July 2021
United Nations Food Systems Summit 2021
Over the past two days world leaders met in Rome to address the breakdown of the global food system.
The Pre-Summit of the UN Food Systems Summit serves as the preparatory meeting for the global event in September.
Leaders attending the three day Pre-Summit will today finalise a common vision and commitment to action based on the latest evidence base and scientific approaches from around the world to representatives of governments.
It is expected that the consolidation of the substantive work of the Summit will play an important role in guiding discussions in September to deal with critical questions including food insecurity, climate change and biodiversity loss.
As the United Nations continue to highlight the ways in which the global food system is breaking down through world hunger, obesity and food wastage, the Food Systems Summit 2021 will be an important platform for understanding the problem, its impacts and solutions.
Current practices, process and consumption of food though are destabilizing global natural environments, and the question of the role played by humans is being asked more than ever.
“If we can have one word to sum up the kind of production system that is equitable, nature positive and net zero carbon, that word will be – agro ecology – because it works with, rather than, against nature,” said Estrella Penunia, the Secretary General of the Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development.
“Agroecology is a bottom-up approach and therefore very actionable, it is embedded in farmer communities and can foster capacities of farmers related to resilience, gender equality as well as create opportunities for rural youth and provide livelihoods and health benefits for farmers”.
The global Independent Dialogues leading up to the Pre-Summit talks has presented more than 2000 solutions and will likely to have a big impact.
In September, world leaders will meet in New York to try to advance global efforts on leveraging the global food system against rising challenges to meet the 2030 target for the Sustainable Development Goals.
The Pre-Summit concludes today.