FAO head urges G20 to devote in a balanced planet for healthier foods |

In his attractiveness to G20 environment ministers, the Director-General of the UN Foods and Agriculture Group (FAO), Qu Dongyu, highlighted the challenge of having to make more food items whilst reducing greenhouse fuel emissions. 

“Today, humanity faces a triple planetary disaster of biodiversity reduction, local climate crisis and the affect of the pandemic”, he said. “To have balanced foods, we need a healthy environment”. 

Far better water 

The FAO chief spoke of the need to address water scarcity, which influences extra than a billion persons, by increasing effectiveness and sustainable administration. 

Practically a billion hectares of rain-fed cropland and pastureland are also seriously affected by recurring drought. 

Mr. Qu argued that drinking water-connected challenges could be addressed through digital innovation, much better oversight and expense. 

He also called for stepping up biodiversity-pleasant approaches, which include additional investments in linked actions and slowing down biodiversity decline. 

“Current amounts of investment are hugely insufficient”, said the FAO Director-Typical. 

$1.4 trillion benefit 

He stressed that reversing deforestation “will enable mitigate towards local weather change” and prevent disease outbreaks passing from animals to individuals, adding that the economic positive aspects of halting biodiversity reduction and land degradation, could sum to $1.4 trillion for each 12 months. 

The just lately launched UN Ten years on Ecosystem Restoration, led by FAO and the UN Setting Programme (UNEP), provides an “excellent possibility to mobilize our collective efforts”, he stated. 

FAO is contacting for urgent motion to reverse the alarming price of biodiversity loss, recommending scaled up mitigation approaches and actions across the food and agricultural sectors. 

Mr. Qu emphasized the UN agency’s work was guided by the require to make agri-food systems more successful, resilient, inclusive and sustainable – all with the aim of achieving the so-called “four betters”: better output, nutrition, environment and life, leaving no just one powering. 

Intense tech challenge 

The Planet Foodstuff Forum (WFF) – created for and led by the Food and Agriculture’s (FAO) Youth Committee – announced on Thursday the launch of an intercontinental competition in partnership with the non-profit Extreme Tech Challenge (XTC) to aid and showcase business people harnessing technology to travel the sustainable transformation of agri-meals units, to end world hunger. 

The WFF Startup Innovation Awards will be presented on 2 Oct to the successful contestants who have built companies aligned to the “four betters”. 

“The Extreme Tech Challenge AgTech, Food items & Drinking water levels of competition classification immediately addresses FAO’s mission to defeat hunger globally and to achieve superior-quality food items security for all”, said FAO Deputy Director-Normal, Beth Bechdol. 

“We are thrilled to sign up for XTC in this partnership and to leverage their incredible pool of transformative startups to make a materials affect in the two of our organizations’ sustained endeavours to deal with this worldwide challenge”. 

Food systems focus 

Meanwhile, the Foods Systems Pre-Summit is gearing to run from Monday to Wednesday subsequent week, in advance of the major Summit itself, because of to take place later this yr. 

Journalists who have nonetheless to sign up for next week’s virtual function, are becoming inspired to do so in this article. 

It’s remaining convened as part of the Ten years of Action to accomplish the Sustainable Enhancement Ambitions (SDGs) by 2030.  

The aim of the higher-level meeting is to bring collectively key players from the worlds of science, business enterprise, plan, health care, academia and others to start bold actions towards progress on all 17 SDGs – every single of which depends to some diploma on much healthier, additional sustainable and equitable foods devices.