©FAO/Veejay Villafranca
Riyadh – The Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) & the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) today launched a new program, aimed at strengthening efforts to transform global agrifood systems – from farm to table – so that they are sustainable, nature positive, resilient, inclusive & pollution-free.
Funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the Food Systems Integrated Program (FSIP) was launched on Agrifood System Day at the 16th Conference of the Parties of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD COP16) in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
The program will channel US $282 million in GEF financing & an estimated US $1.8 billion of co-financing towards global environmental benefits for biodiversity, land, & climate change, along with socioeconomic benefits of improved food security, nutrition, & livelihoods.
The program targets agrifood systems of four sectors – crops (maize, rice & wheat), commodities (cocoa, palm oil & soy), livestock, aquaculture – across 32 countries: Angola, Argentina, Benin, Bhutan, Burkina Faso, Chad, Chile, China, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Ghana, Grenada, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Malaysia, Mexico, Namibia, Nauru, Nigeria, Pakistan, Peru, Philippines, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tanzania, Türkiye, & Uganda.
Countries & communities will develop & strengthen policies, value chains, practices, & investment plans for key agrifood sectors through the program. The program aims to mitigate methane emissions in the livestock & rice sectors, as well as deforestation in livestock & palm oil sectors. The program will promote aquaculture as an alternative source of protein & income & integrated landscape management as an alternative to unsustainable land use in producing wheat & maize. In addition, it will also support sustainable practices for key commodities to ensure long-term environmental & economic benefits.
The program comes amid growing international attention to the key role of food & agriculture systems at the recent UN environmental Conferences of the Parties (COPs) for three different conventions. These include the launch of the Agri-NBSAPs Initiative at the CBD COP16 for biodiversity, & the Harmoniya Initiative launched at the UNFCCC COP29 for climate. All three COPs have prominently featured discussions on financing – agrifood systems accounted for less than 5% of total global climate finance (2019/2020) & 23 percent of the total climate-related development finance (2022), a decline from 37% in the previous decade.
The Food Systems Integrated Program builds upon nearly a decade of GEF investments in global programs on food systems, including The Good Growth Partnership, Resilient Food Systems & the Food Systems, Land Use, & Restoration Impact Program. Approved & designed after the UN Food Systems Summit, the FSIP program will support countries to meet commitments for the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, Paris Agreement on climate change, & Land Degradation Neutrality.
The Global Coordination Project will support the design & launch of 32 country projects over the next 12 months. Global coordination hubs on policy & governance, private sector & investment, landscape-level – farmland, agroforestry sites & other non-protected areas – innovation, & knowledge management will build communities of practice & enhance coordination throughout the duration of the program to generate greater impact than the sum of individual country projects.
Quotes:
FAO – QU Dongyu, Director-General of the Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations said: “Agrifood systems hold the solutions to major interlinked challenges to people & the planet. The Global Biodiversity Framework, the Paris Agreement, & the SDGs are unattainable without agrifood systems transformation. The Food Systems Integrated program offers the opportunity to put agrifood solutions into action & channels investments towards scalable results. FAO is committed to work with Members, farmers, producers, consumers & partners, including the private sector, & across sectors, to transform global agrifood systems to be more efficient, inclusive, resilient & sustainable for the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment & a better life – leaving no one behind”.
IFAD – Alvaro Lario, President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development said: “The Food Systems Integrated Program is a transformative initiative to make food systems more sustainable & resilient, & to ensure that small-scale farmers can continue to produce one third of the world’s food even through the uncertainty of climate change. “
GEF – Carlos Manuel Rodríguez, CEO & Chairperson, Global Environment Facility said: “Global agri-food systems are crucial for health, food security, nutrition, & economic prosperity but also cause deforestation, biodiversity loss, land degradation, & greenhouse gas emissions. As our challenges are interconnected, they require integrated solutions. Through the Food System Integrated Program & other initiatives, the GEF plays a pivotal role in creating a sustainable food system — ensuring sustainability from production to consumption, generating agricultural commodities without deforestation, rejuvenating soils & degraded landscapes, & reducing negative externalities.”
Source: FAO News