How the SDGs negotiations enabled action towards the agrifood systems transformation agenda

When I look back at the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) negotiations, what strikes me most is how we at FAO succeeded, together with our sister agencies IFAD and WFP and other partners, to place food, agriculture and nutrition finally together in one coherent package in SDG2, and prominently reflected across all the 2030 Agenda. For the first time, the world recognized that we could no longer address hunger, just in terms of calories or nutrients, in isolation from the agriculture and ecological systems and the actors involved in the food and agriculture sectors. The way food is grown, how it reaches people, whether it is affordable, nutritious, resilient to climate change, respectful of biodiversity and ecosystems – these elements are fundamentally interconnected. The term agrifood systems was not yet prominently used in those years, but the idea was clearly present, and FAO was front and center to facilitate dialogues and build consensus for reflecting that concept in the shaping of the new global sustainable development agenda.

Inside FAO, we knew our technical expertise put us at the centre of those debates. And we played that role fully. From the 2012 Rio+20 conference’s The Future We Want, it took three years of continual negotiations to conceive and refine the goals and targets. To craft the SDGs approved in 2015, the United Nations and other global and regional conveners facilitated open dialogues and large consultations, followed by quite effective intergovernmental negotiations backed up by the best existing evidence and technical support from the UN and far beyond. What the world received in September 2015 was the result of countless behind-the-scenes conversations, strong alliances and difficult compromises. 

The negotiations at the UN Headquarters in New York took place in packed rooms with diplomats and high-level governmental experts from every continent revising text line by line, at times word by word. At the core of that process, I coordinated an internal task force of more than 80 experts across all technical areas: agronomy, soil, water, fisheries, forestry, biodiversity, nutrition, economics, food security, Indigenous Peoples, rural development, among the almost 20 themes where FAO offered its best knowledge and experience. I would sit in the negotiation room or in Rome connected to NY with my laptop, and whenever a question arose – from SDG2 on hunger to SDG1 on poverty, SDG5 on gender, SDG13 on climate, SDG14 on marine life, SDG15 on terrestrial ecosystems – all eyes turned to us. “Is FAO in the room?” they would ask. And yes, we were. Behind me, in the room or remotely, those 80 colleagues were on call, prepared to send data, definitions, arguments within hours or minutes. Sometimes I phoned the forestry team in Rome asking for a rapid clarification; other times we mobilized agriculture economists to justify a focus on small-scale farmers; oftentimes Senior Managers were in the room, requested to provide briefs on key issues. It was backstage diplomacy powered by technical precision, and a real multistakeholder effort to keep these issues a high priority in the 2030 Agenda. 

It was also the first time that major frameworks expected to guide the world on very critical issues – the SDGs, the Paris Agreement, and the Convention on Biological Diversity – were negotiated intentionally in synergy. These intersections made food and agriculture a pillar of sustainable development: voluntary commitments through the SDGs, legally binding climate targets through Paris, and biodiversity action all pointing in the same direction. The alliance of UN agencies, civil society, farmers’ organizations, private sector partners and research institutions, channeled through many interested Member States, pushed forward the bold idea that agriculture was not only part of the climate problem but also a key solution for emission reduction and resilience, that production without focus on the small-scale farmers would not solve hunger. Little by little, consensus formed: sustainably managing natural resources, supporting smallholders, reducing food loss and waste, restoring and protecting ecosystems – all were part of a single vision.

That integrated vision gained decisive political visibility in 2019, when the Global Sustainable Development Report The Future Is Now, prepared for the first SDG Summit, assessed early progress. The message was unequivocal: ambition was high, but implementation was falling short, and countries were struggling to translate integrated commitments into action at scale. To respond, the report identified six priority entry points capable of accelerating progress across the entire 2030 Agenda. Among them, food systems stood out as one of the six most powerful levers, recognized for their unique ability to drive simultaneous gains in health, climate action, poverty reduction, gender equality and environmental protection.

In the years since, the road to 2030 has been paved with bumpy stones. When the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted food supply chains across the world in 2020, it accelerated a shift in mindset around agrifood systems. Suddenly, the fragility of how food was produced, moved and accessed became impossible to ignore, and the need for transformation gained renewed widespread recognition. This growing awareness and sense of urgency built momentum towards the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit. The global conference brought together evidence that many of us had been advancing for years: transforming how food is produced, processed, distributed and consumed can simultaneously drive progress on health, climate action, poverty reduction, gender equality and environmental protection.

Countries have stepped up on this approach. In the years following the Summit, many have been developing national food systems pathways, adopting new strategies and localized action plans. To be fully equipped to channel change at all levels, FAO sharpened its focus on agrifood systems transformation, and its country members started receiving support accordingly. Yet, implementing such integrated policies is not quick. Coordination is costly. Meaningful participation of farmers, Indigenous Peoples and community organizations requires time, skills and resources. In times of economic pressure, governments often cut precisely the processes that give voice, transparency and accountability to decisions. Dialogues slow things down, while crises demand urgency. But those same dialogues are what make solutions durable.

Today, multilateralism is unfortunately not in the strongest shape. Conflicts multiply. Inequalities deepen. Budgets shrink. Countries face debt crises and must choose between long-term governance structures and immediate survival measures. In some areas, we see reversals in hunger and nutrition indicators, especially where war and protracted crisis have eroded decades of progress. Still, the capacities we have built remain. The integrated approach promoted through the SDGs has shaped how governments think about food and agriculture. Even when priorities shift or administrations change, the idea that agrifood systems must be resilient, inclusive and sustainable does not disappear.

The terminology may evolve. The political momentum may fluctuate. But the fundamental acknowledgment that agrifood systems cut across multiple dimensions of sustainable development is now deeply rooted. Countries might move more slowly than we hoped when we signed the SDGs in 2015, but a lot of the knowledge, intentions, and alliances created during that period are still active. They continue to guide decisions, inspire reforms and support communities, especially in the most difficult moments.

And that, despite all the challenges, is what keeps me convinced that transformation is not only possible – it’s underway.

About the author:

Anna Rappazzo is a governance expert who has worked on sustainable development and multistakeholder participation in decision-making for over 25 years. As a Partnership Officer and later as Governance and Policy Officer, she supported policy negotiations on food and agriculture at global and regional levels, both in Rome and NY, including the consolidation of policy frameworks like the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure (VGGTs), and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.