A number of overarching frameworks provide key principles and strategies for the achievement of food security and nutrition. These include the World Food Summit Plan of Action and the Rome Declaration on World Food Security, the Final Declaration of the 2009 World Summit on Food Security, the Voluntary Guidelines to support the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security (VGRtF), the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security (VGGT), the Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems (RAI), the Framework for Action for Food Security and Nutrition in Protracted Crises (FFA) as well as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which established the human right to adequate food, and all applicable international law relevant to food security, nutrition, and human rights. The following frameworks are particularly important due to their particular connection to food security and nutrition:

3.01  2030 AGENDA FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

In September 2015, 193 countries adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development committing to shift the world on to a sustainable and resilient path, in which no one will be left behind. The 2030 Agenda is universal, applicable to all countries at all levels of development, and seeks to build on the Millennium Development Goals and complete what they did not achieve. It commits all countries and stakeholders to center on “People”, “Planet”, “Prosperity”, “Peace” and “Partnership” and achieve its 17 goals and 169 targets, which are integrated and indivisible and balance the three dimensions of sustainable development: the economic, social and environmental. The goals and targets seek to realize the human rights of all and many of them relate to issues discussed within CFS, especially SDG 2, “End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture”. The 2030 Agenda is country owned, but success in its implementation will depend on countries’ capacity to mobilize the support of all stakeholders towards the goals and their means of implementation.  In this regard, the Addis Ababa Action Agenda of the Third International Conference on Financing for Development recognizes the important contribution of CFS decisions and recommendations to scale up efforts to end hunger and malnutrition. The 2030 Agenda also reaffirms explicitly the important role and inclusive nature of CFS, which has decided to put the advancement of the 2030 Agenda at the center of its work as well as to contribute, within its mandate, to the thematic follow-up and review framework of the 2030 Agenda.

3.02  THE VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES TO SUPPORT THE PROGRESSIVE REALIZATION OF THE RIGHT TO ADEQUATE FOOD IN THE CONTEXT OF NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY (VGRTF)

The VGRtF provide an overall framework for achieving food security and nutrition objectives. They call for the right to adequate food to be the main objective of food security policies, programmes, strategies and legislation; that human rights principles (participation, accountability, non-discrimination, transparency, human dignity, empowerment and rule of law) should guide activities designed to improve food security; and that policies, programmes, strategies and legislation need to enhance the empowerment of rights-holders and the accountability of duty-bearers, thus reinforcing the notions of rights and obligations as opposed to charity and benevolence.

3.03  THE FIVE ROME PRINCIPLES FOR SUSTAINABLE GLOBAL FOOD SECURITY

The Five Rome Principles for Sustainable Global Food Security, adopted in November 2009 by the World Summit on Food Security in Rome, provide a powerful strategic underpinning for coordinated action by all stakeholders at global, regional and country level, while embracing the twin-track approach to fighting hunger:

Principle 1: Invest in country-owned plans, aimed at channelling resources to well-designed and results-based programmes and partnerships.

Principle 2: Foster strategic coordination at national, regional and global level to improve governance, promote better allocation of resources, avoid duplication of efforts and identify response gaps.

Principle 3: Strive for a comprehensive twin-track approach to food security that consists of: 1) direct action to immediately tackle hunger for the most vulnerable; and 2) medium- and long-term sustainable agricultural, food security, nutrition and rural development programmes to eliminate the root causes of hunger and poverty, including the progressive realization of the right to adequate food.

Principle 4: Ensure a strong role for the multilateral system by sustained improvements in efficiency, responsiveness, coordination and effectiveness of multilateral institutions.

Principle 5: Ensure sustained and substantial commitment by all partners to investment in agriculture and food security and nutrition, with the provision of necessary resources in a timely and reliable fashion, aimed at multi-year plans and programmes.

3.04  THE VOLUNTARY GUIDELINES ON THE RESPONSIBLE GOVERNANCE OF TENURE OF LAND, FISHERIES AND FORESTS IN THE CONTEXT OF NATIONAL FOOD SECURITY (VGGT)

The VGGT were endorsed by CFS 38th Special Session in May 2012. They provide a reference and guidance to improve the governance of tenure of land, fisheries and forests towards achieving food security for all and to support the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security (see section 4.8).

3.05  THE PRINCIPLES FOR RESPONSIBLE INVESTMENT IN AGRICULTURE AND FOOD SYSTEMS (RAI)

The Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems were endorsed at the 41st Session of CFS in October 2014.

The Principles address all types of investment in agriculture and food systems - public, private, large, small - and throughout the food systems from production, processing, marketing, retail, consumption and disposal of goods.  They provide a framework that all stakeholders can use when promoting investment in agriculture and food systems through developing national policies, programmes, regulatory frameworks, corporate social responsibility programmes, individual agreements or contracts (see section 4.2)

3.06  THE FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION FOR FOOD SECURITY AND NUTRITION IN PROTRACTED CRISES (FFA)

The Framework for Action for Food Security and Nutrition in Protracted Crises was endorsed at the 42nd Session of CFS in October 2015.
It describes how to address critical food insecurity and undernutrition manifestations and build resilience in protracted crises in a manner that is adapted to the specific challenges of these situations and that avoids exacerbating underlying causes and, where opportunities exist, contributes to resolving them. The Framework for Action is intended to guide the development, implementation and monitoring of policies and actions to improve food security and nutrition in protracted crisis situations.

