Development Policy Committee: Finland should distinguish itself in food security diplomacy

According to the analysis, Finland should distinguish itself as a country promoting global food security and emphasise the links between themes related to food security as well as new approaches.

A good opportunity to promote “food security diplomacy” is the UN Food System Summit, which will take place in September in connection with the UN General Assembly in New York.

“Finland must play an active role in the summit, so that its end result will stimulate sustainable change and close the inequality gap between food systems. Finland must also commit to implementing the action agenda of the summit nationally and internationally,” the Development Policy Committee expert group recommends.

Finland can also actively influence international organisations and negotiation processes in order to strengthen the role of agriculture in adapting to and mitigating climate change, and to increase awareness and consideration of the importance of biodiversity for food security.

Finland's development policy aims to strengthen the opportunities of people in developing countries to produce and obtain safe, healthy and nutritious food. According to the Development Policy Committee’s analysis, this should also be reflected in funding.

In development cooperation, however, funding for the food security, agriculture and rural development sectors has decreased considerably in recent years. According to the analysis, Finland needs a credible and concrete plan to raise development cooperation funds to the level recommended by the UN. At the same time, funding for the food security, agriculture and rural development sectors must be increased.

The world's food systems must guarantee food security and good nutrition for the growing global population in such a way that the ecological preconditions for food production are not impaired and susceptibility to food crises is reduced. Globally, food production in terms of calories has remained approximately in phase with demographic development, but nearly 700 million people still do not have enough food. In addition, nearly two billion people eat nutritionally poor-quality food. People in different vulnerable groups are at greater risk of experiencing food insecurity, which is increased by disasters, conflicts and other crises.

Food production depends on the surrounding nature. At the same time, today's food production is a serious threat to the preservation of biodiversity, the preservation of ecosystems and climate stability. From a global perspective, food production is the single largest factor affecting environmental degradation and exceeding planetary sustainability limits.

Inquiries:

Marikki Stocchetti, Secretary General of the Development Policy Committee, tel. +385 50 525 8649, marikki.stocchetti@formin.fi
Chair of the Development Policy Committee Inka Hopsu, tel. +358 40 758 9545, inka.hopsu@eduskunta.fi

The Development Policy Committee is the only entity systematically and extensively monitoring and analysing Finland's development cooperation and policy. The Government appoints the committee for each government term. Its members consist of parliamentary parties, stakeholder and non-governmental organisations and universities in the UniPID network.