A meeting of the Economic and Social Council of the UN has heard that the international community could end hunger, food insecurity and malnutrition sustainably by 2025 through holistic and ‘win-win’ sustainable agriculture approaches.

Director General of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations, José Graziano da Silva, described this as an ambitious goal but said countries around the world are showing it is possible.

In a session on scaling up for sustainable development, Senior Fellow with the World Agroforestry Centre, Philip Dobie, argued that achieving food security involves many sectors, not just agriculture. He believes a sustainable future depends on the management of productive landscapes. Dobie highlighted many examples of the role of agroforestry and trees as renewable resources. He drew attention to the links between agriculture and energy; many people in Africa and other developing countries depend on wood and charcoal for fuel which is sometimes seen as ‘backwards’ yet Finland generates more electrical power from forest waste than the entire energy generation of Kenya.

Policymakers, key stakeholders and representatives from the UN at the meeting examined how science, technology and innovation could help integrate the economic, social and environmental pillars of sustainable development to achieve triple win solutions in energy and agriculture and the Millennium Development Goals.

Read the full story: Economic and social council explores integration of three sustainable development pillars — economic, social, environmental — to achieve ‘triple win’ solutions