The Special Joint Meeting of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the Economic and Financial Committee of the General Assembly (Second Committee) on "Food security and nutrition: Scaling up the global response" took place on Thursday, 14 February 2013 from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. at United Nations Headquarters in New York. The meeting, organized by DESA in collaboration with FAO, IFAD and WFP, aimed to promote coordinated international action to address both immediate issue of high food prices and long-term issues of production, trade and consumption of food in order to prevent a repeat of the 2008-9 food crisis. The meeting provided a unique opportunity to discuss food security and nutrition with experts and representatives of Governments from around the world to identify steps to build a future free of hunger. In attendance were high-level representatives and experts in agriculture, food security and nutrition, representatives of Member States of the United Nations, NGOs, and others.

Issues discussed ranged from food security, nutrition to food waste, agricultural production, trade, climate change, post-2015 and Rio+20 follow up. The need for a holistic and comprehensive approach that takes into account the country context and the importance of partnerships in addressing this issue were emphasized. A number of key recommendations for promoting food security and nutrition emerged from the discussions.