Foro Global sobre Seguridad Alimentaria y Nutrición (Foro FSN)

May 17, 2022

RE: INPUT FOR  HLPE’S CRITICAL, EMERGING AND ENDURING ISSUES (CEEI) CONSULTATION

Submitted by Long Food Movement partners IPES-Food and ETC Group.

To the HLPE CEEI Consultation Committee,

We are writing in response to the CEEI consultation question, “Are there any other key issues that should be added and elaborated? If yes, please provide a justification of why they are “critical”, together with relevant literature and data.”

The Long Food Movement initiative worked to chart potential food systems trajectories to 2045, via different scenarios. To this end, project partners undertook a multi-year, multi-method process to identify new and emerging food systems issues. Based on this extensive research and outreach, project partners would like to propose the addition of two key issue areas to the list of potential CEEI:

1. Assessing Impacts of New and Emerging Technological Trends on FSN;

2. Preparing for Future Disruptive Events.

Please find brief information on each theme below.

1. Assessing Impacts of New and Emerging Technological Trends on FSN

Some of our basic assumptions about food systems – that food is grown by farmers, with soil and sunlight  – are being upended by emerging developments. There are four key overlapping domains where highly disruptive innovations are likely to be rolled out over the next 25 years: digitalization, automation, molecular technologies, and nature modification. Delivering ‘climate resilience’ and ‘nature-based’ solutions is a big part of their promise to policymakers. But in a post-pandemic world, the previously dystopian notion of a fully automated food chain without human workers is also being advanced as a solution for food safety, hygiene, and resilience to labour shocks.

These technologies are driving unprecedented corporate consolidation – and the trend is showing no signs of slowing down. The biggest change is the arrival of new players: specifically the marriage between Big Ag and data platforms. For agri-food companies, data strategies are not just a means to capture new efficiencies in food, but also to benefit from ‘surveillance capitalism’, whereby data giants amass and leverage data itself as a new form of capital. Amazon and Microsoft provide most of the world’s cloud computing infrastructure and are partnering with agribusiness-led digital platforms to deliver the weather, agronomic, and production data to and from precision farming systems. Farm equipment giants are embracing the digitalization wave and building the hardware and software for so-called 'precision' or 'digital' agriculture into their tractors and harvesters.

Digitalization is also providing an incentive for agribusinesses to forge partnerships with specialized technology companies. For instance, the agricultural sector will become second only to the military in its drone usage over the next five years. Meanwhile, the commodity titans are forging alliances around emerging digital technologies (especially blockchain and AI) to automate grain and oilseed trading, and as a general tool for traceability, transparency, and control of infrastructure.

The rush to access new e-retail and food delivery markets – accelerated by the pandemic – is also producing new food industry giants. E-commerce companies led by Amazon and China’s JD.com are now among the top ten retailers globally. New behemoths are forming as the global North’s food logistics firms and data platforms merge with e-commerce leaders in emerging markets. Amazon, Alibaba, Microsoft, Google (through its Alphabet X) and Baidu are also moving into the production part of the food chain, with digital ag firms highly reliant on their cloud, AI, and data processing services.

The growing financialization of the food system – coupled with the new technologies on offer – is also creating a new tier of (largely invisible) agri-food giants. A handful of mega-size equity firms have sensors, data streams, and financial fingers in every point along the food chain. Judging by recent developments, asset management firms are now out to buy stakes in all of the biggest firms. Some analysts are calling this practice, known as horizontal shareholding, ‘the greatest anti-competitive threat of our time’. The biggest asset management companies like Blackrock, Vanguard, State Street, Capital Group and Fidelity have designated funds for investments in food and agriculture, allowing investors to go into farming without owning land. These five companies own 10–30% of the shares of the top agri-food firms, and similar stakes in e-retail and cloud services. Alternative asset managers that control hedge funds (e.g. Blackstone) have been aggressively investing in agribusinesses and agricultural land in the global South, including in Brazil, where the firm was identified as a direct driver of Amazon deforestation. The advent of large-scale aggregated food system data, combined with AI, can provide hedge funds with novel instantaneous insights to drive commodity speculation – so called High Frequency Trading.

These trends will be amplified by ‘fintech’, i.e. the electronic payments, cryptocurrencies and electronic loans that are changing what money is and how it is handled. The super-computers needed to power fintech are administered by big companies – often financial firms – with the means to set up blockchains on one end, and consumer banking services on the other. Meanwhile, these blockchains are becoming a tool for corporations to both mine data on consumer behaviour, and transform (in their favour) the logistics, handling, and production systems that manage food chains – with little regard for labour, equity, or ecological impacts.

As a result of these trends, the big visible names in food by 2045 are most likely to be today's data processors, e.g. Amazon, Alphabet (Google), Microsoft, and Alibaba – as well as the telcos who control the data pipes and 5G networks. These and other data giants are also buying up and adding to the hyper-accelerating Internet network of cables, fibers, 5G, mobile, satellite, and edge networks. Others – including Elon Musk – are deploying internet beaming satellites to position for agridigital domination from the skies. In parallel, well known agribusinesses such as Bayer, Yara, and John Deere are reinventing themselves as rich data providers and combining data and biotech capabilities into biodigital strategies.

