Alwin Kopse was appointed Deputy Assistant Director-General of the Swiss Federal Office for Agriculture (FOAG) in October 2018. He is associate head of the Knowledge Systems, Technology and International Affairs Directorate and leads the Unit for International Affairs and Food Security.
Alwin Kopse holds a MLaw of the University of Berne and an MSc in Public Policy and Management of the University of London (School of Oriental and African Studies). Before joining the FOAG in 2015, he was founding director of a consultancy firm in strategy development, sustainable development and change management. Before that, he held leadership positions at the Harvard Kennedy School of Government, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, and in various organizations in civil society, the industry and in the public sector.
السيد Alwin Kopse
Dear members of the FSN Forum,
I am truly impressed by the interest and constructive debates sparked by the v.1.0 draft “Towards a common understanding of Sustainable Food Systems” over the past three weeks. This last week in particular has seen increase in discussions among different Forum members, adding greatly to the global dialogue around food systems. I would therefore like to express a big Thank You to all contributors, both on my own behalf as well as that of the entire One Planet Sustainable Food Systems (SFS) Programme.
The online consultation is now closed. As a next step, we will do an in-depth analysis of all feedback received and do our best effort to integrate all pertinent inputs in the document. In this context we may get back to some of you to expand on specific issues or in case there may be a need for clarification.
In addition, kindly note that the document is scheduled to be presented at the upcoming 2nd global conference of the SFS Programme, taking place on 5-7 February, 2019, in San José, Costa Rica.
The final version will be shared with you all on this platform.
Best regards,
Alwin Kopse
Deputy Assistant Director-General
Head International and Food Security Unit
Federal Office for Food and Agriculture FOAG, Switzerland
السيد Alwin Kopse
Dear members of the FSN Forum,
There has been a lot of activity related to the consultation “Towards a common understanding of Sustainable Food Systems” over this past week. Detailed and thought provoking feedback was provided, looking at the draft v.1.0 from a whole range of different angles. Among the most frequently expressed comments was the suggestion to integrate more examples to illustrate the different concepts and approaches (e.g. further examples of sustainable diets, resilient production systems, etc.). In addition, several contributors high-lighted the importance of the Right to Food and the adoption of a human rights-based approach. Yet other feedback focused on language, highlighting the need for the draft to be easily understandable to a range of different stakeholders. Furthermore, it was mentioned that the interlinkages and differences between the different approaches presented in the draft may still be made more explicit. This is just to highlight some of the most recurrent inputs, while the wealth of feedback received was of course much broader and detailed than that. Many thanks to all contributors for their time and effort put into this consultation so far!
Several commentators highlighted the fact that Sustainable Food Systems is a very broad and complex topic that requires adequate consideration. In addition, there was an important increase in the activity on the FSN Forum over the past days, which I see as an indication of the persisting appetite for this online consultation. For both these reasons we have decided to extend the consultation period until December 13th, allowing even more contributions to add to the solidity of the draft and improving our common understanding of SFS.
For this last week of the consultation, we would particularly appreciate:
Best regards,
Alwin Kopse
Deputy Assistant Director-General
Head International and Food Security Unit
Federal Office for Food and Agriculture FOAG, Switzerland
السيد Alwin Kopse
Dear members of the FSN Forum,
It has been a suspenseful first week for the consultation “Towards a common understanding of Sustainable Food Systems”. Our special thanks go to the first movers who submitted their feedback in this early stage of the consultation period, as well as to the IT specialists that were able to resolve the technical problems that caused a temporary interruption of the FSN Forum website. The contributions so far highlighted specific challenges (e.g. climate change; pests and diseases; decrease of arable land and soil fertility; lack of investment) as well as additional concepts and approaches (e.g. agroforestry; cooperative agriculture; food safety; insect protein) in relation to sustainable food systems. In addition, insightful examples of food systems challenges at national and local level were provided, including from the Indian context.
Some questions were also raised with regard to the draft v1.0, including about its main objective and the focus on sustainability (rather than food security). The One Planet Sustainable Food Systems (SFS) Programme’s point of view is clear: while the ultimate goal is food security, it will not be achieved while the economic, social and environmental bases for food production and consumption are being compromised. In other words, the shift towards sustainable food systems is a precondition for global food security. The SFS Programme is developing this document with the objective to strengthen a common understanding of the key approaches and concepts that are central to this shift. This will allow food system actors to speak the same language when deliberating on sustainable solutions to food insecurity and malnutrition – solutions that take into account all stages from food production to consumption, as well as their interlinkages with food systems drivers and impacts.
We are pleased that the feedback received in general has been supportive of the concept of sustainable food systems. We welcome further inputs and reactions, and particularly encourage contributors to refer as much as possible to the three guiding questions in the topic note.
Best regards and thank you very much,
Alwin Kopse
Deputy Assistant Director-General
Head International and Food Security Unit
Federal Office for Food and Agriculture FOAG, Switzerland