The world is facing challenges in achieving the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030 and technological innovation could play critical roles in transforming the global food system, according to Dr. Agnes Kalibata, UN Secretary-General’s Special Envoy for the 2021 Food Systems Summit.
“With less than 10 years to go to 2030, the world is not on track to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals,” said Dr. Kalibata in a keynote address to the Food Systems Forum, organized by Pinduoduo. “In some cases, we are moving in the wrong direction, with increasing hunger, malnutrition, environmental degradation and inequity.”
The global community faces the challenge of feeding a growing population with declining resources, making transformation to sustainable agriculture and food systems more imperative and innovation more crucial. By the end of the 21st century, the world population is projected to reach 11 billion. As the population grows, so will the associated challenges, such as inequality, environmental degradation, disease, social conflicts and hunger. Globally, one in three people were malnourished in 2018 and, if the current trend continues, one in two people could be malnourished by 2030.
There are strong linkages between food system transformation and climate, nature, health, and livelihoods, said Dr. Kalibata. Sustainable food systems do not just help to end hunger, they can also help the world achieve critical progress on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals, she said.
“This cannot be about food security or ending hunger or stopping biodiversity and ecosystem damage in isolation of each other,” she said. “Food systems are about addressing all these challenges at the same time.”
Dr. Kalibata highlighted the role of innovation and technology in transforming global food systems. She also praised the role that Pinduoduo, China’s largest agricultural e-commerce platform, plays in connecting Chinese farmers to the mass market and lifting them out of poverty.
Pinduoduo recorded more than 270 billion yuan ($42 billion) in agriculture-related gross merchandise volume (GMV) in 2020, up from 136 billion yuan in 2019. Chairman and CEO Chen Lei has said agriculture will remain a strategic focus for the company and that Pinduoduo will build the world's largest agricultural and grocery platform.
“Technology is the focus of this dialogue and could potentially be a game-changing enabler in this process,” she said. “The fact that Pinduoduo, as an agriculture e-commerce platform, has been using technology to increase market access for over 12 million farmers in China, provides us with a vivid example.”
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