But new technologies, especially digital ones, develop differently in rich and poor regions of the world. For most of the small-scale agricultural world, new technologies are often deployed as instruments of control (population, individual and economic), community espionage and information mining.

Over time, it may not be the cloud, hardware, network, or interstellar layer that directs the digital food chain, but instead opaque asset management firms who are pulling the strings in the background. And with various forms of corporate consolidation continuing apace, by 2045 the big names will be considerably bigger and more powerful than they are today.

It is clear that these trends will have extensive impacts on all aspects of food systems. In order to protect and support food security and nutrition for people around the world, it will be necessary for the CFS - members and partners - to have the capacity to assess and contend with new and emerging technological issues. We therefore urge the HLPE to consider this theme among the CEEI.

2. Preparing for Future Disruptive Events

In the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and the invasion of Ukraine, there is no longer any question that repeated food system disruption is to be expected into the future. Whether this will be due to multi bread-basket failures, the collapse of the Internet, embargoes at food trade “choke” points - or more pandemics and wars - future disruptive events are going to happen, we just can’t be sure of when and how.

Future disruptive events (sometimes called ‘Grey Swans’) are unpredictable in date and detail, yet can still be anticipated and planned for. They tend to arise from plausible conditions and come with relatively predictable – and usually compound – risks and opportunities: hurricanes, floods, and droughts are followed by epidemics and famines; food failures often have multiple sources; and every so-called large-scale ’natural’ disaster can reasonably be assumed to instigate an economic disaster that can trigger a political upheaval.

The CFS, members and partners - if using a long-term strategic lens - will be much better placed to support food security and nutrition in these critical moments, rather than to navigate cycles of crisis management. The CFS would benefit from having two key elements - an early warning system, and an early listening system - in place. These would allow member countries and CSIPM partners to anticipate and recognize coming upheavals; and to build response strategies that address the immediate crisis, including a plan for how to maximize food security and nutrition in the restructuring that inevitably follows disruption. With recent world events continuing to significantly impact FSN, there is no reason (nor excuse) for food system actors to be unprepared for future disruptive events in the years ahead. We therefore encourage the HLPE to consider the theme of “Preparing for Future Disruptive Events.”

HLPE 3 rd Note on Critical, emerging and enduring issues V0 draft for e-consultation

Building resilient supply chains for FSN

• ‘Sustainability’ and ‘resilience’ are often misused terms. Currently there are no sustainable systems, there are no energy efficient resilient systems. Sustainability requires adaptation to evolution process which in turn depends on migration in adverse climate conditions. Resilience requires expensive energy to develop or maintain existing system under severe weather conditions like global warming.
• Evolution process: Evolution of life on the planet Earth is a continuous process. Evolution process of human activity (life) on the planet Earth is cyclic in nature. (Evolution process cycle diagram attached) Adapting to the current cycle of evolution process is the Necessity of every successful living organism. Necessity is the mother of Invention. Invention leads to Development. Development may trigger next cycle in the Evolution process.

There are different but important roles of several disciplines during the evolution process cycles. 1) Learning from the past mistakes, difficulties, disasters and natural calamities should drive research in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) to reduce the shocks in the future. 2) Research in STEM is not enough to tackle current problems like pandemics, new, unknown and unforeseen situations. Able administration and efficient management are necessary to provide scientific solution adoptable and acceptable to all players in systems. 3) There is need for economic and geopolitical equality in providing relief to effected people, leaving no one behind on the planet.

• Adapting to predictable shocks is advantageous to food system actors over resilience. Extreme weather conditions, forest fires in dry season, heavy rain fall, massive floods in river basins during rainy season are predictable shocks. They occur year after year. Efficiency oriented food system approach may not be suitable for predictable shocks. Local, co-operative, people centric approach may be effective, it may not be as efficient as global food chain, necessary local food reaches the effected population quickly. Watchful local co-operatives/ NGOs integrate available global component with nearby local food in meeting the FSN of the effected population. Earth quakes, tsunamis are mostly unpredictable, there are no known methods to the recovery and transform stages of resilience to unpredictable shocks.  
• Farmers gets paid less for their produce, where as they have to pay higher price for the food they consume. Farmers increase agricultural production using more chemical fertilizers and chemical pesticides. Their economic status hardly improves with enhanced production because of the increase in cost of fertilizers and pesticides. Income of small farmers and agricultural workers is vulnerable to weather changes and natural calamities.
• Milk is produced in villages and transported to processing units located elsewhere. The milk after processing and packaging sold at higher price in the same village. Low cost equipment for milk cream extraction in small volume is available in the market. Milk after extracting cream can be given back to dairy farmer along with part of the cream. Dairy farmer will be getting back milk plus part of the cream. Cream may be sold or used in household for making some other food product. Cream extraction center can accumulate the cream collected in a day and sell it in the market. It is a win -win situation for dairy farmer and milk cream extraction center.
• Encourage self-reliance. Distribute development and decentralize administration to ensure nutritious food to disadvantaged populations in epidemics and shocks due to natural disasters.
• Integrate long shelf -life food products with fresh local food items to meet special dietary requirement of aged and vulnerable.
• Value addition in food system has large potential in income generating activities in villages. Value addition to the food can be made with fresh, organic farm products like fruits, vegetables, eggs, fish and meat available in plenty in the villages. Value addition to food products with local cultural habits leads to increased consumption of goods and services in food sector. There is scope for innovation and increasing economic value in these activities. Investments in expensive infrastructure development, rapid transport of perishable goods and cold storage facilities are not required.
• Promote ‘blue food’ (fresh water prawns and small fish like herrings). Blue food from fresh water bodies is likely to provide another income generating opportunity to youth living inland (non- coastal) and hill regions, nutrition security to the people living in villages, will reduce the emissions due to transportation of wet and fresh aqua food from coastal area to inland, reduce the need of cold storage facilities and highspeed transportation, reduce emissions. Greenhouse gases from fish is less compared to chicken, pig and cattle.
• As a part of ‘leave no one behind’, motivate small farmers in high value and labour-intensive food grains cultivation. Initiate steps to increase participation of small farmers, agricultural workers in food chain value addition (goods and services) to reach income at par with other manufacturing and service sectors.

