{"id":402259,"date":"2023-12-27T14:06:05","date_gmt":"2023-12-27T19:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/fao-global-roadmap-highlights-importance-of-rebalancing-agrifood-systems\/"},"modified":"2023-12-28T03:35:54","modified_gmt":"2023-12-28T08:35:54","slug":"fao-global-roadmap-highlights-importance-of-rebalancing-agrifood-systems","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/platohealth.ai\/fao-global-roadmap-highlights-importance-of-rebalancing-agrifood-systems\/","title":{"rendered":"FAO Global Roadmap highlights importance of rebalancing agrifood systems","gt_translate_keys":[{"key":"rendered","format":"text"}]},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Food and Agriculture Organization of the U.N. (FAO) unveiled a new roadmap to curb famine and food insecurity \u2013 a move welcomed by many, including the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO).<\/p>\n

At this year\u2019s COP28 UN Climate Change Conference,<\/a> the FAO presented a Global Roadmap<\/a> to reach Sustainable Development Goal 2, which is focused on food security, while maintaining the 1.5C threshold set in the Paris Agreement.<\/p>\n

\u201cGlobal agrifood systems are the climate solution,\u201d said FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu, who addressed the World Climate Action Summit.<\/p>\n

\u201cBIO applauds the iterative approach outlined by the UN. Defining specific milestones and setting realistic\u2014yet ambitious\u2014goals to transform agri-food systems will allow us to address climate challenges without endangering food security or agriculture-based livelihoods,\u201d said BIO Chief Policy Officer John Murphy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

What is SDG2?<\/h2>\n

SDG2 is one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals<\/a> set by the United Nations in 2017 to make change globally, especially for low- and middle-income countries. Goal 2 specifically pertains to ending hunger and malnutrition.<\/p>\n

To achieve this goal, the UN FAO outlined a comprehensive strategy laid out as a three-year journey, \u201cencapsulated in the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP) 28, COP 29 and COP 30,\u201d FAO said.<\/p>\n

The roadmap covers solutions from livestock nutrition to soil<\/a> and water quality to deforestation<\/a> and lowering emissions.<\/p>\n

At its core, SDG2 aims to \u201ccreate a world free of hunger by 2030.\u201d The UN has defined<\/a> a list of eight targets and 13 indicators designed to avoid \u201cdoomism,\u201d David Laborde, Director of the Agrifood Economics Division at FAO<\/a>, told UN News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Zero Hunger by 2030<\/h2>\n

The number of people who face famine is growing each year. The latest data estimates between 691 and 783 million people went hungry in 2022, marking a staggering surge of 122 million people compared to pre-pandemic levels in 2019, according to this State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World (SOFI) report<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need policymakers to act. We need the civil society to be mobilized and the private sector to understand that making better choices today means making investments more sustainable and more profitable for tomorrow,\u201d Laborde explained.<\/p>\n

The report further notes that in 2022, nearly 29.6% of the population globally had no constant access to food \u2013 equivalent to 2.4 billion people.<\/p>\n

Additionally, nearly half (42%) couldn\u2019t afford healthy diets in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cNo doubt, achieving the Sustainable Development Goal target of Zero Hunger by 2030 poses a daunting challenge. Indeed, it is projected that almost 600 million people will still be facing hunger in 2030. The major drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition are our \u2018new normal,\u2019 and we have no option but to redouble our efforts to transform agrifood systems and leverage them towards reaching the Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG 2) targets,\u201d the WHO report\u2019s foreword states.<\/p>\n

FAO Global Roadmap\u2019s broad goals<\/h2>\n

Achieving SDG2 without breaching the 1.5C threshold: A Global Roadmap<\/a> <\/em>discusses 120 actions divided into ten domains:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. livestock<\/li>\n
  2. fisheries and aquaculture<\/li>\n
  3. crops<\/li>\n
  4. enabling healthy diets for all<\/li>\n
  5. forest and wetlands<\/li>\n
  6. soil and water<\/li>\n
  7. food loss and waste<\/li>\n
  8. clean energy<\/li>\n
  9. inclusive policies<\/li>\n
  10. data<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    The key milestones in the FAO Global Roadmap include cutting 25% of methane emissions from livestock between 2020-2030, ensuring more than 75% of global fisheries are sustainably managed between 2020-2040, halving global food waste both at retail and consumer levels by 2030, and reaching zero gross-deforestation achieved globally by 2035, explains Bloomberg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    BIO is on board with FAO\u2019s efforts, as highlighted in this statement<\/a>. BIO points to several key elements:<\/p>\n