Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

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Dr. Erand Llanaj

Member since
Organization: German Institute of Human Nutrition
Country: Germany
Field(s) of expertise:
I am working on:

Currently engaged at the University of Debrecen - Doctoral School of Health Sciences and WHO Collaborating Centre for Vulnerability and Health, in projects that target and attempt to identify the complex interplay between health, our genome and diet, within the nutrition gene–environment interaction matrix, aiming at prevention and control of the increasing burden of noncommunicable diseases.

This member contributed to:

    • Question 1. What are the potential entry points for government to address challenges and foster the development of digital agriculture?

      Governments will need to consider potential benefits, costs and risks, and to understand the factors affecting technology uptake so that interventions can be targeted to where there is a market failure, or a public interest for digital agriculture. It is important to start with understanding how technology can help in different components of the policy cycle, and may require government bodies to expand their skillsets, invest in technology and training, or partner with other actors (both government and non-government). On the one hand, digital agriculture may create new roles or responsibilities for governments, including to enable the digital infrastructure (is there a case for governments to be a provider or a rule maker of new digital infrastructure, and under what circumstances); but on the other hand, if technology can reduce information asymmetries and transactions costs, less government intervention may be needed.

      Question 2. How can the establishment of the Digital Council address the numerous barriers to adoption of these technologies?

      While you address certain principles in the guide it seems that some important principles are not considered or perhaps masked. My proposal is to consider:

      Reliability - The action of the Digital Council should perform reliably.

      Transparency - The action of the Digital Council should be understandable and transparent.

      Accountability - The action of the Digital Council should have accountability mechanisms.

      Question 3: Do you think that the roles identified for the Digital Council are suitable for facing the food systems challenges outlined above?

      The roles are suitable and it seems that they are based on traditional governance structures. However, while the digital council has considered ways to ensure smooth decision-making and potential work streams within the structure, it seems that there is no involvement with national focal points. If you will appoint people for every country (even digitally) than this point shall be ignored.

      Question 4. What governance structure should be in place in order for the Council to serve its purpose? According to you, do you think the proposed governance scenario is politically feasible?

      One important think to keep in mind when thinking about the governance structure should be Responsibility. It will be great to have some accountability governance unit – at the same level and structure as the advisory committee that will keep track and ensure implementation of whatever agenda will be set by the executive council. If something seems not right than some unit should be responsible for addressing concerns – there are always things to be improved and science and technology does not end with us! You can even assign a working groups to make sure that there will be equal access to the services and digital guidance for all members, regarding the open source tools and ensure the quality of those tools! A space should be left for citizenship and local civil organization to participate (e.g. as partners). They can best help in the process of understanding local needs and how can to create public value.

    • 1. Does Chapter 1 adequately reflect the current situation of malnutrition and its related causes and impacts, particularly in line with the goals and targets of the 2030 Agenda? What are the underlying problems that currently hinder food systems to deliver healthy diets?

      Chapter 1 addresses more or less the current situation. However, it would be great if the call and description be more dramatic in the sense that show how food systems now face severe biophysical constraints on achieving food security and optimal, healthy and sustainable nutrition, with increases in agricultural production  slowing because of climate disruption, yields and nutritional quality of crops being threatened by the loss of pollinators, growing atmospheric CO2 concentrations, fertile soil being lost to both wind- and water-caused erosion, salinization, and nutrient depletion, groundwater supplies for irrigation are increasingly limited as a consequence of overpumping and contamination of aquifers, excessive applications of pesticides and fertilizers have contributed to dangerous levels of exposure to toxic substances, pollinators are declining rapidly as a result of climate disruption, poisons in the environment, and habitat destruction as a result of changing land-use practices. So the attempt to frame the issue of food security and healthy nutrition as either “the solution lies in more equitable distribution of food” or “there are too many people and not enough planet,” miss an essential factor that links these two viewpoints: achieving the forms of governance needed to more equitably distribute resources becomes ever more difficult on a more crowded and degraded planet. Meeting the challenge of food security and optimal and sustainable nutrition demands a revolutionary change in food systems, necessarily one as far-reaching as a combination of the agricultural revolution, now 10 millennia in the past, with the industrial revolution and the multiple transitions to more democratic governance that started three centuries ago. So the drama should be in the sense that the problem is very very serious - not that it is not presented that way, but there is always some room for increasing importance.

