SESSIONS

DAY
Saturday, 20 February 2021

TIME
13:00 – 16:00

Co-convened in support of the 2021 Food Systems Summit and the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration

Today, the world’s food systems need to be transformed towards nature-positive patterns. The rebuilding of economies after the COVID-19 crisis offers a unique opportunity to transform the global food system and make it resilient to future shocks, while ensuring environmentally sustainable and healthy nutrition for all.

As agricultural systems form the foundation of our food systems, it is imperative that they are redesigned to restore and regenerate, rather than degrade, ecosystems — all while providing affordable and healthy diets for a global population estimated to reach 10 billion by 2050.

The question is less what we need to achieve, but “how” – how to induce behavioral change at scale to restore ecosystems and reverse the damage to planetary health? What policies, incentives and investments are needed to motivate responsible individual and collective action and capitalize on the synergistic opportunities that lie in food systems?

Unless we redesign food systems and consumption patterns, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from global food production will continue to push the planet beyond the internationally agreed goal of limiting global warming to 1.5°C, even if we immediately halted all other emissions.

Food systems contribute up to 29 per cent of all GHG emissions, including 44 per cent of methane.  Agriculture alone is responsible for up to 80 per cent of biodiversity loss and continues to overuse increasingly limited natural resources – including water, forests and land. Indeed, agriculture accounts for up to 70 per cent of all freshwater use and 80 per cent of all deforestation, and more than one-quarter of the energy used globally is expended on food production and supply.

The UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration 2021 – 2030, led by UNEP and FAO, includes a focus on farmlands and other ecosystems vital for sustainable food systems.

Launch Event:  The Food Waste Index  (For more information, click here)