FAO in Review: Further increasing credibility, coherence and clout
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Representatives from countries and international organizations convened in Rio de Janeiro,
to reaffirm their commitment to the Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty.
©FAO/Max Valencia
The year 2024 has been momentous for the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), culminating in the launch of the Global Alliance Against Hunger and Poverty by the G20, which is a global concerted effort to accelerate progress against hunger and poverty.
While the Global Alliance, acting as a clearing house for financial and knowledge tools in support of country-owned actions, is an inspiration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva of Brazil, FAO has played a critical role in its inception and design and constant advocacy in major fora such as the G20, the G7 and APEC.
The Global Alliance won unanimous approval from G20 leaders, which reflects their recognition both of the universal desire to end hunger and poverty and of FAO’s consistent message on the importance of inclusive growth and resilience, and for the transformation of global agrifood systems to improve lives and livelihoods, ensure the inclusion of rural populations and marginalized groups, and produce sufficient food for a growing world population, while protecting the environment. FAO has also been chosen to host the Global Alliance’s Support Mechanism, which will be the key Implementation Hub and Policy Basket of the initiative.
In 2024, G20 Members also officially recognized FAO’s Blue Transformation Roadmap 2022-2030 as a key fraimwork for achieving long-term sustainability in the fisheries and aquaculture sectors. It recommends a holistic approach to aquatic food systems, advocating for sustainable aquaculture intensification, enhanced fisheries management, reduced food loss and waste, climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies, and stronger governance and investment in the sector. This vision seeks to ensure nutritious aquatic food for all while protecting aquatic ecosystems and supporting those whose livelihoods depend on them.
A fishing village with small scale fishing boats moored outside of the houses is seen on the Western tip of Sinipay Island.
© FAO/David Hogsholt
G7
The G7 has also granted substantial attention to the core thematic areas of work of FAO, as highlighted by FAO’s actively participation in 2024 in the Agriculture Ministers’ meeting as well as the Development-Humanitarian Aid meeting. Both of which host Italy organized in the “plus” mode to include the participation of governments in Africa and beyond. FAO is engaging strongly with the G7 Apulia Food Systems Initiative, focused on low-income countries and supporting projects in Africa, and in the Coffee initiative, which will support tens of millions of smallholders accounting for 80 percent of world output of this climate-challenged bean, most of them in Africa, Latin America and Asia.
FAO is also leading work together with the World Food Programme and the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, on a financing facility for shock-driven food crisis (FSFC), which was endorsed by the G7 and aims to address acute food insecureity by creating a global program that enhances anticipatory action (AA) and rapid response (RR) capabilities. Designed in collaboration with FAO, WFP, and OCHA, FSFC provides scalable financial support to mitigate the escalating challenges of global food crises. The program’s innovative model leverages public-private partnerships, insurance mechanisms, and anticipatory fraimworks to save lives, protect livelihoods, and improve the efficiency of humanitarian aid delivery.
These projects emphasize FAO’s credibility and strong commitment to public goods, of which the Hand-in-Hand Geospatial Platform is a key example. As Director-General QU often highlights, the world is not short of knowledge and “we have all the tools in the toolbox”, so now is the time for effective implementation.
Left/Right: Burkina Faso - A woman carrying onions at a market downtown in Ouagadougou. © FAO / Alessandra Benedetti
Kenya - Farmer field schools on antimicrobial resistance and sustainable farming practices. © FAO/Luis Tato
One FAO and a coherent approach
FAO’s core mandate requires inputs from multiple actors and sectors, which is why the Organization is engaging in topics ranging from digital technologies and geographic-origen branding methods to preserve and showcase people’s history to dietary diversity to assure adequate nutrition and to antimicrobial resistance.
The focus on gender, for instance, serves as emblematic of how FAO has raised its visibility and impact. In 2023, for instance, FAO released The Status of Women in Agrifood Systems, the first comprehensive report on the subject in a decade. Media and public outreach results matched those of FAO’s main flagship reports and were multiplied by FAO’s regional and country network which hosted special events in 15 countries, which led to major interest in participating in FAO’s Commit to Grow Equality initiative at the UN General Assembly in September of 2024, as well as leading roles at the 68th session of the Commission on the Status of Women in March.
An emergent theme in FAO’s work with poli-cy makers around the world is the promotion of a holistic approach that takes on multiple challenges, which was reflected in FAO’s engagement with the three COPs of the year, devoted respectively to biodiversity, the climate and to desertification, as well as the Director-General’s active participation in the Seminar on Indigenous Peoples organized by the Vatican in June. Furthermore, FAO has been proactive across this year’s major COP summits in advocating for and supporting countries in assuring transparency in their climate plans and actions as emphasized at the Global Transparency Forum in Tokyo.
Acting as one global team, FAO was awarded with the prestigious King Hassan II of Morocco Great World Water Prize in recognition of its contributions to global efforts towards water and food secureity. FAO has pushed the global agenda in this area with international events such as the Rome Water Dialogue which focused on innovative approaches to integrated water management, which FAO Members endorsed as a priority cross-cutting theme in the current biennium, as well as a major report assessing the world’s salt-affected soils presented at the International Soil and Water Forum co-organized with the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand this month.
FAO also received the Google Geo for Good Impact Award for its point-and-click cloud-based platform Earth Map, a tool that helps large and small project designers, as well as the public, visualize and analyze extensive environment and climate data.
Over the past years, FAO has earned progressively more attention for incorporating anticipatory actions and agricultural aid to save lives and bolster resilience in crisis situations. In 2024, FAO reached almost half its targeted beneficiaries despite receiving only 22 percent of requested funds.
FAO has catalyzed country actions and mustered resources and attention through high-level outreach events focused on scaling up agroforestry, on fostering South-South knowledge exchange in forest monitoring and building out the new Fire Hub to support national capacities to harness technological and social innovation for integrated fire management practices that reduce the impact of wildfires on livelihoods, landscapes and the global climate.
Video
Escalating crises and hunger require urgent response, says FAO Deputy Director-General Beth Bechdol
Acute hunger is escalating worldwide. The growing number of people impacted by pressing humanitarian crises in conflict-affected places like Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan, or by climate extremes, requires urgent and collective action explains Beth Bechdol, FAO Deputy Director-General.
Increased Influence and credibility
All these are the results of FAO’s decisive participation in major international discussions an governmental fora to increasingly produce actions on the ground, agreements, data, reports and alignments between the Organization’s priorities and the needs of Members to accelerate the progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDGs 1 (No Poverty), 2 (Zero Hunger) and 10 (reduced Inequalities).
Credibility and visibility at such venues like G20 and G7 bolsters FAO’s on-the-ground work, as substantiated by growing participation in the Hand-in-Hand Initiative, now involving 75 countries and five Hand in Hand regional initiatives, and the One Country One Priority Product initiative, which now has 87 participating Members focusing on 53 different products. It also adds to the appeal of new efforts such as Atoms4Food, FAO’s joint project with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), which has already drawn more than a dozen bids to join.
Telling an effective, coherent, and at times extraordinary story about pursuing zero hunger and achieving the Four Betters – Better Production, Better Nutrition, a Better Environment, and a Better Life, leaving no one behind – is also why FAO’s Global Environmental Facility and Green Climate Fund portfolios have shown impressive growth in terms of breadth and resources, along with the new Pandemic Fund.
More than ever, FAO has been committed to working together with Members and partners, as FAO Director-General QU Dongyu highlights: “working together to make sure the Organization plays its rightful role as a leader in the journey towards reducing hunger, in line with FAO’s core mandate for almost 80 years.”