World Leaders Commit To Tackling Global Hunger, Climate Change, and Biodiversity Loss At Historic UN Food Systems Summit

More than 150 countries made commitments to transform their food systems, while championing greater participation and equity, especially amongst farmers, women, youth and indigenous groups

New York (September 23, 2021) - The first ever UN Food Systems Summit convened world leaders today in an effort to spur national and regional action to deliver the UN’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) through transforming food systems. Among the goals for 2030 are zero hunger, zero poverty, gender equality and climate action.

Following from the latest IPCC report, which raised a “code red” for human-driven global heating, the United States administration, one of the world’s major agricultural producers, pledged $10 billion over five years to address climate change and help feed those most vulnerable without exhausting natural resources.

Half of these funds will be invested domestically in “recognition that all countries, even those that produce a surplus of food, must take steps to improve nutrition and adapt their food systems to a changing climate.”

Food systems transformations are key in supporting the three billion people globally who are malnourished and protecting the resource base on which global livelihoods rely.

Against this backdrop, the Summit, called by the UN Secretary-General in 2019 to accelerate global progress by leveraging the interconnected importance of food systems, featured commitments from more than 85 heads of state around the world.

The COVID-19 pandemic increased the number of people living in poverty in 2020 by up to 124 million people, and it is projected that around 600 million people will still live in poverty by 2030.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who announced New Zealand would join the Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems Coalition, said: “We are committed to ensuring Indigenous Peoples can help lead the way forward.

“For New Zealand, this means promoting the significant role of Māori in our food sectors and encouraging the growth of Māori agribusiness by removing barriers and empowering Māori leadership.”

Other countries pledged support for indigenous rights, including Honduras strengthening the role of local authorities, Samoa promoting traditional and indigenous knowledge to boost nature-positive production, and Peru and the Philippines supporting formalization of land tenure.

Partly due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the prevalence of undernourishment increased to around 9.9 per cent in 2020, with estimates of hungry people reaching between 720 and 811 million globally in 2020. Meanwhile, two in three children are not fed the minimum diverse diets they need in early childhood to grow healthily.

“We, as the global community, are not delivering on our promises to eradicate hunger,” said President Sauli Niinistö of Finland. “In Finland, free-of-charge school meals have been provided since the 1940s... to address post-war poverty and malnutrition,” he said, adding that the “school meal system has proven to be an investment in the future and in the economic and social welfare of the society.”

Recognizing food as a “basic fundamental right”, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina, highlighted the need to focus on “quality food for everyone” in a country where agriculture remains the most important sector.

Likewise, Burkina Faso highlighted the right to food, committing to including this in their constitution.

Many countries announced national initiatives to ensure their food systems met not only the nutritional needs of their populations but also goals around climate change, biodiversity, and decent livelihoods for all.

Cambodia pledged to work towards the promotion of gender equality and the creation of job opportunities for youth and women in the food system, while equipping them to become agents of change for nutritious diets.

Josaia Voreqe Bainimarama, Prime Minister of the Republic of Fiji, speaking on behalf of the Pacific Islands Forum, said, “Just as our environment, peoples, and food systems are profoundly interwoven and mutually sustaining, so must our response be, for the sake of our and future generations.” His country earlier outlined five of its own national priorities, including more sustainable consumption of green and blue foods to prevent biodiversity loss and address the accelerating crisis of non-communicable diseases in Small Island Developing States.

The United Arab Emirates announced the Agriculture Innovation Mission (AIM) for Climate launched with the United States.

The coalitions, which include a global commitment made by more than 15 countries to deliver healthy and nutritious school meals, cut across the five priority areas for action set out by the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres, which include (1) Nourish All People, (2) Boost Nature-based Solutions, (3) Advance Equitable Livelihoods, Decent Work & Empowered Communities, (4) Build Resilience to Vulnerabilities, Shocks and Stresses, and (5) Support Means of Implementation.

“We must use the power of ingenuity to improve on food systems so they provide safe, nutritious, affordable, and accessible food for all, while conserving natural resources, and combating the climate crisis,” said the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture, Tom Vilsack.

A full compilation of submissions to the Summit was released in an official compendium, while commitments made by all organisations and groups were lodged with an online commitments registry.

Among the new initiatives launched by civil society, financial institutions, academia and philanthropists was a new US$922 million, five-year investment into nutritious food systems, announced by Melinda Gates on behalf of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, who said, “Undernutrition is costing the global economy up to US$3.5 trillion every single year. Resilient food systems that deliver safe, affordable and nutritious food for everybody will drive greater health and prosperity, for both individuals and for nations.”

The World Bank President David Malpass stressed that, in combination, “smarter food financing, along with scientific knowledge and political will, can be a major game-changer.”


Food Systems Hold Power To ‘Realize Vision of a Better World,’ Says UN Secretary-General At First Food Systems Summit

In a Statement of Action, António Guterres urged transformative change in food systems to deliver the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.

New York (September 23, 2021) - The UN Secretary-General has called on the world to keep its promises for a better future through food systems that work for people, planet, and prosperity at the first UN Food Systems Summit.

