The UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) generated a wave of food systems transformation that inspired the conversation at the third Independent UNFSS Dialogue organized by the SFS-MED Platform on Thursday, 9 December 2021. Focusing on “Pathways for the future of sustainable food systems in the Mediterranean”, the event gathered around 200 participants from all shores of the Mediterranean and beyond.  

The event featured a roundtable panel moderated by David Nabarro, Food Systems Summit Dialogues Senior Advisor, who invited national dialogue convenors from Italy, Albania, Egypt and Turkey to present their ongoing efforts in implementing national pathways for food systems transformation. The perspective of stakeholders’ representatives from the Arab Women Organization, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), the European Institute of Innovation & Technology (EIT-Food), and the BETA Technological Center of the Central University of Catalonia enriched the discussion with insights about the key role of inclusive governance, innovation, and sustainable finance.  

During the event, José Valls Bedeau, Policy Officer at the FAO Food Systems and Food Safety Division, shared key findings from the stocktaking exercise of several UNFSS Dialogues that took place around the Mediterranean, highlighting common challenges and priorities for regional collaboration.  The stocktaking exercise  includes the analysis of national pathways and country experiences. 

Looking at the way forward, Jamie Morrison, Director, FAO Food Systems and Food Safety Division, commented in his closing remarks: “The SFS-MED Platform offers a space to foster exchange between countries and stakeholders from across the Mediterranean while they implement their national pathways. Building on the momentum generated by the Summit, the Mediterranean region can provide an example of cross-country collaboration, which we could share more globally as to encourage the efforts to transform our food systems”. The SFS-MED initiative will support such efforts through knowledge sharing and capacity building, but also co-developing projects and investment proposals to support the implementation of the pathways. 

                                                                       Watch the event recording here 

About the SFS-MED initiative 

FAO is supporting the multi-stakeholder initiative for Sustainable Food Systems in the Mediterranean through a project funded by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation of Italy. The project supports the inception of the SFS-MED Platform, co-developed by FAO in partnership with the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM), the Secretariat of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM), and the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA), as an affiliated project of the One Planet Network’s Sustainable Food Systems Programme.   

Read the executive brief on Accelerating Food Systems Transformation in the Mediterranean (also available in Arabic and French).