Designing trade policies in food and agriculture that can address the trade-offs between economic, environmental and social objectives and strengthen the resilience of food systems to shocks is vital. To ensure that trade contributes to more sustainable food systems, trade policies should be based on evidence, consultation mechanisms with stakeholders and effective institutional capacities for implementation.
There is a growing body of analytical work examining how trade and trade policy influence diets and nutrition-related outcomes. However, as far as trade-offs with the environment are concerned, the effects of environment-related provisions (ERPs) in regional trade agreements (RTAs) on the sustainability dimensions of food production remain unclear, as empirical evidence is scarce despite the widespread use of such provisions.
FAO, with the support of the Federal Office of Agriculture of Switzerland, carried out analysis under a project on ‘Trade and Sustainable Agrifood Systems’. This edition of FAO in Geneva Agriculture Trade Talks will present the project's results with two policy dialogues: Policy Dialogue I on ‘Contributing to sustainable agrifood systems through ERPs in RTAs’ and Policy Dialogue II on ‘Agrifood trade, trade policy and nutrition’.
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