[Title] G20 ACTION PLAN ON FOOD SECURITY AND SUSTAINABLE FOOD SYSTEMS
1. We, the G20 Leaders are committed to addressing the challenge of improving global food security, nutrition and the sustainability of food systems. Although more than half of developing countries have reached the Millennium Development Goal target of halving the proportion of people suffering from hunger, the Food and Agriculture Organization estimates there are still 795 million people undernourished. Global food supply will need to increase by 60 percent to feed a projected world population of 9.7 billion people by 2050. We recognize that to improve food security and nutrition in the face of intensifying pressures on natural resources and the impacts of climate change, we will need to increase productivity while simultaneously building food systems that are more sustainable and resilient.
2. We believe that the G20 can strengthen international efforts to improve food security and nutrition and contribute to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals. In the light of the need to raise productivity while moving towards food systems that are sustainable environmentally, economically and socially and that support quality and diverse diets, we reaffirm the importance of the G20 Food Security and Nutrition Framework that we endorsed at our Brisbane Summit. We reiterate its three objectives of: increasing responsible investment in food systems; increasing incomes and quality employment in food systems; and increasing productivity sustainably to expand food supply.
3. We endorse the Communiqué outlining the views and recommendations of our Agriculture Ministers on how best to raise productivity and achieve sustainable food systems. We also endorse the prioritised actions put forward in the Implementation Plan of the G20 Food Security and Nutrition Framework. In this G20 Action Plan on Food Security and Sustainable Food Systems we commit to key actions that we believe best reflect the G20's comparative advantage and make a significant contribution to the achievement of the G20 Food Security and Nutrition Framework's priority objectives. They are relevant to both G20 members and low income and developing countries and pay particular attention to the needs of smallholder and family farmers, rural women and youth. We reiterate our support to relevant ongoing G20 initiatives and reaffirm our commitment to implement the 2011 Action Plan on Food Price Volatility and Agriculture.
Promoting responsible investment in agriculture and food systems
4. We will increase efforts to promote responsible investment in agriculture and food systems that lead to higher productivity, inclusive growth, poverty reduction and improved food security and nutrition and are economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. We will also continue to support the Global Agriculture and Food Security Program. Investment throughout food value chains is fundamental to our objectives of raising productivity and production, generating decent jobs and incomes and reducing food loss and waste. We recognize that, in addition to the public sector, the private sector, including smallholder producers and their organizations, is crucial in making these investments and developing the technologies and good practices needed to enhance productivity, efficiency and sustainability in food value chains. We will increase efforts to effectively engage with the private sector to pursue common goals.
5. Mechanisms and instruments are needed to promote responsible investment in agriculture and food systems. The G20 supported the development of the Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems and the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security, both endorsed by the Committee on World Food Security. We request FAO, IFAD, UNCTAD, the World Bank Group, ILO and OECD to provide guidance to the G20 and other interested countries on the operationalization of these principles.
6. We recognise that support for responsible investment also requires an enabling environment including infrastructure and policies conducive to well-functioning markets, an open and rules based multilateral trading system, inclusive financial institutions, secure tenure of land, social protection, the management of risk and measures to limit the adverse impacts of excessive price volatility. We reaffirm our commitment to the fundamental role of a rules- based multilateral trading system in global food security and to the ongoing WTO negotiations with a view to promptly conclude the Doha Development Agenda.
Improving market transparency for food security
7. We will further improve agricultural market data and transparency. The G20's Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) has proved a successful mechanism to reduce the likelihood of large unexpected price fluctuations in international agricultural commodity markets by improving transparency and reducing the risk of uncoordinated destabilizing policy actions. We support the ongoing work of AMIS and commit to deeper and stronger collaboration to materially improve global data and market transparency by disclosing regular, reliable, accurate, timely and comparable data and encourage the Rapid Response Forum to address policy challenges in global food markets.
Supporting human resource development
8. Building on the G20 skills strategy and the G20 goals to increase women's participation in the workforce and to reduce youth unemployment, we will support food system employment and entrepreneurial opportunities in particular for smallholders and especially for women and youth through training and skills development. Improved food security and nutrition requires inclusive economic growth and employment creation, especially for women and youth, and social protection mechanisms. We believe that agriculture and sustainable food systems can provide enhanced livelihood opportunities for women and youth and also expand future agricultural production.
9. Special efforts are needed to promote training programmes and skills development and improved access to productive resources for smallholders, women and youth. We will explore mechanisms, including south-south and triangular cooperation, to share successful experiences in skills anticipation and matching, apprenticeship and work-linked training pathways and improved access to productive assets. Recognizing that adequate nutrition is a prerequisite for human development, we emphasize the importance of social protection and safety nets programs. We will strengthen the dissemination of best practices of the most effective policies and programs in the area of nutrition-sensitive social protection and enhance the exchange of experience and lessons learned among developing countries through the support of peer-to-peer cooperation, facilitation of relevant international and regional events as well as promotion of existing platforms and knowledge hubs.
Fostering sustainable productivity growth
10. We will continue to support sustainable productivity growth, especially for smallholder farmers, including through sharing knowledge of successful policies, technologies and practices and encouraging their adaptation and adoption. Increasing agricultural productivity must go hand in hand with sustainability. Several existing G20 initiatives aim to increase productivity and production by fostering cooperation and sharing of research results and policy experiences. We encourage efforts to increase their effectiveness. We will ensure the stronger alignment of the Meeting of Agricultural Chief Scientists with the objective of achieving productivity growth and sustainable food systems.
11. We stress the importance of increasing agricultural productivity, through both adopting existing innovations as well as new research and technologies. We call for greater cooperation and exchange of information among G20 members and with low income and developing countries to share policy experiences and successful practices in advisory, extension and agricultural innovation systems.
Reducing food loss and waste
12. We commit to reducing food loss and waste globally. We note with concern that one third of food produced for human consumption is lost or wasted with negative consequences for food security, nutrition, use of natural resources and the environment. This is a global problem of great economic, environmental and societal significance. While recognizing that appropriate measures may vary from country to country, we give priority to prevention and recovery and redistribution of safe and nutritious otherwise wasted food to feed people. We welcome the decision to establish a technical platform, building on existing platforms and relevant to both G20 members and low income and developing countries, for sharing information and experiences in measuring and reducing food loss and waste, and call for its effective operationalization by the relevant international organizations as soon as possible.
13. Improved food security and nutrition and more sustainable food systems are global priorities. We believe that the actions we propose here can have positive impacts and contribute to inclusive growth. We commit to their realization and will monitor progress through our existing mechanisms. We will continue to work with the relevant international organizations to ensure their active engagement in the actions we have identified.