FAO Director-Basic addresses world leaders at G20 summit
01/11/2021 Rome
Coverage makers should discover a approach to “feed the world and save the planet on the identical time,” QU Dongyu, Director-Basic of the Meals and Agriculture Group of the United Nations (FAO), stated on the G20 Leaders Summit in Rome on Sunday.
“Local weather change will compromise our skill to supply enough quantities of nutritious meals and improve poverty and deepen inequalities,” Qu warned, on the eve of COP local weather convention in Glasgow.
Qu spoke throughout two periods – one targeted on local weather change and the atmosphere and the opposite on sustainable growth – on the Summit hosted by Prime Minister Mario Draghi of Italy and attended, principally in particular person, by presidents and heads of presidency representing round two-thirds of the world’s inhabitants and a fair increased share of its financial exercise.
He expressed his because of Italy for its help to the Food Coalition initiative and for ensuring that international meals safety was excessive on the agenda all through the 2021 G20 Presidency. The Leaders Summit culminated a 12 months with 175 occasions, 20 ministerial conferences, two different G20 Leaders- conferences – one on Well being and one on Afghanistan – in addition to dozens of working group periods which have led amongst different outcomes to the Matera Declaration on Meals Safety, Vitamin and Meals Techniques, to which FAO was a significant contributor.
Agri-food programs around the globe are being threatened by a hosts of things starting from civil conflicts to biodiversity loss, and the COVID-19 pandemic has made issues worse, pushing greater than 800 million individuals into continual starvation, whereas one other 3 billion can not afford wholesome diets, the Director-Basic stated. We’re not on observe to restrict international temperature rise to 1.5 levels, he stated.
Many individuals within the Rome summit are anticipated to attend the UN’s Local weather Change Convention, often known as COP26, which is able to run from 31 October by means of 12 November in Glasgow, Scotland.
With simply 9 agricultural seasons till the 2030 goal date for the Sustainable Growth Objectives, “the urgency for local weather motion is stronger than ever,” the Director-Basic informed the G20 leaders. “Politicians have to take stronger management, Individuals have to take the possession and all society should work in coherent partnership primarily based on science and innovation.”
The G20 Rome Leaders Declaration culminating the Summit inspired companions and stakeholders all over the place “to collaborate with or be part of the Meals Coalition launched by FAO as a way to answer the impacts of COVID-19 on meals safety and vitamin.” Leaders additionally acknowledged the significance of sustainable agri-food programs not solely to fight starvation but additionally to “make a significant contribution to tackling the interlinked international challenges of local weather change and biodiversity loss.”
What FAO is doing
FAO is firmly dedicated to working along with Members and all companions coherently on the 2030 Agenda and the SDGs, Qu emphasised.
Boosting private and non-private investments, rising entry to handy infrastructure and monetary sources for farmers and the susceptible, and implementing coverage reforms that present incentives for personal sector actors to help agri-food programs transformation and rural growth are cardinal ideas of what must be executed concretely to make agri-food programs “extra environment friendly, extra inclusive, extra resilient and extra sustainable,” he stated.
“We should imagine in science, be taught science and apply science; we should innovate our enterprise mannequin – sci-tech and methodology are our final options!” he stated. The “4Rs”: scale back, reuse, recycle and exchange – needs to be primary steerage for coverage makers, he added.
FAO has rolled out the Hand-in-Hand Initiative to catalyze robust and efficient partnerships to enhance the agri-food potential of nations, in addition to the Green Cities Initiative to reinforce city environments. FAO created a G20 Green Garden in Rome to help its frequent agenda with Italy.
The Group takes a holistic strategy to agri-food programs and builds on scientific proof, large information and innovation, in addition to enabling insurance policies to make sure that agri-food programs contribute to decrease greenhouse fuel emissions, whereas rising socio-economic and environmental advantages. Rural growth should be on the prime of nationwide growth priorities, the Director-Basic emphasised.
The “5Fs” – meals, feed, fiber, gasoline and a pleasant atmosphere – of agri-food programs are essential arenas to enhance individuals’s livelihoods, and FAO’s new Strategic Framework 2022-2031 helps Members craft pathways to determine the 4 Betters: Higher manufacturing, Higher vitamin, a Higher atmosphere, and a Higher life for all, leaving nobody behind, Qu stated.
