Blog Post

Australia G20 Framework on Food Security and Nutrition

In 2013, the G20 Leaders’ Declaration included a framework on food and nutrition security (FSN Framework). This Framework was designed to provide the basis for a long-term, integrated, and sustainable food systems approach to food security and nutrition, recognizing that action is needed both within and beyond the agricultural sector.

The Framework set out three priority objectives to integrate food security and nutrition efforts at the global level and within lower income countries. These objectives also include links to the G20’s focus on economic growth and job creation.

The first objective is to increase responsible investment in food systems throughout the world, with particular emphasis on the private sector. This goal will include strengthening food value chains, increasing access to inclusive financial services such as credit and insurance programs, improving the transparency and efficiency of local, regional, and global food and agricultural trade, and ensuring good governance in water use and land tenure. The Framework recommends several actions to meet this objective, including promoting public-private partnerships in infrastructure investment and supporting the work of AMIS to improve market transparency.

The second objective is to increase incomes and employment opportunities in food systems through developing improved labor market policies and investing in vocational training, especially for youth, smallholder farmers, and women. Social protection programs focusing on human capital investment and the productive capacity of the poor will also help improve labor markets by ensuring that working-age populations remain healthy. Recommended policies to accomplish this objective include sharing experiences among countries in terms of labor market development programs, social protection programs, and risk management services.

The final objective is to sustainably increase productivity in order to expand the global food supply. This will require increased investment in research and development, innovation, and technology transfer, particularly in terms of resource conservation and biodiversity protection. Improving rural infrastructures like irrigation and communications will play a large role in this objective, as will creating more efficient rural-urban linkages.