FAO is co-organizing the Global Conference of the Sustainable Food Systems Programme of the One Planet Network, taking place between 24 - 27 April 2023 in Ha Noi, Viet Nam.

FAO Director-General QU Dongyu will open the proceedings with a video message, with Corinna Hawkes, Director of the Food Systems and Food Safety Division (ESF), chairing one of the main sessions and side events during the three days.

The entire Food Systems and Food safety Division will play a major role during the Conference, given the focus on food systems transformation, and the need to overcome the multiple deeply rooted and interlinked crises of climate, biodiversity, conflict, energy, prices, hunger, malnutrition, and health to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
With the support of FAO and other international partners, the Conference will be hosted by the Government of the Socialist Republic of Viet Nam and the co-leads of the Sustainable Food Systems Programme: the Government of Switzerland; the Government of Costa Rica; and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF).

The Main Programme

FAO is leading one of the main sessions entitled “Revisiting national and sub-national governance and policies” on 24 April 2023, 4:00 – 5:30pm (Hanoi time). This in-person event will provide an overview of the political economy of food systems, focusing on the complexity of governance challenges. It will present a set of principles, methods, and best practices to ensure fruitful, inclusive, and effective governance, including multi-stakeholder collaboration, as a key transformational force towards sustainable food systems.

With keynote and moderation by Corinna Hawkes, ESF’s Director, and a panel discussion with National Convenors and representatives from a diverse range of stakeholders, the session aims to generate learnings on how better food systems governance can support the implementation of the National Pathways for Food Systems Transformation. Among other areas, much of FAO’s work on food systems involves looking at governance issues for policy making, the importance of multi-stakeholder dialogues, and the role of the Urban Food Agenda in food systems policies. Three side events are planned, each which will parlay this divisional expertise into meaningful discussions for conference participants with useful takeaways.

Three Side Events:

A side event entitled “Cities and local governments accelerating cohesive and inclusive food systems transformation” will take place on 25 April 2023– 4.00 pm (Hanoi time).

This in-person event – co-organized with the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), Rikolto, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG), ICLEI – Local Governments for Sustainability, and the RUAF global partnership – will primarily focus on the role of cities and local governments within food systems transformation.
During this side event an outline on the key role of multi-level urban food systems governance and context specific governance mechanisms will be shared and examples of urban food systems governance through different entry points (e.g. urban and peri-urban agriculture, food waste management etc.) will be illustrated.

A second side event, slated for 25 April 2023 – 2.00 pm (Hanoi time), organized by FAO, United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), UNEP, WWF, Rikolto and the Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT (Bioversity International) will showcase a new guide entitled "Rethinking food systems: a guide for multi-stakeholder collaboration."

The guide was created to aid stakeholders at all levels of the food system in the implementation of the National Pathways for Food Systems Transformation, developed in the context of the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) in September 2021.
Policies designed in isolation from one another are unlikely to deliver the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and beyond. Multi-stakeholder collaboration needs to become an essential pillar of the food systems approach and its role in achieving a transition to sustainable food systems, as it contributes to successfully addressing complex challenges.

A third side event planned for 26 April 2023– 18:00 (Hanoi time) (Online event – register here) is led by the SFS-MED Platform (CIHEAM, FAO, PRIMA, UfM), and will showcase food systems transformation processes and pathways in countries of the Mediterranean region, as a direct contribution to the UN Food Systems Summit follow-up process.

In line with the objectives of the Conference, the side event will focus on fostering knowledge sharing, leveraging cross-country and multi-stakeholder collaboration on sustainable food systems in the Mediterranean, and mobilizing resources to further consolidate the SFS-MED Platform’s collaborative effortstowards 2030.

Additional FAO Events

FAO will also support the organization of several other sessions during the Conference.

Session 6: Mobilizing the UN Food Systems Summit’s “Ecosystem of Support” will be dedicated to understanding how the UNFSS coalitions are promoting/applying a food systems approach. This will be an opportunity to reflect on and build on the synergies across coalitions and other multi-actor initiatives that might strengthen a systems approach, with an eye to further accelerating food systems transformation while advancing progress on realization of the SDGs. At the meeting, Nancy Aburto, Deputy Director of the Food and Nutrition Division of FAO, will present insights on the work of the Coalition of Action on Healthy Diets from Sustainable Food Systems for Children and All.

For the final day of the conference, FAO and the Food Systems Coordination Hub co-organised Session 8: “Dialogue of National Convenors”. The Session will give voice to Convenors to showcase examples of how investing in better food policies can serve multiple SDGs to leave no one behind.

FAO will also organise a workshop for 40 participants to discuss best practices and learnings in a closed-door session. The workshop will be grounded in concrete examples from Viet Nam, Uganda and Switzerland on the status of uptake and implementation of country-level national pathways and related learning, challenges and opportunities.

In addition to these three countries, National Convenors from other countries are expected to participate in this café style conversation and the goal is to share learnings and challenges as well as opportunities moving forward.

The Global Conference will bring together more than 215 participants in-person and hundreds virtually from around the world to address the urgent challenges of food systems.

Global food systems require a systemic and inclusive approach, with growing awareness of the trade-offs involved while aiming to decrease malnutrition and environmental degradation and at the same time increasing inclusive prosperity. The conference is part of the follow-up process to the UNFSS and is a precursor to the 2023 Stocktaking Moment of the UN Food Systems Summit, scheduled for July 2023 in Rome.