G20 china_web

Agriculture, food and nutrition
@WFPErtharin
www.wfp.org
I was proud to talk
about gender as a blind
spot that the global
community needs
to address
Q
How much are new demands inhibiting
the move from emergency relief to
food security?
A The two prerequisites to achieving food
security and nutrition security are peace
and stability. Without them, we cannot
effectively achieve food security. Droughts
and other climate events also limit our
ability unless we receive the necessary
resources for investing in adaptation
and mitigation to support vulnerable
populations, who are the most detrimentally
affected by those droughts.
Q Is your funding sustainable?
A No. We are fully funded for our response
to Syria for the remainder of this year,
because of the generous contributions of
many donors, particularly Germany. A lack
of reliable, predictable funding prevents
us from scaling up to the levels
needed to support adaptation
activities or reach the full
number of affected persons,
whether it is a drought or
conflict or other obstacle
that may affect a person’s
ability to access food.
Australia, the United
Kingdom and Canada, among
others, have recently committed to
multiyear funding. A growing number
of countries recognise the opportunity for
delivering outcomes to those we serve – as
opposed to simply outputs – when we can
perform activities over several years. More
and more countries see this opportunity
to help us provide different services to
the people who need our assistance most.
Multiyear funding allows us to move from
simply saving lives to actually changing lives.
Q How is the World Food Programme
(WFP) working with the G20 to forward
the emergency relief through to food
security agenda?
A WFP was invited for the first time
in recent history to participate in the
80%
Food-insecure
people live in climatemarginal
places
G20 agriculture ministers’ meeting in
preparation for the Hangzhou Summit. It
gave us an opportunity to support their
discussions on agricultural development
required to support vulnerable people
around the world. We appreciate China's
confirmation that the final document will
benefit from WFP’s input.
As one of the very few women present,
I also was proud to talk about gender as a
blind spot that the global community needs
to address. My colleagues from the other
Rome-based agencies and several ministers
echoed this concern to best address the
challenges facing women. Including
women’s voices will help ensure we have
outcomes that support their needs. This
is not to say that our male colleagues are
sensitive, but I appreciated the opportunity
to speak as a woman about women.
Q How is WFP contributing to
the implementation of the
Sustainable Development
Goals (SDGs)?
A We are focusing our
next strategic plan on SDG,
on zero hunger, and 17, on
global partnerships. WFP
can serve as a reliable market
for smallholder farmers, whether
we are purchasing from smallholders
for our school meals programmes or
supporting access to markets through
vouchers that provide cash for people to
purchase goods developed or grown in their
own communities. WFP’s school meals
programme is a good example of local
agricultural development that can support
the education goal as well as the zero
hunger and agricultural goals.
The goals are all interconnected and
so is our work, whether it is an emergency
response by purchasing from smallholders
or in development work with communities
to help improve agricultural value
chains by providing market access. We
collaborate with a number of partners
– including the Food and Agriculture
Organization, the International Fund for
Agricultural Development, the private
sector, governments and the smallholders
themselves – to achieve SDG 2.
Q Are you encouraged by the move towards
implementing the SDGs?
A I am excited not only about how fast
but how vocal leaders have been about
incorporating the SDGs into their plans. This
is the first time the entire global community
agreed it is not about them over there but all
of us together. That kind of public will is the
very foundation of what is required for us to
achieve the SDGs.
Q What obstacles lie ahead?
A Apart from funding, sustaining that
public will is challenging. So many other
challenges always face leaders. The G20 is
key to keeping food security as a priority,
not just in China but also, moving forward,
with Germany's G20 presidency in 2017.
Emphasising food security at this level will
ensure the entire global community will
continue to perform the work necessary to
achieve 2030 Agenda.
Q How can the leaders at their Hangzhou
Summit help?
A If the G20 leaders can embrace the
activities identified by their agriculture
ministers as essential to achieving food
security and then scale up those solutions
by investing the necessary resources,
whether they be capacity or financial
resources, we will be well on our way to
realising Agenda 2030.
As governments continue to face evolving
challenges, whether it is 65 million migrants
and internally displaced people or the 80
per cent of people WFP serves today who are
in climate-marginal places, the G20 must
continue to provide the leadership the world
needs by making significant agreements and
financing them in ways that will enable all
of us to deliver the 2030 Agenda. G20
226 G20 China: The Hangzhou Summit • September 2016 G7G20.com