Transforming agri-food systems to feed the world and tackle climate change

Rome - Feeding the world's growing population while limiting the impacts of climate change will require urgent and radical transformation of our agri-food systems, FAO Director-General QU Dongyu said at a High-Level event commemorating the 5th anniversary of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change.

"We need to interact differently with our environment," the Director-General said, pointing to the need for high-impact action focused on better production, better nutrition, a better environment for a better life . "Let us show nature the reverence it deserves and prepare ourselves to set the table for 10 billion people by 2050 with healthy diets."

Professor Laurence Tubiana, who on behalf of the French Presidency championed the Paris Agreement reached in 2015, delivered a keynote speech and highlighted that FAO has helped raise awareness of agriculture's crucial role in addressing the impacts of climate change. It's now understood that "there's no reason for there to be a contradiction between food security and the goal of combating climate change," she said.

Today's event, co-hosted by FAO and France, featured participation by government ministers, diplomats and veteran climate policy pioneers, including Sergio Costa, Minister for Environment of Italy, Hans-Joachim Fuchtel, Parliamentary State Secretary to the Federal Food and Agriculture Ministry of Germany, Nick Bridge, Special Envoy on Climate Change for the United Kingdom's Foreign Secretary; Yannick Glemarec, Executive Director of the Green Climate Fund, and officials representing Chile, Fiji and Morocco.