
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability hosted an Urban Agrifood Systems Global Workshop from 9 to 11 September 2024 at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy. This brought together a diverse group of stakeholders, including representatives from local and national governments, city networks, UN agencies, and organizations working on food, health, and environmental issues in urban areas.
The workshop aimed to co-develop a comprehensive five-year roadmap with concrete modalities, roles, and actions to clarify how the urban agrifood systems community can best work together to ensure an effective transformation of agrifood systems within cities and beyond. As cities worldwide face escalating challenges like climate change, biodiversity loss, rapid urbanization, social inequity, and food insecurity, this workshop serves as a crucial platform for aligning priorities, fostering collaboration, and driving collective action to address these complex issues.
The workshop comes at a critical time, building on the momentum from UNFCCC COP28 in Dubai, particularly through the Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems and Climate Action, which highlighted the role of local and regional governments and partners in transforming agrifood systems. The workshop also draws on insights from the recently released report on urban and peri-urban food systems by the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN). This report underscores the vital importance of these food systems in achieving food security and nutrition, especially amid rapid urbanization and rural transformation.
The link to the workshop report isn’t out yet, but follow ICLEI’s news release and sign up for their updates to be notified of progress.