Urban and peri-urban food systems  

• Automation and work from home have brought a major change in food habits and lifestyle of people living in cities. Reduced physical activity and commuting to work spot resulted in sedentary life style and associated health issues. Excessive food consumption coupled with sedentary lifestyle increased obese people percentage in the world. People are aware of the problems with obesity and climate change, but have little information to act on. Aggressive marketing by few food manufacturers is only adding confusion. There is need for simpler food labelling to help the novice in making proper decisions regarding healthy meals.   
• Current food labelling with nutrition information and contents needs a revision. Labelling each food packet with dietary energy in Kcal, total weight, carbo hydrates in grams, protein in grams and fat in grams, and ‘carbon foot print’ in CO2eq will increase the awareness about food, nutrition and climate impact of the food at hand. Simple instructions on every ready to eat meals with age group, vegetarian/ vegan/ standard, breakfast/ lunch/ snacks/dinner, add salt/sugar according to the taste, salad/ sauce/ cream included will be more convenient to busy office goers and tired house makers.
• “Locally produced food can be easily made accessible to the vulnerable and resource-poor by increasing food availability, enhancing nutrition, improving farmers’ livelihoods in peri-urban and creating job opportunities in the urban areas. By adding value within local supply chains and markets, this approach contributes to improved local revenues” [1].
• Integrate long shelf -life food products (including those from global food chains) with fresh local food items to make healthy and tasty meals following local food preparation habits and meeting dietary requirement in informal settlements.
• Bridge the rural urban gap in the standard of living. Train and motivate rural youth in marketing, using digital technology and e-commerce in creating a vibrant atmosphere in villages. Trained youth at VLIC (Village Livelihood Information Consultation center) provides information on food, health and education sectors as a paid service. Youth at VLIC may partner with farmers, landless agricultural workers in micro and small enterprises to increase income level of self and other farmers and landless agricultural workers. (VLIC block diagram is attached)

Conflicts and the fragility of food systems

• Encourage self-reliance. Distribute development and decentralize administration to ensure nutritious food to disadvantaged populations in epidemics and shocks due to conflicts.
• “Locally produced food can be easily made accessible to the vulnerable and resource-poor by increasing food availability, enhancing nutrition, improving farmers’ livelihoods and creating job opportunities for other disadvantaged groups. By adding value within local supply chains and markets, this approach contributes to improved local revenues” [1].
• Integrate long shelf -life food products (mostly from global food industry) with fresh local food items to meet dietary requirement, local food habits of conflicts effected population.

Revitalizing climate policies for FSN

• Considerable research is required to understand the effect of climate changes on food system. Reducing carbon emissions in food system is only a part. Slope soil instability causing landslides, mudslides and devastating floods in agricultural fields needs to be studied. Root site-occupancy during the transition period from clear felling and replanted trees growth plays critical role in slope soil stability [2].  

Recognizing the role and rights of food system workers:

• Rights of food system workers can be ensured by motivating them in income generating activities. Per capita GDP is one indicator for additional income generating opportunities to women, food system workers, especially those in informal and seasonal contractual arrangements, small farmers, landless agricultural workers and other vulnerable groups.  It may be argued that not everyone reaches the per capita GDP. However, the national GDP will increase, those exceeding per capita GDP will have a higher target to achieve, those unable to achieve per capita GDP will be trained to take different opportunity. On the long run, national GDP will increase and there will be improvement in the working and living conditions of all.
• A correlation coefficient of 0.84, which indicates a strong positive linear correlation, between GDP and CO2 emission is observed. This indicates that as GDP increases, CO2 emissions also increase almost proportionally. The estimation of GDP long-run equation indicated that that the CO2 emissions are negative related to the economic growth.[3]

