Commemoration of the World Food Day 2017

Director Rodrigues-Birkett,
Director Jerger,
Ambassador Lomónaco,
Deputy Director-General Thompson,
Excellencies,
Ladies and Gentlemen:

A warm welcome to today’s reception to conclude a day of engaging and fruitful discussions. We are grateful to the Food and Agriculture Organization’s Liaison Office with the United Nations at Geneva for organizing today’s event in commemoration of the World Food Day 2017. I am pleased to have the opportunity to add a few reflections from my side.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Each year on this day, we commemorate the founding of the FAO in 1945 and acknowledge the critically important role this organisation plays across the world. In the spirit of the FAO’s goals, the World Food Day is also a day for us all to promote worldwide awareness of the need to provide enough nutritious food for all and to build a sustainable future for our planet.

The theme of this year’s World Food Day is: “Change the future of migration. Invest in food security and rural development”. This theme is pertinent, because it directly connects and integrates challenges that are too often thought of in isolation.

Let me explain: Integration and interconnection – these are the structuring principles of the Sustainable Development Goals. In fact, I have made it a point never to mention any one goal in isolation – because they are inextricably linked: without quality education, you can neither end poverty nor reduce inequality; fail to safeguard life on land and below water and your chances of achieving ‘zero hunger’ themselves drop to zero.

The same logic applies when exploring the direct link between the drivers of migration and the goals of eliminating hunger, achieving food security, and reducing rural poverty.

The global food security challenge is straightforward: by 2050, the world must feed over 9 billion people. The demand for food will be 60 per cent greater than it is today. This requires addressing a host of issues, from gender parity and demographic shifts to education, climate change, and rural development. The risks: malnutrition, hunger, conflict, and mass migration on an unprecedented scale.

Approaching the issue of migration by exploring its root causes – rather than its ultimate manifestations – offers us a better understanding of this complex challenge. More importantly, it shows us what needs to be done. Three-quarters of the extreme poor base their livelihoods on agriculture or other rural activities. Creating conditions that enable rural people – in particular the young – to stay at home and build more resilient livelihoods is a critical element of any plan to tackle the challenge of migration.

Ladies and gentlemen,

If we have to think about these challenges in an integrated fashion, then we also have to act collaboratively. The universal and integrated nature of the SDGs cuts across issues, organizations and generations, and challenges all actors to work in a more horizontal and collaborative manner than we have ever done before.

Geneva – home to over 100 international organizations, 178 States representations, some 400 NGOs, and a dynamic private sector and renowned academic institutions – is the operational hub of the international system. It is uniquely positioned to serve as a nexus for both identifying these linkages and for finding innovative solutions.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Let me once more thank the FAO Office in Geneva for organizing this event [as well as Ambassador Lomónaco and Deputy Director-General Thompson for sharing their insights with us].

Thank you for being with us today.