While undernutrition persists, obesity and diet-related non-communicable diseases rise, including in low- and middle-income countries. What is wrong with our food systems? How will we feed a growing and urbanizing world population with natural resources that are more and more limited and depleted? In June 2019, a two-day symposium brought together academics, researchers, policymakers, representatives from civil society and private sector, parliamentarians and government agencies to discuss these questions (and many more), and explore pathways to a sustainable future of food and healthy diets for all. These proceedings report the presentations and discussions that recolved around the four main areas of (1) Research, Knowledge Gaps and Needs for Sustainable Food Systems and Healthy Diets; (2) Governance of food systems for healthy diets; (3) Building Consumer Confidence in Food Systems; and (4) Transforming Food Systems: What does it take?

The FAO international symposium on “The role of agricultural biotechnologies in sustainable food systems and nutrition” took place from 15 to 17 February 2016 at FAO headquarters, Rome. Over 400 people attended, including 230 delegates from 75 member countries and the European Union, as well as representatives of intergovernmental organizations, private sector entities, civil society organizations, academia/research organizations and producer organizations/cooperatives. The symposium encompassed the crop, livestock, forestry and fishery sectors and was organized around three main themes: i) climate change; ii) sustainable food systems and nutrition; and iii) people, policies, institutions and communities. The proceedings provide the main highlights of the symposium which covered a broad range of biotechnologies, from low-tech approaches such as those involving use of microbial fermentation processes, biofertilizers, biopesticides and artificial insemination, to high-tech approaches suc h as those involving advanced DNA-based methodologies and genetically modified organisms. The full report has been divided into sections and individual chapters for ease of downloading: Introduction to the Proceedings Chapter 1. Opening plenary session Chapter 2. High-level ministerial session Chapter 3. Parallel sessions: Climate change Chapter 4. Parallel sessions: Sustainable food systems and nutrition Chapter 5. Parallel sessions: People, policies, institutions and communities Chapter 6. Student interactive session: Bringing fresh perspectives Chapter 7. Side events: Reports Chapter 8. Final plenary session For more information, visit the webpage http://www.fao.org/about/meetings/agribiotechs-symposium/en/.

The International Symposium on Fisheries Sustainability: strengthening the science-policy nexus was held to support the development of a new vision for more sustainable and socially just fisheries, and more resilient to the challenges of the twenty-first century. The event managed to gather an incredibly diverse group of participants from different sectors and regions around the world. Moreover, a set of recommendations emerged from the sessions’ discussions, that will help improve the sustainability of capture fisheries and progress towards the different targets and objectives of the Sustainable Development Goals.

This first International Symposium on Agricultural Innovation for Family Farmers called for inclusive research and education systems to facilitate innovation; robust bridging institutions; support to family farmers; and integrated policies and increased investments to create an enabling environment for innovation and scaling up. Innovation is the process whereby individuals or organizations bring new or existing products, processes or ways of organization into use for the first time in a specific context. Innovation in agriculture cuts across all dimensions of the production cycle along the entire value chain - from crop, forestry, fishery or livestock production to the management of inputs and resources to market access. The symposium provided inspiration for innovation actors and decision makers to unlock the potential of innovation to drive socio-economic growth, ensure food and nutrition security, alleviate poverty, improve resilience to changing environments and thereby achieve the Sustainable Development Goals.

The proceedings book of the Global Symposium on Soil Erosion (GSER19) contains all papers presented both orally and in poster format during the symposium (15-17 May 2019, FAO HQ). The papers presented have provided sufficient scientific evidence to show that soil erosion is a global threat to food production systems, available land for future demand, rural livelihoods, human health and biodiversity, and that coordinated effective action needs to be fostered and accelerated to address this issue. Studies presented provided scientific evidence that soil erosion is accelerated by anthropogenic action. In the current context of population increase and climate change, urgent action is needed from governments to support farmers and land-users in the transition to sustainable production systems, and crucial action is needed at global level to raise awareness of the importance of healthy and productive soils, to ensure a sustainable future and the achievement of many of the SDGs targeting hunger, water quality, and life on land, amongst others.

FAO organized its first ever Global Conference on Sustainable Plant Production (GPC) (Rome, 2 to 4 November 2022), with a focus on Innovation, Efficiency and Resilience. Its main objective was to provide a neutral forum for FAO Members, farmers, scientists, development agencies, policy makers, extensionists, civil society, opinion leaders and the private sector to engage in dialogues around sustainable plant production. To achieve impact towards implementing the 2030 Agenda, the GPC developed 20 actionable recommendations. The recommendations encompass all the thematic areas highlighted in the GPC, with a focus on adaptation to local contexts, needs of small-scale farmers, and include cross-cutting issues to guide active innovation for global sustainable plant production systems. The recommendations clearly establish (i) priorities for targeted mobilization and pooling of scientific, technical and financial resources; (ii) evidence and knowledge sharing through the creation and management of functional technical networks; and (iii) testing and scaling evidence-based sustainable plant production practices, partnerships and policies.

New evidence this year corroborates the rise in world hunger observed in this report last year, sending a warning that more action is needed if we aspire to end world hunger and malnutrition in all its forms by 2030. Updated estimates show the number of people who suffer from hunger has been growing over the past three years, returning to prevailing levels from almost a decade ago. Although progress continues to be made in reducing child stunting, over 22 percent of children under five years of age are still affected. Other forms of malnutrition are also growing: adult obesity continues to increase in countries irrespective of their income levels, and many countries are coping with multiple forms of malnutrition at the same time – overweight and obesity, as well as anaemia in women, and child stunting and wasting.

Colloquium participants were asked to make informed guesses about whether developing countries can grow and equitably distribute the food they need over the next decade, what the international development community should do to help in both production and distribution, and what role the United States should play in the development process. The 17 papers contained in the proceedings are: (1) "Forty Years of Food Aid and Development Assistance: What Have We Learned?" (D. Paarlberg); (2) "The Emerging Policy, Production, and Consumption Scenario" (S. Johnson); (3) "Prospects for Food Aid Needs and Global Food Supplies" (R. Trostle); (4) "Redefining National Security" (P. Johnston); (5) "Nutrition, Health, and Agricultural Development" (P. Pellet); (6) "Reevaluating Substance and Process Priorities in Development Assistance" (N. Brady); (7) "Market Development and Economic Development: Contrasts and Comparisons" (N. Denlinger); (8) "Food, Hunger, and Agricultural Issues" (D. Kleckner); (9) "International Agricultural Development: Benefits or Myths?" (L. Richardson); (10) "Using U.S. Food Surpluses for Development: Interaction of Food Aid with Other Forms of Foreign Assistance" (J. Mellor); (11) "Famine Prevention: Lessons from African Experience" (M. Williams); (12) "Women, Development, Equity, and Efficiency: In Pursuit of Constrained Bliss" (K. Cloud); (13) "Targeting Development Activities Toward Sustainable Agriculture" (R. Harwood); (14) "The Urgency of Institutional Changes for Agriculture in Less-Developed Countries, Newly Industrialized Countries, and Developed Countries" (G. Johnson); (15) "The Case for Refocusing on Development of Human Resources and Institutional Capacity" (R. Kleis); (16) "Tomorrow's Environment for Agricultural Development" (D. Avery); (17) "Development Assistance and Trade: The Way It Was, the Way It Is, and What the Difference Means" (L. Cesal; E. Rossmiller). (JB)