Shenggen Fan SPECIAL EVENT LAUNCH EVENT: 2019 Global Food Policy Report Washington, DC, USA MAR 27, 2019 - 12:15 PM TO 01:45 PM EDT

1. Shenggen Fan
Director General
International Food Policy Research Institute
Washington, D.C. | March 27, 2019

2. • Looming issues from 2018 persist in 2019
▪ EAT-Lancet Commission Report highlighted the need
of a Great Food Transformation for healthy diets within
safe planetary boundaries
▪ IPCC Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5⁰C
stressed climate-related risks to health, livelihoods,
food security, water supply, human security, and
economic growth
• Rural people continue to face a crisis due to food
insecurity, poverty, and environmental
degradation, yet the issue is lacking attention
Growing urgency
To achieve the SDGs and climate goals

3. Source: Castañeda et al. 2016
26.8
19.2
Rural Urban
6.4 5.8
Rural Urban
Malnutrition persists in rural areas
Prevalence of under-5
stunting (%)
Prevalence of under-5
wasting (%)
Source: GNR 2018
0
20
40
60
80
100
2000 2015 2000 2015
Rural Urban
Safely managed service Basic service Limited service Unimproved
Source: WHO and UNICEF 2018
Rural and urban sanitation service coverage (%)
Poverty is disproportionately rural
Rural areas face land and water
degradation and climate change,
which in turn affect social and economic
outcomes for agriculture and rural areas
Rural areas continue to face a crisis

4. Rural revitalization
Successful cases provide powerful lessons
• South Korea: New Village Movement
▪ Community-based integrated rural development
• China: a rurbanomics approach to modernize farm
sector and rural areas
▪ Taobao Villages use e-commerce to foster entrepreneurship and
create flexible, inclusive employment opportunities
• European Union: Multisectoral, bottom-up strategies
to protect and enhance the environment
▪ Smart Villages harness digital connectivity for renewable energy,
mobility, and e-service delivery in health and education

5. Key building blocks
For productive, sustainable, and healthy rural areas
• No one-size-fits-all approach to rural revitalization
▪Provide economic
incentives
▪Invest in innovative
practices &
technologies
▪Support institutions
to coordinate action
▪Promote investment
& competition
among providers
▪Deliver packages of
support – access &
the means to use
energy
▪Establish enabling,
predictable regulatory
environment
▪Incentivize better
service delivery
▪Facilitate the
information revolution
▪Increase women’s
participation in
governance
▪Improve data &
evidence
▪Include men in
policy design
▪Enhance non-farm
opportunities
▪Promote high-value
production
▪Strengthen rural-
urban linkages
▪Engage youth
Connectivity
& Integration
Gender
Equality
Environment
Renewable
Energy
Governance
Rural Revitalization

6. • The rural crisis must be
addressed for the SDGs
and climate goals
• Rural revitalization is
critical, timely, and
achievable