30 May 2012: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the UN (FAO) has released a report in the lead up to the upcoming UN Conference on Sustainable Development (UNCSD, or Rio+20), highlighting that despite progress in development and food production, millions of people remain hungry because of the lack of means to produce or purchase food for a healthy and productive life.

The report, titled “Towards the future we want: end hunger and make the transition to sustainable agriculture and food systems,” urges governments to: establish and protect rights to resources; incorporate incentives for sustainable consumption and production (SCP) into food systems; promote agricultural and food markets; reduce risks and increase resilience of the most vulnerable; and invest resources in public goods. It suggests that improved governance of agriculture and food systems will have benefits to hunger reduction and sustainable development, noting that food systems use 30% of the world’s energy and 70% of all water withdrawal. The report further underlines that sustainable consumption also is central to meeting global food system needs, through a reduction in food waste and a focus on shifting to nutritious diets with lower environmental footprints.

The FAO is promoting approaches to meet these challenges, including through: “Save and Grow,” a policymaker’s guide to the sustainable intensification of smallholder crop production; the implementation of the recommendation of the Committee on World Food Security; and use of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Right to Food and Land Tenure. [Publication: Towards the Future we Want: End Hunger and Make the Transition to Sustainable Agricultural and Food Systems] [FAO Press Release] [UN Press Release] [FAO Save and Grow Webpage]