From Loretto at the UN: A Focus on Food
Posted on September 1, 2021, by Beth Blissman CoL
The United Nations opens its 76th year with a focus on the climate crisis and the continuing recovery from COVID-19. Many countries see the opportunity to build back in a more sustainable fashion, and one key area in need of transformation is food systems. The U.N. Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, has convened the 2021 Food Systems Summit to be held on the margins of the General Assembly in September. The goal of the summit is to launch bold new actions to transform the way the world produces and consumes food, which, it is hoped, will support Earth’s biodiversity and ensure access to safe and nutritious food for all.
The broader context is the current Decade of Action (2021-2030) as we strive to build a just and resilient world where no one is left behind through the achievement of the U.N. Sustainable Development Goals. The summit will be guided by five Action Tracks to bring together key players and to draw on the expertise of actors from across the world’s food systems; pre-summit dialogues have already begun. This is where it gets more interesting.
While many Food System Summit Dialogues are planned leading up to the summit, the process is complex and requires navigating websites and forms. According to many non-governmental organizations, including peasant movements and community leaders across the global South, the pre-summit meetings and dialogues advance the control over food and agriculture by global agribusiness and affiliated corporations. Therefore, they are boycotting the U.N. summit and proposing a Global People’s Summit on Food Systems, which advocates for local food sovereignty, agroecology and peasants’ rights as paths toward more just, equitable, healthy and sustainable food systems.
We will be covering as much as possible of both Food Systems Summits, as well as the upcoming U.N. Climate talks (COP26) which will follow in October and November. Thank you for your continued prayers and positive energy for Loretto at the UN.
An informative video on the U.N. Foods Systems Summit is here.
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