BRAZIL G20 Development Ministerial Meeting Day 2 - Session: Inequalities and Trilateral Cooperation Closing Remarks

Excellences,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I wish to thank all the members of the panel for their insightful presentations.

FAO fully recognizes the challenges posed by inequalities, and for this reason SDG10 is one of three guiding SDGs for our work.

The FAO Strategic Framework 2022-31 seeks to support the 2030 Agenda through the transformation of global agrifood systems to be more efficient, more inclusive, more resilient and more sustainable, for the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life - leaving no one behind.

We are committed to promote inclusive economic growth by reducing inequalities - especially between urban and rural areas; richer and poorer countries; and between women and men – to ensure that people move out of hunger in a sustainable manner.

I wish to emphasize, however, that economic growth alone will not lead to the impact we seek to overcome inequality. We need to ensure additional specific measures are put in place alongside economic growth.

Furthermore, economic growth is less effective in reducing poverty in the context of high inequality, and at the same time, inequality in access to assets is a significant impediment to growth.

For this reason, economic growth and policies directly targeted to reduce inequalities must go hand in hand!

We know that the climate crisis negatively impacts Food Security and Nutrition inequality through a decline in agricultural productivity, reduced income, emerging food safety issues, disruptions in food distribution, and a lower nutrient content of crops and changes in diet quality.

We also know that if inequalities are high, the most vulnerable will be less resilient and will suffer the most from these shocks.

The FAO recent report “The Unjust Climate” found that in an average year, poor households lose 5 percent of their total income due to heat stress compared to better-off households, and 4.4 percent due to floods.

This is clearly a consequence of reduced resilience and reduced access to assets and infrastructure.

The FAO “State of Women in Agrifood Systems” report concluded that women’s access to land, inputs, services, finance and digital technology continues to lag behind men’s.

Discriminatory social norms and rules affecting women and girls are at the heart of gender inequality, and are slow to change.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The High-Level Panel of Experts report confirms strong inequalities in terms of Food Security and Nutrition outcomes across groups based on gender, age, race or ethnic origin, indigenous identity, disability, geographic location, and socio-economic status.

It also found that Inequalities across agrifood systems are crucial drivers for inequalities in food security and nutrition outcomes.

It is critical that we all work together to address the multiple structural drivers of inequalities, including in access to finance, institutions, markets, value chains and ownership; as well as in access to and control over resources; in the ability to cope with shocks; in decision-making, and in public participation and representation.

The adoption of the G20 Inequalities Compact is an important signal of the political will needed for collective action to address these drivers.

Let us continue to work together in an efficient, effective and coherent manner to reduce inequalities for a more equitable future for all.

Thank you!