3.07  GLOBAL PARTNERSHIP FOR EFFECTIVE DEVELOPMENT COOPERATION

The Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and Accra Agenda for Action are founded on a series of five core principles, applicable to those countries that have subscribed to them:

• Ownership: Developing countries must lead their own development policies and strategies and manage their own development work on the ground.
• Alignment: Donors must line up their aid firmly behind the priorities outlined in developing countries’ national development strategies.
• Harmonization: Donors must coordinate their development work better among themselves to avoid duplication and high transaction costs for poor countries.
•  Managing for results: All parties in the aid relationship must place more focus on the results of aid, the tangible difference it makes in poor people’s lives.
• Mutual accountability: Donors and developing countries must account more transparently to each other for their use of aid funds and to their citizens and parliaments for the impact of their aid.

The Busan Partnership for Effective Development Cooperation sets out principles which form the foundation for effective development cooperation between donors and developing countries. These include ownership of development priorities by developing countries, focus on results, inclusive development partnerships and transparency and accountability to each other. The areas of special attention include promoting sustainable development in situations of conflict and fragility, partnership to strengthen resilience and reduce vulnerability in the face of adversity, South-South and triangular cooperation for sustainable development, combating corruption and illicit flows, private sector and development and climate change finance.

3.08  UNITED NATIONS UPDATED COMPREHENSIVE FRAMEWORK FOR ACTION (UCFA)

The UCFA is a UN system-wide coordinated approach for supporting country action that leads to sustainable and resilient rural livelihoods and food and nutrition security. In this capacity, it is not a multilateral or intergovernmental instrument. The Secretary-General’s High-level Task Force on Global Food and Nutrition Security (HLTF) developed the first Comprehensive Framework for Action (CFA) in July 2008, which was updated in 2010 and complemented in 2011 by a UCFA summary version.

The UCFA summary presents ten key principles for action: twin-tracks to food and nutrition security; the need for a comprehensive approach; smallholders, particularly women, at the centre of actions; increased focus on resilience of household livelihoods; more and better investments in food and nutrition security; importance of open and well-functioning markets and trade; the value of multi-stakeholder and multi-sectorial partnerships; sustained political commitment and good governance; strategies led by countries with regional support; and accountability for results.

3.09  OUTCOMES OF THE SECOND INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON NUTRITION (ICN2)

In November 2014, FAO and WHO member states committed to end hunger and malnutrition in all its forms at the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2), “reaffirming the right to everyone to have access to safe, sufficient, and nutritious food, consistent with the right to adequate food and the fundamental right of everyone to be free from hunger”. The Rome Declaration on Nutrition and the ICN 2 Framework for Action were endorsed by participating governments at the Conference.  The Rome Declaration highlights that effectively tackling malnutrition in all its forms requires holistic, cross-sectorial policies and coordinated action among different actors at all levels, and calls upon the United Nations System, including CFS, to step up efforts and enhance international collaboration and cooperation on the matter. It is complemented by a Framework for Action comprising a set of voluntary policy options and strategies for consideration by governments, in cooperation with other stakeholders, to implement ICN2 commitments and report on progress. Both documents were endorsed by the UN General Assembly in the resolution A/RES/70/259 . The same resolution proclaimed 2016-2025 the Decade of Action on Nutrition, calling upon FAO and WHO to lead its implementation, in collaboration with WFP, IFAD, UNICEF and the involvement of coordination mechanisms such as the United Nations System Standing Committee on Nutrition (SCN) and multi-stakeholder platforms such as the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), and in consultation with other international and regional organizations and platforms.

3.10  PARIS AGREEMENT AT THE UNITED NATIONS FRAMEWORK CONVENTION ON CLIMATE CHANGE 21ST CONFERENCE OF PARTIES

The Paris agreement was adopted in December 2015 at the 21st Conference of the Parties (COP 21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This represents global consensus on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and measures to mitigate and adapt to climate change and sets out a global action plan to achieve the goal of containing the global temperature increase to well below 2°C. The agreement entered into force in November 2016 and recognizes the fundamental priority of safeguarding food security and ending hunger and the particular vulnerabilities of food production systems to the adverse impacts of climate change.

3.11  OTHER FRAMEWORKS AND DOCUMENTS

A number of other documents, instruments, guidelines and programmes provide principles and strategies that may be relevant to the achievement of food security. These include:

• The 1989 Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)
• The 1981 International Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes
• The 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
• The 1993 Declaration on the Elimination of Violence Against Women (DEVAW)
• The 1995 Beijing Platform for Action ensure women’s rights
• ILO Conventions 87, 98 and 169
• The International Assessment of Agricultural Knowledge, Science and Technology for Development (IAASTD)
• The final Declaration of the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD)
• The UN Declaration on Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP)
• The Scaling Up Nutrition (SUN) Strategy for 2016-2020: From Inspiration to Impact
• The Voluntary Guidelines for Securing Sustainable Small-Scale Fisheries in the  Context of Food Security and Poverty Eradication (SSF Guidelines)
• Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030