This FAO evidence platform provides evidence and tools to support governments and stakeholders in the implementation of the Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition (VGFSyN) of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS).
To find relevant documents for a VGFSyN recommendation, select a focus area from the left menu and the sub-focus area of your interest. You will be redirected to a page listing all relevant VGFSyN recommendations. Select a recommendation to access the links to the relevant online documents
Focus Area II
Sustainable food supply chains to achieve healthy diets in the context of economic, social and environmental sustainability, and climate change
This focus area highlights the importance of promoting nutrition across the food supply chain and suggests ways to create sustainable and resilient food supply chains and sustainable consumption and production in the midst of climate change and natural resource degradation. It provides guidance on: mainstreaming climate adaptation and mitigation; promoting sustainable use and management of natural resources; improving food storage, processing, packaging, transformation and reformulation; improving nutrition and health of farm and food system workers; and empowering youth across food systems.
3.2.1 Mainstreaming climate adaptation and mitigation across sustainable food supply chains
The four digit numbering of each recommendation follows the numbering in the VGFSyN, whereby the first digit represents the chapter 3 of the document that includes the 105 recommendations, the second digit the focus area, the third digit the sub-focus
area and the letter the specific recommendation.
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Recommendation 3.2.1.a
Governments, development partners, civil society and non-governmental organizations and private sector should collaborate with food producers and their organizations for them to achieve decent livelihoods and to enhance the resilience of food supply chains to climate change impacts by managing risk and building preparedness and resilience and by mitigating food supply chains negative impacts on the environment. This can include building on local knowledge and innovation and increasing access to finance, extension services, insurance, weather forecasting, early warning systems, capacity development, knowledge sharing and information dissemination and assistance through service application. It could also include protecting crops, livestock, and fisheries and overall production systems, in terms of nutritional content and productivity from the anticipated impacts of climate change in the form of pests, diseases, and weather-related shocks. This could entail disseminating good practices of resilient farming and locally adopting varieties resistant to drought, frost, heat, pests, or diseases caused or exacerbated by climate change as well as reducing post-harvest and other food losses and developing productive-asset creation initiatives.
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Recommendation 3.2.1.b
Governments, intergovernmental organizations, private sector, civil society and other relevant stakeholders should promote sustainable agriculture such as agroecological and other innovative approaches, at different scales in the process towards achieving sustainable food systems that enhance food security and nutrition. They also should collaborate with and support farmers and other food producers to reduce the environmental impact of food systems, enhancing also biodiversity and recognizing the positive efforts of farmers that adopt sustainable practices. This could be done by fostering the adoption of appropriate technology and on-farm management practices to optimize the efficiency of crop production yields and by promoting responsible and sustainable production and use of pesticides and fertilizers in order to maximize their benefits while minimizing their negative impacts on the environment and human health. Governments should promote optimization of agricultural outputs per unit of water, soil, energy, labor and land, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, biodiversity loss, and natural resource degradation (including deforestation), in accordance with their Nationally Determined Contribution to the Paris Agreement, and other relevant national planning instruments.
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Recommendation 3.2.1.c
Governments should institute, where appropriate, monitoring systems (including early warning systems), quality indices (e.g. integrated diversification and agro-biodiversity targets, soil health, water quality, farm income and food price) and other food system and dietary metrics as part of the environment and climate-related target setting policies to monitor changing conditions and the effectiveness of policy responses.
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Recommendation 3.2.1.d
Governments, research organizations, academic institutions, and universities should promote the generation and use of science and evidence-based knowledge, including indigenous, and traditional and local knowledge, that demonstrate climate change mitigation, adaptation and resilience strategies for sustainable food systems and enabling healthy diets. Research should be science and evidence-based, open to local and traditional knowledge, include safeguards for the identification and management of possible conflicts of interest. Research should focus on potential interventions and policy entry points to ensure sustainable agricultural production and productivity including in terms of nutrition, including practices that enhance the resilience of food supply chains, improve livelihoods and promote carbon sequestration, livestock, fisheries and aquaculture, processing and packaging, retail and markets, market access and responsible consumption, contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation, as well as to reduce negative environmental impacts and protect, conserve, sustainably manage and use natural resources.