The Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition published its new report, “Food Systems of the Future: Humanity, Our Earth, and Prosperity” on September 29, 2020. This report reveals that the underlying challenges are deep and that the current food systems fail to produce the foods essential for healthy diets in sufficient quantity and at affordable prices. In addition, food production is also driving the degradation of the natural environment and can have a profound impact on future generations. Although the report was commissioned in 2018, COVID-19 has exposed the vulnerabilities and fragility of the global food systems.

The report enumerated the following priority policy actions to transition food systems towards sustainable, healthy diets.

1. Make sufficient nutrient-rich and staple foods available to all, produced sustainably.

2. Ensure foods move along value chains more efficiently, improving accessibility and resulting in lower cost and less loss

3. Ensure sustainable, healthy diets are affordable to all, with lower demand for ultra-processed products

4. Empower consumers to make more informed food choices, fueling rising demand for sustainable healthy diets.

References

Future Food Systems: For People, Our Planet, and Prosperity (Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition, 2020). https://www.glopan.org/foresight2/　

Webb, P., Benton, T.G., Beddington, J. et al. The urgency of food system transformation is now irrefutable. Nat Food (2020). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-020-00161-0

Contributor: IIYAMA Miyuki (Research Strategy Office)