Building a meaningful interface for diverse knowledges and practices for FSN  

• Food security and nutrition plays a key role in Sustainable Development Goal1(SDG1) of UN: ‘zero hunger’ and elimination of all forms of malnutrition. The difference between ‘food security’ and ‘protein adequacy’ is not clearly communicated. In many countries vulnerable groups consume more carbohydrates instead of protein to meet the dietary energy requirement. Cost of protein is much more than cost of carbohydrates. There are no protein foods being provided under most of the nutrition programmes– possibly due lack of availability, affordability and/or awareness on food groups and dietary adequacy and frequency [4,5].
• In the WHO recommended healthy diet there are no guidelines on quality and quantity of protein [6]. Many countries are yet to prepare their own guidelines. Statistics reveal that 93% of Indian population are unaware of ideal protein requirement per day with pregnant ladies on the top (97%), followed by lactating mothers (96%) and adolescents (95%) [7]. Situation in other countries is not much different.
• Animal studies indicates that “Maternal protein restriction leads to hyperresponsiveness to stress and salt-sensitive hypertension in male offspring” [8]. Further research on similar studies on PEM (protein energy malnutrition) in humans is required. It is necessary to study the possibility of PEM related malnutrition from pregnant ladies to male children. In the meantime, protein requirement guidelines of pregnant ladies should be prepared. There are several research reports with contradicting results on protein quantity and quality [9-14]. Currently, high pressure marketing effort is used about protein adequacy. The number of obese people worldwide is increasing.

Further research is required to

• Ascertain the role of slope soil stability during rainstorm. It will be of significance because the agencies/ countries benefitting from timber trading, clear-felling of trees and reforestation could be different from the effected communities/ countries with human habitats in the nearby region due to frequent landslides, mudslides and catastrophic floods [15-22].
• Study the role of protein quantity and quality such that the risk of obesity, adiposity, and associated NCD (Non Communicable Diseases) in the world decreases.

References:

1. Enhance local production for local consumption, Solution Cluster 5.2.1, UNFSS 2021.

2. Root strength, growth, and rates of decay: root reinforcement changes of two tree species and their contribution to slope stability: Alex Watson, Chris Phillips and Michael Marden, Plant and Soil 217: 39–47, 1999.

3. Rafał Kasperowicz “Economic growth and CO2 emissions: the ECM analysis ”, Journal of International Studies, Vol. 8, No 3, 2015, pp. 91-98. DOI: 10.14254/2071-8330.2015/8-3/7

4. A Look at Indian Protein Deficiency. And how to fix it. Heal with Priyanka, Aug 5, 2017

5. India’s protein deficiency and the need to address the problem, SHOBA SURI, HEALTH EXPRESS, OCT 16 2020.

6. Home/ Newsroom/Fact sheets/Detail/Healthy diet, World Health Organization, 29 April 2020.

7. The Effects of Protein Deficiency The Importance of Amino Acids, Darla Leal, June 04, 2021, Verywellfit.

8. Maternal protein restriction leads to hyperresponsiveness to stress and salt-sensitive hypertension in male offspring, Robert A. Augustyniak,  Karan Singh, Daniel Zeldes, Melissa Singh, and Noreen F. Rossi, American Journal of Physiology ,  MAY 2010, https://doi.org/10.1152/ajpregu.00848.2009

9. The science of protein, British Nutrition Foundation.

10. High protein intake in young children and increased weight gain and obesity risk; Berthold Koletzko, Hans Demmelmair, Veit Grote, Christine Prell, and Martina Weber, Am J Clin Nutr 2016;103:303–4.

11. Protein needs early in life and long-term health, Kim F Michaelsen and Frank R Greer, Am J Clin Nutr 2014;99(suppl):718S–22S.

12. Dietary energy density as a marker of dietary quality in Swedish children and adolescents: the European Youth Heart Study, E Patterson, J Wa¨rnberg, E Poortvliet, JM Kearney and M Sjo¨stro¨m, European Journal of Clinical Nutrition (2010) 64, 356–363

13. Overweight and Obesity and their Association with Dietary Habits, and Sociodemographic Characteristics Among Male Primary School Children in Al-Hassa, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Tarek Tawfik Amin, Ali Ibrahim Al-Sultan, and Ayub Ali, Indian J Community Med. 2008 Jul; 33(3): 172–181. Doi: 10.4103/0970-0218.42058

14. Protein intake from 0 to 18 years of age and its relation to health: a systematic literature review for the 5th Nordic Nutrition Recommendations, Agneta Hörnell, Hanna Lagström, Britt Lande, and Inga Thorsdottir, Food Nutr Res. 2013; 57: 10.3402/fnr.v57i0.21083. doi: 10.3402/fnr.v57i0.21083

15. Dominik Paprotny , Antonia Sebastian, Oswaldo Morales-Nápoles  & Sebastiaan N. Jonkman; Trends in flood losses in Europe over the past 150 years, NATURE COMMUNICATIONS  (2018) 9:1985, DOI: 10.1038/s41467-018-04253-1

16. Global fatal landslide occurrence from 2004 to 2016 Melanie J. Froude and David N. Petley, Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci., 18, 2161–2181, 2018 https://doi.org/10.5194/nhess-18-2161-2018

17. FAO. 2020. Global Forest Resources Assessment 2020 – Key findings. Rome. https://doi.org/10.4060/ca8753en

18. THE STATE OF THE WORLD’S FORESTS 2020 IN BRIEF, BIODIVERSITY AND PEOPLE

19. de Vries, S.M.G., Alan, M., Bozzano, M., Burianek, V., Collin, E., Cottrell, J., Ivankovic, M., Kelleher, C.T., Koskela, J., Rotach, P., Vietto, L. and Yrjänä, L. 2015. Pan-European strategy for genetic conservation of forest trees and establishment of a core network of dynamic conservation units. European Forest Genetic Resources Programme (EUFORGEN), Bioversity International, Rome, Italy. Xii + 40 p.

