Pathways For The Future Of Sustainable Food Systems In the Mediterranean

The Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) and partners are hosting a conference under the framework of  the UN’s Food Systems Summit, which aims to engage citizens all over the world in order to deliver healthier, more sustainable and equitable food systems, as part of progress towards Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

27 April 2021 (14:00 CET), online event. The UfM, CIHEAM, FAO, UN One Planet Network Sustainable Food Systems Programme and PRIMA Foundation are hosting “Pathways for The Future of Sustainable Food Systems in the Mediterranean”.

The overall aim is to advance a common understanding of the complex environment of food systems in the Mediterranean region, and to set the stage for multi-partner collaboration in transforming them, in order to advance progress towards the SDGs of the UN’s 2030 Agenda.

This event will discuss pathways, based on scientific evidence and local knowledge, for coping with the specific environmental, economic, socio-cultural, educational, and health and nutrition challenges facing the region, and provide an opportunity for the exchange of ideas and perspectives from all shores of the Mediterranean.

The Dialogue aims to engage a wide network of partners, from scientific, technical and policy disciplines, to design collaborative scenarios of sustainable food systems in the Mediterranean region, and to consider relevant regional initiatives, programmes, projects and tools. True sustainability needs to take into account every stage of a food system, from production, processing and distribution, to marketing, consumption and waste management, as well as the connections between these stages.

For more information and to register to attend, click here.

The event is hosted in partnership with the International Centre for Advanced Mediterranean Agronomic Studies (CIHEAM), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), the One Planet Network’s Sustainable Food Systems Programme (OPN-SFSP) and the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA) Foundation.

The outcomes of this Dialogue will be taken up in a second event in June which will explore the actions needed to achieve food systems transformation in the Mediterranean. They will also contribute to the development of the SFS (Sustainable Food Systems) –Med Platform, which will develop a context-specific framework for collaboration and cooperation on sustainable food systems in the Mediterranean.

Background Information

These events are held within the framework of the UN’s Food Systems Summit, which will convene in September 2021 to launch bold new actions to deliver progress on all 17 SDGs, each of which relies to some degree on healthier, more sustainable and equitable food systems. The Food Systems Summit Dialogues are a framework for engaging a wide range of citizens and organisations in this mission, to ensure all voices are taken into account. Read more about the Summit’s Vision and Principles of Engagement.

The UfM Dialogue events will link the outcomes of the 2^nd World Conference on the Revitalization of the Mediterranean Diet (May 2019) and the recommendations of the 3^rd Global Conference of the One Planet Network’s Sustainable Food Systems Programme (November-December 2020) to the Summit’s Action Tracks and Levers of Change.