FAO is well positioned at the global level to offer relevant support to countries in achieving their SDG 2 targets and is committed to support the SDGs, a Global Agenda that it helped design. The new FAO’s Strategic Framework will provide an opportunity to promote and communicate FAO’s role in a coherent and joined-up manner, aligned with the 2030 Agenda. FAO has engaged with the current UN reform – strongly connected to the SDGs – with a very collaborative attitude. At the country level, which was the focus of the second phase of this evaluation, FAO’s position was found to be generally weaker due to its limited programmatic footprint. Nevertheless, a number of initiatives were “acting at scale” and producing results. Entry points to act at scale include support to develop laws and policies, to instigate agriculture trade and investment, to induce climate finance or South-South cooperation, and to education, both formal and informal. The depth and breadth of partnerships are generally increasing, but more partnerships with the private sector and mobilization of domestic resources would needed to make a serious impact on food systems.

SDG2 links food security, nutrition and a sustainable but climate resilient agriculture. This multi-dimensional goal encompasses several specific targets and indicators, aimed at ending hunger, improving nutrition and achieving food security through sustainable and resilient agriculture and income increase.

This evaluation assessed the extent to which FAO’s work has been relevant and effective in supporting its Members to achieve Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG 6). Water resources management is central to any consideration of agricultural production, ecosystems sustainability, rural livelihoods and climate change adaptation and resilience, issues that lie at the heart of FAO’s mandate. The evaluation found that FAO has a comparative advantage in several key SDG 6 target areas and addressed needs and demands from Members in all SDG 6 target areas. Irrigated agriculture (target 6.4) represents an area of high demand from Members and a dominant theme in the reviewed case studies. Regional initiatives are effective in addressing specific needs and challenges of individual regions. FAO has performed well in its custodial role for SDG indicators 6.4.1 and 6.4.2. However, overall FAO’s strategic approach to water-related activities remains. The links between agriculture and water quality and pollution (target 6.3) were not adequately addressed. Despite limited evidence on full transformational changes, the evaluation highlights several activities and approaches that, if nurtured, could form the basis for transformational change.

This report provides estimates of investment costs, both public and private, required to eliminate chronic dietary energy deficits, or to achieve zero hunger by 2030. This target is consistent with achieving both the Sustainable Development Goal 2, to eliminate hunger by 2030, and the Sustainable Development Goal 1, to eradicate poverty. The report adopts a reference “baseline” scenario, reflecting a “business-as-usual” situation, to estimate the additional investment requirements. In this scenario, around 650 million people will still suffer from hunger in 2030. The investment requirements to eliminate hunger by 2030 are then estimated. Hunger is eliminated through a combination of social protection and targeted “pro-poor “ investments. The first component aims to bring the poor immediately above the extreme poverty line through social protection by a “transfer to cover the poverty gap” (PGT) The second component involves additional investment required to stimulate and to sustain higher pro-poor growth of incomes and employment than in the business-as-usual scenario. This would, in turn, reduce the need for social protection to cover the PGT. The analysis is complemented by looking at alternative ways to achieve zero hunger by 2030.

At the heart of the 2030 Agenda was a promise to prioritize two objectives: to eradicate poverty and end hunger and malnutrition in all their forms. While global hunger, measured by the prevalence of undernourishment, had been on the decline, the absolute number of hungry people remained very high. In response, heads of states at the G7 Summit in Elmau in 2015 committed to lift 500 million people out of hunger and malnutrition by 2030 as part of a broader effort undertaken with partner countries to support the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, i.e. Sustainable Development Goal (SDG 2) to end hunger and malnutrition by 2030. Nevertheless, the number of undernourished people in the world kept rising, from 653 million people in 2015 to 690 million people in 2019, highlighting the challenge of achieving the goal of Zero Hunger and malnutrition by 2030. This study reviews the food security situation and change therein in light of recent developments, including COVID-19. It also analyses to which extent G7 countries responded to the challenge and their commitment in terms of development assistance and outlines promising investment opportunities to meet the 2030 targets.

Today, about 783 million people live in extreme poverty. Extreme poverty is primarily a rural phenomenon, with 80 percent of the extreme poor living in rural areas, across greatly diverse rural landscapes. Despite great progress in poverty reduction, the standard of living of the poorest of the poor has remained almost unchanged in the past 35 years, signaling that a huge gap in policy making and programmatic approaches are leaving them behind. FAO has established a Corporate Framework on Rural Extreme Poverty to orient and bring to bear the relevant work of the Organization towards reaching Target 1.1 of the SDGs. Eliminating extreme poverty is directly linked to eliminating hunger (SDG 2), as well as other SDGs. When the extreme poor have means to a better life, they no longer suffer from hunger and can invest in a better future for their families and communities. The Framework reinforces the application of other Corporate Frameworks, particularly those related to gender equality, social protection, sustaining peace, and migration. This makes the Framework applicable to many areas of FAO’s work, accelerating efforts to eliminate extreme poverty in rural areas. The Framework identifies four key areas to reach the rural extreme poor: ensuring food security and nutrition, promoting economic inclusion, fostering environmentally sustainable and resilient livelihoods and preventing and protecting the extreme poor against risks and shocks. To ensure its ability to eradicate rural extreme poverty, the Framework establishes the following five deliverables: 1. Better align the areas of FAO’s mandate into global and national actions to eradicate extreme poverty. 2. Increased capacity to reach the extreme poor by undertaking poverty analysis 3. Develop dedicated and integrated approaches for the rural extreme poor. 4. Ensure that FAO’s actions do not create poverty. 5. Account for FAO’s contribution to SDG 1, and in particular, to Target 1.1.

This report explores the alignment of aquaculture with the 2030 agenda's goals and targets, suggesting that existing guidance needs strengthening in cross-cutting areas - such as poverty alleviation and resource use efficiency.