Agriculture development, food security and nutrition A/RES/71/245 improves food security, eradicates hunger and is economically viable, while conserving land, water, plant and animal genetic resources, biodiversity and ecosystems and enhancing resilience to climate change and natural disasters, and recognizes the need to maintain natural ecological processes that support sustainable and efficient food production systems and ensure food security, and takes note of the importance of the Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems promoted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations; 14. Recognizes that sustainable food systems have a fundamental role to play in promoting healthy diets and improving nutrition, and welcomes the formulation and implementation of internationally consistent national policies, aimed at eradicating malnutrition in all its forms and transforming food systems so as to make nutritious diets available to all, while reaffirming that health, water and sanitation systems must be strengthened simultaneously to end mal nutrition; 15. Also recognizes the critical role and contribution of rural women, including smallholders and women farmers, and indigenous women and women in local communities, and their traditional knowledge in enhancing agricultural and rural development, improving food security and eradicating rural poverty, and in this regard stresses the importance of reviewing agricultural policies and strategies to ensure that the critical role of women in food security and nutrition is recognized and addressed as an integral part of both short- and long-term responses to food insecurity, malnutrition, potential excessive price volatility and food crises in developing countries; 16. Reaffirms the crucial role of healthy marine ecosystems, sustainable fisheries and sustainable aquaculture for enhancing food security and access to adequate, safe and nutritious food and in providing for the livelihoods of millions of people, particularly inhabitants of small island developing States; 17. Encourages and recognizes the efforts at all levels to establish and strengthen social protection measures and programmes, including national safety nets and protection programmes for the needy and vulnerable, such as food and cash-for-work, cash transfer and voucher programmes, school feeding programmes and mother-and-child nutrition programmes, and in this regard underlines the importance of increasing investment, capacity-building and systems development; 18. Calls for closing the gender gap in access to productive resources in agriculture, noting with concern that the gender gap persists with respect to many assets, inputs and services, and stresses the need to invest in and strengthen efforts to empower women, in particular rural women, to address their own food and nutritional needs and those of their families, to promote adequate standards of living for them, as well as decent conditions of work, and to guarantee their personal security, full access to land and natural resources and access to local, regional and global markets; 19. Remains deeply concerned about the recurring food insecurity and malnutrition in different regions of the world and their ongoing negative impact on health and nutrition, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, and in this regard underlines the urgent need for joint efforts at all levels to respond to the situation in a coherent and effective manner; 20. Recognizes the important role of indigenous peoples, local communities, small-scale farmers, small-scale fishers and fish workers and their traditional knowledge and seed supply systems, as well the important role of new technologies 7/9