How do we empower smallholder farmers, workers, and entrepreneurs in shorter food supply chains, with the potential to better serve local communities with improved nutrition and increased food security and sovereignty? How do we address the challenges posed by the significant control that a few corporations exert over global and national food supply chains? How do we reduce our heavy reliance on imported products with volatile prices, leading to more frequent food crises? This Background Briefing looks at the benefits of agroecology in meeting these challenges.

In the recently published UNDP White Paper on Food Systems Resilience and Transformation, agroecology is considered a fundamental and essential strategy for building resilience and transforming food systems. The White Paper promotes the resilience and transformation of food systems based on many factors, including the transition to and expansion of agroecology from a holistic and systemic perspective, emphasising its potential to be ecologically sustainable, socially just, and healthy.