Save the date! The HLPE-FSN engages in substantial discussions at CFS 52

The HLPE-FSN is gearing up for a busy week at the upcoming CFS plenary, where experts will actively participate in various discussions on key food security and nutrition issues. 

The 52nd Plenary Session of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS 52) will be held from 21 to 25 October 2024 in Rome, Italy. This year's session will focus on the 2024 State of Food Security and Nutrition report, the endorsement of those CFS products developed by the Committee during the intersessional period, the update of the CFS Multi-Year Programme of Work for 2024-2027, the report by the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition on "Strengthening urban and peri-urban food systems to achieve food security and nutrition in the context of urbanization and rural transformation", the HLPE-FSN Issues paper on "and other ongoing CFS workstreams and priorities.

The HLPE-FSN acknowledges the important role of this intergovernmental platform and its agreements and guidelines and recognizes this international moment as a unique opportunity to foster coordination and collaboration among Member States, civil society, Indigenous Peoples, academia, foundations, the private sector, and other stakeholders in the global fight against hunger and malnutrition.

In addition to contributing to plenary sessions, HLPE-FSN experts will participate in several side events. Among these, we are pleased to highlight two events co-organized by the HLPE-FSN, that reflect our commitment to advancing global dialogue and scientific collaboration on sustainable and resilient food systems.

Bringing together urban and food justice – building a common agenda across the CFS workstreams on inequalities and urban and peri-urban food systems

🗓️ Wednesday, 23 October

🕣8:30 – 9:45 CEST 

🗺️ FAO HQ, Green room, and online

🌐 English, French, Spanish, Portuguese

Food justice and urban justice and governance are together the focus of the last two HLPE-FSN reports, which have both called for attention to how food system drivers are linked to wider systemic drivers (including urban systems and infrastructures) and how these drivers work in concert to shape outcomes as equitable or unjust.  This event, which brings together members of the drafting teams of the two HLPE-FSN reports with academics and activists who work on urban food justice, is designed to see how a common agenda can be forged, with a focus on those living in urban contexts who are most marginalised in food and urban systems while also on how the urbanization paradigm often reinforce inequalities if the structural causes of migration to cities, particularly by the youth, are not addressed.

Speakers will outline the interaction between these two important CFS agendas and will highlight important considerations from civil society experiences and their collective agency in community-led initiatives, and academic research. The session will be interactive, with a chance for participants to help develop a common agenda and objectives for research, advocacy and policy aligned with the CFS multi-year programme of work.

Organizers: Food Equity Centre, IDS; UCT; CSIPM; CONSEA; WFP; HLPE-FSN; World Organization of United Cities and Local Governments, Government of France.

Agenda

INTRODUCTION: BRINGING TOGETHER URBAN AND FOOD JUSTICE

• Jane Battersby, University of Cape Town (UCT) professor, Chair of HLPE-FSN report #19 and member of HLPE HLPE-FSN report #18 drafting team

PANEL ONE: Urban food injustices and local realities, moderated by Nick Nisbett, Member of the Food Equity Centre, Institute of Development Studies (IDS), and of the HLPE-FSN report #18 drafting team

• Iromi Perera, Director, Colombo Urban Lab
• Elisabetta Recine, President of the Brazilian Conselho Nacional de Segurança Alimentar e Nutricional (CONSEA) and member of the HLPE-FSN Steering Committee
• Sadullah Kutlu, an International Relations Expert, Konya, Turkey, United Cities and Local Governments (UCLG)

PANEL TWO: Action by governments and international institutions - policy and strategy, moderated by Jody Harris, Member of the Food Equity Centre (IDS) and of the HLPE-FSN report #18 drafting team

• Ximena Moreno, Co-coordinator of the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism for Relations with the UN Committee on World Food Security (CSIPM) Urban and Peri-Urban Working Group
• Isis Ferrera, Senior Urban Advisor - Emergency Preparedness and Response Service, WFP
• Erwan De Gavelle, Head of the Food Policy Office at the Ministry of Agriculture, Food Sovereignty and Forestry Government of France

“Just in time” or “just in case” food systems? Managing trade-offs and building resilience from local to global

🗓️ Thursday, 24 October

🕣13:30 – 14:45 CEST

🗺️ FAO HQ, Iran room, and online

🌐 English, Portuguese

The event will build the CFS MYPoW theme Building Resilience in Food Systems by focusing on how to boost resilience from production to supply chain management, exploring how to diversify sources of inputs, production, markets, and actors, including supporting the creation of small and medium-sized companies, cooperatives, consortiums and other groups to maintain diversity in food systems.

The event will feature results from the Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition (GLOPAN) project on resilient food systems in Malawi, Ethiopia and Sierra Leone and from the International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food) report entitled, “Food from somewhere: Building food security and resilience through territorial markets” as well as inputs from Brazil, FAO, the private sector and the civil society.

Organizers: HLPE-FSN, Government of Brazil, CFS PSM, GLOPAN, IPES-Food.

Agenda

INTRODUCTION

• Akiko Suwa-Eisenmann, Chairperson, HLPE-FSN

PANEL DISCUSSION. EVIDENCE AND EXPERIENCE

Moderated by Sandy Thomas, Director, GLOPAN

• Patrick Kormawa, President’s Initiative on Climate Change, Renewable Energy and Food Security, Sierra Leone
• Lilian Rahal, Secretary of Food and Nutritional Security, Ministry of Development, Social Assistance, Family and Fight against Hunger, Brazil
• Nicholas Jacobs, Director, International Panel of Experts on Sustainable Food Systems (IPES-Food)

FIRESIDE CHAT. BUILDING RESILIENT FOOD SYSTEMS IN THE FUTURE

Moderated by Iain Wright, Vice-Chairperson, HLPE-FSN

• Christian Vousvouras, Public Affairs Manager at Nestlé, CFS Private Sector Mechanism (PSM) representative
• Tyler Short, representative of the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism for Relations with the UN Committee on World Food Security (CSIPM)
• Corinna Hawkes, Director of Food Systems and Food Safety Division, FAO

For more information about the CFS week, visit the side events and the CFS 52 dedicated pages.