordination among sectors and actors to ensure better human and planetary health, including by further use of CFS and other relevant policy guidance to boost accelerated policy actions – by all relevant stakeholders – at global, regional, national, and local levels in support of food systems transformation and to realise the 2030 Agenda.

Furthermore, the Ministers of Agriculture present at 15th edition of the GFFA released a joint communique, including the following ambitious goals:

1. The right to adequate food must be realised. It is high time to realise the agenda 2030.

2. In particular, the young generation, women and smallholders must be supported.

3. Multilateralism must be promoted in face of the multiple crises: hunger, energy and climate crisis, extinction of species.

4. The global community must stand united.

5. Transformation towards resilient and sustainable food systems must be supported and sped up.

The Agriculture Ministers’ Conference is a key aspect of the GFFA, with thousands of high-level policy-makers, entrepreneurs, and civil society representatives convening to discuss important aspects of global food and agriculture in light of the world’s multiple ongoing crises.

Recognised throughout, has been the need to prioritise food security on both local and global agendas, especially if the United Nations agenda for Sustainable Development is to be fully realised by the goal of 2030.

Read more about the GFFA 2023 on the event website, here.