BACKGROUNDAn agrifood system includes all elements and activities related to the production, processing, distribution, preparation and consumption of food, as well as the outcomes of those activities, including environmental and socioeconomic externalities.41 Sustainable use ensures food security and nutrition for all, without jeopardizing the economic, social and environmental foundations that ensure food security and nutrition for future generations.40

Better efficiency in the management of natural resources used in agriculture is paramount to mitigate emissions. Provided sustainable practices are used, farming and forestry have great potential to act as carbon sinks, in biomass and soils, as they sequester carbon and thus help to mitigate rising atmospheric CO2 levels.

45,46,47. Mitigation of gas emissions is crucial to limiting climate change and is a necessary strategy to meet the 2°C goal set out in the Paris Agreement.48

Against the backdrop of the COVID-19 pandemic and the war in Ukraine, structural weaknesses in food systems have been exacerbated. This has also had an impact on the gender gap.

LEGISLATION, POLICIES AND ACTIONSAt production level, agroecology, technical interventions, technological innovation, investments and public policy incentives contribute to the transition towards sustainable and resilient agrifood systems. This must be achieved on the basis of context-specific pathways, including different stakeholders at different scales.49

FAO's Strategic Framework 2022-2031 seeks to support the 2030 Agenda by transforming agrifood systems to make them more efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable for better production, better nutrition, a better environment and a better life, leaving no one behind.50

In order to make agrifood system models more sustainable, resilient, nutritious and productive, it is crucial to actively acknowledge their participants as rights-holders. Policies and programmes should therefore take into account the situation of people in marginalized positions to ensure that “no one is left behind”, as set out in the 2030 Agenda. The principles of equality, self-determination, non-discrimination and inclusion guide action from a rights-based approach, since gender equality, respect for the rights of Indigenous and Tribal People and People of African Descent, and the fight against all forms of discrimination are part of

45 FAO. 2002. Soil carbon sequestration. World Soil Resources Reports 96. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy. (https://www.fao.org/3/bl001e/bl001e.pdf).

46 FAO. (2016). The State of Food and Agriculture: Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security. Rome: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations. (https://www.fao.org/3/i6030e/i6030e.pdf).

47 FAO. 2017. Soil Organic Carbon: the hidden potential. Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy. (https://www.fao.org/3/i6937e/i6937e.pdf).

48 Mbow, C., C. Rosenzweig, L.G. Barioni, T.G. Benton, M. Herrero, M. Krishnapillai, E. Liwenga, P. Pradhan, M.G. Rivera-Ferre, T. Sapkota, F.N. Tubiello, Y. Xu. (2019). Food Security. In: Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems. P.R. Shukla, J. Skea, E. Calvo Buendia et al. (eds.). (https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl/).

49 HLPE. (2019). Agroecological and other innovative approaches for sustainable agriculture and food systems that enhance food security and nutrition. A report by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security. Rome. (https://www.fao.org/3/ca5602en/ca5602en.pdf).

50 FAO. 2022. FAO Strategic Framework 2022-2031. (https://www.fao.org/3/cb7099en/cb7099en.pdf).

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