In a Statement of Action delivered at the Summit during the UN General Assembly in New York, UN Secretary-General António Guterres called on governments and partners to meet the commitments they made to achieve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030.

The UN Secretary-General’s intervention came as world leaders prepared to announce their commitments to more resilient, inclusive and sustainable food systems after an 18-month process of dialogues and engagement at community, national, regional, and global level.

“As the pandemic physically pushed us apart, the preparations for this Summit brought us together,” Guterres said. “Through national dialogues, governments gathered together businesses, communities and civil society to chart pathways for the future of food systems across 148 countries. Over 100,000 people came together to discuss and debate solutions — many of which are now being shared at this Summit.”

Guterres commended the Summit for “injecting new life into multilateralism” and for “leading the way to food systems that can drive the global recovery in three fundamental ways. For people. For the planet. And for prosperity.”

As more than 90 heads of state and government submitted their national strategies and commitments, the Secretary-General called for “the engagement of the people at the center of our food systems,” and added: “Family farmers, herders, workers, Indigenous Peoples, women, young people. Let’s learn from each other — and be inspired by one another — as we work together to achieve the SDGs.”

The Statement of Action outlines how progress in five key areas at national and regional level would amount to a global shift in making progress on the SDGs, securing fundamental human rights for all.

The five areas, informed by the Summit’s independent Science Group, Action Tracks, and the Summit Dialogues are: (1) Nourish All People; (2) Boost Nature-based Solutions; (3) Advance Equitable Livelihoods, Decent Work & Empowered Communities; (4) Build Resilience to Vulnerabilities, Shocks and Stresses; and (5) Support Means of Implementation.

Countries will be supported in effecting change across their entire food systems by Resident Coordinators (RCs) and UN Country Teams (UNCTs).

At a global level, UN agencies – the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), and the World Food Programme (WFP) - will jointly lead a UN system-wide coordination hub to continue the work of the Summit.

The hub will benefit from structured advice from representatives of priority constituencies and issues, particularly youth, Indigenous Peoples, and women.

The Secretary-General will submit an annual report to the High-Level Political Forum to monitor progress against the UN’s 2030 Agenda. The Secretary-General will also lead a global stock-taking every two years to review progress.


Nearly 300 commitments from civil society, farmers, youth, Indigenous Peoples and Member States highlights Summit’s inclusive process to accelerate action

Commitment Registry will track multi-stakeholder promises of action

New York (September 24, 2021) - The first-ever UN Food Systems Summit saw nearly 300 commitments from hundreds of thousands of people from around the world and across all constituencies to accelerate action and to transform food systems.

The Summit process gave rise to several multi-stakeholders’ initiatives led by civil society, farmers, women, youth and indigenous groups that Member States commit to in order to deliver on the priorities, needs, and gaps identified in national pathways.

“Indigenous Peoples have been supporting the Summit. We have organized dialogues in the seven socio-cultural regions, with almost 300 Indigenous Peoples organizations participating, said Indigenous Peoples rights activist and Summit Advisory Committee member Myrna Cunningham, who launched the Indigenous Peoples’ Food Systems at the Summit.

The 148 commitments that have been registered so far are collective or institutional commitments to action aligned to the Summit’s Action Areas, and come out as a result of an 18-month engagement process with diverse stakeholders.

The Summit process was also applauded by farmer leaders for its inclusivity. “The Summit has been very inclusive,” said President of the Pan-African Farmers Organizations (PAFO), Elizabeth, Nsimadala, who represents 80 million farmers across 50 African countries, and is a member of the Summit’s Advisory Committee. “As producers we held several independent dialogues at all levels and these dialogues resulted into a global common position.”

The UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed at a UN press conference on the Food Systems Summit said, “In terms of inclusiveness, I don’t know of a more inclusive process. People look at the SDGs. They see themselves in that, and we wanted to reflect that in this people, solution Summit.”

In support of national and regional pathways, these multi-stakeholder commitments to action emerged across the Summit’s Action Areas that were featured at yesterday’s UN Food Systems Summit. These five Action included Nourish all People, which led to a multi-stakeholder commitment to action on the Food is Never Waste initiative, and the Healthy Diets Initiative.

The second action area, Boost Nature-Based Solutions, saw different multi-stakeholder commitments including the Agroecology Initiative. The Advance Equitable Livelihoods, Decent Work, and Empowered Communities brought in the Decent Work and Living Wage Initiative. With countless other initiatives stemming from the Action Area of Build Resilience to Vulnerabilities, Shocks, and Stresses, and Supporting Means of Implementation.

This Action Area helped countries leading up to the UN Food Systems Summit connect to initiatives, and resources around finance, governance, science and knowledge, innovation, technology and data, capacity, and beyond.

The UN Food Systems Summit was announced by the UN Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, on World Food Day last October as a part of the Decade of Action for delivery on the SDGs by 2030. The aim of the Summit is to deliver progress on all 17 of the SDGs through a food systems approach, leveraging the interconnectedness of food systems to global challenges such as hunger, climate change, poverty and inequality. More information about the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit and list of Advisory Committee and Scientific Group members can be found online: https://www.un.org/foodsystems...


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