Agriculture Development, Food Security and Nutrition

A/RES/70/223View PDF

Who created this mandate?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 26Agriculture development, food security and nutrition, published in 2015.

What other versions does this mandate have?

13 versions · 2014–2025

This is an older version — the most recent is A/RES/80/157

2025A/RES/80/157Agriculture development, food security and nutritionLatestCompare with previous version
2024A/RES/79/227Agriculture development, food security and nutritionCompare with previous version
2023A/RES/78/168Agriculture development, food security and nutritionCompare with previous version
2022A/RES/77/186Agriculture development, food security and nutritionCompare with previous version
2022A/RES/76/222Agriculture development, food security and nutritionCompare with previous version

Versions are identified automatically by matching titles within the same organ (~97% accuracy on a manual audit).

What subjects does this mandate have?

5 topics

Agricultural Development Agricultural Production Food Security Sustainable Agriculture Sustainable Development

Which reports were submitted under this mandate?

1 report of the Secretary-General submitted under this mandate, 2016.

2016A/71/283Agriculture development, food security and nutrition report of the Secretary-General

Identified automatically from the metadata in each report’s UN Digital Library catalogue record.

What does this mandate say?

33 operative paragraphs

Takes note of the report of the Secretary-General;

Stresses the importance of continued consideration of the issue of agriculture, development, food security and nutrition, and encourages Member States and all stakeholders to give due consideration to this issue while implementing the internationally agreed development goals, including the Sustainable Development Goals;

Reiterates the importance of developing countries determining their own food security strategies, that improving food security and nutrition is a global challenge and a national policy responsibility and that any plans for addressing this challenge in the context of eradicating poverty must be nationally articulated, designed, owned, led and built in consultation, as an inclusive process, with all key stakeholders at the national level, as appropriate, and urges Member States, especially those affected, to make food security and nutrition a high priority and to reflect this in their national programmes and budgets;

Calls upon the international community to continue to support the Comprehensive African Agriculture Development Programme and its results framework, which is an integral component of the Programme that provides guidance on planning and implementing investment programmes;

Welcomes the increased political commitment by Member States to tackle hunger and all forms of malnutrition, in this regard welcomes the Scaling Up Nutrition movement, and encourages Member States to engage in the movement at the global and country levels to further reduce global hunger and all forms of malnutrition, in particular in women, especially pregnant and lactating women, and children under age 2;

Also welcomes the six global nutrition targets set by the World Health Assembly to address global malnutrition;

Takes note of the Global Nutrition for Growth Compact, signed by more than 100 countries, companies and civil society organizations, to reduce the number of stunted children by 20 million by 2020 and the financial commitments made to support this goal, as well as the second Nutrition for Growth event, which will be held in 2016;

Welcomes the Secretary-General’s Zero Hunger Challenge and the aim of a world free from hunger, and takes note of the progress made in improving cooperation, coordination and coherence by all stakeholders to overcome the challenges of hunger and malnutrition;

Stresses the need to increase sustainable agricultural production and productivity globally, noting the diversity of agricultural conditions and systems, including by improving and aiming to ensure the functioning of markets and trading systems and strengthening international cooperation, particularly for developing countries, and by increasing public and private investment in sustainable agriculture, land management and rural development, and notes that the benefit of such public and private investment and engagement should also benefit, where appropriate, local smallholders with regard to promoting food security, improving nutrition outcomes and reducing inequality;

Recognizes the need to increase the resilience of food and agricultural production to climate change, and encourages efforts at all levels to support climate-sensitive agricultural practices, including agroforestry, conservation agriculture, water management schemes, drought- and flood-resistant seeds and sustainable livestock management, and measures to strengthen the resilience of vulnerable groups and food systems, which can also have a wider positive impact, emphasizing adaptation to climate change as a major concern and objective for all farmers and food producers, especially small-scale and family-farm producers;

Also recognizes the outcome of the twenty-first session of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, held in Paris from 30 November to 13 December 2015, noting the adverse impact of climate change on food security;

Reaffirms the necessity of promoting, enhancing and supporting more sustainable agriculture, including crops, livestock, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture, that improves food security, eradicates hunger and is economically viable, while conserving land, water, plant and animal genetic resources, biodiversity and ecosystems and enhancing resilience to climate change and natural disasters, and recognizes the need to maintain natural ecological processes that support sustainable and efficient food production systems and ensure food security;

Welcomes the Rome Declaration on Nutrition,2 as well as the Framework for Action,3 which provides a set of voluntary policy options and strategies for use by Governments, as appropriate;

Recognizes that food systems have a fundamental role to play in promoting healthy diets and improving nutrition, and welcomes the establishment of national policies aimed at eradicating malnutrition in all its forms and transforming food systems so as to make nutritious diets available to all, while reaffirming that health, water and sanitation systems must be strengthened simultaneously to end malnutrition;

Reaffirms the crucial role of healthy marine ecosystems, sustainable agriculture, sustainable fisheries and sustainable aquaculture for enhancing food security and access to adequate, safe and nutritious food and in providing for the livelihoods of millions of people, particularly inhabitants of small island developing States;

Acknowledges that social protection programmes and measures are effective in reducing poverty and hunger;

