FAO Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean (LARC) - CFS Side Event on “Driving Transformation Toward Sustainable Food Systems for Healthy Diets”

FAO REGIONAL CONFERENCE FOR LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN (LARC)

CFS SIDE EVENT ON 

“DRIVING TRANSFORMATION TOWARD SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS FOR HEALTHY DIETS"

REMARKS

 

Excellencies,

Chairperson of the CFS,

Ladies and Gentlemen,  

1. First of all, I would like to congratulate Julio, Regional Representative of FAO in Latin America and the Caribbean region. We are busy, but we are happy, even we shifted the programme of yesterday to today. It means that we are fully engaged. In this digital world, we do not have to change our tickets and we do not have to pay the extra cost of changing the programme. We benefit a lot from the digital world and enjoy the digital life very much. I also would like to congratulate Mr. Tiensen, Chairperson of the CFS. Now, you are also fully engaged with Members of FAO to make CFS more relevant and more tangible.  

2. That is why I invited the CFS to hold special events at the FAO Regional Conferences this year as a signal of our strong commitment to the Committee, and to encourage you to take advantage of it, as an inclusive, international platform of great importance in the global efforts of addressing food insecurity and malnutrition.

3. FAO is proud to host the CFS Secretariat and to fund its operations along with WFP and IFAD.

4. And we need to join all our efforts and work together, now more than ever before, because we are not on track to eradicating hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition by 2030.

5. And also because the COVID-19 pandemic comes at a time when food insecurity was already increasing in the region. 

6. The pandemic and the related containment measures are especially damaging for Small Island Developing States of the Latin America and Caribbean region, which are food-importing countries.

7. Estimates project that by 2030 the number of undernourished people may reach almost 67 million, putting the region off track to achieve Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2.

8. To address these negative effects, we launched the FAO Comprehensive COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme that aimed at preventing a global food emergency during and after the COVID-19 pandemic, while working on medium to long term development responses for food security and nutrition.

9. In line with the SDGs, this holistic programme aims to mitigate the immediate impacts of the pandemic while strengthening the future resilience of food systems and livelihoods.

10. I would like to share three concepts with you that I consider crucial in our efforts:

11. Firstly: agri-food systems transformation: 

12. The pandemic has exposed the weaknesses in our global food systems, but it has given us an opportunity to build back better.

13. We will continue to support all our Members in their efforts to transform their food systems making them more efficient, healthy and sustainable.

14. In that context, I encourage you all to join CFS as it finalizes the “Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition” for CFS-47 in February 2021.

15. This set of guidelines will be important for all of us in thinking about how we should be producing, marketing, and consuming our foods – for the future of both people and our planet.

16. Secondly: Innovation and digital technologies: 

17. All the speakers of this regional conference talked about this in the afternoon today. It was really a good warming-up and we could build more consensus on that in the future. Innovation and digital technologies will be the only way for us to go forward. 

18. We need innovation, science and digital technologies to reach the Sustainable Development Goals.

19. Innovation in all its forms is central to the new FAO.

20. Since I became Director-General, a new Office of Innovation was created and the first Chief Scientist in FAO’s history was selected.

21. The Hand in Hand Initiative that is bolstered by state-of-the-art tools and technologies in the Geospatial Data Platform and the Data Lab for Statistical Innovation is a good example of our innovative approach.

22. And we can also see the vast potential in using innovative ways to further disseminate policy instruments; such as the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests and the Principles for Responsible Investment.

23. I am pleased to see that over 150 parliamentarians and their advisors from this region have been engaged in capacity development on the Principles for Responsible Investment through activities with the Parliamentary Front against Hunger of Latin America and the Caribbean.

24. I am also pleased to acknowledge that FAO and the Parliament of Latin America and the Caribbean recently issued a joint declaration on “Enhancing Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems in response to the COVID-19 crisis”. 

25. These excellent examples of cooperation bring me to my third message.

26. Thirdly: Partnerships:

27. Partnerships are essential for our work and the delivery of results. 

28. FAO must generate knowledge and innovative products and disseminate them, and this can only happen by deepening partnerships, not only with governments, but also with academia, civil society and the private sector. This morning, I had a very good meeting with Italian Chamber of Deputies, two Presidents of the Committee on Foreign Affairs and the Committee on Agriculture. 

29. FAO needs an open-door policy. Last week, we celebrated 75^th Anniversary of FAO and marked the World Food Day. We went outside to the street and organized a video mapping show on the Colosseum in Rome, drawing a great attention from the general public on FAO and the World Food Day. We have to go outside from the castle. UN organization is more or less like a European castle. 

30. For this LARC Regional Conference, I am so happy and I will further talk about it in my closing remarks about many good practices of LARC 36th Regional Conference. You did it in achieving with going out of the castle. You have successfully got relevant key players on board to think on the same page. 

31. We have developed a new Private Sector Partnership Strategy for the upcoming Council’s review and approval.

32. And I am also looking forward to seeing the CFS to further broaden its existing inclusive partnerships, particularly with stakeholders from this region.

33. I think CFS has everything, your wisdom, your knowledge, your expertise and the platform to make everything possible, even to make impossible to be possible. I think one day I want to be the Chairperson of the CFS after finishing my tenure as FAO DG. (Laughing)

Ladies and Gentlemen, 

34. We must transform our food systems to become more nutritious, more equitable and more sustainable.

35. FAO will promote innovative approaches, including the application of modern science and technologies, digital solutions, and innovation of mindset and cooperation models to ensure progress on SDGs and agri-food systems transformation.

36. Please take note of what I have just said: agri-food systems, because different countries have different agri-food systems and you will have different solutions for the transformation. That should be country-owned and country-led. Of course, each country can learn the experiences and lessons from others. It is volunteering and this is not mandatory. But you need transformation, as the world is changing. We have a new normal and a new demand for foods, nutritious and healthy diets.  

37. The CFS has developed many important policy products for this to happen. Now we need your support to push for their implementation!

38. I strongly encourage all the members to implement these products. Ministers, Vice Ministers and private sector should take CFS policy products seriously and consider how to implement them in accordance with your own national context. 

39. We need to join our efforts for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, until the mission accomplished! 

Thank you.