20. SUSTAINABLE FOREST MANAGEMENT TOOLBOX, COMMITTEE ON FORESTRY, FAO, Rome, Italy, 23-27 June 2014

21. FAO. 2015. Towards effective national forest funds, by Matta, R. FAO Forestry Paper No. 174. Rome, Italy.

22. Konnert, M., Fady, B., Gömöry, D., A’Hara, S., Wolter, F., Ducci, F., Koskela, J., Bozzano, M., Maaten, T. and Kowalczyk, J. 2015. Use and transfer of forest reproductive material in Europe in the context of climate change. European Forest Genetic Resources Programme (EUFORGEN), Bioversity International, Rome, Italy. Xvi and 75 p.

Dr. C V Kameswara Rao, M. Tech, Ph.D

Information Practitioner (voluntary)

Health, food, nutrition and climate change

Committee on World Food Security (CFS): HLPE 3rd Note on Critical, emerging and enduring issues - Preliminary V0 draft for CFS Bureau information

Here: GER (Germany) position on the HLPE Note

GER thanks the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) for preparing and sharing the Preliminary V0 draft HLPE 3rd Note on Critical, emerging and enduring issues. We highly welcome the opportunity to provide input through the consultation process.

As stated in the consultation process on identifying topics for the HLPE Report 2024, we agree on the relevance and urgency of all proposed themes. However, in the light of current challenges, the two topics “Conflicts and the fragility of food systems” and “Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases challenging FSN” particularly stand out in our view. As the world is currently facing a worsening global food security crisis, increased efforts are needed to address the root causes and main drivers of food insecurity and malnutrition worldwide, including poverty, inequalities, climate change, biodiversity loss, forced migration and conflicts. Moreover, the COVID-19 pandemic and the global economic recession had demonstrated the profound impact infectious diseases can have on global food security and nutrition. Following up on the GER position on possible themes for the HLPE report 2024, we suggest that the importance of strengthening the resilience of food systems to pandemics and health crises is also considered as part of the HLPE’s proposal on emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. Against the background described, we believe that also the topic “Building resilient supply chains for FSN” is of great importance and timeliness. For Germany, the aspect of sustainability in those supply chains is an important factor. In conclusion, in our view, the topics “Urban and peri-urban food systems”, “Revitalizing climate policies for FSN”, “Recognizing the role and rights of food system workers” and “Building a meaningful interface for diverse knowledges and practices for FSN” are also useful starting points. In order to avoid duplication, we recommend building on existing CFS policy products, where possible.

In addition to the excellent suggestions already made, we suggest to consider the following proposal, as noted in the GER position from 31 January 2022(1): To support the uptake of CFS policy products consideration could be given towards a separate workstream to an in-depth internal debate on enhanced efforts by the CFS and its stakeholders to increase global awareness and use of all CFS Voluntary Guidelines and Policy Recommendations.

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(1)GER initial input on the “Open Guiding Questions” within the Group of Friends of the CFS Chair– Implications of the UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) on CFS

Dear FSN Moderator-

The seven critical, emerging and enduring HLPE  issues included in the V0 draft of the HLPE 3rd Note on Critical, Emerging and Enduring Issues are well articulated and high profile concerns.  Thank you for the opportunity too provide input into the development of this document.

Attached for your consideration is an 8th key issue- The role of agriculture in concurrently delivering ecosystem services and food and nutrition security. While aligned with other issues in the V0 draft, the delivery of quality ecosystem services in support of robust local and global food systems, is essential and a distinct emerging and critical issue.

Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions or need any additional information.

Kind regards,

Ernie

This suggestion refers to the data value chain and conceptual matrix (Example 4; page 17).

Food safety is recognized as one of the cross-cutting issues in nutrition. However, both natural (mycotoxins) and artificial (pesticides) food contaminants are widespread in food systems in many developing countries, compromising nutrition and health. Good Agricultural Practices and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) could reduce the food contaminants in both low and high moisture foods. Postharvest good practices like cold chain for high moisture content foods improves quality by minimizing nutrient loss. Analogous new dry chain management for low moisture content foods/feeds products could protect annual dry product losses to rainfall/floodings and insect and toxic mold infestations, improve disaster resiliency, food security, and trade ratios.

Thus, cross cutting issues and policyies should include food contaminant reduction strategies in both low and high moisture content food/feed products and sensitive monitoring programs as in the developed countries.

