Food a transformative agent of change

The ensuing pandemic has presented us with the unique opportunity to create sustainable and better national food plans.

As she spoke during the Ministerial Round table at the Food Systems Pre-Summit, Deputy Secretary General of the United Nations, Amina Mohammed expressed that she believed COVID-19 has given the world an opportunity to transform food systems.

“And this is not to say that there are not national plans that exist, but given the opportunity of COVID, and the recovery that needs to be so much better and so much more transformative, this is an opportunity to rebirth them,” she said.

“The Food Systems Summit has been designed to provide national governments and other key stakeholders an opportunity to ensure that food systems are inclusive, that they are transformative and that they are fit for future generations. 

“In November last year, all UN Member States were invited to join in the preparations for the Summit by nominating convenors of national multistakeholder dialogues about the future of their food systems.  We also encouraged others with an interest in the future of food to initiate independent dialogues and stimulated a programme that links food systems with other issues of global importance including some of the transitions that we hope to see in energy, addressing water, trade, the environment and certainly and most important of all, the fuel we need for this - finance.”

She revealed that a growing number of dialogues have been taking place all over the world and have involved multiple stakeholders in shaping visions for the future of food systems and setting out pathways through which governments, stakeholder groups and people expect to bring these visions to life. 

“Despite the difficulties associated with COVID-19 and the multiple challenges that have been associated with launching this process on a tight timescale, we have seen 145 governments, and still growing, that have appointed national dialogue convenors. And we hope that we can continue the journey with them as we move from the discussions to the implementation,” she said.