Summits | Meetings | Publications | Research | Search | Home | About the G7 Research Group
|
Summits | Meetings | Publications | Research | Search | Home | About the G7 Research Group |
|
G7 Agriculture Ministers’ Communiqué
Siracusa, September 28, 2024
[pdf]
We, the G7 Ministers of Agriculture, met in Syracuse on September 27-28, 2024, to reiterate our commitment to make agriculture and food systems more productive, resilient and sustainable, to improve food security and nutrition.
Sustainable agriculture and food systems can help address climate change and halting and reversing biodiversity losses, contribute to global economic prosperity and integration, and revitalize rural and fishing communities. They are a source of livelihoods and a crucial part of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, ending hunger and malnutrition, generating income along all components of the agricultural supply and value chains. In addition, over 40 percent of the global population relies on aquatic food, making delivering sustainable fisheries and aquaculture critical to improve global food security and nutrition.
According to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), between 713 and 757 million people may have faced hunger in 2023 – one out of 11 people in the world – and the prevalence of food insecurity has remained consistently higher among women than among men, globally and in all regions, since data first became available in 2015. It is projected that 19.5 percent of all children under five will be stunted in 2030. In Africa, the region with the largest percentage of the population facing hunger, 298.4 million people may have faced hunger in 2023. These estimates show that, in the 20th anniversary of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) Voluntary Guidelines to support the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security and with only 6 years remaining on the timeline of the 2030 Agenda, we are still far from eradicating hunger, and further efforts are needed to achieve food security, while conserving natural resources.
Conflicts, climate variability and weather extremes as well as economic setbacks are the main drivers for hunger and all forms of malnutrition and are often intersected and mutually reinforced.
We continue to condemn, in the strongest terms, Russia’s illegal war of aggression against Ukraine that has seriously exacerbated global food insecurity by disrupting supply chains, increasing the costs of agricultural inputs, such as fuels, feed, and fertilizers, worsening the conditions of the most vulnerable countries and elevating financial instability.
Prompted by recent crises, the Italian G7 Presidency invited the G7 members to discuss its concept of food sovereignty. We underlined the need to combine international and regional trade and domestic production to diversify supply chains and promote food security for all.
We will accelerate development that helps countries achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and progressively realise the right to adequate food in the context of national food security. Recognizing the complex economic, social and environmental challenges, we are committed to strengthening farmers resilience, addressing inequalities, and promoting reliable and sustainable supply chains that decouple agricultural production from deforestation and forest and land degradation.
We are also pledged to responsibly invest in agriculture and food systems that can provide safe, affordable, nutritious and quality food for all, as well as solutions for addressing the climate change and loss of biodiversity. Noting that health of people, animals and ecosystems are closely interconnected and interdependent, we remain committed to promote the One Health approach and we support the implementation of the Quadripartite One Health Joint Plan of Action, as appropriate.
We emphasize the importance of promoting and implementing measures to tackle Antimicrobial Resistance (AMR) in all relevant sectors, based on international coordination, scientific evidence, surveillance and risk analysis.
We support cooperation to reduce risks and threats deriving from invasive alien species, plant pests and infectious diseases and their impacts upon the health of humans, animals, soil, crops and plants.
We strive to ensure that every child, woman and man has access to adequate food in quantity and quality, recognizing cultural variation of dietary and eating habits. Committed to the fight against all forms of malnutrition, we look forward to the 2025 Paris Nutrition for Growth Summit.
We emphasize the need to reduce food loss and waste from production to consumption.
We recognize the importance of businesses implementing existing international voluntary guidelines to promote responsible business conduct in agricultural, aquaculture and fishery supply chains. In this regard, we continue to encourage the private sector’s involvement in local communities’ efforts towards the transformation of their agriculture and food systems.
We acknowledge the efforts and commitment of farmers and fishers to mitigate climate change, and adapt to its effects, to sustainably produce food for all. This includes minimizing pollution, protecting the environment, restoring ecosystems and conserving biodiversity and natural resources, such as soil and water, to maintain viable rural and fishing areas.
We still see the need to increase resilience and to scale up climate change adaptation and mitigation activities to reduce the vulnerability of all farmers and fishers.
