In April 2018, FAO hosted the Second International Symposium on Agroecology to Achieve the SDGs; the Symposium had an impressive level of attendance with a total of 768 participants, including representatives from 72 governments, 350 non-state actors (including civil society organizations, academia and research organizations, cooperatives, producers’ organizations and the private sector) and six United Nations (UN) Organizations, which made possible rich discussions and dynamic exchanges.

With the main objective of moving from dialogue to action, the Symposium brought together different stakeholders and catalyzed inter-disciplinary dialogue and collaboration, enabling and consolidating fundamental agreements and commitments needed to scale up and scale out Agroecology at all levels in order to achieve the SDGs.

The Symposium produced the following outcomes: 1) The launch of the Scaling up Agroecology Initiative, in collaboration with UN partners. 2) The agreement to include the key outcomes of the Symposium in a discussion paper, which was presented and welcomed in the Declaration of the Twenty-sixth Session of the Committee on Agriculture (COAG) held in October 2018. 3) The validation of the 10 Elements of Agroecology, circumscribing the salient features of Agroecology. 4) A Chairs’ Summary which outlines the main conclusions and agreements, and addresses challenges and opportunities to make agriculture more sustainable through Agroecology. 5) The presentation of 45 case studies, featuring successful agroecological experiences and innovations from different countries, regions and contexts.