Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples: New CFS Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition fail to pave the way to profound transformation
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20 Apr 2021
Rome, 20 April 2021 -- Civil society and Indigenous Peoples' organisations share with deep regret their collective and critical assessment of the Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition (VGFSyN). The final VGFSyN present a lost opportunity to guide a much-needed radical transformation of food systems around the globe and effectively tackle the root causes of the growing hunger crisis.
During an accelerated endorsement of the VGFSyN by Member States at the 47th CFS Plenary Session in February 2021, the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples' Mechanism (CSM), an essential and autonomous part of the United Nations' Committee on World Food Security (CFS), announced that its final decision on whether to support or not this endorsement would be done after due internal consultation process. As a result of this process, the CSM, voicing the perspectives of millions of smallholder farmers, Indigenous Peoples, labor unions, consumer groups and other civil society organisations, shared their collective conclusions in a public briefing on 20 April 2021 stating that the Voluntary Guidelines for Food Systems and Nutrition endorsed by Member States are not sufficient for the food system transformation urgently needed towards a fairer, more sustainable, resilient and healthier model.