Speaking on World Environment Day 2024, UN Secretary General António Guterres stepped up his climate warnings, saying that “we need an exit ramp off the highway to climate hell.”
He added that "those least responsible for the crisis are hardest hit: the poorest people; the most vulnerable countries; Indigenous Peoples; women and girls. The cost of all this chaos is hitting people where it hurts from supply-chains severed, to rising prices and mounting food insecurity."
Against this backdrop UNDP has prepared a White Paper on food systems resilience and transformation, researched and written by a cross-disciplinary team, to identify how to transform food systems to combat hunger, climate change and biodiversity loss. The problems are even greater in crisis contexts where conflict impacts food systems and increased food insecurity can fuel grievances which may escalate into instability and violence. This blog, the second in a series, looks at some of the key Dimensions the Team has identified.
At the heart of the White Paper, to be released imminently, is a call to action for resilience and sustainability in every part of the food system.
UNDP Global Head of FACS Andrew Bovarnick said:"The White Paper was prepared by a specially convened group of experts across UNDP’s Inclusive Growth, Climate, Nature, Resilience, Governance, Sustainable Finance and Crisis programmes. The need for this breadth of expertise shows us the complexity of Food Systems Resilience and the raison d'être to approach transformation in a holistic manner. This is the first time that a team of this breadth and seniority has been assembled within UNDP to address the challenge of Food Systems."
Four dimensions to build Food Systems resilience
In the massive undertaking to build resilience in Food Systems, the team identified 4 key Dimensions:
- Food Systems Governance sets the context that the system works within;
Structural Driversdefine the challenges that the food system faces, these are:
a. Poverty and Inequality,which can be challenged by better social protection mechanisms and support for smallholder producers;
b. Healthy and safe diets are enhanced by sustainable and diverse food production that is available and affordable for everybody;
c. Gender transformative policies which secure women’s rights and control over resources;
d. Environment concerns can be met by mainstreaming food systems in National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans;
e. In Climate Change where agriculture offers significant benefits in both mitigation and adaptation;
f. Energyfrom renewable sources will power the transformation.
- the Food Value Chain represents the diversity (or lack of it) in the system and fairness of distribution of risk and reward;
- and Sustainable Finance determines the economic and business structures which support the food system.
Around all this loop the triple hazards of Fragility, Conflict and Crisis, ever ready to knock the system off course and into a state of recovery, hopefully to resilience.
As the cross-disciplinary team concludes their research, the focus turns to action and barriers to change – what needs to happen for the White Paper’s recommendations to take effect?
Lead author and UNDP Senior Advisor Jose Luis Chicomasaid: "We need to be clear on the scale of the undertaking in front of us: with increasing numbers of people going to bed hungry, the triple planetary crises, and persistent social and income inequality for smallholder farmers, the challenges for this transformation are immense. At the same time, food systems are cross-sectoral, providing a unique opportunity to adopt a systemic approach: this process means transcending the siloed and sectoral approaches that have not worked in the past. We need a paradigm shift in international development, able to navigate the complexities and power dynamics involved in food systems."
Governments are key to implementing activity in these Dimensions, as well as setting the "rules" of the system at the overall Food Systems Governance level supported by UNDP’s "whole-of-government" approach in 170 Country Offices worldwide. With the right supporting mechanisms, institutions and platforms that embrace the complexity of the food system and its power imbalances, the White Paper’s recommendations could be the tipping point we need into Food Systems Transformation.
José Luis Chicoma concludes: "Both by addressing immediate drivers of food insecurity and long-term systemic weaknesses that could trigger food insecurity, there has never been a more critical time to grasp the moment, break down the silos which obstruct progress, and build collaborative solutions for future food systems that are sustainable, inclusive and equitable, healthy, and resilient, serving both people and planet."
There is more on UNDP’s call to action for a new vision in the latest reportNavigating Complexity in Food Systems: From Clockwork To Cloudwork.
