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
REUTERS
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba says the country has joined the United Nations Committee on World Food Security (CFS), which reports to the UN General Assembly through the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and the Conference of the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Ukraine is already a guarantor of food security in many countries worldwide thanks to its traditionally strong food exports. Joining the UN Committee on World Food Security provides our country with additional opportunities to influence global food policy. Ukraine further strengthens its role as a guarantor of global food security, the ministry s press service reported Kuleba as saying on February 8.
The state of “zero hunger” as delineated by SDG 2, has a broader implication than what is often perceived as “food security” in terms of its reductionist delineation through food production only. The inadequacy of such reductionism was highlighted by famines in colonial South Asia (eg., Bengal famine of 1943), and many other parts of the underdeveloped world in the last century. Therefore, the United Nations’ Committee on World Food Security defined food security as the state where “… all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life.” This definition has many aspects embedded in it: first, it entails the food production aspect to ensure that adequate food is available; second, it embraces the aspect of equity and distribution intertwined in its various forms so that access to food is ensured; and third, it highlights the susta