We emphasize the importance of increasing access to and sustainable use of fertilizers, including through strengthening local production.
We promote the sustainability of agricultural and fisheries labour as a source of livelihoods and the coherence between agricultural, fisheries, trade, health and environmental policies. We prioritize context-specific strategies and policies to support farmers and fishers in their role as stewards of the land, aquatic environments and natural resources to transform agriculture and food systems to be more environmentally, socially and economically sustainable and resilient.
We strive to strengthen policies for the fair distribution of value within agricultural supply chains and food systems to improve the position of farmers and fishers.
We reiterate our solidarity with Ukrainian farmers and our support for the reconstruction of Ukraine’s agricultural sector. We continue to support Ukraine to feed its own people and to export its grain and agricultural products, including to the most vulnerable nations. We call for unimpeded deliveries of grain, foodstuffs, fertilisers and other inputs from Ukraine across the Black Sea and through the EU Ukraine Solidarity Lanes and we welcome the Grain Verification Scheme that Ukraine will lead this year.
As agri-food trade makes an essential contribution to global food security, we remain united in our commitment to the rules-based, free and fair, equitable, and transparent multilateral trading system, with the World Trade Organization (WTO) at its core and we pledge to avoid any unjustified restrictive measures on exports and to engage constructively in WTO reform process on agriculture. We call for the respect of human rights and international labour, social and environmental commitments to contribute to the resilience and sustainability of agriculture and food systems. We welcome the G7 Japanese Presidency outcome report of the G7 Joint Discussion Project which provided policy recommendations to facilitate inclusive transformation towards resilient and sustainable agriculture and food systems.
We reiterate our strong support to the G20 Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) and emphasize the importance of data availability and transparency for well-functioning markets supported by a broad donor base.
We highlight the important role of the United Nations Committee on World Food Security (CFS) as an inclusive multistakeholder forum and value its policy guidelines and recommendations.
We believe that to achieve more resilient and sustainable agriculture and food systems it is critical to promote and foster cross-sector collaboration and engagement in science, innovation, and knowledge exchange and to enable farmers to effectively implement sustainable practices for better adaptation to and mitigation of climate change. We recall the importance of access to genetic resources and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from their use. We commit to expanding access to science and all forms of innovation, to lift barriers in infrastructure and education and to improve food quality.
We welcome the COP28 UAE Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action and note the FAO Global roadmap to achieve SDG 2 without breaching the 1.5 degrees Celsius threshold. We appreciate the agreement reached at the Bonn Climate Conference in June 2024 on a roadmap for the Sharm El Sheikh Joint Work on implementation of climate action in agriculture and food security from COP27.
We are aware that a thriving and resilient agriculture depends on biodiversity. We commit to play our part in achieving the goals and targets of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, including through a substantial increase in the application of biodiversity friendly practices.
We call for developing data, metrics and analysis further to measure progress in climate change mitigation and adaptation in agriculture and food systems and inform decision -making processes.
We acknowledge the value of having different tools available to producers, including traditional methods, new technologies and other innovative approaches such as agroecology and breeding innovations, to improve sustainability, resilience and productivity. These tools can help to conserve food cultures, rural landscapes and agricultural diversity, to enhance the quality of the agri-food products and to strengthen local production.
We emphasize the importance of inclusive, full and equal participation of local communities, and underrepresented groups such as Indigenous Peoples in food systems governance and decision-making processes through appropriate recognition for their collective lands, territories and resources, in accordance with relevant national legislation and international instruments.
We recognize that emerging technologies, such as Artificial Intelligence (AI), could transform agriculture and food systems by optimizing processes and resources, and we note the importance of reflecting the specific needs of the agriculture and food sector in risk management strategies to ensure their safe and effective use and address possible socio- economic impacts.
We commit to work together to respond to the rapidly evolving use of AI applications and to promote an international environment in which AI and digital agricultural technologies respect human dignity and rights and contribute to strengthening the sustainability and the resilience of agriculture and food systems.
We acknowledge the need to foster collaboration, innovation, and research in the application of AI to agriculture, food, fisheries and aquaculture sectors and promote international discussion and cooperation on AI issues, recognizing the value of interoperability between AI governance frameworks as it relates to primary production.
