I would like to express my agreement with the excellent comments submitted by the National FNS Council of Brazil (CONSEA) regarding the objectives and content of the stocktaking analysis being undertaken by CFS. I urge colleagues to join me in expressing profound concern about the recent declaration by the newly elected President of Brazil announcing the immediate extinction of the CONSEA (international petitions: https://www.fian.org/get-involved/take-action/campaigns/; https://foodsecurecanada.org/resources-news/news-media/brasil-consea-abolished). For 15 years, the CONSEA has served as an example to the world of how civil society and government can work together to implement an effective multi-sectoral national plan to fight hunger and improve food security and nutrition based a human-rights based approach and civil society participation defined by law. The comments submitted by CONSEA are just one example of its active and highly qualified engagement in international discussions over the years, including in the CFS.
Regarding the content of the stocktaking analysis, I offer two additional comments from my perspective as a consultant on the Food Security Statistics team in the FAO Statistics Division about challenges related to building a global FSN narrative towards 2030:
Despite the evolution in thinking reflected in the 2030 Agenda, which is universal and therefore relevant to all countries, some international agencies and development partners face challenges in making the transition from a focus primarily on lower income countries to a broader focus on inequalities and at-risk populations present in all countries. The CONSEA correctly points out that it is “essential to considerate the specificities of different countries in the process of defining great strategies, since the same proposal, depending on the local conditions, can generate deepening of inequalities and food insecurity”. At the same time, acknowledging and identifying food insecure populations in all countries, including high-income countries, can help reveal the underlying forces that perpetuate food insecurity and malnutrition in rich and poor countries alike. The metric “Prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity based on the Food Insecurity Experience Scale” (SDG indicator 2.1.2) was developed specifically to cover the range of severity of food insecurity present across low-to-high income countries. It is particularly relevant in the current scenario of rising rates of obesity among the poor in countries of all income levels.
It is important to make the link between the two thematic clusters “Knowledge and technology” and “Governance” described in the “Critical and emerging issues for FSN”. It is noted under the “Knowledge and technology” thematic cluster that “information needs to be collected to accurately measure food insecurity, globally and to assess sustainable food consumption patterns. Adequate metrics need to be developed in this context and at different scales”. The activity of measuring and monitoring food insecurity should be integrated with governance. A major challenge is the need to build the statistical capacities of national institutions to monitor various aspects of food insecurity in their own countries. While FAO is fully engaged in building national capacities to monitor food access using existing metrics (SDG indicators 2.1.1 and 2.1.2), there is a need to develop and promote metrics for dietary quality that are comparable across countries.
I would like to express my agreement with the excellent comments submitted by the National FNS Council of Brazil (CONSEA) regarding the objectives and content of the stocktaking analysis being undertaken by CFS. I urge colleagues to join me in expressing profound concern about the recent declaration by the newly elected President of Brazil announcing the immediate extinction of the CONSEA (international petitions: https://www.fian.org/get-involved/take-action/campaigns/; https://foodsecurecanada.org/resources-news/news-media/brasil-consea-abolished). For 15 years, the CONSEA has served as an example to the world of how civil society and government can work together to implement an effective multi-sectoral national plan to fight hunger and improve food security and nutrition based a human-rights based approach and civil society participation defined by law. The comments submitted by CONSEA are just one example of its active and highly qualified engagement in international discussions over the years, including in the CFS.
Regarding the content of the stocktaking analysis, I offer two additional comments from my perspective as a consultant on the Food Security Statistics team in the FAO Statistics Division about challenges related to building a global FSN narrative towards 2030: