Food Systems Summit Compendium
FOREWORD
“As a human family, a world free from hunger is our imperative”
UN Secretary-General António Guterres
Healthier, more inclusive, sustainable and equitable food systems have the power to catalyse the achievement of all 17 Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 in every country. Collectively recognizing this, people from all walks of life and generations, government representatives, youth, indigenous peoples and food producers at all scales and a wide range of international organizations, followed the Secretary-General António Guterres’ call on World Food Day 2019 and came together to design and deliver the “People’s”, and “Solutions’” Summit.
Unprecedented efforts took place worldwide, bringing together more than 500 experts from about 250 0rganisations, representatives from farmers, youth and indigenous peoples and 70 countries regularly contributing to the Summit’s Action Tracks’ work, more than 28 internationally renowned experts, representing networks of thousands of scientists active in the Scientific Group, over forty organisations from the UN System, and more than one hundred thousand individuals engaged through dialogues, to design bold new actions and deliver progress on all 17 SDGs through tangible and positive changes to the world’s food systems.
This Compendium gives an overview of the engagement process and the findings, knowledge and results generated in the lead up to the Summit.
Chapter 1 – Overview of the Food Systems Summit Process
Over the course of 18 months, and in the midst of an unprecedented pandemic, the Secretary-General’s Food Systems Summit has engaged hundreds of thousands of people from around the world in an ambitious effort to accelerate action to transform food systems to realize the vision of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
In the context of the Decade of Action, as both a “People’s Summit” and a “Solutions Summit”, the Food Systems Summit has been a catalytic moment for global public mobilization and motivating actionable commitments by various stakeholders.
Chapter 2 – Key Inputs from Summit Workstreams
As part of the Summit process, over 147 UN Member States led National Dialogues. Their outcomes are being consolidated into national pathways, which are clear visions of what governments, together with various stakeholders, expect of food systems by 2030. Member States and a wide range of experts and stakeholders have contributed more than 2200 suggestions for accelerated action. The Action Tracks have clustered this rich input in a systemic way to build communities of practice and foster new partnerships. The Scientific Group consulted broadly and made a robust contribution to the evidence base underpinning much of the Summit’s work. The UN Task Force helped to mobilize over 40 key global institutions to bring knowledge and expertise. Through the Champions Network, Global Food Systems Summit Dialogues, and over 900 Independent Dialogues, people around the world have offered ideas on how to transform food systems.
Chapter 3 – Overview of the Pre-Summit
UN Food Systems Pre-Summit was held from the 26 – 28th July 2021, at the FAO in Rome and on-line attendance. More than 100 countries came together over the course of three-days to discuss how they will transform their national food systems to drive progress against the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030.
The official pre-summit programme featured sessions dedicated to four decisive “levers of change”, including women’s empowerment, and human rights.
Chapter 4- Summit
The UN Food Systems Summit will launch bold new actions, solutions, and strategies to deliver progress on all 17 SDGs, each of which relies to some degree on healthier, more sustainable, and equitable food systems. The Summit will awaken the world to the fact that we all must work together to transform the way the world produces, consumes, and thinks about food.
DISCLAIMER: The various sections which form this Compendium are the result of collective work involving thousands of individuals through the Summit’s structures and workstreams, collated and presented by the Food Systems Secretariat as a (necessarily non-exhaustive) compilation of knowledge, tools and analysis which can inform and support efforts at all levels to accelerate action for sustainable food systems and operationalize Sammy outcomes. This compendium is not a product of intergovernmental negotiations and — outside of international agreements — does not represent an endorsement of any particular position contained therein