CCAFS at the UN Food Systems Summit

Food systems are failing to produce enough food to feed a growing world population.

They don’t meet our nutritional needs, and when there is plenty, not everyone gets and equal and equitable share – we’re seeing hunger and famine on the rise even as obesity and other dietary related diseases become rampant.

Ultimately, we’ve failed to reckon with the negative side-effects from the growth of our food systems on nature itself, with environmental degradation and vast depletion of natural resources.

Unless we make our food systems more resilient and sustainable, we cannot truly build back better.

The United Nations convenes its first ever Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) in late September 2021 to trigger potentially bold action for the transformation we seek.

It’s a laudable ambition, and it’s urgently needed.

The CGIAR Research Program on Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) has been closely involved in the global dialogue that’s shaping the UNFSS agenda.

Playback the CCAFS side-event to the UNFSS - also part of the Climate Week NYC program - where our high-level speakers debated the emerging ‘Action Agenda for Innovation in Agriculture’ aka the 'ClimateShot'.

THE CCAFS TAKE

Read the op-ed by CCAFS' Ana María Loboguerrero in The Hill about the UN Food Systems Summit

"UN food summit could fail to address climate change — the biggest threat to feeding the planet."

Read @amloboguerrero in her new piece for the @thehill | #UNFSS2021 #COP26 https://t.co/1pdoUAZfl2 pic.twitter.com/LbEdo1EMPm

— CCAFS (@CGIARclimate) July 20, 2021

Want to share this article? Download and use this social card!

From the very first online Food Systems Dialogue in response to COVID-19 with Bayer in June 2020 – later to evolve into a whole series of CCAFS-Bayer dialogues – to celebrating Earth Day 2021 with Rabobank and right through to our culminating events that will coincide with the UNFSS itself, CCAFS has been working hard to put climate at the heart of the food systems debate. 

And with two core CCAFS team members playing leading roles in the UN Food Systems Summit 'Action Tracks' and its ‘Levers of Change’ – which complement a number of engagements from other CCAFS colleagues via papers submitted to the summit’s various committees – CCAFS has worked to inform the UNFSS with world leading climate science.

Through our campaign with the UK Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office, we’re building a global alliance for accelerating agricultural innovation at the UN COP26 climate summit. We sought pledges of support through a UNFSS Dialogue and continue to link the climate and food agendas for more holistic action and transformation.

This CCAFS-UNFSS hub explores all the events, blogs, papers and op-eds that highlight the breadth and depth of our work to deliver a successful summit and healthier, more sustainable and equitable food systems.

Playback some of our events 

About CCAFS

The CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) marshals the science and expertise of the global CGIAR partnership to catalyze positive change towards a climate-smart future in agriculture and food systems. It scales up the practices, technologies and institutions that enable agriculture to meet triple goals of food security, adaptation and mitigation.