UN brings together different actors from food systems to discuss and define transformative actions.
In October 2019, UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced that the first “Summit on Food Systems” would be held. The global meeting is anchored in the decade of action to reach the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that must be reached by 2030.
The Summit's objective is to guide the implementation of the 2030 agenda from a perspective on food systems and their potential impact on the most challenges: from climate change to the eradication of hunger, from reducing inequalities to preserving life on earth, among others.
To identify the main challenges and paths to be followed, 60 “Champions” scholarship holders were designated (a number that will grow over time with the incorporation of new leaders - currently there are 106 Champions): key people, leaders in their fields of activity and communities, which support advocating for more resilient and sustainable food systems, mobilizing their networks and communities, fueling the debates, construction, and definition of the 2021 Summit.
As a rule, champions have a history of working in the transformation of food systems, specific groups - indigenous and traditional communities, farmers, chefs, human rights activists - or bringing in-depth knowledge in key areas such as public policy, research and knowledge, technology, nutrition, business and private sector, health, climate change, among others. They are appointed by indication of the Network's own members or by indication of the Summit leadership, Agnes Kalibata.
One of the people chosen to guide this movement for global transformation, joining our senior advisor José Graziano da Silva, was Juliana Tângari. Master in civil law, a specialist in international law and civil-constitutional law, researcher of public policies and urban food policies since 2014, Juliana Tângari was president of the Food and Nutritional Security Council of the city of Rio de Janeiro (CONSEA - Rio) between 2016 and 2018 is currently the director of the Food of Tomorrow Institute.
By joining the framework of Champions for the United Nations Summit on Food Systems, our director will be another Brazilian member of the group and will contribute with all her theoretical and practical knowledge on the promotion of healthy, adequate, and sustainable food for all, especially from the perspective of local actions and the role of cities in this transformation. It is also another contribution from the Brazilian perspective – from the contradictions and possibilities of Brazilian food systems – and, thus, from the Global South to the Summit.
The importance of civil society representatives in the construction and monitoring of the Summit activities is what moves the Food of Tomorrow Institute to involve and get closer to this process, bringing voices committed to human rights and equity among actors in the food system, but also with the recognition of all the impacts of current hegemonic models. Because, after all, what matters is to work to promote the integration of the universal right to healthy food in all public and private policies or indirectly related to food.
What we eat changes the world.
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