The 3rd Global Conference of the SFS Programme

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Join the virtual 3rd Global Conference of the Sustainable Food Systems Programme to discuss how to achieve #foodsystems transformation through inclusive multi-stakeholder collaboration!

The virtual conference wil be held on 25th, 26th, 27th, 30th November and 1st, 3rd December 2020.

More information coming soon.

#SustainableFoodSystems #SFSPConference

A virtual experience

The 3rd Global Conference of the Sustainable Food Systems Programme will be held virtually.

The purpose of this 3rd global conference is to to provide substantial input to the UN Food Systems Summit that is tentatively scheduled for the third quarter of 2021, building on the achievements of the SFS Programme’s membership during the first five years of implementation as well as the outcomes of the Programme’s previous two global conferences.

Previous editions of the conference harnessed consensus on a range of priority areas for action. The 1st global conference in South Africa concluded with the Pretoria Resolution, while the 2nd global conference in Costa Rica finalized with the San José Call to Action.

Objectives and outcomes

Following the San José Call to Action of the SFS Programme’s 2nd conference, the objectives of this meeting are:

• To strengthen the common vision that suggests that only through inclusive multi-stakeholder collaboration will we be able to achieve the profound transformation, through a set of key actions and implementation mechanisms, that our food systems require;
• To provide a platform for structured discussion around the science underlying global efforts to characterize and assess progress towards more sustainable food systems;
• and, overall, to raise the political importance of sustainable food systems among public and private sector leaders.

The expected outcomes of the conference are:

• To provide science-based recommendations on the range of actions that can advance food systems transformation within the priority areas identified in the outcome of the 2nd global conference, in contribution to the Action Tracks of the Food Systems Summit 2021; and
• To provide recommendations that can help define the implementation mechanisms (including accountability mechanisms) for such recommended actions.

Accelerating the shift to sustainable food systems

This 3rd global conference comes at a crucial time, after what has been a landmark year. In 2019 the world experienced an awakening to the reality of the climate emergency, taking stock of the enormous role of our food systems. Landmark scientific reports by the IPCC on Land Use and by IPBES on the state of our planet's biodiversity caused many to stop ignoring the alarms.

Responding to these urgencies, the UN Secretary General announced the UN 2021 Food Systems Summit, which is to be presumably held back-to-back with the UN General Assembly on what will be its 75th anniversary. Alongside, the Convention on Biological Diversity will hold its 15th Conference of Parties to crucially negotiate a new set of 10-year targets for the conservation and restoration of nature. In all regards, 2020 is the super-year that is set to define humanity's future.

The SFS Programme will contribute to these efforts advocating for the need for mutli-stakeholder, inclusive collaboration, integrated policy-making and systems-based approaches. The 3rd global conference represents a key stepping stone towards the breakthrough UN 2021 Food Systems Summit.