CFS 53 Side Event : Agroecology as a transformative pathway towards sustainable food systems: Scaling investments, policies and practices

23.10.2025
FAO, Green room and online

This side event examined the opportunities and dynamics of accelerating food systems transformation through agroecology. It outlined key imperatives and showcases promising initiatives related to enabling policies and platforms, innovative finance mechanisms and agroecology practices on the ground.   

 



Content

It highlighted policy processes undertaken in Africa, Asia, and Latin America to elaborate National Agroecology Strategies and Guidelines, emphasizing the involvement of both government and Non-State Actors (NSAs) in the process.  

Furthermore, this side-event discussed the vital importance of financing agroecological transformations  aligned with human rights principles, through democratically-created, transparent and accountable mechanisms that are co-created with rights-holders /food provisioners, recognizing that at least a tenfold increase in current annual philanthropic, public, and private investments will be necessary to support a transition to agroecology and regenerative approaches. 

Finally, this event demonstrated how agroecology elements (FAO 2018) and principles (CFS 2019) are applied on the ground by family farmers and food provisioners, local communities and Indigenous Peoples to enhance both rural and peri-urban food systems and deliver on social, economic, and environmental objectives. 

Speaker list:

Dr. Andreas Schaumayer, Head of Division for Food Security and Fisheries, BMZ

H.E. Ambassador of Senegal in Rome, Ngor Ndiaye

Madeleine Kaufmann, Senior Policy Officer, Federal Ministry of Agriculture, Switzerland

Harry O’Crowley, Head of International Development, UN & SDGs Unit, Economics and Planning Division, Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Ireland

Daniel Moss, Director, Agroecology Fund 

Leonida Odongo, Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples Mechanism (CSIPM) representative 

Giulia Benedetto, Program Manager, ICEI NGO   

Moderated by Oliver Oliveros, Agroecology Coalition, and Faris Ahmed on behalf of the University of Vermont Institute for Agroecology.

Co-organized by the Agroecology Coalition, the University of Vermont Institute for Agroecology, , the Agroecology Fund, the  Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism (CSIPM), the  Italian Agency for Development Cooperation (AICS) and the Ministry of Agriculture, Animal Industry and Fisheries, Uganda.

Collaborating partners: Agroecology Europe, Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa (AFSA), Biovision Foundation, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmBH, FAO Agroecology Knowledge Hub, Global Alliance for the Future of Food, Indigenous Women and Girls Initiative, Indigenous Partnership for Agrobiodiversity and Food Sovereignty (TIP), ISARA Lyon, IPES-Food, Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation (SDC), TPP on Agroecology.