FAO.org

“Food Systems for an Urbanizing World” is the outcome of a collaborative effort between the World Bank (WB) Global Practice for Food and Agriculture and the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). it addresses a growing global concern regarding food availability and consumption patterns in an ever increasing urbanized world.

Our increasingly urbanizing world carries tremendous implications for food systems and for their evolution, management and performance. Urban food issues are a critical dimension of an integrated urban-rural development agenda, contributing to multiple outcomes that are key to meeting the World Bank Group’s twin goals of boosting shared prosperity and reducing extreme poverty.

To address this rapidly evolving food environment and changing institutional landscape, the World Bank’s Agriculture Global Practice has initiated a process of reflection, analysis and discussion on how the World Bank, in partnership with others, can most effectively support diverse public, private and civil society actors in their efforts to advance a transformative agenda in support of urban food systems. This report, “Food Systems for an Urbanizing World,” represents the first step in the process.