By Savanna Henderson, Humanitas Global
We repeatedly hear about and discuss the need for a multi-stakeholder, inclusive approach to achieving food and nutrition security. With a renewed focus on nutrition stemming from last year’s plenary, the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) is an intergovernmental forum doing just that. Members are comprised of Member States of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD), The World Food Programme (WFP), and non-Member States of FAO that are Member States of the United Nations. Participants in CFS include representatives from UN agencies, civil society and non-governmental organizations, private sector associations and philanthropic foundations, international agricultural research systems as well as international and regional financial institutions. These stakeholders participate in Plenaries and intersessional work alongside Member States.
A primary objective of CFS is to address the knowledge gap related to food and nutrition security so that policy recommendations can be formulated. Following this, CFS creates policy tools that all stakeholders can apply to their work. One such product is the Global Strategic Framework for Food Security and Nutrition (GSF). Though addressed to decision and policy-makers, the GSF provides an overarching framework, guidance and recommendations for food and nutrition security actions, adopted by CFS plenaries.
The 43rd plenary, on the theme of “Sustainable Food Systems, Nutrition and Climate Change”, is taking place in Rome, Italy until October 21. In line with the CFS mandate to provide policy tools and promote policy convergence, the 43rd sessions will focus on identifying areas of attention and adoption of policy recommendations related to “Sustainable Agricultural Development for Food Security and Nutrition, including the Role of Livestock”, “Connecting Smallholders to Markets”, and “Urbanization, Rural Transformation and Implications for Food Security and Nutrition”. This year, a decision will be made on endorsement of the fifth version of the GSF, which includes policy recommendations on Water for Food Security and Nutrition and reference to the Framework for Action for Food Security and Nutrition in Protracted Crises.
The CFS event blog hosts a collection of blogs related to this year’s theme including a look at plant health, urban agriculture in Nairobi, the New Nordic Diet, and more. The plenary is available live here. Don’t forget to follow the conversation on Twitter using #CFS43.
