Op-ed by the FAO Director-General
Transformative change at the service of all
by QU Dongyu, FAO Director-General
Only a few weeks after assuming FAO’s leadership in 2019, I met the UN Secretary-General and promised that FAO will strengthen its role within the UN System as a dynamic member, trusted partner and professional knowledge organization.
FAO has kept its promises throughout 2020.
A year that certainly was extraordinary, with shocks of an unprecedented magnitude that will reverberate long into 2021. For FAO in particular, 2020 marked our 75th anniversary at a time when our mission to end hunger and nourish the world was rendered as relevant as it was on the day we were established.
But 2020 was also the year of efficiency for FAO, despite the COVID-19 pandemic. The Organization looks back proudly at an unprecedented transformative process and a collective leadership recognized externally. We have built an agile, dynamic and innovative Organization. A digital and inclusive FAO that benefits from a committed and motivated team of employees with globally respected technical expertise.
For the first time, most of our Governing Body meetings were held virtually, creating Member-centric, dynamic, participatory and efficient platforms for policy-setting. FAO introduced a new organizational structure composed of new offices with a cross-cutting function; centres with a strong collaboration function with other UN agencies or with International Financing Institutions; and a Core Leadership team.
In close consultation with our Members, we are developing the new Strategic Framework for 2022-31 and the Medium-term Plan for 2022-25. The new Strategic Framework builds on the momentum and transformations already taking place in the Organization. It places at its centre the strategic narrative of Leaving No One Behind through sustainable, inclusive and resilient food systems for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life. The Framework is anchored in the 2030 Agenda and guided by SDGs 1, 2 and 10 around the ‘four betters’, thereby facilitating even more effective partnerships with UN agencies and other partners.
This renewed FAO continues to strengthen its role within the UN System driven by our commitment to ensure that food security and nutrition are placed prominently in the international agenda. Through our Liaison Office with the UN in New York, supported by our offices around the world as well as headquarters units, FAO has provided you with high-quality technical and policy support from the perspective of food and agriculture, on a wide range of issues.
During 2020, I was privileged to participate in over 40 high-level events organized by the UN Secretary-General, the Presidents of the UN General Assembly and ECOSOC, as well as in international observances, meetings of Groups of Friends and Members, and in many other events raising awareness and encouraging all to work in concert to overcome the challenges we face.
For example, early in the year, I spoke at the New York World Pulses Day luncheon, the first International Tea Day event based in New York, and at the PGA Interactive Dialogue on Targeting Hunger: South-South and Triangular Cooperation for Transforming Agriculture.
In April, I delivered my first briefing to the UN Security Council, where I emphasised the impacts of conflict on acute food insecurity.
In June, in a historic first for an FAO Director-General, I spoke at the ECOSOC Humanitarian Affairs Segment, highlighting the pandemic’s impact on food security and nutrition. I addressed the Integration Segment speaking on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and getting back on track for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals. During the 2020 High-Level Political Forum, FAO and its partners launched The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World.
In September, I was invited again to the UN Security Council, where I provided an update on the food security situation in a number of countries around the world experiencing food insecurity, together with the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs and the World Food Programme (WFP). During the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly, I also launched the FAO Green Cities programme, and during the Global Network Against Food Crises high-level event FAO presented a review of the most recent global data available on how the knock-on effects of the pandemic are driving up acute hunger in vulnerable countries. In addition, I delivered a statement at the UN Summit on Biodiversity, representing UN partner agencies at the “Leaders Dialogue on how to mainstream biodiversity issues into the broader drive for sustainable development”.
COVID-19 brought our lives and livelihoods to a sudden halt, it disrupted food chains, pushed hundreds of millions into unemployment and poverty, and worsened already high levels of acute hunger. It soon became evident that FAO needed a globally coordinated and coherent response to prevent this public health crisis from triggering a food crisis. From the onset, FAO raised awareness on the need to mitigate impact on food trade and markets and ensure food safety. Worth mentioning are our joint statements, such as the one with the World Health Programme and the World Trade Organization on mitigating the impact of COVID-19 on food trade and markets, and the joint statement issued just before the G20 Agriculture Ministers’ meeting together with the World Bank, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and WFP.
