"With over-nutrition, many countries and urban communities in the developing world are experiencing the nutrition transition – going from under-nutrition to obesity related to insufficient exercise, sedentary lifestyles and unhealthy diets." (Hunter, D., Fanzo, J., 2013)
[1]
The
State of Food Security and Nutrition Report (2019) confirms that hunger is on the rise (821 million people) and that we are off-track to reach SDG 2 seeking to end malnutrition in all its forms. A new indicator (SDG 2.1.2) on the
prevalence of moderate or severe food insecurity states that 1.3 billion people are food insecure. In parallel to insufficient quantity of food, the nutritive quality of food has decreased consequently to various phenomena (such as reduction of agrobiodiversity or lower diet diversity). Indeed, today 50% of the worlds' energy needs relies on 4 crops (rice, wheat, maize, potatoes) and 90% of the worlds' calories intake relies on 30 crops[2].
CFS 46: Making a difference in food security & nutrition These global issues are discussed yearly during the plenary session of the
Committee for World Food Security (CFS), which is the foremost inclusive international and intergovernmental platform that enables all stakeholders to work together to improve the global governance on food security. The CFS develops and endorses policy recommendations and guidance (Voluntary Guidelines) on a wide range of food security and nutrition topics developed on evidence-based reports, edited by a
High Level Panel of Experts (HLPE). Last October 14th-18th, the Swiss delegation present at the 46th CFS advocated for it's clear position concerning agroecology considered as one major pathway towards sustainable food systems as it is one of the most comprehensive and systemic approaches to accelerate the transition. In parallel to agroecology, adequate nutrition delivered by sustainable food systems are considered as a way to achieving
human and planetary health, as there will be no transformation to sustainable food systems without sustainable diets and healthy people. These links have been articulated by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) and the World Health Organization (WHO) that published – together – a guidance document on
sustainable healthy diets. This collaboration between the health and agriculture sector on an international level, should inspire Ministries at national level to break the silos and tackle the detrimental impact of current food systems on the planet and on public health.
Voluntary Guidelines for Food System and Nutrition (VGFSN) The
Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition are developed to play an essential role in assisting countries to achieve the SDGs. The goal of the VGFSN is to "ensure that food that contributes to healthy diets is available, affordable, acceptable, safe and of adequate quantity and quality while conforming with beliefs, cultures and traditions, dietary habits and preferences of individuals in accordance with national and international laws and obligations[3]." Liliane Ortega from Switzerland is chairing the process to elaborate these VGFSN at the FAO.
Women and nutrition – key entry points for the food systems' transformation Diets must change and evolve to a better quality, as underlined by numerous reports such as the
Global Nutrition Report (2018) attesting that inadequate diet has become the first factor causing health challenges. Malnutrition costs the world's economies trillions of dollars due to higher health costs and loss of productivity. Investing in nutrition is thus both a moral imperative and a sound economic investment (FAO). Women and essentially
rural women play a central role to achieve SDG2 as they are the "household keepers", often responsible for cooking, producing subsistence crops and the seed keepers. A food system approach to address malnutrition requires comprehensive programs and coherent public policies that address both the supply and demand sides of food, as well as the
food environment where consumers engage with a food system to make their food-related decisions (FAO). As shown in the figure below, the food environment refers to "the physical, economic, political and sociocultural context in which consumers engage with the food system to make their decisions about acquiring, preparing and consuming food[4]".
© Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition
(GLOPAN, 2016) Policies, programs and investments need to be "nutrition-sensitive", which means nutrition must be mainstreamed across sectoral policies. Examples of food system policy measures that intend to support the promotion of healthy diets are: - Incentives to encourage fruit and vegetable production,
- Reformulation of processed foods to deliver better nutritional profiles,
- Regulations controlling retail and food service chains,
- Food labelling policies or procurement policies for food served in public places.
What is next on the agenda? The final version of the VGFSN should be endorsed during the CFS 47 in October 2020. This CFS achievement will be a key input for the
Tokyo Nutrition Summit for Growth that will take place in December 2020 and the
UN food systems summit that will take place in 2021. One thing is clear, nutrition and agriculture must remain very high on the political agenda for the next decades, as they represent major entry points for the transformation of our food systems.
« The world is at a crossroads. And we cannot afford, not to change direction. »
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