The Food Security Roadmap Towards 2030

The Food Security Roadmap Towards 2030

New Zealand, 2021

An open, fair, transparent, productive, sustainable and resilient APEC food system that ensures people always have access to sufficient, safe, affordable, and nutritious food to meet their dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life

Introduction

1. As APEC economies, we recognise a well-functioning food system is critical to our people’s health and wellbeing and to the success of our economies. 

2. As a group, we are committed to helping each other achieve food security; growing our productivity and levels of economic development; reducing our impact on the environment and including all our people regardless of gender, ethnicity or age.

3.In 2020, APEC economic leaders endorsed the Putrajaya Vision 2040, committing to delivering an open, dynamic, resilient and peaceful Asia-Pacific community by 2040, for the prosperity of all our people and future generations. The Food Security Roadmap Towards 2030 (Roadmap 2030) will align with the Putrajaya Vision and promote cooperation among member economies to create a sustained and resilient recovery from the pandemic.  

The Food Security Roadmap Towards 2030

4. The principles of Roadmap 2030 build on APEC food security work to date, including the original 2010 Niigata Declaration made by Ministers responsible for Food Security and the APEC Food Security Roadmap Towards 2020. The Policy Partnership on Food Security (PPFS), in partnership with ABAC, lead APEC’s work on food security in collaboration with APEC fora and sub fora.  APEC recognises the need for a whole of systems approach along the agri-food value chain, and that all areas are interdependent and need to be enabled to work together to deliver food security under the Roadmap 2030 framework and in the key action areas. 

5. To this end, PPFS will continue to strengthen coordination with and work with all relevant APEC sub-fora in addressing the goals of APEC’s work on food security in the region, consistent with APEC’s guidelines for cross-fora collaboration.

6. Roadmap 2030 does not purport to represent all the actions necessary for the APEC region to achieve food security by 2030.  All of us are active in many different organisations, domestic and international, that concern the food system.  Roadmap 2030 represents the actions we believe APEC is uniquely placed to take to contribute to our individual economies’ goals and our collective regional success.

Key Action Areas

Digitalisation and Innovation

• increasing productivity and efficiency;
• minimising food loss and waste;
• mitigating and adapting to climate change; and
• reducing costs and facilitating food trade.

a) By the end of 2022, appraise existing work by other APEC fora and sub fora which promotes wider adoption of Global Data Standards for food and agriculture products and other interoperable digital technologies to enhance production-related technologies, supply chain traceability, accessible innovative financial technologies and interoperable digital documentation, including for trade; and identify areas which should be prioritised for further work to achieve region-wide interoperability through the food value chain, with a review of progress by 2025.

b) Identify and actively encourage government schemes which provide access to and promote introduction of innovative products and technologies, including support for the research and development of emerging technologies, for example smart agriculture, and share experiences of successful approaches taken in other economies and international bodies.

c) Promote and encourage increased levels of access to broadband digital infrastructure in underserved areas through necessary investment and structural reforms.

d) Economies to make available and deliver training sessions and/or workshops to improve food system related digital literacy and capability for underserved communities, leveraging existing programmes where possible.

e) From 2022, via the APIP database¹, voluntarily share information and best practice on digitalisation and innovation in the food supply chain.

f) Promote public-private investment to facilitate the use of innovative technologies for the whole food value chain, including those which improve efficiency and sustainability, and increase investment in micro, small and medium size enterprises (MSMEs), including start-ups, and small scale producers in the agri-food and fisheries sectors.

g) Modernise food storage facilities and logistics capacity, through increased exchange and cooperation among government agencies, businesses and institutes focusing on post-harvest management and technologies.

Productivity

10. PPFS acknowledges the work of other international fora (including other APEC fora) whose work addresses supply chain impediments and distortions, and improves access to domestic and international markets; particularly where this work boosts the productivity and incomes of small scale producers in the agri-food and fisheries sectors and alleviates poverty, hunger and malnutrition.

11. We recognise that international trade in food and agriculture is critical in achieving global food security and ensuring adequate nutrition. We also recognise that avoiding disruption of food supply chains is critical to ensure stable access to food. We highlight the importance of an open, fair, transparent, predictable, and non-discriminatory multilateral trading system underpinned by World Trade Organization (WTO) rules, to enhance market predictability, increase business confidence and allow trade to flow so as to contribute to food security and nutrition.