Bradford KJ, Dahal P, Asbrouck JV, Kunusoth K, Bello P, Thompson J, Wu J (2018) The dry chain: reducing postharvest losses and improving food safety in humid climates. Trends in Food Science and Technology 71: 84-93. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tifs.2017.11.002.

Claes J, De Clercq D, Denis N, Fiocco D, Katz J (2021) How to reduce postharvest crop losses in the agricultural supply chain? McKinsey & Company. https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/agriculture/our-insights/how-to-reduce-postharvest-crop-losses-in-the-agricultural-supply-chain.

Dahal et al. (2020) Improving nutrition and immunity with dry chain and integrated pest management food technologies in LMICs. Lancet Planetary Health 4:259-260. https://DOI.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30143-1.

Australia welcomes the opportunity to comment on the HLPE 3rd Note on Critical, emerging and enduring issues: V0 draft for consultation.

Australia understands that this paper will underpin the future work of the HLPE for the MYPoW 2024-2027 and we acknowledge the seven critical issues presented. We highlight that the significant food security and nutrition impacts arising from the COVID-19 pandemic and the conflict in Ukraine underscore the need for the MYPoW 2024-2027 to respond and adapt to evolving global agri-food system dynamics and challenges. In this regard, we seek confirmation that the seven topics and guiding questions identified have been elaborated with adequate consideration of the wide-ranging implications of the Ukraine conflict.

We would also appreciate further information on the selection process for the seven issues presented within the paper and as a general comment, suggest that there could be greater recognition of the ways that the seven key issues are interlinked.

Australia also highlights the need for continued efforts to collate research that is balanced, scientifically-based, and that objectively informs the future findings and conclusions of HLPE products. Accordingly, we encourage the questions outlined in the report be framed in an open-ended fashion that allows for comprehensive and considered exploration of the issues. This will assist the HLPE to identify solution pathways that are stakeholder-driven, informed by scientific evidence, are appropriate to national contexts, needs and priorities, and are non-prescriptive.

Additionally, we provide the following specific comments:

• Supply chain resilience is an important topic that deserves significant attention, particularly in light of the Ukraine conflict, and we emphasise the need to take a comprehensive approach when considering supply chain dynamics and food system resilience. For instance, international trade and specialised global supply chains are fundamentally important for boosting resilience, alongside and in tandem with, local or national supply chains and markets. Attention should also be given to the value of the multilateral system and the importance of strengthening the global rules-based trading system, including international standard setting bodies.
• The section on resilient supply chains could also benefit from a broader exploration of enduring disruptors (not just recent novel disruptions), such as the increasing frequency and/or severity of natural disasters/climate events.
• We highlight that an inclusive approach should be taken when it comes to assessing the critical role of modern science and technology, alongside other forms of innovation such as those developed from traditional knowledge. Facilitating the uptake of all forms of innovation, as appropriate, is crucial for increasing farm productivity, profitability as well as environmental sustainability and climate resilience.
• This paper (and subsequently the forward workplan of the HLPE) should seek to be inclusive and relevant to the broad spectrum of farm business models and contexts globally, and not seek to elevate certain systems and approaches over others.
• We reiterate the importance of the One Health approach for prevention of future zoonotic disease outbreaks and pandemics. A strong commitment to the One Health approach will be essential to optimise the health and wellbeing of people, animals and ecosystems, that underpin sustainable and resilient food systems – and should be strongly reflected within the paper and future workplan of the HLPE.
• We suggest there is a need to better integrate climate adaptation and mitigation policies – as well as other goals – as this is a basic challenge that should not be overlooked. Additionally, a broad ranging analysis that considers the impacts of technology, innovation and climate financing, as well as the impact of climate policies, would be useful.
• The paper could more strongly explore issues relating to protecting and enhancing the natural resource base upon which agri-food systems depend, including by promoting healthy soils.

HLPE 3rd note on critical, emerging, and enduring issues (CEEI)

World Bank - Consolidated Comments

The draft note on CEEI identifies seven key issues affecting FSN: 

1.    Building resilient and equitable supply chains for FSN 

2.    Urban and peri-urban food systems 

3.    Conflicts and the fragility of food systems 

4.    Revitalizing climate policies for FSN 

5.    Recognizing the role and rights of food system workers 

6.    Building a meaningful interface for diverse knowledges and practices for FSN 

7.    Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases challenging FSN

Below are comments from the World Bank for the first three issues. 

(1) Building resilient and equitable supply chains for FSN 

The World Bank is currently preparing a flagship report “From Surviving to Thriving: Making Cities Green, Resilient, and Inclusive”, which could potentially include relevant insight for this issue on resilient supply chains. This report will look into how food systems interface with climate and cities: including: (a) poor diets for the urban poor, (b) the impact of climate shocks in rural production centers on food prices in cities, (c) the impact of climate change and urban expansion on rural and peri-urban productive land, and (d) interventions and recommendations for building better urban food systems.  

