Coherent policies, efficient actions: How to address the global food crisis
Committee on World Food Security (CFS)
UN-Nutrition
Time: Friday, 20. January 2023, 3:30 p.m. – 5:00 p.m.
Languages: English, German, Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian and Spanish
Summary
The state of global food security and nutrition is worrying: an estimated 702 to 828 million people globally were affected by hunger in 2021 – about 150 million more since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Globally in 2020, an estimated 149 million children under age five were stunted, 45 million were wasted, and 39 million were overweight, and nearly 571 million women experienced anaemia in 2019. Moreover, it was projected that nearly 670 million people will still be facing hunger in 2030. With only 8 years left to 2030, SDG 2 targets are unlikely to be achieved in many parts of the world unless we drastically change course. The interlinked shocks of the COVID-19 pandemic, worsening effects of climate change and of conflicts are compounding an already dire situation.
Moreover, the current food systems place hard pressure on biodiversity, soils, and the environment, requiring urgent attention and prompt response by governments.
The global food and agriculture system, tied closely to global financial and energy markets, is presently in turmoil from an onslaught of challenges, the most recent being the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and its dramatic impact on planting, harvesting, transport and export of major agricultural commodities as well as to prices of and access to essential inputs like fuels and fertilizers.
It is of paramount importance that, when the world responds to the current global food crisis we are facing, countries, regional organizations, civil society, producer organizations, businesses and the research community acknowledge that food systems transformation is needed to help transition the current global system toward one that is more resilient, fair, sustainable, and inclusive.
Inclusive governance and policy coherence is critical to provide clear policy frames for joint action and better coordination among sectors and actors that can transform our food systems to deliver healthy diets for all, while also contributing to climate change mitigation and adaptation, reducing biodiversity loss and restoring ecosystems.
The Committee on World Food Security (CFS) serves as the food security governance body of the United Nations where over 135 Members States, civil society, private sector, research and academia, UN agencies and programmes, international financial institutions, foundations and others deliberate upon and coordinate global policies to address systemic and structural causes of hunger and malnutrition in support of country-led efforts.
UN-Nutrition is the UN inter-agency coordination and collaboration mechanism for nutrition at the global and country levels. It brings together more than 15 UN agencies, programmes, and funds with a mandate or interest in nutrition, leveraging their collective strength to effectively address malnutrition in all its forms.
CFS and UN-Nutrition work in tandem to strengthen policy coherence and provide policy guidelines for food security and nutrition, mindful of the need for a strong and functional multilateral, inclusive, and interdisciplinary collaboration to realize the 2030 Agenda.
The Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition (VGFSN), endorsed by CFS in 2021, are a prime example of a global policy instrument that was negotiated multilaterally among governments and other stakeholders on the connections between food systems and nutrition. They provide guidance on policies and interventions to address malnutrition in all its forms through a holistic ‘food systems’ approach. A holistic perspective that considers food systems in their totality and looks at the multi-dimensional, multilevel causes of malnutrition. To this end, the guidelines include key guiding principles to support sustainable food systems in humanitarian contexts, including crisis settings.
The guidelines provide a framework to bring together the various actors across sectors that are involved in food systems with the objective of promoting the implementation of coordinated and multisectoral interventions in order to improve the ability of food systems to deliver healthy diets and to generate positive environmental outcomes.
Key objectives of the session
– Highlight the imperative need for Food Systems Transformation in the wake of the current unpredictable global food security landscape and the key role of CFS as a multi-stakeholder governance platform, and UN Nutrition as an inter-agency coordination mechanism, in promoting collaboration between all relevant actors and building synergies to help advance food system transformation;
– Discuss how efforts to implement the CFS Voluntary Guidelines can help countries achieve their evolving national food security and nutrition plans and realize 2030 Agenda – especially SDG-2 on hunger and nutrition;
– Promote inclusive governance, policy coherence and increased coordination among sectors and actors to ensure better human and planetary health, including by further use of CFS and other relevant policy guidance to boost accelerated policy actions – by all relevant stakeholders – at global, regional, national, and local levels in support of food systems transformation and to realize the 2030 Agenda.