Hungry for action: The United Nations’ Committee on World Food Security at Key Inflection Point Ahead of the UN Food Systems Summit

Covid-19 has exposed the shortcomings of our food systems, globally and locally, highlighting a dangerous lack of resilience in many of these systems, the results of which have been felt most acutely by those already suffering from hunger, poverty, and malnutrition. Governance reform should be at the center of our response to these challenges, focused not only on policies related to the amount of food produced, but also its nutritional quality, and the impacts this production has on soils, water, and climate. Leadership is needed to reverse the negative trends in achieving SDG-2 and other development goals tied to our food systems. The Rome-based Committee on World Food Security (CFS) is one source within the United Nations System that offers both a global platform for policy debate and negotiated policy documents that offer governments and other relevant actors policy guidance for dealing with the full complexity of modern food systems. The Committee, founded on the principles of inclusivity and the right to adequate food, has developed Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition that, if used as intended, can help policy-makers organize themselves around a food systems approach that sees food as much more than the responsibility of one or two ministries, but rather a complex system that requires an inclusive whole-of-government approach and participation of key stakeholders from all parts of society especially the poorest and most vulnerable to food insecurity and malnutrition. The CFS offers a useful model, with valuable products that should be utilized by the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit to be held in September. Consideration should be given to how the Summit can improve and strengthen the CFS, addressing some of its structural weaknesses in effectively dealing with SDG-2.