SUN Coordinator, member of the advisory committee for the 2021 Food Systems Summit

The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, in collaboration with the United Nations (UN) Rome-based Agencies, will convene the Food Systems Summit in 2021, as a critical contribution to the Decade of Action to deliver the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The Summit will raise global awareness to understand the food systems challenges we must solve, build a global conversation on the way in which we produce, process, and consume food, and galvanize global actions and commitments to change our food systems to provide safe, nutritious food for all within our planetary boundaries. As noted by the Secretary-General in the recent Policy Brief on the Impact of COVID-19 on food security and nutrition, investment both during and after the COVID crisis can accelerate movement toward food systems that are more inclusive and resilient to future pandemics and that offer better protections for all.

To create a truly catalytic moment, the inclusive Summit process led by the Secretary-General’s Special Envoy, Dr Agnes Kalibata, will be informed by all-of-society conversations to extract the best evidence, ideas, initiatives and alliances from around the world. It also builds on the many existing global events, agreements, collaborations, and platforms such as the Committee on World Food Security that are already supporting the transformation of our food systems.

To facilitate this process and its success, the UN Secretary-General is forming a number of support structures. A multi-stakeholder Advisory Committee will provide strategic guidance and feedback on the Summit’s overall development and implementation. The following support mechanisms will feed into the Advisory Committee with each led by a member of the Advisory group:

An independent Scientific Group will bring to bear the foremost scientific evidence, and help expand the base of shared knowledge about experiences, approaches, and tools for driving sustainable food systems.

A system-wide UN Task Force will ensure that the Summit can build on the knowledge and unique capabilities of the entire UN system to deliver on this agenda beyond the Summit. An open Champions Network will serve to mobilize a large and diverse group of stakeholders from the full range of constituencies that make up the food system, and drawn from all regions of the world, to champion food systems transformation by the time of the Summit moment and continue beyond.

It is anticipated that the Advisory Committee will convene its first meeting in July and it will meet quarterly leading up to the Summit.

Some of the members of the Advisory Committee Members:

– Qu Dongyu, Director-General, UN Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO)
– Gilbert Houngbo, President, International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD)
– David Beasley, Executive Director, World Food Programme (WFP)
– Peter Bakker, President, World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD), Netherlands
– Gerda Verburg, Coordinator, Scaling Up Nutrition Movement, Netherlands
– Esther Penunia, Secretary General, Asian Farmers’ Association for Sustainable Rural Development, Philippines
– Elizabeth Nsimadala, President, Pan-African Farmers Organization, Uganda
– Joachim von Braun, University of Bonn, Germany
– Inger Andersen, Executive Director, United Nations Environment Programme
– David Nabarro, Strategic Director, 4SD, United Kingdom

More information and complete List of members of the Advisory Committee