APRIL 12, 2016 | GENEVA, SWITZERLAND

Shenggen FanDirector General, IFPRI

Looking back at 2015

Sustainable Development Goals

Global goals that call for local action

COP21

Commitments to slow GHG emissions

WTO ministerial meeting

Pledged to eliminate distortionary trade policies

Low oil & food pricesOil: Lowest in 11 years

Food: Falling fourth year in a row

Refugee crisis

More migration from Afghanistan, Eritrea,

Myanmar, Syria+

Slow economic growth

Driven by slowdown in emerging economies

2015Climate change

El Niño: Ethiopia’s worst drought in 30 years

Regional and national developments

MIDDLE EAST & NORTH AFRICA

• Persistent conflict in Syria

• Rising prevalence of overnutrition

SOUTH ASIA• Bangladesh: New nutrition, food safety

policy

• India: New sanitation, irrigation program

AFRICA

• 18 countries achieved poverty MDG

• El Niño; Conflicts in Nigeria, Somalia, South Sudan

LATIN AMERICA & CARRIBBEAN

• Poverty & hunger MDGs achieved

• Increasing overweight, obesity

EAST ASIA• China: New food safety regulation

• Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank established

A new global food system for meeting multiple SDGs

New food system

Efficient

Inclusive

Climate-smart

Sustainable

Nutrition- and health-driven

Business-friendlyOver half of SDGs relate to food

security and nutrition

2016 GFPR overview

Value chains, food systems

Regional developments

Green energySustainable

diets

Climate change, smallholders,

SDGs Healthy soils

Food loss and food waste

Water management

Food policy indicators

Smallholders key to achieving Sustainable Development and Climate Goals

Examples of how support to smallholders can contribute to multiple SDGs

Source: Adapted from Farming First

Refugee crisis: Complex, interrelated causes

• Food insecurity and lack of nutrition are cause and consequence of conflict

• % of hunger and undernutrition increasingly concentrated in conflict-affected countries

• Climate change, epidemics, and food price spikes increase risk of civil conflict

Source: Breisinger, Ecker and Trinh Tran 2015

Lebanon: More than 1 million refugees

Jordan: Over 600 thousand refugees

Syrian refugee crisis

• 8.7 million food insecure or at high risk (Jan 2016)

• Nearly 1 million seeking asylum in Europe

• 13.5 million still in need of assistance inside Syria

Strategies for building resilience must be in place to address root causes of crisis

Sources: WFP 2016; UNHCR 2016

• Short run: Humanitarian aid BUT must pave way for development efforts

• Long run: Investments that transition toward development, e.g. improve infrastructure; foster trade with refugees’ countries of origin

Building resilience is critical

Source: Breisinger et al. 2014

Source: Mabiso et al. 2014

International community has crucial role

• Regional / international action needed to contain external

stresses, e.g. natural disasters, food price shocks (World Development Report 2011)

• Open, transparent, and fair trade can help build resilience

• Encourage north- and south-south learning, cooperation to match evolving security landscape

• Country-specific food security policies key for development and peace (Breisinger 2013)

• Country-level analysis and strategies crucial, e.g. Yemen’s 7-Point Action Plan

• Revisit efficiency and allocation of public spending

The global food system is unsustainable...

…it must be reshaped to

achieve multiple SDGs

Photo credit: IFAD/Susan Beccio