Addressing the hunger-poverty nexus: What policy coherence means for the 2030 Agenda

“We need science, technology and the private sector”
said @UN_CFS Chair Amira Gornass
at the Ag & Food day #HLPF2017 #Ag4SGs #SDGs

12 July 2017. New York. Addressing the hunger-poverty nexus: What policy coherence means for the 2030 Agenda.

This  event took place at the United Nations’ headquarters in New York,during the technical segment of the High Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development 2017, following the first three days of thematic reviews of progress on Sustainable Development Goals 1, 2, 3, and 5.
the 2030 Agenda.

It was proposed jointly by the ministries of foreign affairs of the Netherlands, Switzerland and Finland, together with the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM) and the Committee on World Food Security (CFS). It was attended by over 70 participants including numerous representatives of governments, UN and international organisations, and civil society.

The panellists were

• H.E. Ambassador Amira Gornass, Chair of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) and Permanent Representative of the Sudan to FAO; 
• Dr. James Mackie, Head of Learning and Quality Support at the European Centre for Development Policy Management (ECDPM), ‘Addressing the hunger-poverty nexus: What policy coherence means for the 2030 Agenda‘
• and Dr. Fabien Tondel, Policy Officer in ECDPM’s Economic Transformation for Sustainable Development Programme.‘Policy coherence for agricultural development and food security – The case of agriculture and trade‘: the results of recent research on policy coherence for agricultural development and food security in Burkina Faso and Tanzania. 

Related:

13 July 2017. The Livestock Global Alliance International has partnered with Agri-Food Network and a number of organizations hosted an Agriculture and Food Day to Implement the Sustainable Development Goals. The event raised awareness about the critical need for investment in SDG 2 on ending hunger and its interlinkages with the other SDGs under focus during the High Level Political Forum.

The day included a thematically-focused plenary session with high-level speakers including the director general of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI), Jimmy Smith, moderated this day-long event, but also Marie-Helene Semedo (FAO), Nicole Carta (IFAD), Nichola Dyer and Franck Berthe (World Bank).

See also the ILRI news on this. Follow the event on Twitter, using the hashtag #Ag4SDGs

Delegates at the conference also called for different sectors to work together and approach different aspects of the food security puzzle from a holistic perspective. 

“Despite advances, stunting in children has risen over 20 percent since 1990 in Africa. Mmalnutrition results in an 11 percent loss in GDP each year. Additionally, the sector is the second largest emitter of global greenhouse gas emissions and the largest driver of deforestation, making agriculture one of the top contributors to climate change and biodiversity loss. At the same time, youth globally are turning away from agriculture, just as the world needs to set its sights on doubling food production over the next three decades. Yemi Akinbamijo, executive director of the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa. 

Akinbamijo credited much of Africa’s food and nutrition challenges to the poor integration of science and production systems, with the latest research often failing to translate into the market.

Reference: 21/07 New funding focus on agricultural research key to achieve global development goals