The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development calls for a new agricultural approach to ensure sufficient, safe, and nutritious food as well as a stable multifunctional landscape. Agroecology contributes to a transition to food and agricultural systems that are environmentally sustainable, economically fair, viable, and socially equitable.

With the objective of moving from dialogue to action, in 2018, during the Second International Symposium on Agroecology, FAO launched the Scaling up Agroecology Initiative together with UN Partners, catalyzing fundamental commitments needed to scale up and scale out agroecology at all levels. The Initiative promotes synergies and coordination in the provision of technical and policy guidance to countries and stakeholders.

Recognizing agroecology as a dynamic concept that has gained prominence in scientific, agricultural, and political discourse in recent years, FAO developed the 10 Elements of Agroecology as an analytical framework to support the design of differentiated paths for agriculture and food systems transformation at different levels and layers. 

The Scaling up Agroecology Initiative is bringing together different actors in national transition processes, engaging governments, private sector, academia, research, and civil society organizations to rethink and redesign food systems around sustainability principles and institutional innovations, enabling systemic responses to systemic challenges. 

FAO’s Tool for Agroecology Performance Evaluation (TAPE) was developed together with partners to assess the multidimensional performance of agroecology in order to build knowledge and empower producers by collectively producing data and evidence on their own practices. The tool also informs policymakers and development institutions by creating references on agroecology and its contribution to the Sustainable Development Goals. In-depth pieces of training are carried out globally to ensure wide adoption and consistency.

The High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition published a report on “Agroecological and other innovative approaches for sustainable agriculture and food systems that enhance food security and nutrition” in 2019. The report sets the basis for the correspondent discussion within the Committee on World Food Security which aims at producing policy recommendations on this topic. This document will be a useful tool to guide governments and other stakeholders in promoting agroecological approaches at different scales.

However, there are still a lot of challenges to be overcome to scale out and scale up agroecological approaches at wider levels. Innovations and improvements in agricultural practices should be paired with investments in social capital, the co-creation of knowledge with farmers, new marketing networks, and the responsible governance of land and natural resources. To promote and scale agroecology globally, international organizations should support countries and relevant stakeholders in the following priority areas:

• Strengthening the central role of producers and their organizations in safeguarding, utilizing, and accessing natural resources;
• Fostering co-creation and sharing of knowledge through participatory research and innovation;
• Promoting multi-dimensional and holistic performance measurement and monitoring frameworks, accounting social and environmental externalities;
• Promoting markets for agroecology-based products and services;
• Promoting responsible governance by building conducive and coherent policy environments (including policy, legal and financial frameworks).

Women smallholders in Andhra Pradesh, India, © FAO/Francisco Martinez