FAO on the road to the High-Level Political Forum 2024

With 6 years to 2030, about 735 million people still face hunger (2022), a similar number continue to live in extreme poverty, and pressures on natural resources and the environment persist. With multiple crises encountering old and new challenges, the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) 2024 will meet under the theme “Reinforcing the 2030 Agenda and eradicating poverty in times of multiple crises” to review progress towards SDG 2 along with SDGs 1, 13, 16 and 17. FAO is contributing to this process providing updated data and analysis, co-organizing and participating in expert group meetings, highlighting the potential that agrifood systems have to help accelerate progress towards SDG 2 and the full 2030 Agenda, and exploring how to unlock the full potential of agrifood systems. 

Paving the road to the HLPF, FAO and the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) co-organized the Expert Group Meeting (EGM) on SDG 2 in Rome hosted at FAO Headquarters. FAO’s Director-General, QU Dongyu, gave opening remarks at this EGM, emphasizing the necessity for a unified, expert-driven approach to tackle the triad challenges of food availability, accessibility, and affordability and advocating for evidence-based, solution-oriented strategies to transform crises into opportunities for food security enhancement. The EGM brought together over 50 experts representing non-governmental and civil society organizations, family farmers, Indigenous Peoples, the private sector, academia, scientists, researchers, government institutions and the United Nations to analyze trends and challenges and take stock of progress towards SDG 2. The EGM provided an opportunity to discuss ways to catalyze action to achieve results at scale, to consider how to strengthen governance for effective collaboration across institutional and non-institutional actors, and to increase ownership, effectiveness and accountability of results. Read the SDG 2 EGM report and additional resources here. FAO also actively contributed to other Expert Group Meetings informing the review of SDGs in focus this year.  

The ECOSOC process  

From partnerships to Indigenous issues, youth to forests and innovation, FAO has been contributing to several other UN ECOSOC processes that will feed into the 2024 HLPF. At the beginning of the 2024 ECOSOC cycle, FAO supported the Partnership Forum discussion on SDG 2 and Chief Economist Maximo Torero spoke at the Coordination Segment. 

Other ECOSOC meetings FAO engaged in include the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII), the ECOSOC Youth Forum, the 19th Session of the UN Forum on Forests (UNFF19), and the 9th Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs (STI Forum) highlighting the role that more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems can play in helping to achieve the 2030 Agenda. FAO’s Director-General, QU Dongyu, addressed both the UNFF19 and the STI Forum. 

In addition, several FAO bodies provided intergovernmental inputs to the HLPF at the request of the President of ECOSOC. The inputs are accompanied by a synthetic summary consolidated by FAO from the contributions of the bodies. The messages highlight the need to strengthen policy convergence and collaboration, involving all stakeholders and ensuring national ownership and commitment; accelerate the transformation to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems; increase financing and target investment for agrifood systems transformation and climate actions; and strengthen social protection. 

Key challenges: Agrifood systems as a pathway to climate action and harnessing the Means of Implementation 

With SDG 2: Zero Hunger and SDG 13: Climate Action under review in 2024, FAO maintains that agrifood systems are part of the solution to climate change challenges. In this regard, the new Global Roadmap for Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2) without Breaching the 1.5°C Threshold, for example, outlines a comprehensive strategy spanning the next three years that encompasses a diverse portfolio of solutions across ten distinct domains of action, laying out concrete actions and milestones. The roadmap also emphasizes the symbiotic relationship between agrifood systems transformation and climate actions, urging the mobilization of climate finance for implementation. 

To transform agrifood systems and accelerate progress in the SDGs on our way to 2030, financing and investment are critical. They need to be strategic, targeted, and increased. The policy brief on Repurposing domestic public support to agriculture launched during the Financing for Development Forum by FAO emphasizes the importance of the efficient utilization of available funds to amplify efficacy in addressing food crises. This discussion will be taken forward at this year’s HLPF, including at the Special Event on the State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024 that will take place on 15 July, focusing on “Financing to end hunger, food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition”. To stay up to date on our activities, stay tuned for our dedicated FAO at the HLPF page.