The 2021 Food Systems Summit Preliminary Meeting in Rome on July 26-28 was an important milestone in preparations for the culminating international event in September, which will be timed to coincide with the United Nations General Assembly in New York. Investing in the agricultural sector is the key to ending hunger, Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) head Qu Dongyu said on Wednesday at the closing ceremony. And the heads of UNICEF and WHO have called on governments and decision-makers to proactively pursue effective approaches, including promoting healthy diets through pricing policies and subsidies that will lower the prices of nutritious foods such as eggs, dairy products, fruits, vegetables and crops, and raise taxes on unhealthy foods.
The UN Food Systems Summit was initiated by Secretary General António Guterres with the aim of creating a single platform that takes into account the full range of interactions and interconnections in the food sector, to help different stakeholders to join forces and use the full potential of food systems to achieve progress on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Goals such as ending hunger and poverty, ensuring healthy lifestyles, responsible consumption and production, and preserving marine and terrestrial ecosystems are inextricably linked to improving food systems. Hence the importance of the upcoming Summit in September and the UN goal of creating a new, fairer and more environmentally friendly global food system that will provide healthy, nutritious food for the entire population of the planet.
Preparations for the Food Systems Summit 2021 take place at the national, regional and global levels, which will provide all stakeholders with the opportunity to develop, test and adapt decision-making mechanisms and tools, providing the conditions for developing innovative partnerships and initiatives, agreeing on specific ambitious commitments and engaging investments needed to build more sustainable food systems. International structures such as WHO, FAO, UNICEF have organized and carried out a number of events with the aim of generating new ideas that would increase the level of responsibility in food systems, increase their inclusiveness and use them more actively to maintain human health.
The Dialogues in preparation for the Summit aim to find paths to a prosperous, secure and just future for all. Sustainable food systems can provide healthy diets for all. Good nutrition maintains health, strengthens communities, supports economies, and protects the planet. Pre-Summit events include a global discussion with celebrity chefs, indigenous peoples, youth climate change activists, women farmers, heads of state and everyone else on how our food systems should be transformed over the next 10 years. The first meeting of the Scientific Group of the UN Summit on Food Systems was also held. This group of leading experts in a variety of industries, including natural sciences, agronomy, ecology, natural resources, nutrition and social sciences, will provide materials for the Summit.
Ogulgozel Rejepova
