FAO updates its Members on the implementation of the Strategic Framework 2022-31

Rome - Providing healthy diets and better nutrition globally is key to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is working urgently on transforming agri-food systems to make that possible, Director-General QU Dongyu said today.

"Because nutrition is so important, it has become one of the four pillars of FAO's approach to helping realize the SDGs," Qu told FAO Members at a high-level virtual event on "Implementing FAO's Strategic Framework 2022-31: Raising levels of nutrition for all", The other three pillars are better production, a better environment and a better life, which together form the four betters.

The Strategic Framework seeks to support Members in implementing the 2030 Agenda and achieving the SDGs - particularly SDG 1 (Zero Poverty), SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) and SDG 10 (Reduced Inequalities) - through the transformation of agri-food systems.

Qu called for "concrete and pragmatic action" to address the challenge of improving nutrition. According to the 2021 edition of The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World report, nearly three billion people on the planet, more than one in three, cannot access a healthy diet; one in nine face hunger and one in three is overweight or obese. In addition, almost a quarter of all children under five are stunted and 45 million are wasted.

FAO has committed to helping achieve the transformation to more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agri-food systems that can produce safe and nutritious food for all. The main planks of its approach are:

• Generating, using and sharing data on people's diets and agri-food systems, to provide decision-makers with evidence, guidance and assistance for game-changing solutions, and to monitor relevant SDG indicators
• Collating, using and communicating science-based evidence on technologies, innovation, policies and options that will enable agri-food systems to deliver access to healthy diets for all
• Catalysing policy coherence and collective action through dialogues with multiple stakeholders, from governments to the private sector, from civil society to vulnerable populations
• Building increased capacity through technical assistance, training, and innovative learning solutions - targeted not only at decision-makers and implementing actors, but also farmers' associations, Indigenous Peoples, women, youth and schools
• Partnering for better global and national governance of nutrition that includes a stronger commitment to healthy diets as part of multi-sectoral policy, action, and investment for nutrition.