FAO statement at HLPF 2023 – SDGs in Focus: SDG 11 and interlinkages with other SDGs - Sustainable cities and communities

More efficient, inclusive, resilient, and sustainable urban and peri-urban agrifood systems are needed to address urban poverty, food insecurity and malnutrition, enable healthy diets and catalyse inclusive and sustainable rural transformation.

Achieving this goal requires national and local partners to implement enabling policies and programs and scale-up actions and investments. It also requires strengthened capacity within local and national governments to mainstream urban agrifood systems development and nutrition within legislative and planning frameworks. Many factors shaping agrifood systems operate beyond the urban scale and decisions made by cities and local governments, and have wide reaching implications.

The integration of agrifood systems in urban and territorial planning is a crucial strategy to ensure an integrated sustainable urban development that takes into account challenges such as food insecurity and all forms of malnutrition.

Engaging with urban populations and letting their voices be heard is also a key part of a sustainable urban food systems transformation centered on people. Consumers need to be informed so they can make sustainable food choices and decisions, including for prevention of food waste.

Gender equality plays an important role in urban food security and nutrition. Understanding causes and forms of gender inequalities in urban agrifood systems and their governance mechanisms, and identifying adequate ways of overcoming them, is crucial to ensuring food security and improved nutrition for all. Limited rural employment opportunities, particularly among young people and women, is one of the main drivers of migration to urban areas, contributing to the decline of skilled labour and an aging population in rural areas.

Thank you for your attention.