Statement prepared for delivery at the launch of the report ‘A multi-billion-dollar opportunity: Repurposing agricultural support to transform food systems’
The food we eat is the bedrock of our health. Isn’t it then ironic that the way humanity produces and distributes this food is making the planet, and so us, sick? Unsustainable farming that drives destruction of nature. Significant greenhouse gas emissions across the food supply chain. The drawing down of dwindling water resources. Fertilizers and pesticides that pollute the environment. Food waste and loss that means a large part of these impacts come without even feeding a single hungry mouth.
Through these and other practices, often supported by governments, food systems contribute to the triple planetary crisis of climate change, nature and biodiversity loss, and pollution and waste. A crisis that is accelerating and making life harder for smallholder farmers across the world. A crisis that is affecting food security and prices. A crisis that is wiping out entire crops and livelihoods in some places.
This report shows that governments are throwing hundreds of billions of dollars at supporting the practices that make our food systems unsustainable. Money that frequently supports big industry and not small-scale producers. It doesn’t have to be this way. If agricultural support is repurposed – including through policy reforms, investment in R&D and improved social protection – it can make food systems sustainable, efficient and equitable. It can make nutritious and diverse diets more affordable, bringing better health outcomes. It can restore nature, rather than destroy it.
I would like to thank our partners, UNDP and FAO, who co-produced this report. Thanks are also due to WHO, IMF and the International Food Policy Research Institute for their contributions, enabling us all to speak in one voice on this importance issue. This voice is saying that governments have the opportunity to make efficient use of their resources to redefine our relationship with nature. And to reduce the likelihood and impact of pandemics, conflicts, economic crises, migration and environmental shocks.
The UN Food Systems Summit, the climate COP and biodiversity COP are on the horizon. At these events, the international community has a chance to commit to repurposing agricultural support, following the blueprint outlined in this report. We must take it.
Thank you.
Executive Director