Commentary
Why home-grown school feeding is a global game changer for children and food systems
Before the pandemic, school feeding was the most extensive social safety net globally, with one in every two schoolchildren receiving school meals every day from national programmes. In April 2020, 50 million children lost access to school meals due to school closures. The stakes couldn’t be higher as many children, especially girls, risk never returning to the classroom. The ensuing crisis has highlighted the need to reshape food systems.
Innovations in Financing scaling up Agroecology
In this opinion piece, Vijay Kumar of Rythu Sadhikara Samstha (Farmers’ Empowerment Corporation) - Government of Andhra Pradesh, India, discusses the benefits of their state-wide and community-managed natural farming programme.
Invisible livestock: the workers who carry our hopes of achieving ‘Zero Hunger’ on their backs
In an opinion piece, Harry Bignell, Global External Affairs Officer at Brooke, explains how we must recognise working animals as essential in realising global food security.
Breaking the vicious circle of hunger and conflict
At this challenging time, we must not forget how important the world’s 500 million small-scale farms are for building global peace and food security. The Food Systems Summit will be an opportunity to lay the foundations for the sustainable food systems of the future —and the peace and prosperity of future generations depend upon it.
Food systems “game changers”: reflections so far
Food systems as currently governed leave too much devastation in their wake: rising hunger numbers, 1 in 3 people malnourished, environmental degradation, unsustainable greenhouse gas emissions, inequality and vulnerability. We all want to find and implement actions that can change the ways in which food systems operate, the so-called “game changers”.
The pandemic has revealed the true cost of inequality
COVID-19 has brought to the fore the connection between food, health and quality of life, but also how many of our food systems are failing us, especially where inequality is most prevalent. The pandemic has powered an unprecedented global appetite for change that must be channelled into transforming food systems to be more inclusive, more equitable and more sustainable.
"Powering Agriculture": A campaign for sustainable energy food systems
With this year seeing the first-ever UN Food Systems Summit and the first UN High-Level Dialogue on Energy in 40 years, now is the time to ensure that the next decade is defined by close collaboration between the energy and food sectors.
New year, new food systems
The Food Systems Summit is becoming a reality, not just as a point in time in September 2021, but as a year-long global engagement process to bring solutions to realizing the Sustainable Development Goals. The Summit Community is now live -join the conversation and make your voice heard.
Pathways to sustainable land-use and food systems
Ahead of the UN Food Systems Summit, the Food, Agriculture, Biodiversity, Land-Use, and Energy (FABLE) Consortium, a global network of country research teams operating as part of the Food and Land Use Coalition (FOLU), has published a new report Pathways to Sustainable Land-Use and Food Systems.
Systems and cooperation as the bedrock for a sustainable future
The twin crises of COVID-19 and climate change mean that food systems are centre of international and national agendas like never before. The opportunity for positive transformative change is unprecedented. We must confront this opportunity with bravery and optimism, avoid the risks inherent in simplistic thinking, and deliberately take a whole-systems approach.
Young people can play a role in building food systems during crises like COVID-19
Mike Nkhombo Khunga - a Global Youth Advocate for Nutrition and a Vice-chair of Action Track 5 - highlights youth as important drivers of food systems during crises like COVID-19, and that their participation in nutrition and food system platforms enhances the understanding of nutrition amongst peers and beyond.
Food system sustainability indexes — are we comparing apples and oranges
In the lead-up to One Planet's 3rd Global Conference of the Sustainable Food Systems Programme, Christophe Béné - Senior Researcher at the International Center for Tropical Agriculture (CIAT) - shares his views on what he sees is a huge and still increasing challenge of accurately measuring progress and monitoring the Sustainable Development Goals; and how this then relates to the questions around the sustainability of our food systems.
Young people’s voices are vital in food system transformation
UNICEF and The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) have released a series of informative papers in a special issue of the journal Global Food Security on children’s food systems. Focused on diets and nutrition, its core message is that food systems need to work both for and with children and adolescents.
Transforming the future: Supercharging action at the UN Food Systems Summit
In a time of many seemingly insurmountable challenges, the thing we can fix is food systems: those in our local communities as well as the ones we share as global citizens. From the farm to the table, the decisions that we as individuals make about land-use, food consumption, production, processing, distribution, retailing, and advertising matter.