In particular, under (b), the literature on the importance of resilient transport systems will be highlighted. Roads and road quality are known to reduce poverty and increase consumption, to reduce price volatility, and to help households cope with shocks (Dercon et al., 2009; Ndiaye et al., 2015; Shively and Thapa, 2016; Nakamura et al., 2019). Roads are important for food security in times of disasters. Economic losses from transport disruptions increase linearly with the duration of disruptions- which calls for quick repairs but also flexible procurement strategies (Colon et al., 2021).

Colon, Celian, Stephane Hallegate, and Julie Rozenberg. (2021). “Criticality analysis of a country’s transport network via an agent-based supply chain model.” Nature Sustainability, 4: 209-215.  

Dercon, S., D. O. Gilligan, J. Hoddinott, and T. Woldehanna. 2009. “The Impact of Agricultural Extension and Roads on Poverty and Consumption Growth in Fifteen Ethiopian Villages.” Am. J. Agric. Econ. 91: 1007–21.

Nakamura, S.; Bundervoet, T.; Nuru, M. (2019). Rural Roads, Poverty, and Resilience Evidence from Ethiopia; The World Bank Group Poverty and Equity Global Practice: 2019.

Ndiaye, M., E. Maitre d’Hôtel, and T. Le Cotty. 2015. “Maize Price Volatility: Does Market Remoteness Matter?” Policy Research Working Paper 7202, World Bank, Washington, DC

Shively, G.; Thapa, G (2016). “Markets, Transportation Infrastructure, and Food Prices in Nepal”. American Journal of Agricultural Economics, 99, 660-682, doi:10.1093/ajae/aaw086

(2) Urban and peri-urban food systems

We welcome this potential focus on urban and peri-urban food systems, as it is one that will undoubtedly play a crucial role in ensuring a sustainable food system transformation. It is a broad, complex and cross-cutting topic that could easily encompass discussions on the other six CEEIs, but it is also one that lacks a clear understanding amongst the public and stakeholders. This incoherence is exacerbated by the general dearth of city-level data, analyses and empirical evidence to support and inform decision-making on urban and peri-urban food issues, and what does exist is of inconsistent quality and availability. This lack of an evidence base makes it difficult for policymakers to plan, prioritize, design and track interventions related to urban and peri-urban food systems. It would be good to bring out these issues in the Rationale section. Furthermore, the drivers and trends laid out in the Rationale and Key Questions sections deal primarily with the social and economic dimensions of urban and peri-urban food systems’ effects on food security and nutrition outcomes. It does not treat the environmental dimension with the same level of detail. More information could be included on the agriculture sectors’ role in global environmental change and how the incorporation of climate-smart agriculture and/or circular economy practices in urban and peri-urban agriculture can provide immense climate co-benefits, as well as enhance climate resilience. 

As mentioned above, the upcoming World Bank flagship report described above on Cities will cover the impact of climate change and urban expansion on rural and peri-urban productive land. Initial analysis and review highlights that how we address climate change has implications for land use. Under a sustainability pathway, cropland will stop expanding and pastures for animal grazing will decline. Urban land will expand. Most urban expansion will be converted from (productive) croplands, followed by forests. This could reduce food production absent measures to encourage compact urban development or to offset the impacts of horizontal urban expansion. Encouraging more compact urban development entails limiting horizontal expansion. Offsetting the impacts of horizontal expansion on food production includes enhancing agricultural productivity and reducing food loss and waste. These offset measures are key, because in addition to land constraints, agriculture faces climate-related productivity losses and urbanization-related labor constraints.

In addition to the upcoming flagship report, existing World Bank reports on the issue of urban food systems include: 

G. Acharya, E. Cassou, S. Jaffee, and E. Ludher (2021) RICH Food, Smart City. World Bank

J. Tefft, M. Jonasova, R. Adjao, and A. Morgan (2017). Food Systems for an Urbanizing Worlds. World Bank and FAO. 

World Bank, FAO, and RUAF Foundation (2017). Urban Food Systems Diagnostic and Metrics Framework. 

J. Tefft, M. Jonasova, F. Zhang, and Y. Zhang (2020). Urban Food Systems Governance: Current Context and Future Opportunities. FAO. 

(3) Conflicts and the fragility of food systems 

We find that the general framing is appropriate, but it would be good to cite some of the work that has already advanced deeper examinations of how to address food insecurity in FCV settings. In particular, the CFS should consider referencing the World Bank's recent publication on how to build stronger agri-food systems in FCV (see https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/handle/10986/36497). On the proposed key questions, it would be good to expand on Question 6 and ask how UN resolution 2417 (the prohibition on using food as a weapon of war) can be better enforced. Additionally, there was no mention of how to address food security data challenges in FCV contexts, especially in situations in which there are fundamental differences of opinion between humanitarian and government counterparts which can derail and even inhibit collective recognition of an emerging food security crisis (as was the case more recently in South Sudan in which the Integrated Food Security Phase Classification process broke down).

Please find below some comments regarding the V0 draft.

I am also available for contribution in case this input regarding integrated hazard and disaster risk is taken into consideration.

With kind regards,

Urbano Fra

1. Identification and conservation of agrobiodiversity allows for increasing food security since these are species adapted to local environments, and is closely associated to CEEI 4, as they may better respond to changes in environmental conditions.

