Global Forum on Food Security and Nutrition (FSN Forum)

This member contributed to:

    • Based on the guiding questions, Commission services wish to contribute the following to part B:

      Share good practices and successful experiences on strengthening urban and peri-urban food systems in the context of urbanization and rural transformation, including in the case of emergencies or conflicts.

       The Food 2030 R&I policy provides a vision for a systemic approach to “how we think and do” R&I, with “whom” we do it (inter and transdisciplinary, multi-actor approach), on “what” (leverage points) and “for what”? The focus is on impact-driven R&I via which to develop, test and deploy solutions to the urgent, complex and interconnected challenges inherent to food systems. We have been advocating and investing in multi-actor systemic approaches to future–proof our food systems for co-benefits: 1) Nutrition for sustainable and healthy diets, 2) Climate smart and environmentally sustainable food systems 3) Circular and resource-efficient food systems 4) Food Systems innovation through empowerment of communities.

      Food 2030 is operationalised via 10 thematic action pathways and one of them is “Urban food system transformation”. We have taken stock of urban food system projects across European R&I projects funded under H2020, Horizon Europe, and Life,  and will release a report “Urban food system transformation in the context of Food 2030” based on projects’ valuable input end of May 2023, to help guide other cities and regions with tangible solutions, to learn from mistakes, foster scaling and reproducibility, and further enhance the linkages between urban and rural areas.

      Hopefully this will contribute to the comprehensive development of the report and apologies for not keeping within the given DL. I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you for your efforts.

      Kind regards

      Ioannis FERMANTZIS

      Policy Officer

      European Commission

      Directorate-General International Partnerships

      Unit F.3 – Sustainable Agri-Food Systems and Fisheries

    • Please allow me to start by thanking you for this quite comprehensive document. 

      With regard to providing feedback in this public consultation process for the HLPE report on reducing inequalities for FSN, please find attached a series of comments and suggestions from the European Commission (DG INTPA).

      Congratulations on the work so far, and looking forward to the next step in the procedure.

    • I would like to submit some comments from our side, as compiled by contributions made from colleagues, on the initial scope and building blocks for the planned HLPE Report.

      In general we need to stress that:

      • This initiative is very much welcomed - and strongly aligned with the European Commission's prioritization of this agenda (along with a rights based approach) as evidenced by the publication last year of 3 volumes of Guidance on Addressing Inequality in Partner Countries as a follow up to the Staff Working Document and Council Conclusion on the same. These documents provide the basis for much of the response articulated in the attached.
      • There is some missing clarity about the real scope of the report: While the current title is reducing inequalities for food security and nutrition, it is explicitly stated that the intended focus is in fact on ‘inequalities within agri-food systems’. Hence, the report should either be on ‘Reducing inequalities for food security and nutrition’ or on ‘Reducing inequalities within agri-food systems to contribute to food security and nutrition’. If the latter, then it must be explicitly acknowledged that while contributing to food security and nutrition outcomes, the transformation of food systems alone cannot bring about the end of food insecurity and malnutrition. If the focus is on addressing inequalities for food security and nutrition, then equality needs to be more comprehensively analysed with policy domains such as labour, housing and education recognised as key for FSN outcomes.
      • There are some concerns that the intersection of gender inequalities may not adequately integrated into the current thinking.
      • We need to better address the climate change - inequalities nexus.

      We feel that these are quite pertinent comments and will contribute to the the scope and building blocks of the report.

      Kind regards

      Yannis

    • First of all, allow me to express my appreciation to the HLPE Steering Committee and the project team for producing this first draft report on data collection and analysis tools.

      The comments and observations submitted here are on behalf of the European Commission Services. Several collogues who have reviewed the draft have contributed their input during an internal consultation process, the results of which can be found in the attached document.