A virtual event hosted live from the roof of FAO in Rome and the adjacent Caracalla Roman Baths kicked off the first World Food Forum (WFF) with high level messages, poetry and music from around the globe. WFF runs from 1 to 5 October 2020 and is a youth-led movement and network to transform our food systems to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), in particular “zero hunger”. WFF brings together youth to drive awareness, foster engagement, and mobilize youth-led action in support of agri-food systems transformation.

The President of Costa Rica, Carlos Alvarado Quesada, in a video address said more than half the world’s population is young people. “The present and the future belongs to them. To inherit a planet that survives, we need your commitment. The future is yours,” he said.

Also speaking via video message, Queen Letizia of Spain said it was the turn of youth to participate and contribute with their entrepreneurship and energy to the necessary transformation of food systems. “Your voice and strength will contribute to identifying challenges and driving actions,” she said.

A message read on behalf of Pope Francis invited everyone to listen to the concerns of youth and be inspired by their vision, ‘because our present will define their future’.

FAO Director-General QU Dongyu called for profound transformation and bold actions to achieve the SDGs and in particular zero hunger. “It is the younger generation that has the most at stake,” amidst a series of challenges from the pandemic to climate change, he said. But it will also be youth that provides “an unstoppable force of creative inventiveness and resilience to overcome all these challenges”.

The five-day event brings together youth leaders from the world of farming and beyond, who will be joined by influencers, celebrities, business and civil society leaders.

Learn more

http://www.world-food-forum.org/