FAO at the 2025 ECOSOC Forum on Financing for Development Follow-Up and the Fourth Preparatory Committee Session for the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4)

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) FAO is actively engaging in the preparatory process of the Fourth Financing for Development Conference and considers that this is critical moment for concrete action towards the achievement of Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 2 – end hunger, achieve food security and improve nutrition for the following reasons: 

• Global levels of undernourishment have increased from 570.2 million in 2015 to between an estimated 713 to 757 million people being undernourished as of 2023 (with a mid-range estimate of 733 million);
• Food related crises have significantly contributed to the overlapping crises and mutually reinforcing shocks and are preventing the achievement of the 2030 Agenda.
• The environmental, health and social hidden costs of agrifood systems amount to 10 trillion dollars; these hidden costs are a greater burden to low-income countries, undermining their ability to achieve the 2030 Agenda and their capacity to respond to crises and shocks.
• Low-income countries (LICs) and Lower-middle income countries (LMICs) not only face the most acute challenges in terms of food insecurity and undernourishment, but their economies are also highly dependent on agrifood systems. 

Therefore, FAO provides evidence and data so that Members can advocate for commitments towards greater volumes and better quality of financing for agrifood systems transformation and for the prevention and mitigation of food crises.