Countries will review progress towards strengthening the sustainability, resilience and productivity of global food systems at a three-day meeting in Rome this July.
The UN Food Systems Stocktaking Moment, scheduled for 24 – 26 July, will be the first follow-up to the Food Systems Summit the UN Secretary-General António Guterres convened in September 2021 to discuss changing how the world produces, consumes and thinks about food. The virtual meeting brought together 50,000 people, including 77 world leaders.
Italy will host the July meeting in collaboration with United Nations agencies, including the Food and Agriculture Organization, the International Fund for Agricultural Development and the World Food Programme.
The UN Food Systems Coordination Hub, which supports governments in developing and implementing agrifood system transformation, and the wider UN system, are also co-organizers.
“Italy is committed to supporting the efforts of the international community to promote food security and transformative and innovative solutions for sustainable and efficient food systems throughout the world,” said Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister Antonio Tajani, who is also the Minister of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation.
Italy also urged countries and stakeholders to “prepare and seize the opportunity” to reaffirm the global commitment to act with urgency, in line with the promise of the SDGs.
The UN reports that the number of people worldwide who cannot afford a healthy diet rose by an additional 112 million between 2019 to 2020, to almost 3.1 billion, reflecting the impacts of rising food prices during the COVID-19 pandemic.