The 42nd FAO Conference unanimously approved the Strategic Framework 2022-31. The strategic narrative guiding the Strategic Framework is supporting the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development through the transformation to MORE efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind. The 37th Session of the FAO Regional Conference for Latin America and the Caribbean is called to localize the Strategic Framework in the specific conditions, needs and priorities of the Members in the region.

In 2022-23, five major trends will set the stage for FAO’s programmatic focus in Latin America and the Caribbean: (i) persistency of the COVID-19 pandemic and its socioeconomic consequences; (ii) economic recovery that is uneven and less dynamic than expected; (iii) increase in rates of poverty, hunger and food insecurity; (iv) widening inequality among and within countries; and (v) natural resource and ecosystem degradation, the impacts of the climate crisis and increasingly frequent and intense disasters and shocks.

FAO’s work in the region will deliver on two complementary fronts: i) in the short-term, by supporting country-level recovery efforts to overcome the economic and social impacts caused by the COVID19 pandemic in the food and agriculture sector; and ii) in the medium- to longterm, by supporting countries to transform agrifood systems in accordance with national contexts, priorities and capacities. FAO will do so by ensuring effective country delivery and impact in support of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), utilizing the 20 Programme Priority Areas (PPAs) of the Strategic Framework, through three Regional Initiatives (RIs). The RIs proposed for the 202223 biennium localize the new Strategic Framework in the region and respond to the COVID-19 impacts and challenges.