CFS HLPE-FSN Chairperson, Prof. Dr. Bernard Lehmann, at the High-Level Special Event “Time to Act Together: Coordinating Policy Responses to the Global Food Crisis” on 18 July 2022, in NYC, United States of America.
We suggest solutions for policy making in the light of real trade-offs within the food system. Taking trade-offs into account is particularly important because they also reflect the different interests that play an important role in the implementation of the recommendations.
The HLPE-FSN has proposed to recognize that the definition of food security and nutrition encompasses six dimensions: agency and sustainability, alongside the more well-known pillars of availability, access, stability, and utilization. Status quo is no longer an option. All six dimensions of food security – with special attention to “agency” and “sustainability” – play a key role.
Critical policy shifts are required to achieve the SDGs and the necessary radical transformation of food systems, as outlined in the “Food security and nutrition: building a global narrative towards 2030” report of HLPE-FSN.
Policy shifts
There is a need to embrace of four critical policy shifts to achieve more sustainable food systems – as has been clearly established in the scientific literature:
1. Recognizing the need for a radical transformation of food systems as a whole to be more equitable and sustainable.
2. Taking into account the deep interconnections between food systems and ecological, health and economic systems.
3. Widening the policy spotlight and focusing on hunger and malnutrition in all its forms.
4. Designing more context-specific policies considering the unique circumstances in different locations.
We live a permanent food crisis; efforts have to be made to massively strengthen the resilience of local food systems.
The task is enormous while the pace of implementation is still slow. Scientists have been making warning calls for decades. Now, it is time for governments to hear them, and act!
The President of the General Assembly and the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) co-convened a High-Level Special Event to foster coordinated global policy responses to the current global food crisis supported by – and in support of – the UN Secretary-General´s Global Crisis Response Group on Food, Energy, and Finance.
*These are the main points of the CFS HLPE-FSN Chairperson's speech at the High-Level Special Event “Time to Act Together: Coordinating Policy Responses to the Global Food Crisis” on 18 July 2022, in NYC, United States of America.
