Outcomes from the UN Food Systems Summit
The first-ever Food Systems Summit took place during the UN General Assembly in New York on September 23, in an effort to spur national and regional food systems transitions, which help deliver the UNs 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In particular, much of the emphasis was placed towards SDG2 and the elimination of global hunger by 2030, through food systems transformation. UN member states present at the summit, together with leaders from the private sector, science, and development institutions, committed their support to the transformation of food systems as a key and crucial element of the SDG agenda.
National Pathways
UN Member states’ national pathways to sustainable food systems, which include national processes, dialogues, planning, and priorities for food systems transformation, serve as a core mechanism for the implementation of actions presented at the Food Systems Summit. These pathways are supplemented and supported by a number of thematic global coalitions. An updated list of member-state national pathways has now been published and is available here.
Coalitions of action
The collective commitments that have already been pledged by UN member states together with other stakeholders have been compiled by the Summit Secretariat in a commitment registry. These are aligned to the five action areas outlined by the UN to accelerate and deliver on the 2030 agenda, through food systems transformation. Dutch stakeholders have expressed their commitment to several of these initiatives.
Many of these multi-stakeholder commitments concern international coalitions of action, which came about from a UN call earlier this year for game-changing propositions. The following coalitions are of particular relevance to Dutch actors:
- Zero Hunger Coalition - (a/o in collaboration with GAIN and the Netherlands government)
- Action for Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems for Children Coalition - (a/o in collaboration with GAIN and EAT Forum, and the Netherlands government)
- Coalition of Action 4 Soil Health - (a/o in collaboration with Rabobank and ISRIC) - (a/o in collaboration with Rabobank and ISRIC)
- Coalition of Action on Decent Work and Living Incomes and Wages for All Food Systems Workers - (a/o in collaboration with IDH, The Sustainable Trade Initiative)
- Fighting Food Crises along the Humanitarian, Development and Peace Nexus - (a/o. in collaboration with Netherlands Food Partnership and Syngenta)
- Address True Costs through a Global Partnership on the True Price of Food - (a/o with Impact Institute)
Author
Nicole Metz
Senior Knowledge Broker - Netherlands Food Partnership
