Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

Urbanization and the transformation of agriculture, food systems and rural spaces present challenges and opportunities for inclusive growth, poverty eradication, economic, environmental and social sustainability, and food security and nutrition. This online consultation invites you to contribute to the elaboration of a background document that the CFS Secretariat is preparing to support the discussions at the Forum on Urbanization, Rural Transformation and Implications for Food Security to be held at CFS 43 in October 2016.

We invite stakeholders interested in resilience to share views in order to ensure that the knowledge sharing platform answers the needs of the resilience community and that it generates effective and sustainable interventions towards resilience building of livelihoods. This week's topic is: A knowledge sharing platform on resilience: what about Information Technology and Knowledge Management?

The ‘Zero draft’ of the Voluntary Guidelines for Sustainable Soil Management (VGSSM), developed in order to promote sustainable soil management effectively in all regions, needs your contribution. Your input will  allow the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils (ITPS) to better frame the multifaceted needs of all the stakeholders.

At its 42^nd session in October 2015, the CFS decided that the HLPE will prepare a report on Nutrition and Food Systems, expected to be presented at CFS 44 in October 2017.

To prepare this report elaboration process, the HLPE is launching an e-consultation to seek feedbacks, views and comments on the following Iissues’ Note on Nutrition and Food Systems proposed by the HLPE Steering Committee. 

The next few decades will witness a rapidly increasing demand for agricultural products. This growing demand needs to be met largely through intensification (produce more from the same land surface) because there is little scope for an increase in agricultural area. Ecological intensification - the optimization of all provisioning, regulating and supporting ecosystem services in the agricultural production process - has been proposed as a promising solution. The aim of this discussion is to foster a dialogue on emerging knowledge from research on ecological intensification.

FAO’s Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum) is organizing the two-day Workshop “FSN Forum policy dialogues: contributing to food security and nutrition policy processes at country and regional level”, in Rome on 10-11 December 2015.

In many countries, agricultural development has traditionally focused on raising productivity and maximizing production of cereals, making it difficult for people to access foods that are richer in protein and minerals, such as milk, meat, fish, eggs, beans, vegetables, and fruits, which are often more expensive than cereals. The lack of nutrition training of agricultural workers is acknowledged globally as a significant barrier to combating malnutrition through agriculture and food systems.

Extending social protection and risk management systems effectively to rural populations is often a challenge for government institutions in many developing countries. The High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition has recognized in its 2012 report the importance of involving non-state actors, including rural organizations, in the formulation and execution of social protection systems.

In October 2014, the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS) requested the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) to conduct a study on Sustainable Agricultural Development for Food Security and Nutrition, including the role of Livestock.

As part of the process of elaboration of its reports, the HLPE is organizing a consultation to seek inputs, suggestions, and comments on the present V0 draft. This open e-consultation will be used by the HLPE to further elaborate the report, which will then be submitted to external expert review, before finalization and approval by the HLPE Steering Committee.

This online discussion constitutes one of the ways adopted to allow the interested actors to put forward their opinions on the management of ECOWAP and on the regional challenges to achieving the objective of the eradication of hunger and malnutrition in West Africa by 2025.