Background

The global eradication of hunger by 2030 is a key goal in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, and trade is one of the means of achieving this goal.

Today, despite the fact that there is enough food produced globally to feed everyone in the world, nearly 700 million people continue to be chronically undernourished and 2 billion do not have regular access to safe, nutritious and sufficient food. Trade can play an important role in the battle against hunger and malnutrition. It can help balance food deficits and surpluses across regions and countries, improving the availability of food and contributing to price stability. Trade broadens the choice for consumers, and affords them with a more diversified diet across all seasons and helps to fight poverty in the agricultural zones and rural areas.

Target SDG 2.b recognizes the important role that trade can play in ending hunger and malnutrition, and commits countries to correcting and preventing trade distortions in agricultural markets, thus allowing them to reap the benefits of international trade. SDG 17 also includes a section on trade as part of the key means of implementation for achieving the full set of SDGs.

In this context, and as policy makers consider using trade and related policy measures to achieve SDG 2, it is important to recognize that each of the targets under this goal, as well as trade itself, often constitute distinct policy priorities in many countries and that a policy designed to achieve one target can potentially have unintended negative consequences that undermine the achievement of other targets, not only within the country where the measure is applied but also in trading partners.

FAO has published a report on Trade and SDG 2, seeking to identify the critical trade-offs associated with different policy measures that can affect trade and markets, their implications for the achievement of SDG 2 targets, and the possible priorities for action.

Objectives

Debate and highlight the role of trade in achieving SDG 2 in the context of the multilateral trading system.

Identify possible trade-offs that may exist between competing policy objectives, and possible ways in which these can be addressed.

Discuss how multilateral agreements and negotiations can take account of the nature of the measures that could contribute to the achievement of SDG 2 and the relevant obligations at issue.

Discuss FAO’s “Trade and Sustainable Development Goal 2 - Policy options and their trade-offs” publication.