FAO Statement at the Informal consultation on the Declaration on Future Generations

• In terms of principles, first, the realization that we are not going to reach most of the SDGs.
  
• 735 million people globally suffered from hunger in 2022.
  
• 3.1 billion couldn't afford a healthy diet.
  
• Food insecurity disproportionately affects rural populations, women, and socially marginalized groups.
  
• We must place equity, inclusion, and social justice as fundamental principles in development to prevent the passing of existing inequalities onto future generations.
  
• The human rights principles of non-discrimination, participation, accountability, transparency, human dignity, empowerment and agency, must lie at the core of the deliberations.
  

What practical steps are needed at the global level to take future generations systematically into account?

• In terms of practical steps, reassess why we are failing to achieve the SDG’s. What are doing wrong? What are we not doing?
  
• What are the political barriers—this is not a technical issue, we know what needs to be done—it is about political will.
  
• Increased recognition that future generations have the right to clean water, land, and resources necessary for a healthy and dignified life.
  
• And that this doesn’t come at the expense of today’s poor. Poor people, particularly the rural poor, small-scale producers, Indigenous Peoples, those who care for our natural resources, already face the biggest impact of climate change. They must not also pay the cost of addressing climate change.
  
• We must dismantle power structures that marginalize certain groups, including women, producing and reproducing existing systems of power, oppression, and inequality at all levels.
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What should the Summit of the Future aim to achieve so that we live up to our obligations to future generations?

• In terms of what the Summit should aim to achieve, it should raise awareness, mobilize action, and generate commitments to foster a more equitable world for future generations. Talk straight.
  
• This includes strategies to eradicate rural poverty, eliminate hunger and promote equity, inclusivity, and social justice in rural development.
  
• It should call for a stronger commitment to reducing present-day inequalities along various dimension, including wealth, gender, rurality, access to adequate food – to prevent their transmission to future generations.