Commentary
Science and knowledge for the UN Food Systems Summit
The Science Reader brings research-based, state-of-the-art, solution-oriented knowledge and evidence to inform the transformation of contemporary food systems to achieve more sustainable, equitable and resilient food systems, and it includes research reports by the independent Scientific Group of the UN Food System Summit.
Sustainable blue foods play a vital role in nourishing people and planet
When you think of ‘blue foods’, or food from the water (land and sea) what comes to mind? Across all the different forms of blue foods - fish, aquatic plants, mussels and algae - what comes to mind for many is the health benefits they provide. Yet, what many might not immediately connect is the role blue foods play in supporting a healthy and resilient planet.
A clarion call for food systems transformation
More than 40,000 people from around the world participated in 850 Independent Summit Dialogues in support of the Summit. The major themes that emerged from those Dialogues have now been published in a new Synthesis Report.
Reeling in economic opportunities for Africa’s youth
Globally, youth employment fell by almost nine per cent in 2020 compared with 3.7 per cent for adults. And nowhere is the jobs gap more urgent than in Africa, where the median age is roughly 19 years old – half the equivalent in Europe at 42.5 years. Given that more than half of the continent’s population is expected to be under the age of 25 by 2050, creating sustainable livelihoods is a priority.
Independent Dialogues Leading to the UN Food Systems Summit
The Summit Dialogues provide important and thoughtful guidance about how food systems transformations should be undertaken and how solutions coming out of the UN Food Systems Summit should be implemented. With over 600 Independent Summit Dialogues taking place globally, ten important substantive themes have emerged.
Driving innovation investments for sustainable agriculture in the Global South
The COVID-19 pandemic has left the world reeling, with economies hard hit and inequalities in access to food and healthcare laid bare. We need to make sure that investments in global food systems are adequate, targeted and money well spent. We cannot afford ‘business as usual’: current technology, policies, institutions and financial instruments are just not up to the job.
Transition steps for food system transformation
This brief by the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition draws on the Panel’s Foresight report ‘Future Food Systems: For people, our planet and prosperity’ to outline the essential steps needed to transition to healthier, more sustainable food systems.
COVID-19 and food systems: rebuilding for resilience
This brief by the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition makes clear that while food systems urgently need to be transformed to better support both human and planetary health, transformed food systems must also be resilient to future shocks.
Water and cross-sectoral collaboration are key to food system transformations
Ahead of the UN Food Systems Summit in September experts warn that the transformation of our food systems and the protection of our increasingly fragile ecosystems depends on improved water management and cross-sectoral collaboration.
Who can do what for food systems change: a wish list
What are the policies and actions that could bring radical improvements to food systems? And who has the power to get them done? This is one of the big questions being asked in the global food systems conversation.
If Nature Could Speak
Our own future and the health of all life on Earth depends on us making peace with nature. Which is why it is crucial to seize the opportunity of this year’s UN Food Systems Summit not only to raise these concerns but explore solutions to address these.
Financing food systems transformation
International Food Policy Research Institution's Charlotte Hebebrand and Eugenio Diaz-Bonilla discuss ideas for funding change and share insights into the work of the UN Food Systems Summit Finance Lever.
2021 is going to be a bad year for world hunger
Today, the UN World Food Programme's live Hunger Map aggregates 957 million people across 93 countries who do not have enough to eat. Of the factors driving global hunger, climate is the one that can best be predicted using science. As countries are re-grouping to think about ways in which the COVID-19 crisis can be used as a springboard to build more resilient societies, climate foresight and preventive planning need to be part of the equation.
COVID-19 pandemic offers rare chance for food systems transformation
The COVID-19 pandemic has caused unprecedented disruptions of social interactions, affecting both the supply and demand for food. These disruptions to jobs, income and food supply magnified and exacerbated existing inequalities. Lessons from the pandemic provide a unique opportunity for real structural change that can make food systems more efficient, resilient, healthy, sustainable, and equitable.
Game changing solutions for food system transformation
Ahead of the Summit, the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition has developed a short paper summarising a set of game changing solutions identified in the Panel’s recent foresight report ‘Future Food Systems: For people, our planet and prosperity’.