Press Release 20161024

The Dairy Declaration of Rotterdam

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and the International Dairy Federation (IDF) signed the Dairy 

Declaration of Rotterdam on 19th October during the IDF World Dairy Summit.

The representatives of the one-billion person dairy community present at Rotterdam are committed to the sustainable 

development of the dairy sector to generate benefit for people and the planet. The declaration aims TO reiterate the integrated 

approach that the dairy sector takes to promote the sustainability of dairy systems, taking into consideration social, economic, 

health and environmental dimensions.

The annual Summit, a grand assembly of the dairy world was attended by around 1200 participants from 64 countries. The 

theme of the Rotterdam IDF World Dairy Summit was “Dare to Dairy”.

FAO Assistant Director General, Ren Wang, said, “The dairy sector has a key role to play in achieving the Sustainable 

Development Goals of the UN 2030 Agenda. The goals integrate the three dimensions of Sustainability (economic, social and 

environmental) and call for commitment from all stakeholders”.

Jeremy Hill, President of IDF said, “I am confident that we will look back at this declaration as a landmark event in the history 

of dairy. We can be confident about the impact and importance of the dairy to the world. At the same time, we must also 

recognize that dairy is not perfect and there is considerable scope to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of all dairy 

systems, and with these improvements make an important contribution to the sustainability of our dairy chains, our dairy 

communities the nutrition of the population and ecology of the planet.”

 The dairy sector has a key role to play in food security and poverty alleviation. Milk is a nutritious product essential for children 

and pregnant women. Hundreds of millions of poor people keep at least one dairy animal, which provide not only food, but 

capital and income, as well as fertilization and often animal traction for crops.

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