Encourages and recognizes the efforts at all levels to establish and strengthen social protection measures and programmes, including national safety nets and protection programmes for the needy and vulnerable, such as food and cash-for-work, cash transfer and voucher programmes, school-feeding programmes and mother-and-child nutrition programmes, and in this regard underlines the importance of increasing investment, capacity-building and systems development;

Calls for closing the gender gap in access to productive resources in agriculture, noting with concern that the gender gap persists with regard to many assets, inputs and services, and stresses the need to invest in and strengthen efforts to empower women, in particular rural women, to address their own food and nutritional needs and those of their families, to promote adequate standards of living for them, as well as decent conditions of work, and to guarantee their personal security, full access to land and natural resources and access to local, regional and global markets;

Remains deeply concerned about the recurring food insecurity and malnutrition in different regions of the world and their ongoing negative impact on health and nutrition, especially in sub-Saharan Africa, and in this regard underlines the urgent need for joint efforts at all levels to respond to the situation in a coherent and effective manner;

Recognizes the important role of indigenous peoples and small-scale farmers and their traditional knowledge and seed supply systems in the conservation of biodiversity and in aiming to ensure food security and improved nutrition;

Takes note of the report of the Conference of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on its thirty-ninth session as well as the report of the Committee on Agriculture on its twenty-fourth session, which expressed support for the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems concept and recognized the contribution of the Heritage Systems to cultural heritage, biological diversity and sustainable development;

Emphasizes the need to revitalize the agriculture sector, promote rural development and aim for ensuring food security and nutrition, notably in developing countries, in a sustainable manner, which will lead to rich payoffs across the Sustainable Development Goals, and underlines the importance of taking the necessary actions to better address the needs of rural communities by, inter alia, enhancing access for agricultural producers, in particular small producers, women, youth, indigenous peoples and people living in vulnerable situations, to credit and other financial services, markets, secure land tenure, health care, social services, education, training, knowledge and appropriate and affordable technologies, including for efficient irrigation, reuse of treated wastewater and water harvesting and storage;

Recognizes the growing need to take action to fight hunger and malnutrition among the urban poor;

Reaffirms the need to strive for a comprehensive twin-track approach to food security and nutrition that consists of direct action to immediately tackle hunger for the most vulnerable and medium- and long-term sustainable agriculture, food security and nutrition and rural development programmes to eliminate the root causes of hunger and poverty, including through the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security;

Also reaffirms the need to promote a significant expansion of research on food, nutrition and agriculture, extension services, training and education, and of funding for such research from all sources, to improve agricultural productivity and sustainability in order to strengthen agriculture as a key sector to promote development and to build up resilience to support better recovery from crisis and shock, including by strengthening the work of the reformed Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research so as to enhance its development impact, supporting national research systems, public universities and research institutions and promoting technology transfer on mutually agreed terms, the voluntary sharing of knowledge and practices and research to adapt to and mitigate climate change and improve equitable access to research results and technologies on mutually agreed terms at the national, regional and international levels, while giving due consideration to the preservation of genetic resources;

Stresses that a universal, rules-based, open, non-discriminatory and equitable multilateral trading system will promote agriculture and rural development in developing countries and contribute to world food security and nutrition, and urges national, regional and international strategies to promote the inclusive participation of farmers, especially smallholder farmers, including women, in community, national, regional and international markets;

Also stresses the need to continue to strengthen cooperation among the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, the International Fund for Agricultural Development, the World Food Programme, the regional commissions and all other relevant entities of the United Nations system and other intergovernmental organizations, international financial institutions and international trade and economic institutions, including with the support of the Secretary-General’s High-level Task Force on Global Food and Nutrition Security, in accordance with their respective mandates, in order to increase their effectiveness, as well as to strengthen cooperation with non-governmental organizations and the public and private sectors in promoting and strengthening efforts towards sustainable agriculture development, food security and nutrition;

Recognizes the contribution made thus far by early warning systems, and underlines that the reliability and timeliness of such systems should be strengthened at the national, regional and international levels, with a focus on countries that are particularly vulnerable to price shocks and food emergencies;

Stresses the need to significantly reduce post-harvest and other food losses and waste throughout the food supply chain through, inter alia, increased promotion of appropriate harvesting practices, agrofood processing, appropriate facilities for the storage and packaging of food and by encouraging sustainable consumption patterns;

Reaffirms the important role and inclusive nature of the Committee on World Food Security as a key organ in addressing the issue of global food security and nutrition, and notes the role that the Committee could play in support of the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals, particularly those related to ending hunger and malnutrition;

Encourages countries to give due consideration to the dissemination, promotion and implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries and Forests in the Context of National Food Security,19 as well as the voluntary Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems,18 as endorsed by the Committee on World Food Security in 2012 and 2014, respectively;

Calls upon the relevant organizations of the United Nations system, within their respective mandates and resources, to ensure that no country is left behind in the implementation of the present resolution;

Requests the Secretary-General to submit to the General Assembly at its seventy-first session a report on the implementation of the present resolution, and decides to include in the provisional agenda of its seventy-first session the item entitled “Agriculture development, food security and nutrition”, unless otherwise agreed in the discussions on the revitalization of the Second Committee.

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Who created this mandate?

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