Preparatory Committee for the Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4)

Esteemed Colleagues, all protocols observed,

It is my honor to address you today on behalf of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO).

1. FAO strongly believes that the upcoming Fourth International Conference on Financing for Development (FfD4) in Spain will play a pivotal role in advancing the achievement of SDG 1 and SDG 2. The Summit of the Future and the subsequent Pact for the Future have underscored the importance of supporting countries and communities grappling with food insecurity and malnutrition. This includes building resilience, addressing debt crises, managing price volatility in international markets to secure food systems, and promoting equitable, resilient, inclusive, and sustainable agrifood systems that ensure access to safe, affordable, and nutritious food for all.
2. To effectively confront the overlapping crises impeding global progress, it is essential to leverage the role of Financing for Development (FfD) in preventing and mitigating food-related crises. These crises have been significant drivers of interconnected shocks, hindering progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Historical crises, such as the food price spikes of 2007/8 and 2011, contributed to marked slowdowns in global economic growth. More recently, the COVID-19 pandemic exacerbated food insecurity worldwide, disproportionately affecting vulnerable populations. Furthermore, acute disruptions in food and fertilizer supply chains in 2022 led to unprecedented food and agricultural import bills, disproportionately impacting Least Developed Countries (LDCs) and net food-importing nations. The new global FfD framework must explicitly address the drivers of overlapping crises, with a specific focus on tackling the root causes of food crises.
3. Achieving these necessary transformations requires concerted action across all areas of the Addis Ababa Action Agenda, with an emphasis on increasing the volume and quality of domestic public resources for SDG 2, including reorienting agricultural support; enhancing international development cooperation focused on SDG2 and promoting innovative finance for food security and nutrition.
4. There is a need for a common definition for food security and nutrition financing. The lack of clarity complicates our efforts to meet SDG 2.1 and SDG 2.2 and contributes to accountability issues and highlights the complexity and fragmentation of the current financial landscape. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2024 proposes a new definition that captures the holistic nature of food security and nutrition. This new definition recognizes that key investments in food security and nutrition, especially those oriented to create resilience against the major drivers, are part of the overall effort of transforming agrifood systems.
5. Addressing limitations of the current financing architecture is crucial for increased financing for food security and nutrition. The current financing architecture is highly fragmented, exhibits a lack of consensus about the priorities, and is characterized by an over-proliferation of actors delivering mostly small, short-term projects. More can be achieved in scaling up financing for food security and nutrition if there is better alignment and synergy among the different sources of financing. The Global Alliance against Hunger and Poverty can play a pivotal role in enhancing better alignment and mobilizing increased financing for food security and nutrition.
6. It is also necessary to ensure that financing for agrifood systems transformation is inclusive – of women, youth and the poor – and that it seeks to build links between the impact of climate change on vulnerable people who depend on agrifood systems for their livelihoods.

By addressing these priorities, Financing for Development can serve as a transformative tool to mitigate food crises, foster sustainable agrifood systems, and drive meaningful progress toward the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

FAO remains fully committed to supporting this process and the negotiations, working towards a consensus on a renewed agenda that ensures no one is left behind.

Thank you.