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FAO promotes legislative agreements to reduce obesity and malnutrition
30 abril 2019

NUTRITION

Healthy eating. On April 8, at the opening of the FAO Council’s 161st Session, Director-General José Graziano da Silva stressed that the institution can no longer “focus solely on the fight against hunger”. In this vein, he stressed the importance of making progress towards meeting Sustainable Development Goal 2, which calls for the eradication of all forms of malnutrition, with special emphasis on overweight and obesity. Along these lines, he announced that FAO’s agenda for the next two years will focus on the promotion of nutrition-sensitive food systems. Governments are expected to evaluate concrete proposals during the launch of the UN Decade of Family Farming at FAO headquarters at the end of May.

At the Council’s opening of its April session, Graziano da Silva urged the organization to pay more attention to the formulation of guidelines aimed at tackling global malnutrition. This comes after the FAO has worked for years to combat hunger but without obtained much of note in reducing malnutrition levels. In their own words: “While hunger is confined to specific areas, obesity is everywhere. In fact, we are witnessing the globalization of obesity. At the same time, da Silva announced that the promotion of food systems that factor in nutrition and innovation in agriculture will be priorities for FAO in the next two years.

In addition, Graziano da Silva highlighted FAO’s commitment to its partners, which manifests itself in a strong increase in strategic alliances over the years. Currently, the organization has more than 100 partnerships contributing approximately $200 million. Looking to the future, FAO is expected to continue to further expand its network of partnerships with the aim of working together towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Next steps

Throughout 2019, FAO will promote collaboration agreements with the various legislative branches of Latin America to provide technical advice on draft legislation on food issues. In April, FAO signed an agreement with the Chilean Senate, and it hopes to replicate this agreement across Latin America, forging agreements with other countries of the region, in line with FAO’s strategy. Meanwhile, the end of May will see the launch of the United Nations Decade on Family Farming (2019-2028), which will seek to consolidate government commitments on family farming towards the eradication of hunger and all forms of malnutrition.

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