Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

FAO's Monitoring and Analysing Food and Agricultural Policies (MAFAP) programme will host a special webinar to mark the launch of a new report on public expenditure on food and agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa. The webinar will focus on the main findings of MAFAP economic analyses, revealing top trends and current challenges in expenditure on food and agriculture in 13 sub-Saharan countries, while underscoring the role policy monitoring plays in helping governments to spend wisely for farmers, consumers and food security. Experts will offer their perspectives and policy priorities for the way forward on better public spending on food and agriculture.  

The webinar will take place on 7 May at 11:00 - 12:30 (CET, Rome time). Interpretation in French will be provided. 



Please register here.

Agenda and speakers: 

• Opening remarks by QU Dongyu, Director-General, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
• Presentation on report's findings by Marco V. Sánchez, Deputy Director, Agrifood Economics Division (ESA), FAO  
• Expert panel discussion with: 
  • Yassia Kindo, Secretary General, Ministry of Agriculture, Irrigation Development and Mechanization, Burkina Faso
  • Tewodaj Mogues, Senior Economist, IMF* (*Ms. Mogues’ remarks will draw on her analysis carried out in her professional work prior to joining the IMF).
  • Apollos Nwafor, Vice President for Policy and State Capability, AGRA
  • Leonard Mizzi, Head of Sustainable Agri-food Systems and Fisheries, European Commission 
  • Shenggen Fan, Chair Professor at China Agricultural University and CGIAR Board Member 
  • Thule Lenneiye, Coordinator, Agricultural Transformation Office, Kenya
• Short Q&A session  
• Closing remarks by Máximo Torero, Chief Economist, FAO
• And moderated by Bola Mosuro, Journalist, BBC Focus on Africa and Newsday  

The 2020 Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition in Europe and Central Asia is the sixth regional report monitoring trends and progress made towards reaching SDG 2 (Zero Hunger) food security and nutrition targets in the region. The report includes studies on the drivers and regional policy responses necessary to achieve SDG 2. In addition, ensuring adequate, nutritious foods supports progress towards achieving SDG 3.4, limiting poor diets high in unhealthy fats, salt, sugar and excess energy and low in fruit and vegetable consumption and thus reducing premature mortality from non-communicable diseases. Furthermore, a change towards healthy diets contributes to the achievement of SDG 13, which focuses on climate change.

The special theme of this 2020 edition is the affordability of sustainable healthy diets and their usefulness in ending hunger and malnutrition in the region. The sustainability prospects of healthy diets are recognized and analysed throughout this report, but the main focus of this report is a quantitative analysis of the cost and affordability of healthy diets at national and subnational levels.

The report will be launched at a high-level event on Wednesday, 12 May, 10:00-11:30 a.m. (CEST).

The ceremony will be streamed live on YouTube in English and can also be followed on Zoom in English and Russian.

The 2020 Regional Overview of Food Security and Nutrition in Europe and Central Asia was jointly prepared by the six members of the Issue-based Coalition on Sustainable Food Systems for Europe and Central Asia: the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia; the World Food Programme (WFP) Regional Bureau Cairo for Middle East, North Africa, Central Asia and Eastern Europe; the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE); the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia; the World Health Organization (WHO) Regional Office for Europe; and the World Meteorological Organization (WMO).

To prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide, the United Nations General Assembly proclaimed 2021-2030 as the Decade on Ecosystem Restoration. When the strategy guiding this UN Decade was launched in September 2020, it was accompanied by a general survey, designed to assess what individuals already knew about restoration – and how they would like to be involved in the movement.

However, to accomplish the world’s ambitious restoration goals by 2030, individual and voluntary action is not enough. There is a need to strategically strengthen capacities of those stakeholders already involved in restoration. The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration has launched a new online survey “Taking Stock of Global Capacity for Ecosystems Restoration” to identify what and whose capacities need to be enhanced to achieve the goals of the Decade.

The survey was jointly developed by a coalition of 38 organizations, under FAO’s leadership, and aims to: 1) provide a baseline of existing capacities; 2) help identify strengths, gaps, needs and barriers to achieving global restoration goals, and 3) guide the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration’s system-wide capacity development efforts, to the benefit of all involved. 

You are encouraged to take this survey regardless of whether you have or have not participated in the previous general survey. This survey is aimed at everyone involved in ecosystem restoration. 

The survey is available in English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic, and Russian, and will take about 15 minutes to complete.

The survey will remain open until 15 April 2021 and can be accessed here. 

Global food commodity prices rose sharply in November to their highest level in nearly six years, according to a benchmark United Nations report released on 3 December 2020.

The FAO Food Price Index averaged 105.0 points during the month, up 3.9 percent from October and 6.5 percent higher than its value a year earlier. The monthly increase was the sharpest since July 2012, putting the index at its highest level since December 2014, the Food and Agriculture Organization said.