Expert group meeting on population, food security, nutrition and sustainable development

New York (Virtual meeting)

28 October 2020 to 30 October 2020

Overview

The United Nations Commission on Population and Development (CPD) was to address the special theme “Population, food security, nutrition and sustainable development” at its fifty-third session in 2020. In preparation for the session, the Population Division prepared the report of the Secretary-General on population, food security, nutrition and sustainable development, which was issued in February 20201. Due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, the Commission was not able to hold its formal session at the end of March 2020. The Commission decided to postpone a full consideration of the theme to its fifty-fourth session in 2021.

The report prepared for the 2020 session focused on four broad themes:

Concepts, measures and state of food security and nutrition
Nutrition, food security and population health, including diets, nutritional habits and burden of disease; hunger and undernutrition; and overweight and obesity
Population growth, food consumption and sustainability
Rural development, population movements and settlement patterns.

To inform preparation of an updated report of the Secretary-General for the 2021 session, the Population Division of UN DESA will convene an expert group meeting on the theme, to be held virtually from 28 to 30 October 2020. The expert group should advise on 1) elements where new data or analysis has become available in 2020; 2) elements that should receive greater attention in the new report; and 3) evidence for impacts of COVID-19 in each area.

Documents

Organization of work

DAY 1: Wednesday 28 October
INTRODUCTION, NEW EVIDENCE AND COVID-19 IMPACTS The 54th session of the Commission on Population and Development (19-23 April 2021) will consider the special theme “Population, food security, nutrition and sustainable development”. The first day of the expert group meeting will provide an introduction to the Commission’s deliberations on the theme; highlight new data on food security, nutrition and health; and review the impacts of COVID-19 on various aspects of food security and nutrition.
8:00 - 8:45am	Session I. Introduction and scene-setting Moderator: Cheryl Sawyer, Population Division/DESA This session will give background on the Commission on Population and Development, its mandate, the topics covered in the previous report of the Secretary-General on the theme, and the questions to be addressed in preparation for the 54th session in 2021. The session will also outline synergies of the Commission’s discussion of the special theme with other United Nations processes upcoming in 2021, including the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development and the United Nations Food Systems Summit. John Wilmoth, Director, Population Division/DESA – Welcome, introduction and review of the 53rd session of CPD Shantanu Mukherjee, Division for Sustainable Development Goals/DESA - HLPF discussion on Ending hunger and achieving food security James Lomax, Food Systems Summit Secretariat – The 2021 Food Systems Summit
8:45 - 9:55am	Session II. Food security, nutrition and health Moderator: Sandile Simelane, UNFPA This session will present new data on food security and nutrition that has become available during 2020 and also new analysis of the affordability of healthy diets. In keeping with key focuses of the ICPD Programme of Action, it will also look at maternal and child nutrition and health, including impacts of COVID-19. Nancy Aburto, FAO - State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020 (SOFI)- estimates and projections of food security, affordable healthy diets Jo Jewell, UNICEF - Levels and trends in child malnutrition: policy and programming implications Willibald Zeck, UNFPA - Impact of Covid-19 on maternal nutrition and health
10:00 - 11:00am	Session III. COVID-19 and food security Moderator: Vladimira Kantorova, Population Division/DESA This session will address various pathways of impacts of Covid-19 on food security and nutrition. It will include a general overview as well as targeted presentations on value chains, food security in crisis situations, and impacts on migration and remittances. Jennifer Clapp, University of Waterloo – COVID-19 and food security Louis Bockel and Padmini Gopal, FAO Regional Office for Africa – COVID-19 impact on value chains in Africa Moise Ballo, WFP – COVID-19, food security and nutrition: Practical examples of programmatic aspects of the response at the field level Alan de Brauw, IFPRI – Migration, COVID-19, and possible implications for food security
DAY 2: Thursday 29 October
FUTURE OUTLOOK FOR FOOD SYSTEMS – HAS COVID-19 CHANGED ANY ASSUMPTIONS? The second day of the meeting will discuss the future outlook for various aspects of food systems, considering both a broader long-term view and new considerations raised by the COVID-19 pandemic.
8:00 - 9:00am	Session I. Future outlook for food systems, climate and environment Moderator: Pierre Boileau, UNEP This session will look at environmental impacts of food systems, interrelationships with climate change, sustainable diets and foresight scenarios for food and agriculture. Cynthia Rosenzweig, NASA/GISS and Columbia University – Report from AgMIP8: COVID-19, Climate Change, and Food Security Hugo Valin, IIASA - Revisiting sustainability pathways for food systems and land use in the aftermath of the COVID-19 crisis Marco Springmann, Oxford University - The health and sustainability implications of national and global food-based dietary guidelines, and updates on the affordability of healthy and sustainable diets Lorenzo Bellu, FAO – FAO foresight scenarios
9:00 - 9:55am	Session II. Data including big data, innovation and technology Moderator: Ronald Jansen, Statistics Division/DESA The topics of technology, innovation and data (including big data) in food systems received limited focus in the 2020 report of the Secretary-General. This session will seek to draw out succinct messages and focus areas for the Commission’s attention. Fergus Sinclair, ICRAF – Agro-ecology and systemic technological innovation Dejan Jakovljevic, FAO - Data, big-data and their use in food and agriculture Anna-Verena Nosthoff and Felix Maschewski, University of Berlin – Global big-data dynamics and their implications
10:00 - 11:00am	Session III. Food system transformation Moderator: Luz Maria de Regil, WHO This session examines selected aspects of changing food systems and their implications for livelihoods. Topics covered will include decent employment in rural areas; inequalities with a focus on the gender dimension; and impacts of rapid urbanization on rural areas. Elvis Beytullayev, ILO – Decent work in the rural economy Susan Kaaria, FAO - Inequalities with focus on gender dimension Steven Haggblade, Michigan State University - Impact of rapid urbanization on agricultural supply systems
DAY 3: Friday 30 October
REGIONAL OUTLOOK The third day of the meeting will bring together experts from different regions to examine selected aspects of population, food security, nutrition and sustainable development. The meeting will conclude with a general discussion of key messages and recommendations for the report of the Secretary-General.
8:00 - 9:30am	Session I. Key issues in selected regions Moderator: Katinka Weinberger, UNESCAP Agnes Rola, University of the Philippines - Food system sustainability in Southeast Asia Madhura Swaminathan, Indian Statistical Institute – Dealing with food and employment insecurity in the time of Covid-19 Valeria Pineiro, IFPRI – Food security in Latin America Lauren Bauer, Brookings Institution – Food insecurity in the United States Namukolo Covic IFPRI – COVID-19 and food insecurity in Africa
9:40 - 11:00am	Session II. Discussion and conclusions Moderator: Cheryl Sawyer, DESA - Summary presentation Participants from all three days are encouraged to join a final discussion on directions and key messages for the report of the Secretary-General.

Contributed papers

Background documents

Report of the Secretary-General on population, food security, nutrition and sustainable development (E/CN.9/2020/2)
Report of the Secretary-General on programmes and interventions for the implementation of the Programme of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development in the context of population, food security, nutrition and sustainable development (E/CN.9/2020/3)