Summit of the Future Action Days side-event ‘WSIS in Action: Shaping the Future of Digital Cooperation’

Summit of the Future Action Days side-event 'WSIS in Action: Shaping the Future of Digital Cooperation'

Dejan Jakovljevic, Chief Information Officer, FAO

20/09/2024

• Global hunger, measured by the prevalence of undernourishment (PoU), has persisted at nearly the same level for three consecutive years, still affecting 9.1 percent of the population in 2023 compared with 7.5 percent in 2019.
• It is estimated that between 713 and 757 million people, corresponding to 8.9 and 9.4 percent of the global population, respectively, may have faced hunger in 2023. Considering the mid-range (733 million), this is about 152 million more people than in 2019.

Digital - Call for action

• In this alarming context, agrifood systems need holistic transformation, and quickly to better serve people, planet, for prosperity - through the enabling of new solutions.
• That is where digital can play a crucial role, bringing concrete impact also to the field, in remote locations and to the most vulnerable communities.
• Digital offers solutions, but also enables transformation and acceleration of drivers for sustainable development, including at local and regional levels, through targeted interventions and bringing tools in hands to the farmers and other agricultural stakeholders worldwide.

However, there are some key challenges (that we still need to tackle)

• Digital does not understand borders nor boundaries; need a cohesive, coherent joint approach to strengthen cooperation for greater impact at the global level.
• We need to bring together:
  • Ministries, Government representatives
  • UN agencies, international organizations
  • Private sector and industry
  • Academia
  • Civil society
  • the technical community
  • Others
• WSIS can help with bringing together different stakeholders needed.
• Need to continue digital collaboration along these lines, building on WSIS lessons learnt and the platforms for dialogue that it provides at global level to harmonize policies, frameworks, standards and initiatives and FAO stands ready to collaborate and move forward within the UN system and beyond.