2. Urban planning should be taken into consideration to support Urban and peri-urban food systems since current regulation in cities and market value of land limit opportunities for cultivation and food production. A change in regulation of urban development and market is required to avoid land use conflict and competition.

3. Disaster risk is not being taken comprehensively and as a whole into consideration as a critical, emerging and enduring issue. Two disaster-related CEEI (3. Conflicts and the fragility of food systems; 7. Emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases challenging FSN) have been included. 

However, with the adopted approach it does not fully reflect the complexity of disaster, including the cascading effects, the vulnerability of farmers, crops and livestock, and the continuity of production-supply. After disaster there is a loss of livelihoods, and source of income in the case of cash crops, that drives communities into increased poverty, rural flight, or displacement. Additionally, displaced communities who migrate to cities also lose their farming culture, that is not transmitted to younger generations, and acculturation takes place.

This also applies to coastal communities, who are dependent on fishing, shellfishing, or are gatherers of various marine resources. Coastal communities suffer the double impact of coastal and land hazards, increasing their vulnerability as well as disaster loss and damage. 

Two recent publications by UNDRR/ISC have identified the most critical hazards, classified and described them.

The UNDRR/ISC Sendai Hazard Definition and Classification Review Technical Report (2020),  and Hazard Information Profiles: Supplement to UNDRR-ISC Hazard Definition & Classification Review (2021)

This classification also raises the significance –among others- of biological hazards, one of the eight classes, since there is a high number of pests and animal diseases that represent a hazard for farmers and rangers and their livelihoods, a challenge for farming practices and management.

In sum, the approach adopted in the report regarding critical, emerging and enduring issue matches the issue of hazard, as a trigger of disasters, with great significance for rural communities. This raises the question of having a specific issues relating to Recognizing the role natural hazards and disaster.

Thank you for the opportunity to provide input on the Critical Emerging & Enduring Issues draft. We agree with the seven issues affecting FSN and would recommend integrating the following topics:

1. Resiliency | What does a successful resilient food system look like? Review successes in resiliency that have happened over the past few years and acknowledge the areas where the food system has been resilient during crisis and understand what made those pieces more resilient than others.
2. Consumer Behavior | Understand the impact of consumer behavior and retailers on supply chain resiliency. Impacts of hording and demand can wreak havoc on traditional supply and demand estimates creating greater disparities.
3. Efficiency | Often viewed in opposition to resiliency, in many instances, efficiencies may also contribute to resiliency (e.g., automation can improve efficiency and reduce the need for human labor during a pandemic). It would be valuable to further explore efficiencies that may enhance resiliency.
4. Digitization | What info needs to be captured and shared with trading partners?

Kind regards,

Anna

Confronted with an increasing inflation and rising prices of staple foods, it is urgent to focus efforts on those points in the food systems that can facilitate availability, accessibility and desirability of healthy and diversified foods, especially for the most vulnerable populations and groups. As FAO-ESN Team, we believe that, being food environments the interface between food supply and demand and including a series of market and non-market based factors that influence people’s food acquisition and consumption, they are critical for food security and need to be taken into consideration in nutrition-sensitive strategies. In fact, food environments are an emerging, but promising area of work. Interventions can range from the consumer-end ‘backwards’ to the retail management and/or ‘outwards’ to address enabling environment and regulating policies. Therefore, we strongly suggest considering food environments as a key issue affecting FSN and include it either as an additional separate topic or as a crosscutting issue, as it is interlinked with all the other issues presented.

In the last year, our team's work focuses on the food retail environment ("critical", as it "influences all aspects of the food environment", i.e. what foods are available, their price, quality, convenience and promotion), and in particular on the mapping territorial markets, which, being at the heart of local food systems, are crucial for ensuring food security and nutrition in the territories in which they are embedded and thus in influencing food patterns. Reference can be made to our first-hand data collection on 60 territorial markets in 8 countries, carried out over the past year. The initiative was done using FAO methodology for mapping of territorial markets, which was developed as a direct response to 2016 CFS policy recommendations "Connecting Smallholders to Markets", referring to the need to collect comprehensive data on formal and informal markets, rural and urban and linked to local, national and regional food systems. The initiative produced a valuable set of data on both retailers and consumers who attend these local, territorial markets, and the data can be disaggregated by gender, age, different food groups (and more).

The whole methodology is designed to inform policy-making processes that seek strategic entry points in the food systems for improving local diets and nutrition. We strongly believe that territorial markets represent this crucial entry point for working on the systemic change for increasing availability, access and desirability of healthy and diversified foods for low-income consumers. Moreover, our analysis on the effects of the rise in food prices induced by the COVID-19 pandemic in the mapped countries, provided insights on the importance of making territorial markets more resilient to price volatility and to different types of shocks, including conflicts. This demonstrates that improving and investing in territorial markets is a sine qua non condition to build the overall resilience of food systems and to protect consumers’ diets.

In addition to this comment, we attach a short document that further illustrates the role of territorial markets in shaping healthy diets supported by concrete examples from our mapping exercise.