Cross Cutting Expert Group Meeting on Integrating Food into Urban Planning

 

Habitat III – FAO

Cross Cutting Expert Group Meeting on

Integrating Food into Urban Planning

Opening remarks

Director of the FAO Liaison Office to the UN

Carla Mucavi

May 12, 2016, Conference Room B, UN

 

Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to welcome you this morning to this important expert group meeting “Integrating Food into Urban Planning”.

And I would like to thank the Habitat III secretariat for their support in making this happen.

 

We are joined today by:

• Ana Moreno, Coordinator of the Habitat 3 Secretariat,
• By representatives of Member States that have been active in the debate on the new urban agenda, including Colombia, Germany, Italy, Maldives and South Africa,
• By experts in different aspects of the food and cities nexus coming from local governments, academia and research institutions, civil society organizations, private sector, independent consultants
• As well as by colleagues of the UN system.

 

This is a truly interdisciplinary mix, one that we feel is necessary to better capture the multiple linkages between food and cities and that will allow us to better contribute to the Habitat 3 process.

 

This meeting is aiming at reviewing the zero draft of the New Urban Agenda with a focus on food security and nutrition.

 

By now we are all aware that by 2050, it is predicted that close to 70% of our global population will be urban. This trend is caused by migration from rural to urban, compounded by general growth in population which is already predominantly urban. The shift towards the urban is accelerating especially in developing countries in Africa and Asia.

 

This places a heavy shift and pressure on food and agriculture around the world. The agriculture sector is losing its workforce and fertile land to urbanization, while demands for food increase in the urban areas.

 

Competition occurs on a key natural resource - water - between domestic use, industrial use, or agricultural use.

 

With climate change and increased population, water scarcity is becoming an important issue in many parts of the world today.      

 

What should be the approach that we must take?

We need to integrate food and agriculture into urban and territorial planning. This means improving governance at all levels to create an enabling environment that supports a food system that benefits all, from producers to consumers.    

 

The agricultural sector including fisheries and forestry can contribute to improved land and water management. It can reduce risks of natural disasters in human settlements, increase or preserve water sources, preserve biodiversity, and serve as carbon sinks. These ecosystem services occur in a territorial scale that goes beyond the local administrative jurisdictions of a city, requiring an integrated territorial approach.

 

Improved public services in smaller towns and cities that are supported by, or supporting, the agricultural sector is also important. Urbanization is not just about large cities; it is about invigorating the small cities that have greater potential for sustainable development.      

 

Food must be a part of urban planning because it is an integral part of our daily lives. Most of the urban population depends on purchased food. While we see a global decline in hunger and malnutrition, we saw in the 2007-8 price shock that many urban people across the globe were seriously affected. 

 

We find food deserts in inner cities, and the increasing urban poor are struggling to access food. Food bank users are on the rise in urban areas as people struggle to get a decent job.

 

We are seeing an increasing interest in urban agriculture globally, either as a means of survival or livelihood, or as a way to secure safe and healthy food. The food and agriculture sector is seen as the one of the green jobs with growth potential for young entrepreneurs and women.  

 

At the same time, obesity is on the rise in urban areas, not only in developed countries but also in developing countries.  This is an alarming trend which is costing people and governments in health care for rise in non-communicable diseases.  The cultural and lifestyle shift in urbanization cannot be ignored.

 

Typically food has not been taken into consideration in urban planning, resulting in problems that I have already mentioned. If we are to aim for a sustainable urban development, the food system needs to change, and incorporated into urban design in a way that is equitable for all.

 

The New Urban Agenda draft acknowledges the importance of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement on Climate Change and is an important step in operationalizing these global commitments.

 

Goals 1, 2 and 3 are the fundamental goals in the 2030 Agenda for the rest to be achieved. We recognize the importance of the relationship between Goal 2 on food security and nutrition and sustainable agriculture with Goal 11 on sustainable cities.

 

The interlinkages between the Goals and the various elements of the New Urban Agenda are key and we must work together in a systemic way.

 

If we are to truly take a people-centered vision, as stated in the draft Agenda, we must take food into consideration.

 

This expert group meeting is an opportunity to contribute to the New Urban Agenda. Let’s use this opportunity to deepen our understanding of each other’s perspectives and work together to strengthen the commitments we have made through the SDGs and Paris Agreement, and transform it into action through the New Urban Agenda.     

 

I wish you a successful meeting. And now I would like to give the floor for Ana Moreno for her introductory remarks. Ana, you have the floor.