The World Economic Forum, the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) and Rabobank, together with a growing roster of private and public sector partners have come together to launch the Food Action Alliance (FAA). The FAA brings together the international community to tackle an urgent historic challenge: to reshape the way we think, produce, supply and consume food.
The FAA is a coalition of organizations and initiatives who through collective action significantly strengthen the impact of agricultural value chains to produce food efficiently, sustainably and accessibly, in support of a transition to healthier diets and improved environmental outcomes. The FAA builds on the extensive experience of World Economic Forum’s New Vision for Agriculture initiative.
It mobilizes the next generation of multistakeholder partnerships that build on existing synergies and complementary capacities to deliver food systems that are efficient, sustainable, inclusive, nutritious and healthy in line with the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). It does so by providing a framework for collective knowledge and action on systemic issues such as on food security and nutrition, inclusive growth and decent jobs, environmental sustainability and climate resilience – affecting the sustainability of global food systems.
To achieve a vision for efficient, sustainable, inclusive, nutritious and healthy food systems, the FAA brings together stakeholders from all sectors – government, business, farmer associations, international organizations, civil society and academia – to mobilize a country-driven agenda towards meeting the SDGs.
The current food system is not structured to cope with a rapidly growing population, climate shocks and the rise of hunger and obesity. Under business-as-usual scenarios, an estimated 637 million people will be undernourished while health systems could face a bill of $1.2 trillion every year from 2025 for treating medical conditions related to obesity. Today’s agricultural supply chain, from farm to fork, accounts for between 21% to 37% of greenhouse gas emissions.
The Food Action Alliance will play a key role in advancing the goals toward the United Nations 2021 Food Systems Summit, which will bring together the international community raising the urgency for food system transformation to the highest level.
The Food Action Alliance will be initially active in Latin America, Africa, India and South-East Asia.
Original source: World Economic Forum
Published on 22 January 2019
