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POLICY AND PRACTICE REVIEWS article

Front. Nutr.
Sec. Nutrition and Sustainable Diets
Volume 11 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fnut.2024.1383898
This article is part of the Research Topic Dietary Protein for Human Health View all 23 articles

Global protein sustainability and the United Nations, through to the 2030 agenda

Provisionally accepted
Barbara Burlingame Barbara Burlingame 1,2*Ana Moltedo Ana Moltedo 3Carlo Cafiero Carlo Cafiero 3
  • 1 Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand
  • 2 Riddet Institute, Massey University, Palmerston North, Manawatu-Wanganui, New Zealand
  • 3 Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, Rome, Italy

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Organisations and initiatives concerned with food security and nutrition have long positioned protein, together with dietary energy, as the keystone for life itself. Indeed, the word protein, derived from the Greek proteios, means 'of primary importance'. There is a long history of attention to, and controversies over, proteins in UN processes, beginning in the 1930s and continuing to this day. The importance of protein for agriculture, health, food security and nutrition is reflected in the data collected and presented in the statistical databases of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAOSTAT), available per commodity, per country and over an extensive time series. Protein features directly and indirectly in all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDG), which constitute the United Nations 2030 Agenda. Most directly involved is SDG 2. The short title for SDG 2 is 'zero hunger'. The long title offers more detail: end hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.

    Keywords: protein, United Nations, policy, nutrition, FAOSTAT, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

    Received: 08 Feb 2024; Accepted: 11 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Burlingame, Moltedo and Cafiero. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Barbara Burlingame, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand

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