Mr Chairperson,
- I speak on behalf of the five Nordic countries, the EU members; Denmark, Finland and Sweden, as well as Iceland and my own country Norway. All countries are aligned with the EU statement.
- The Nordic countries are strong supporters of the CFS, as the most inclusive international and intergovernmental platform for stakeholders to ensure food security and nutrition for all. Work which is key to ensure progressive realization of the right to adequate food.
- We welcome the report of the CFS 53rd session and would like to highlight the following points.
- The current food security and nutrition situation globally is deeply concerning. As stated in the 2025 SOFI report, an estimated 638 to 720 million people, corresponding to 7.8 and 8.8 percent of the global population faced hunger in 2024, with 512 million people still projected to be affected by hunger in 2030. This calls for urgent collective action.
- Since, more than 60 percent of the world’s population live in urban areas and urbanisation is rapidly increasing, we very much welcome the adoption of CFS’ “Policy Recommendations on Strengthening Urban and Peri-urban Food Systems to Achieve Food Security and Nutrition in the context of urbanization and Rural Transformation”. These recommendations are important to make more targeted interventions and policy developments that specifically address populations in urban and peri-urban areas.
- The Nordics also wish to highlight the Voluntary Guidelines on the empowerment of Women and Girls in Food Systems as a key instrument to ensure food security and nutrition and addressing all forms of inequalities.
- To meet the urgent need to address food security and nutrition, we also need to recognize the vital contribution of aquatic “blue foods”. to global food security and nutrition. We also recognize the urgent need to address climate change, biodiversity loss, environmental degradation and water scarcity.
- The Nordics share the concerns over the current constraints in the multilateral and public financing of food system investments. We welcome CFS’ emphasis on the need to promote private sector investments and improve access to finance in agrifood systems.
Lastly, Mr Chair,
- We emphasise the importance of the RBA’s continued close collaboration with, and commitment to the CFS, to help develop, promote, and implement their products. We reiterate our support to the CFS, and we endorse the report of its 53rd session.
- Thank you.