The UN Food Systems Summit has brought together actors from all over the world from all parts of the food systems. In this piece, Lawrence Haddad discusses what he considers the opportunities to make sure impact continues beyond the Summit on 23 September.
Perhaps the most enduring achievement of the Summit process will be the shifts in attitudes that have taken place which have unleashed and channelled all of this energy. We are leaving behind the comfortable assumption that we can deal separately with the issues of hunger, health, climate change, environment, and livelihoods. We cannot. They are inextricably intertwined. One blind step forward in one outcome may lead to two unintended steps backwards in another. This is a powerful shift. It means governments, UN agencies, businesses - and civil society organisations such as GAIN - need to adjust mission statements, organise themselves differently, assemble different teams, work with different partners, and work to different metrics...
...If past food choices have gotten us to where are today, future food choices can get us to where we want to be; but only if we are bold, systemic, and address all outcomes simultaneously and with the utmost urgency. That is the biggest mindset shift of all and will surely the key legacy of the UN Food Systems Summit.
Read the full blog here: The UN Food Systems Summit: Changing the food landscape for good on 23rd September?