Our key takeaway: We are at a critical juncture when it comes to our food systems. COVID-19 increased the number of undernourished people worldwide to 9.8%. Nearly 3.1 billion people are not able to afford a healthy diet, and 828 million people face hunger (2021 figures). Obesity and excess weight are on the rise. Disruptions to the supply and trade of food products will make things worse. In addition, lots of food is lost during production, storage, transport, processing and distribution (14%), with more food wasted downstream (17%). And food systems account for an estimated 30 to 34 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions (with 71 per cent of this originating from agriculture and land use-related activities.) Three UN agencies - UNEP, FAO and UNDP - have said: enough is enough. We need sustainable food systems transformation, and we need it to be done in a multi-stakeholder collaborative way. This means being inclusive and identifying all relevant stakeholders; taking a systems approach to identify the opportunities and challenges facing the food system; putting in place well-functioning governance systems; defining a compass and roadmap forward; and putting measures in place to ensure the sustainability of the initiative. Long story short, we need to work together in an effective and inclusive manner. It’s the only way for the sustainability of our food systems.
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) published ‘Rethinking Our Food Systems: A Guide for Multi-Stakeholder Collaboration’ (June 2023):
- Call for a systemic, multi-level and multi-stakeholder participatory approach: the report makes the case that “multi-stakeholder collaboration needs to be an essential pillar of the food systems approach and the transition to sustainable food systems.” There are many challenges confronting food systems – “from food insecurity, malnutrition and rural poverty to biodiversity loss and climate change. The COVID-19 pandemic, the conflict in Ukraine and food inflationary pressures have also been reminders of the need to adopt a multi-stakeholder approach for building a resilient food system that can cope with disruptions.” “Worsened by the COVID-19 pandemic, the share of undernourished people worldwide increased from 8 per cent in 2019 to 9.8 per cent in 2021. In 2020, nearly 3.1 billion people were not able to afford a healthy diet, and in 2021 some 828 million people faced hunger.” The rates of hunger and undernourishment in the coming years will get worse - in large part due to disruptions to the supply and trade of food products caused by the conflict in Ukraine, and the resulting pressures on food inflation. The report highlights additional challenges: “an estimated 14 per cent of food is lost during production, storage, transport, processing and distribution, with an additional 17 per cent wasted downstream”; “[o]besity and excess weight are increasing in all regions of the world”; and “food systems account for an estimated 30 to 34 per cent of global greenhouse gas emissions, with around 71 per cent of this originating from agriculture and land use- related activities.” With this in mind, this report marks “the first time that three UN agencies actively working in the field of food systems have come together to consolidate and distil learnings, best practices and tools on multi- stakeholder collaboration.”
- Broad participation and a good understanding: As a first step, the report delves into the need to include different actors across multiple areas – from government, producers, civil society, industry and science. This identification and inclusion process can include stakeholders from the public sector, the private sector, civil society and the international community. The report provides a stakeholder mapping and analysis that can be applied for this step. As a second step, the report delves into the need to ensure a good understanding of the food system. This entails taking a systems approach to identify the opportunities and challenges facing the food system. This process “requires a comprehensive examination of the food system, informed by cross-fertilized data, qualitative evidence, and Indigenous Peoples’ and local knowledge.”
- Nurturing collaboration, defining a compass and roadmap and securing the collaboration: The third step entails putting in place “a well-functioning governance system for the initiative, with appropriate decision-making processes that are shared among different stakeholders and multiple levels.” Governance includes “food policy councils, food coalitions or committees, food policy task forces, food alliances, food system networks, food labs, food systems urban task forces.” There are certain rules that need to be followed to ensure that this collaboration is inclusive and effective. Once this governance is in place, there is a need for clear direction: a compass and a roadmap. “Key conditions for success are clear definitions of the roles of all stakeholders and of the sharing of resources, responsibilities, risks and benefits. As such, defining a shared and agreed set of norms and rules is essential for the development of a clear vision, a strategy and action plan, and a participatory monitoring, evaluation and learning system.” Finally, securing the sustainability of the collaboration requires institutionalization and long-term funding. The report makes clear that transitioning to sustainable food systems is not easy: “decisions related to food systems, given their complexity, often entail addressing power imbalances and making compromises. This is not “merely about bringing science-based evidence and other types of knowledge to the table, but also about complicated social interactions among vested agendas and constituents, the deliberations of which need to be carefully guided.”