      2. What should be the guiding principles to promote sustainable food systems that improve nutrition and enable healthy diets? What are your comments about the principles outlined in Chapter 2? Are they the most appropriate for your national/regional contexts?

      Policy makers around the world should be urged to move food and nutrition to the top of their political agendas. Anything less is a recipe for disaster and a balanced diet must be in line with changes in our food systems - both in the demand and supply side! If we look closely at our diets, most of us will realize plenty of our food does not fit this criteria. EAT-Lancet report made an effort, but your efforts can amplify and solidify action within the Decade of Action on Nutrition Framework. Governments should assume responsibility for the international impacts of their food systems policy decisions. The food sovereignty of other countries should be respected. Policies should enable self-supply of the population with healthy food and should promote the protection of resources, the climate, biodiversity and animal welfare. Strengthening rural structures, local economies, labor rights and small-scale food producers, establishing public programs that provide locally produced food, applying stringent standards for food labeling and the regulation of unhealthy products and paying special attention to the first 1,000 days of life as the starting point of a good and healthy well-being are core elements of such a political framework. Breastfeeding!!!

      3. In consideration of the policy areas identified in Chapter 3 and the enabling factors suggested in paragraph 41 of the Zero Draft, what policy entry points should be covered in Chapter 3, taking into account the need to foster policy coherence and address policy fragmentation?

      Nutrition sensitive policies should aim to improve the underlying determinants of nutrition outcomes through targeting dietary quality, household food security, income generation and women’s empowerment (very important!!!). Some entry points can be inspired by the  'Strengthening Nutrition Action: A Resource Guide for Countries Based on the Policy Recommendations of the Second International Conference on Nutrition (ICN2)' themes. Some language can be added for the demonstrated potential of how nutrition-sensitive interventions influence and improve intermediate outcomes such as dietary diversity, women’s empowerment and the consumption of environmental-sustanable and healthy foods - this in return can help identifiy the needs to continue supporting and conducting research and scaling up actions in theses critical areas to support efforts to meet the globally agreed sustainable development goals. Chapter three can create a vision and help policy makers looking forward to the future governments, international donors and development organisations and how they should be encouraged, nudged and supported to implement nutrition-sensitive agriculture interventions and strategies to achieve their development goals related to the food security, healthy and sustanable nutrition, as well as eradicate poverty and achieve SDGs.

      4. Can you provide specific examples of new policies, interventions, initiatives, alliances and institutional arrangements which should be considered, as well as challenges, constraints, and trade-offs relevant to the three constituent elements of food systems presented in Chapter 3? In your view, what would the “ideal” food system look like, and what targets/metrics can help guide policy-making?

       

      Oh boy, this is a great question! In order to have sustainable, equitable, and healthy food systems for the future it would be required to integrate analytical methods and approaches from a range of disciplines, as well as effective intersectoral policy analysis and multi-stakeholder engagement, including private sector - which to be honest I am not fan of! My take is that if we have a 'population health - centered' food system we can be able to address food systems challenges, especially as nutrition-related NCDs such as obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and some forms of cancer are major contributors to the global burden of disease. If we can shopw governments and people how changes in food system will be translated in changes in health, perhaps we can have some leverage and create some hope! For metrics, traditionally, components of production and consumption systems can be used to assess or improve the efficiency of a particular element or activity within the food system, based on the assumption that this will also improve the efficiency of the whole system - very important principle to keep in mind! Food systems approach must identify, analyse and assess the impact and feedback of the systems different actors, activities and health and nutrition outcomes to help identify intervention points for enhancing health and nutrition sustainably.  Therefore considering the bigger picture of the food system that it is not only a sum of the basic elements of how we get our food from farm to table, but also all of the processes and complex infrastructure involved in producing, bringing and distributing food for a specific population. I do not know if I make sense!

      5. How would these Voluntary Guidelines be most useful for different stakeholders, especially at national and regional levels, once endorsed by CFS? 

      To be honest voluntary guidelines alone will be insufficient to improve food environments and food systems, but with the endorsement of CFS and other organizations more attention will be paid to reducing social, cultural, political and economic barriers that can help develop leadership and capacity to ensure the sustainable changes expected for food systems to achieve SDGs. Apart from serving as referecne point this may be the value! I hope for the best.

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