This September, the UN Food System Summit will be held in New York in parallel with the UN General Assembly to discuss the global food systems. Prior to this, the Pre-Summit for the UN Food System Summit was held in Rome, Italy from July 26 to 28 this week.

The pre-summit was intended to communicate the latest evidence-based scientific approaches to food system transformation and to launch a series of new commitments through coordinated action and new funding partnerships. It will also lay the groundwork for a more fruitful summit in September.

This pre-summit was held in a hybrid format of face-to-face and online. Over the three days, more than 500 delegates from 108 countries attended in person and more than 20,000 participants from 190 countries joined online. Under the leadership of UN Secretary-General António Guterres, the pre-summit was "People's summit," bringing together many people including government officials, farmers, youth, women, indigenous peoples, civil society, and the private sector.

UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed concluded the meeting by saying that she believes that the food system has the potential to achieve all the goals of people, planet and prosperity, and emphasized the importance of investing in the food system and mentioned that through this pre-summit, we will be able to provide the right to food without compromising the future of the planet. She also described the pre-summit as a sign of hope during the pandemic that brought us together around solutions.

References
UN Food Systems Summit 2021 Pre-Summit. https://www.un.org/en/food-systems-summit/pre-summit Accessed on July 29.
UN News. Food systems transformation a ‘silver lining’ in COVID crisis: UN deputy chief. https://news.un.org/en/story/2021/07/1096632 Accessed on July 29.
UN Food Systems Summit 2021 Press release. More than 100 countries discuss visions for national food futures to accelerate global action ahead of September Summit. https://www.un.org/en/food-systems-summit/news/more-100-countries-discu… Accessed on July 29.

Contributor: SHIRATORI Sakiko (Information and Public Relations Office)