28 June 2011: During the 37th Session of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Conference, held from 25 June-2 July 2011, at FAO Headquarters in Rome, Italy, FAO member countries discussed the scenarios, challenges and policy options outlined in the “Greening the Economy with Agriculture” Concept Note and FAO preparations for the UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20).

The concept note recognizes that there is no agreed definition of the green economy, but that there is a need for doing more or better with less. The note puts forward a potential definition for “greening the economy with agriculture (GEA),” stressing the variety of challenges facing the agriculture and land use sector in the context of increasing food security. The note highlights that “as the single largest sector using 60% of the world’s ecosystems and providing livelihoods for 40% of today’s global population, the food and agriculture sector is critical to greening the economy. There will be no green economy without agriculture.”

The note identifies the objective of GEA initiative as: contributing to the green economy in the context of sustainable development, food security and poverty alleviation through mobilization of the food and agriculture sector. Calling for coherence with the UNCSD, the FAO seeks to contribute a GEA Roadmap for 2050. In preparation for Rio+20, the FAO has developed an Inter-Departmental Working Group and will: prepare GEA studies, hold a joint Expert Meeting of the FAO and Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) on GEA in Paris from 5-7 September 2011, and develop a GEA Roadmap towards 2050. [FAO Meeting Site] [Publication: Greening the Economy with Agriculture]