A/71/282 A. Mapping the global nutrition governance 41. In 2011 the WHO Global Action Plan for the Prevention and Control of Non-Communicable Diseases initiated action to tackle malnutrition comprehensively, including unbalanced nutrition and obesity. In 2012, the World Health Assembly endorsed six global nutrition targets to improve maternal, infant and young child nutrition by 2025. Commitment to reach those targets was reaffirmed at the Second International Conference on Nutrition, held in Rome in 2014. 42. The Conference is considered a landmark event that brought together the global community to discuss nutrition, acknowledging malnutrition in all its forms. Its outcome document, the Rome Declaration on Nutrition, pledges 10 commitments to action, recognizing the importance of a life-cycle approach to preventing malnutrition, as well as empowering people to make informed food choices. States committed to increasing investment in nutrition and moving towards sustainable food systems. The Framework for Action adopted at the Co nference recognizes that effective and coherent nutrition policies require adequate financing and investment, political commitment, systematic public monitoring and accountability processes. It also calls for collaboration across all systems, including food, health, trade, investment, education, social protection, water and sanitation and hygiene. 43. Leaders at the Conference also recognized the importance of integrating their political commitments with the post-2015 development agenda and of anchoring nutrition targets in the Sustainable Development Goals. 39 The Goals have a universal character and cannot be achieved without special attention to nutrition. While Goal 2 explicitly refers to “nutrition” and Goal 3 to non-communicable diseases, nutrition is arguably interwoven within all 17 Goals, as well as 50 indicators. 40 44. As suggested, the root causes of malnutrition go beyond a lack of sufficient and adequate food, and to combat them requires actions similar to those embedded in a variety of interrelated development goals, including those pertaining to health, access to resources, environmental degradation, climate change and women ’s empowerment. The Sustainable Development Goals cannot be achieved without special attention to nutrition, and vice versa. 45. On 1 April 2016, following the recommendations of the Conference, the General Assembly proclaimed 2016-2025 the United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition. The Decade presents a unique opportunity to centralize globally agreed targets, align actors around implementation and address the shortcomings identified in the current nutrition governance system. B. Shortcomings of the global governance system 46. While ambitious targets have been set to ensure global governance of nutrition, much more is needed to live up to the challenge of sustainability while providing each person with enough food to live a healthy and productive life, as __________________ 39 40 12/24 Second International Conference on Nutrition, Chairs’ summary of round table 1 (Nutrition in the post-2015 development agenda). Standing Committee on Nutrition, “Nutrition and the post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals”, policy brief, Geneva, November 2014. 16-13441