Picture: Nation Food Summit Committee in Fiji.

Fiji has joined other countries from around the globe in its preparations for the United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) following its official registration last month.

The UN Food Systems Summit emphasises multi-stakeholder collaboration to transform the way the world produces, consumes and thinks about food. Guided by five Action Tracks, the Summit will bring together key players from science, business, policy, healthcare and academia, as well as farmers, indigenous people, youth organizations, consumer groups, environmental activists, and other key stakeholders to join a series of dialogues across the globe to facilitate tangible, positive changes to the world’s food systems.

Fiji’s Convenor of the UNFSS, Permanent Secretary for Agriculture Ritesh Dass said: “Fiji is pleased and proud to be a part of this global process, particularly as we are all members of the global food system, and we all have a responsibility to act.

“As Fiji battles the COVID-19 pandemic, the Summit offers a critical opportunity to enable Fiji and the rest of the world to study the challenges exposed or exacerbated by the crisis and to find transformative solutions to emerge and build back. Food systems touch every aspect of human existence, which makes them valuable instruments of change.

“The leading cause of deaths in Fiji and indeed in many Pacific Island countries is from Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs). The continued strengthening of sustainable food systems at home is vital in combating NCDs by creating affordable, nutritious options that will eventually lead to flattening the curve of NCDs in Fiji and the Pacific,” Mr Dass said.

Fiji will hold its first National Dialogue for Action Track 1 to “Ensure access to safe and nutritious food for all,” on 10 May, 2021. The national dialogue will be held virtually in accordance with the country’s COVID-19 restrictions.

The national dialogue for Action Track 1 will kick-start a series of other national consultations, most likely to be held virtually, which will consolidate diverse and transformative views and voices from stakeholders which will, in turn, feed into the country’s national report and submission to the UNFSS global Summit in September, 2021. 

Background to the UN Food Systems Summit

In September 2021, UN Secretary-General Anto?nio Guterres will convene a Food Systems Summit as part of the Decade of Action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by 2030. The Summit will launch bold new actions to deliver progress on all 17 SDGs, each of which relies to some degree on healthier, more sustainable and equitable food systems.

The Summit will awaken the world to the fact that we all must work together to transform the way the world produces, consumes and thinks about food. It is a summit for everyone everywhere – a people’s summit. It is also a solutions summit that will require everyone to take action to transform the world’s food systems.

The Summit process aims to deliver the following outcomes:

1. Generate significant action and measurable progress towards the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The Summit will succeed in identifying solutions and leaders, and issuing a call for action at all levels of the food system, including national and local governments, companies and citizens.

2. Raise awareness and elevate public discussion about how reforming our food systems can help us all to achieve the SDGs by implementing reforms that are good for people and planet.

3. Develop principles to guide governments and other stakeholders looking to leverage their food systems to support the SDGs. These principles will set an optimistic and encouraging vision in which food systems play a central role in building a fairer, more sustainable world. Principles of engagement

4. Create a system of follow-up and review to ensure that the Summit’s outcomes continue to drive new actions and progress. This system will allow for the sharing of experiences, lessons and knowledge; it will also measure and analyse the Summit’s impact.

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