2016 Global Food Policy Report: How We Feed the World is Unsustainable

 

The International Food Policy Research Institute released its flagship publication, the 2016 Global Food Policy Report, which provides an in-depth look at major food policy developments and events in the past year, and examines key challenges and opportunities for the coming year.

The Global Food Policy Report is IFPRI’s flagship publication. This year’s annual report examines major food policy issues, global and regional developments, and commitments made in 2015, and presents data on key food policy indicators. The report also proposes key policy options for 2016 and beyond to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. In 2015, the global community made major commitments on sustainable development and climate change. The global food system lies at the heart of these commitments—and we will only be able to meet the new goals if we work to transform our food system to be more inclusive, climate-smart, sustainable, efficient, nutrition- and health-driven, and business-friendly.

Building a food system that works for people and the planet

As the global community takes on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), we are also moving toward more comprehensive—or system-level— thinking to tackle the complex issues of poverty, hunger, and malnutrition. The 2016 Global Food Policy Report explores how we can develop a food system that is inclusive, climate-smart, sustainable, efficient, nutrition- and health-driven, and business-friendly, in order to improve the well-being of people and the planet.

More about the 2016 report

The 2016 Global Food Policy Report provides perspective on the major food policy issues, developments, and decisions of 2015 and highlights challenges and opportunities for 2016.

• Food Policy in 2015–2016: Reshaping the Global Food System for Sustainable Development
• Climate Change and Agriculture: Strengthening the Role of Smallholders
• Toward a Sustainable Food System: Reducing Food Loss and Waste
• Water, Nutrition, and Health: Finding Win-Win Strategies for Water Management
• Land and Soil Management: Promoting Healthy Soils for Healthier Agricultural Systems
• Green Energy: Fueling the Path to Food Security
• Nutrition and Sustainability: Harnessing Value Chains to Improve Food Systems
• Shifting Diets: Toward a Sustainable Food Future
• Regional Developments

The 2016 Global Food Policy Report also presents data for several key food policy indicators, including country-level data on hunger, agricultural spending, agricultural research investment, and capacity for food policy research. In addition to illustrative figures, tables, and a timeline of food policy events in 2015, the report presents the results of a global opinion poll on the current state of food policy.

The full text of this year’s report, including indicators with an interactive display of the data, is available online at

http://www.ifpri.org/gfpr/2016.