We highlight the importance of promoting youth engagement and employment in agriculture, fisheries, aquaculture and food systems both to learn from traditional practices and to boost innovation and accelerate the achievement of the SDGs.
We are fostering generational renewal by reinforcing sustainable agriculture and food production as a profitable, attractive activity and a viable career for young generations.
We commit to scale up efforts to redress imbalances, especially those affecting women and girls, in access to services, land, natural resources, knowledge, technology, finance, credit markets and in decision-making processes, in line with the CFS Voluntary Guidelines on Gender Equality and Women’s and Girls’ Empowerment in the Context of Food Security and Nutrition, and CFS Policy Recommendations on Promoting Youth Engagement and Employment in Agriculture and Food Systems for Food Security and Nutrition.
We support youth entrepreneurship and youth-led initiatives, women's empowerment and gender equality by revitalizing rural and fishing areas to attract young people. This includes social protection systems and active policies to ensure access to education, health and services.
We welcome the outputs of the G7 Agri-Young Hackathon.
Global production and consumption of aquatic foods has grown significantly in recent years, highlighting the role of fisheries and aquaculture in food security and nutrition. However, it also calls attention to the continued environmental, social and economic challenges that all actors face in order to achieve a sustainable supply of aquatic foods and sustainable livelihoods for coastal and rural communities. We support sustainable fishing and aquaculture as a fundamental part of the cultural identity of local and coastal communities.
We call for the deposit of instruments of acceptance of the Agreement on Fisheries Subsidies, adopted at the 12th WTO Ministerial Conference, to allow its entry into force and to accelerate its implementation. Further, building on the significant progress made at the 13th Ministerial Conference, we support continued WTO negotiations on additional provisions on fisheries subsidies that contribute to overcapacity and overfishing with the goal to reach a comprehensive and well-balanced agreement as soon as possible.
We promote sustainable and transparent management of fishery resources to contribute to the protection and conservation of marine biodiversity, based on the best available scientific evidence, as well as the development of aquaculture in line with the FAO Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, taking into consideration the recently approved FAO Guidelines for Sustainable Aquaculture.
We call for the respect of human rights and for labour, social, economic and environmental standards in the fishery and aquaculture sectors to ensure a level playing field and fair competition.
We reiterate our strong commitment to achieve SDG 14 and to end overfishing and illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing which remains a serious threat to the viability of marine stocks.
Agriculture and food systems are the backbone of sustainable development, playing a fundamental role for a prosperous future of African countries.
We recall the Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Programme (CAADP), which aims to eliminate hunger and reduce poverty and malnutrition by increasing economic growth through agriculture-led development. We commend the ongoing efforts by the African Union to develop the post-Malabo 2026-2035 CAADP strategy and action plan and we look forward to the Kampala CAADP declaration that will be adopted in 2025. We seek to strengthen our partnership with African countries to share experiences on increasing agricultural productivity and incomes and improving the sustainability of agricultural production and responsible use of natural resources, in order to also reduce poverty and malnutrition.
We commit to further strengthening cooperation with African countries and organizations by leveraging synergies, working together to enhance resilience to climate variability and promoting the transfer of knowledge and good practices.
We welcome the G7 initiative on Strengthening Seed Certification Capacity in Africa led by the OECD and the Africampus project led by the CGIAR, and we take note of the G7 Apulia Food Systems Initiative (AFSI).
We warmly thank the Italian Presidency, particularly the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forests, for hosting the excellent dialogue in Syracuse between G7 Agriculture Ministers and for organizing the G7 Agriculture Forum for Africa. We look forward to the Canadian G7 Presidency in 2025 to build on the work of Italy and the previous G7 Presidencies.
Source: Official website of Italy's 2024 G7 presidency
 — 
|
This Information System is provided by the University of Toronto Libraries and the G7 Research Group at the University of Toronto. |
|
Please send comments to:
g7@utoronto.ca This page was last updated September 28, 2024. |
 |
 |
 |
 |
All contents copyright © 2025. University of Toronto unless otherwise stated. All rights reserved.