The Central Position Of Agriculture Within The 2030 Agenda For Sustainable Development

This paper provides a helpful framing to understand both why and how policy attention and investments should be channeled through agriculture and agrifood systems as key vehicles for achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It illustrates the ways in which agriculture, particularly within the context of food value chains, is uniquely positioned to holistically address the social, economic, and environmental dimensions of sustainable development because of its existing reach and future potential. In this paper’s examination of the multiplicity of entry points the sector offers for fostering inclusive and sustainable economic growth, reversing harmful environmental trends, and enhancing the resilience of the poorest and most vulnerable populations, it traces some of the most potent pathways for agricultural policies and interventions to accelerate development outcomes across all country contexts.

Achieving the SDG targets requires the coordination of multiple government sectors. This paper is aimed at national and international actors who seek to work across sectors to achieve common development goals. Building on the available literature and on regional country studies, it emphasizes the role of multistakeholder collaboration at local and national levels.

This publication offers a systemic analysis of sustainability in the food system, taking as its framework the Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations. Targeted chapters from experts in the field cover main challenges in the food system and propose methods for achieving long term sustainability. Authors focus on how sustainability can be achieved along the whole food chain and in different contexts. Timely issues such as food security, climate change and migration and sustainable agriculture are discussed in depth. The volume is unique in its multidisciplinary and multi-stakeholder approach. Chapter authors come from a variety of backgrounds, and authors include academic professors, members of CSO and other international organizations, and policy makers. This plurality allows for a nuanced analysis of sustainability goals and practices from a variety of perspectives, making the book useful to a wide range of readers working in different areas related to sustainability and food production. The book is targeted towards the academic community and practitioners in the policy, international cooperation, nutrition, geography, and social sciences fields. Professors teaching in nutrition, food technology, food sociology, geography, global economics, food systems, agriculture and agronomy, and political science and international cooperation may find this to be a useful supplemental text in their courses.

Our planet faces multiple and complex challenges in the 21st century. The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development commits the international community to act together to overcome them and transform our world for present and future generations. Focusing on food and agriculture, investing in rural people and transforming the rural sector - actions associated with the holistic vision of SDG2 - can speed progress towards all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). This publication presents FAO’s work to support countries reach SDG targets, highlighting the crucial interlinkages between food, livelihoods and management of natural resources. Featuring examples of country projects across the globe, it describes how FAO’s long experience in shaping projects and policies founded on sustainability, expertise in monitoring and custodianship of SDG indicators, focus on tackling the root causes of poverty and hunger, and capacity to build partnerships with development actors can aid governments construct the necessary enabling environment to achieve the 2030 Agenda.

This information note reports on the state of food security and nutrition at the beginning of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. It identifies key measurement challenges for monitoring progress towards the second Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 2), which aims to end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture. It also identifies the most important linkages both across the elements comprised under SDG 2 and between SDG 2 and other SDGs and lays out the challenges in monitoring progress towards improved food security and nutrition and sustainable agricultural systems.

This publication presents FAO's work in developing and strengthening indicators that measure food, agriculture and the sustainable use of natural resources, shining a light on the 21 indicators of FAO custodianship. It describes how the organization can support countries in tracking progress and making the connection between monitoring and policymaking to achieve the SDGs.

Agricultural production more than tripled between 1960 and 2015, owing in part to productivity-enhancing technologies and a significant expansion in the use of land, water, and other natural resources for agricultural purposes. Today, more than ever, agriculture faces multiple and complex challenges. It has to provide sufficient, safe, and nutritious food to meet boosting demand by a growing and progressively more prosperous population, and ensure food security for all. Prepared to support the G20 Presidency of Japan and the G20 Agriculture Deputies, these three background notes provide an overview on the following interlinked issues: (i) the policy challenges for strengthening the participation of farmers into modern value chains and promoting value addition, inclusion, sustainability and rural economic growth; (ii) the need for a transformation in the skillset of agricultural workers and a renewed focus on human capital development in agriculture, and (iii) the contribution of agriculture to the realization of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.