The years from 2021-2030 have been designated a Decade of Action dedicated to achieving the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Food systems are critical to this work. The food and agricultural sector is a massive contributor to global climate change; concurrently, resilient food systems are a baseline necessity to ensure wellbeing in communities across the globe.

In recognition of its outsized role, the United Nations’ Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) will convene in September 2021, following a Pre-Summit in July 2021, hosted by ICLEI Member Rome (Italy). Unlike other UN events that are convening this year – such as the UNFCCC CoP26 and the CBD CoP15 – this Summit will culminate in a compilation of a compendium of commitments to action, rather than a negotiation.

Taking forward these commitments, the Tokyo Nutrition for Growth Summit (N4G) will take place in December 2021, and will mobilise further policy and financial pledges to reverse the malnutrition and food security impacts of COVID-19.

Throughout 2021, ICLEI and the Food and Agricultural Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) will come together to amplify local authorities’ voices throughout these events, Summits, and the food systems transformation they catalyse. ICLEI Europe runs ICLEI’s Global Food Programme in cooperation with the World Secretariat, and is thus playing a significant role in this work.

The FAO recently invited local governments to fill in a brief survey to better understand work taken on by cities and local governments in the field of food systems, and especially in light of COVID-19 recovery. Results clearly demonstrated that cities and local authorities are playing an “enormous and active role” in this field.

As the world begins to shift toward a stage of COVID-recovery, we have a unique opportunity to rethink food systems, uplift local voices with singular experiences in this field, and promote policies and programmes that will help herald in a more sustainable and resilient global food system.

Through their partnership, FAO and ICLEI are already supporting 26 cities engaged in ‘Food Dialogues’ that are taking place from April to June 2021, and which discuss a 10-year vision for sustainable and resilient urban and local food systems. Among the engaged cities are ICLEI Europe Members Copenhagen (Denmark) and Izmir (Turkey), whose leaders (Betina Bergmann Madsen, Copenhagen’s Senior Procurement Officer, and Mustafa Tunc Soyer, Mayor of Izmir) have also been selected as Champions of the UN Food Systems Summit, representing cities.

In addition, the FAO and the Global Alliance of Improved Nutrition are facilitating an informal urban food systems working group, which brings together a number of city networks including ICLEI, alongside United Nations agencies and other relevant global actors. This summer, the working group will convene a global dialogue to exchange perspectives, and reflect on the results of city consultations on urban food solutions, which are being conducted by ICLEI alongside other city networks.

Peter Defranceschi, Head of the ICLEI Global Food Programme, explains: “Food is integral to human wellbeing, biodiversity, climate change mitigation, resilience, and so much more. We cannot fully recover from COVID-19 without addressing food systems, nor can we mitigate or adapt to the climate crisis without transforming them. This is why ICLEI is proud to be working with cities and local authorities across the globe to ensure that food is central to the next decade of commitments and action.”

ICLEI takes this work forward, with a focus on sustainable food procurement, which is the topic of EU-funded Horizon 2020 projects that ICLEI is a part of, as well as the focus of: the taskforce ICLEI leads as part of the EU Food Policy Coalition toward influencing the European Commission’s farm to fork strategy; a UNEP/FAO Interest Group in which ICLEI is involved; a Food Systems Summit dialogue hosted in Copenhagen on a potato farm to fork tender; and much more.

For more information on ICLEI Europe’s work in the field of sustainable and resilient food systems, click here.