New York – The Director-General of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), QU Dongyu, has welcomed the adoption of the Pact for the Future, an agreement among UN member states designed to turbo-charge the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals.
In his address to the summit’s plenary in New York, the FAO Director-General underscored the pact’s provisions for more equitable agrifood systems, recalling that hunger has risen since 2015, with more than 730 million people facing hunger in 2023.
“We are not on track to achieving any of the global SDG targets, and we see that huge inequalities persist along various dimensions – including wealth, gender, rural areas, and in accessing assets and opportunities,” Qu said. “The future will be determined by more equitable agrifood systems, and I am pleased that this is recognized by the Pact for the Future.”
The FAO chief was invited to address the plenary of the Summit of the Future, which was attended by dozens of Heads of State and government.
Convened by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the Summit has been described as a once-in-a-generation opportunity to restore eroded trust and demonstrate that international cooperation can effectively achieve agreed-upon goals and address emerging threats and opportunities. It focuses on delivering the 2030 Agenda and other international commitments.
FAO’s Four Betters
When it comes to world hunger, the priority, according to the FAO, is to deliver the Four Betters: better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life—leaving no one behind.
According to Qu, achieving the Four Betters requires three key elements: increasing efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by supporting the transformation of global agrifood systems to eliminate hunger and promote equality; focusing on fostering and encouraging innovation, public-private partnerships, and more cost-effective investments; and enhancing collaboration among all partners to effectively utilize each other’s expertise and resources, and leverage comparative advantages.
In the context of the climate crisis, FAO has already developed a global roadmap aimed at eliminating hunger and all forms of malnutrition without exceeding the 1.5°C threshold set by the Paris Agreement.
The roadmap challenges the prevailing narrative that increasing production is synonymous with higher emissions and environmental degradation. Instead, it emphasizes the opportunity within agrifood systems to enhance production efficiency while aligning with climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience objectives.
“FAO will continue to do its part to ensure the better future we want,” Qu said.