In July 2020, FAO launched its comprehensive COVID-19 Response and Recovery Programme to address the challenges posed by the pandemic, and support countries to recover better, in line with the wider UN approach. Most recently, we launched the Food Coalition, a multi-stakeholder global alliance for unified global action in response to COVID-19. FAO’s longer-term vision for the post-COVID-19 world supports the ambition to place the agri-food systems approach in the centre of political and action agendas, and to support countries achieve the four betters.
Food is the number one universal commodity and the utmost important public good. The future of the agri-food systems will define humanity’s future as well. The multiple and interconnected challenges we faced and keep facing call for an innovative mindset and new ways of working to transform agri-food systems and put an end to hunger and poverty. Farmers are at the centre of this transformation, requiring technical support and financial incentives.
FAO plays a vital role in supporting resilience and emergency preparedness, and COVID-19 was not the only crisis we faced this year. We gave utmost importance to the fight against Desert Locusts and Fall Armyworm, which continue to ravish farmers’ crops. Thanks to the support of donors, we have helped countries affected combat the invasions, saving crops and livelihoods. But the fight is far from over as new swarms have been hatched and threaten the Horn of Africa and Yemen.
FAO is committed to employing innovation-powered solutions through digital technologies – such as the Internet of Things, blockchain, and e-commerce platforms – in an effort to transform farming, create new opportunities for employment, and revolutionize Research & Development. FAO’s Hand-in-Hand Initiative uses data to match-make donor and recipient countries, in an effort to accelerate innovation, investments, and improve agricultural potential. It already supports the efforts of over 30 countries. The Initiative is supported by state-of-the-art tools like the Hand-in-Hand Geospatial Platform and the Data Lab for Statistical Innovation. The Geospatial Platform is empowered by Earth Map, a free, open-source big data tool that FAO has launched in collaboration with Google to allow users everywhere access to agriculturally relevant data. FAO also launched the Technical Platform on the Measurement and Reduction of Food Loss and Waste that contains the largest online collection of data on both food loss and food waste and their causes. It also brings together information on successful models applied to reduce food loss and waste across the globe.
At FAO, we believe in building partnerships with different types of institutions and organizations, non-governmental organizations, as well as other networks of experts and practitioners. We also believe that the private sector can be a driving force to boost markets, consumers, and farmers, and for that reason we have launched our new Strategy for Private Sector Engagement 2021-2025. Enhanced engagement of the private sector can provide capacity development, investments and a new professional, market-oriented business model.
At the same time, we know that an agri-food systems transformation cannot be achieved without multilateralism. There has never been a better time to step up our collective efforts than the year to come. In 2021, we will conclude our celebrations of the International Year of Plant Health that were interrupted by the pandemic; we will commemorate the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables, and together with the UN Environment Programme, we will launch the UN Decade of Ecosystem Restoration. At the same time, we will also continue to facilitate the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition 2106-2025 with the World Health Organization, and the UN Decade of Family Farming 2019-2028 with IFAD. Moreover, we will be participating in the UN Food Systems Summit. We have been giving the preparatory process our full support. And we will join hands with partners to hold the World Youth Food Forum, because engaging the young generation is crucial.
Transforming our agri-food systems represents one of the most powerful ways to make progress towards achieving all 17 Sustainable Development Goals, and I am ready to work together with governments, the Secretary-General, the UN System and non-state actors to make positive changes in the way the world produces, consumes, and thinks about food. We have been challenged, we have persevered, and now we are ready to achieve transformative changes. Let us work hand-in-hand to ensure that we eliminate hunger, reduce poverty, and build a better future for all humankind and our planet!