FAO at Diplomatic Academy: SDGs and food systems transformation

The FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation in the framework of the XI International Model UN “DAIMMUN-22” held a panel at the Diplomatic Academy of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to discuss the outcomes of the UN Food Systems Summit (FSS), which took place in September 2021, as well as the further developments on this track.       

In his statement, Oleg Kobiakov, Head of the FAO Moscow Office, noted the current “extreme politicization of international relations”, which makes it difficult for the UN and its specialized agencies, which includes FAO, to fulfill their high mission. Yet, despite high global tensions, he expressed confidence that an “extreme form of confrontation”, when people take up arms, will be avoided, and that the UN, which has been the guardian of peace and security and has succeeded in preventing a new world war, will meet the challenges. Then, “humanity will once again be fully committed to ensuring equitable social and economic development and transition to sustainable development.” 

“By the end of the 1980s, humanity realized that it could no longer develop while using the obsolete ways and means of destructive consumption of natural resources,” continued Oleg Kobiakov. In 1987, the concept of “sustainable development” was coined. The UN Commission on Sustainable Development and Environment headed by former Prime Minister of Norway Gro Harlem Brundtland was entrusted with drafting a programme setting goals and objectives of human development by the year 2000. The document was entitled “Agenda 21: The future we want”. It seems fair to say that at the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro the concept of "sustainable development had a strong hold on the best minds and the general public" and formed the basis of the human development paradigm, emphasized the speaker. It is currently embodied in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) outlined in the 2030 Agenda endorsed by the UNGA.       

FAO, established 76 years ago together with “the big UN”, is the “owner” of SDG-2 aiming at achieving zero hunger, a co-implementer of five other SDGs, and a coordinator on reporting for over 20 indicators under the 2030 Agenda. In this work, it successfully cooperates not only with member countries, but also with partners such as public institutions, the private sector, NGOs/CSOs and agricultural producers – after all, rural areas account for 80 percent of the land area and are home to more than half of the world's population. 

Despite the progress achieved, the global food security situation remains alarming today. FAO experts estimate that nearly 811 million people in the world went hungry in 2020. “This situation is intolerable, it requires funding on an unprecedented scale, involving everybody in meeting the global food issue. Until we feed each and every person, until we eliminate the threat of starvation, until we eradicate diseases associated with malnutrition, it would be simply immoral to highlight achievements in scientific and technological progress!” concluded Oleg Kobiakov.       

Katerina Antonevich, Consultant at the FAO's Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, in her presentation “Dialogues on the way to the 2022 Food Systems Summit” spoke about the mechanisms that help monitor the situation in agrifood systems.

In preparation for the UN Food Systems Summit (FSS), “dialogues have been chosen as a key tool,” said Katerina Antonevich. They have been held at three levels – at the global and the national levels, as well as at the micro one, known as the “independent dialogue” which brought together, for instance, associations in different professions – breeders, food-industry workers, farmers, agricultural science representatives, etc.        

In preparation for the FSS, the FAO Moscow office held several meaningful independent dialogues, notably with the UN Global Compact Association in Russia, an organization dedicated to engaging businesses in sustainable development and building partnerships between the public and the corporate sectors. The participants in the independent dialogue ranged from large companies and retail chains such as “PhosAgro” and X5, to smaller companies such as alternative bio-food manufacturer “GL-Green Light”. They presented their experiences – “best practices” – in improving efficiency to conserve resources, reduce their carbon footprint, and decrease detrimental impacts on the climate and the environment.

Aghasi Harutyunyan, Deputy Director of the FAO Liaison Office with the Russian Federation, in the report “Methodology and statistics of food security in the world. SDG-2 and the post UNFSS-2022 review process” outlined key definitions of the food security framework and a methodology for measuring progress towards SDG-2. In the run-up to the UNFSS, he said, “hundreds of individual and collective decisions and commitments have been formulated to transform food systems to achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.”

Among the specific initiatives and calls for action, the FAO expert named, in particular, the “Private Sector Zero Hunger Pledge”, the creation of the Indigenous Food Systems Coalition and 10 coalitions of public development banks to increase financing for inclusive agribusiness, as well as the Declaration of Food Producers, in which, among other things, they warn "against excessive concentration of power in the hands of a few economic actors and the marginalization of family farming, and call for a redistribution of risks and rewards along the entire value chain.” 

Aghasi Harutyunyan elaborated on the main terms used in FAO documents. Referring to the 1996 World Summit on Food Security Declaration, he stressed, “Food security exists when all people have physical, social and economic access at all times to sufficient, safe and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life. The four pillars of food security are availability, access, use and stability.” 

In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the speaker noted, “Innovative action within food systems can play an important role in accelerating the global recovery.”    

In his closing remarks, Oleg Kobiakov highlighted that the implementation of the 2030 Agenda is associated with the need to find a compromise between individual Goals and tasks, because many of them are, to a certain extent, “antagonist goals”. Thus, the goal of strengthening food security (SDG-2) requires an increase in agricultural production, which is in conflict with SDG-6 (clean water and sanitation), since the agricultural sector is the largest consumer and significant polluter of water resources. In fact, for the production of 1 kg of red meat, for example, one needs to spend 20 tonnes of water, and each orange consumes up to 50 liters of water before reaching maturity.   

To some extent, the goal of combating hunger is antagonistic to the goal of combating climate change, as well as the goal of conserving ecosystems on land and seas (SDG-13-14-15), the speaker emphasized. True, there are dampening goals – achieving sustainable production and consumption, providing affordable energy for everyone.   

Finally, a special role is assigned to the “umbrella” Goal-17 (Partnership), without which it will be impossible to make progress on the entire SDG palette. It is also important that everyone can take part in such partnerships. “You can become SDG ambassadors, as well,” Oleg Kobiakov addressed the youth audience. “Your positive impact on your environment will help shape both the concept and consumption patterns, reduce carbon footprint, decrease food waste, and thus avoid the damage due to wasted labour and often nonrenewable resources.” 

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In conclusion, the FAO Moscow Office answered numerous questions from the students of the Diplomatic Academy.