FAO Regional Initiatives: Supporting member states to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals

The Asia-Pacific region, despite impressive economic growth, is home to 490 million people still suffering from chronic hunger and it accounts for 62 percent of undernourished people in the world. Other trends and topics that need to be taken into account include population growth, urbanization and change of dietary patterns, issues of malnutrition and food safety, climate change and disaster risk, and unsustainable production and environmental degradation. Therefore, in order to achieve FAO’s mandate related to SDG Goals, there is a need for placing sustainable agriculture and food systems in the center of the agenda applying the five principles of sustainable food and agriculture. In this regard, FAO plans to undertake to support member states in achieving SDGs through five Regional Initiatives in 2018-19, notably Zero Hunger, Blue Growth, Climate Change, One Health, and the Inter-regional Initiative on SIDS for the Pacific, which obtained endorsement at the 40th Session of the FAO Conference in July 2017.