12. However, there are actions PPFS and other relevant APEC fora and sub-fora will take to address productivity, including, but not limited to the following actions:

a) Member economies to explore the implementation of best examples of systems which see perishable goods released through international borders in a timely manner, where this will reduce food loss and waste and remove extra costs for business.

b) Acknowledging the positive impact on food security of consistency in food trade standards, in appropriate fora member economies will assess best practice case studies of increasing food security through implementation of agreed science-based international standards, guidelines and recommendations.

c) Member economies to have due regard for the APEC Cross Cutting Principles on Non-Tariff Measures, agreed by APEC Ministers in 2018, in designing and implementing non-tariff measures relating to food.

d) Commission a review of progress in the food system against the Bogor Goals, and the APEC Putrajaya Vision 2040, including in goods, services and investment.

e) Identify strategies for boosting productivity in MSMEs and small-scale producers in the agri-food and fisheries sectors and share experiences and lessons learned.  

f) Work closely with private sector actors in the food system to identify policy barriers which impede progress on hunger and malnutrition, with particular focus on:

• Ending all forms of malnutrition, and especially reducing stunting and wasting among children under five years;
• Increasing productivity and improving the livelihoods of small-scale food producers, especially where APEC has a comparative advantage in systems that maintain ecosystems and improve land and soil quality;
• Increasing access to markets both domestic and international; and
• Reducing food loss and waste.

Inclusivity

13. A well-functioning food system and the inclusion of MSMEs, women, youth, indigenous communities, and the elderly in the sector is integral to maximising our resources, improving rural, remote and coastal livelihoods and unlocking the full potential of the APEC region. 

14. We are committed to inclusivity and, in addition to the actions below, we also undertake to promote diversity by encouraging balanced participation in all PPFS meetings, workshops, concept notes and associated APEC documentation, and panel discussions and forums.

a) Implementation of the La Serena Roadmap for Women and Inclusive Growth (2019-2030) in PPFS work.

b) Economies to share knowledge and experiences and make recommendations to PPFS on how APEC can unlock the economic potential of diverse groups of people, including Indigenous peoples, within the APEC food system.

c) Provide dialogue opportunities to improve economy knowledge of obstacles inhibiting youth participation in the food system and ability to facilitate the collective learnings of youth, experts and policy makers across the APEC region.

d) Promote greater agri-food financial inclusion by sharing information and successes on lending schemes for business establishment and development, including investment and e-payments; and perform an assessment of existing barriers for financial inclusion by the end of 2022.

Sustainability

16. While we are a diverse group of economies, we are committed collectively to improving the APEC food system’s environmental performance, including by sharing research and practical strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions; adapt to climate change; increase sustainable production (optimising resource use and protecting land and water), processing and consumption; and to reduce food loss and waste.

17.To assist economies in achieving their individual sustainability goals, economies have committed to the following actions:

a) Facilitate information sharing and utilise developments/best practices on an ongoing voluntary basis, to address biodiversity and natural resources depletion, soil use, and water source/supply issues.

b) Support each other to improve inventories of greenhouse gas emissions from the food system.

c) Share best practice on encouraging responsible investment into environmentally friendly, nature positive and sustainable food production, processing and distribution.

d) Acknowledging that economies use a range of different policy approaches in the food sector, we agree to identify and promote approaches that would support good environmental outcomes while also avoiding and/or minimising market distortion, including by drawing on work from relevant international organisations.

e) Provide capacity building and best practice sharing workshops to support member economies' individual and collective efforts to align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals 12.3 "by 2030, halve per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer levels and reduce food losses along production and supply chains, including post-harvest losses," with specific indicators based on each economy's respective situation such as measured by the UN/FAO Food Waste Index (FWI) or other appropriate index.  And promote public-private investment in infrastructure and cold chain to reduce the current levels of food loss and waste and review progress in this area by 2025.

Public Private Partnerships

a) Promote regular dialogue between public and private sectors within each economy to advise PPFS on how to enhance the business environment for the food sector.

b) Review the functioning and terms of reference of the PPFS to ensure a meaningful partnership with ABAC and the broader private sector, which better reflects the priorities and interests of the private sector and seeks to optimise their involvement.  

SMART Goals and Food Security Roadmap Towards 2030 Implementation

19. Roadmap 2030 offers a path towards providing accessible, available, nutritious and sufficient food for all in the APEC region and will be implemented with appropriate prioritisation and regard to the identified Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant and Time based (SMART) goals.  To achieve this, economies have undertaken to:

a) Hold workshops by early 2022 to facilitate the transition from Roadmap 2030 to the implementation plan, including developing specific “next steps” on each of the identified actions

b) For each action area, develop, in 2022, an implementation plan which identifies specific voluntary actions or initiatives member economies may enact to deliver on Roadmap 2030, reflecting also prioritisation that will achieve the most meaningful outcomes for producers and businesses in the food sector.

c) Perform review of actions in 2025 (and progress) and a review of the roadmap in 2030.