-(35).png?sfvrsn=ddc8f234_1 "At HLPF, FAO spotlights the contributions of agrifood systems, rural women and youth to sustainable development")
©FAO/Shuzong Zhuang
The 2025 High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) reviewed progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, looking at urge evidence-based, inclusive solutions that accelerate progress and leave no one behind. By actively engaging in all HLPF SDG Sessions in week one and participating in a series of special and side events, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) spotlighted the potential that agrifood systems, rural women, youth, mountain communities and SDG localization have to contribute to sustainable development, and the need to create an enabling environment for this to happen.
A highlight of FAO’s involvement in the 2025 HLPF was the hosting of the annual State of Food Security and Nutrition (SOFI) Special Event, that this year addressed high food price inflation and took place ahead of the launch of the SOFI report on the same theme. A high-level opening segment featuring the Prime Minister, of Finland, H.E. Petteri Orpo, Ministers and Vice-Ministers of Ethiopia, the Czech Republic and the Dominican Republic and the President of the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and Permanent Representative of Canada to the United Nations, H.E. Ambassador Bob Rae, and video messages by FAO Director-General QU Dongyu and the President of the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), Alvaro Lario, set the scene to the event. The Director of FAO’s Agrifood Economics and Policy Division, David Laborde, presented on the theme of the 2025 report, analyzing the impact of high food-price inflation on global hunger and malnutrition goals and the policy responses of countries around the world. Following the special event, FAO's Chief Economist, Máximo Torero Cullen, briefed the press in New York on food price inflation.
Also noteworthy was the side-event convened by FAO, UN-Women, the Federal Republic of Germany, and the United Republic of Tanzania on Re-imagining the Future of Women in Agrifood Systems. The event examined the structural barriers that constrain women’s land tenure, limit their access to decent employment, and exclude women from decision-making arenas. The dialogue underscored that empowering women is a prerequisite for achieving multiple SDGs. FAO Senior Gender officer, Clara Park stressed the importance of scaling up data collection on women's land rights for better reforms and accountability. FAO’s Commit to Grow Equality initiative was cited as an example of leveraging policy reform, capacity building, and multi-stakeholder coalitions to secure women’s rights and amplify their contributions across agrifood systems.
The World Food Forum Youth Recommendations Paper was launched at another key side event dedicated to Empowering Young Women in Agrifood Systems, hosted by the Permanent Mission of Nepal, FAO, the World Food Forum (WFF) Global Youth Action Initiative, UN Women, the United Nations Major Group for Children and Youth (UN MGCY) and global partners. During the launch of the paper focused on empowering young women in agrifood systems, Director of the FAO Office of Youth and Women, Kazuki Kitaoka, stressed the need to join forces to support youth-led initiatives.
Also during HLPF, the Deputy Director of FAO’s Rural Transformation and Gender Equality Division, Lauren Phillips, briefed youth delegates attending the HLPF and academics on the recently published The Status of Youth in Agrifood Systems report. Phillips highlighted the challenges that rural youth face and strategies to address them, before jumping into an open conversation with the participants looking at ways to expand economic opportunities, modernize the rural sector, and facilitate access to resources.
Mountain regions, home to over 15 percent of the world’s population and vital freshwater sources, featured prominently in a side event co-led by Kyrgyz Republic, the Mountain Partnership and FAO. During her moderation of the event, the Director of the FAO Liaison Office to the UN in New York, Angélica Jácome, called for the scaling up collective efforts for mountain communities to ensure that no one is left behind while Giorgio Grussu, project coordinator of the Mountain Partnership Secretariat, emphasized the need for “one mountain voice” to unify efforts and boost the global impact of mountain advocacy.
Local action as a lever for systemic change was the main thrust of the Local2030 Coalition special event organized by UN DESA, Global Taskforce of Local and Regional Governments (GTF). Delivering FAO's intervention, Jácome highlighted that sustainable development gains root at the community level, and that local, innovative, community-driven projects, can inform global policy and investment priorities.
FAO alongside Italy and the UN Global Compact co-hosted the side event on Digital Transformation of Agrifood Chains, during which Jácome underscored the central role of geospatial tools and artificial intelligence in enhancing agricultural resilience and sustainability.
In addition to engaging in all SDG sessions during week one, FAO also spoke in the General Debate of the High-Level Segment of ECOSOC, stressing that the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda demand nothing less than the best we have to offer. Delivering FAO’s statement, Senior Liaison Officer, Halka Otto, presented the FAO Global Roadmap, the Hand-in-Hand Geospatial Platform, the Global Network of Digital Agricultural Innovation Hubs, and the Financing for Shock-Driven Food Crisis Facility as examples of how FAO is innovating to its Members and citizens worldwide to respond to the challenges the world faces.
The HLPF concluded with the adoption of the Ministerial Declaration, that reaffirms the commitment to effectively implement the 2030 Agenda. The Declaration also recognizes the importance of healthy diets and the contribution of efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems in delivering them, the need to provide decent jobs for youth in agrifood systems and to empower rural women, and the contribution of sustainable fisheries, including that of small-scale fisheries, to the sustainable use of ocean resources.
All FAO statements delivered during HLPF are available here.
