استكشاف الملاحظات الرسمية للحوار

Some participants raised their concern about the absence of discussions on the role of education in spreading food systems approach, highlighting the needs for nurturing future leaders of food systems.

Major focus of the independent dialogue was to support the member countries of Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO) to better understand food systems concept and approach, as well as the objectives and processes of the UN Food Systems Summit 2021. Accordingly, the dialogue had a comprehensive and detailed presentation on the concept of food systems and data and evidence on food systems by a leading expert, followed by interactive discussions among the participants. The rationale, purpose and modality of member country dialogues including 5 Action Tracks was explained by FAO. Lastly, as an E... قراءة المزيدCO Member Country, Turkey shared its experiences in reducing food losses, protecting livelihoods those along food supply chains and supporting the consumers in accessing nutritious foods during the Covid-19 Pandemic, as a case study of food systems approach. قراءة القليل

• Food Systems of ECO member countries are vulnerable to various shocks. Those shocks include not only natural disasters, but also socio-economic stresses and health crisis. • Governments need to take a leading role to ensure food systems continue to function during such crisis. However, coordination and collaboration with private sector is critical, particularly for ensuring food supply, since private farms, processors, traders and retailers play critical role in any food supply chain. • Identifying multi-win solutions is important. Potential trade-offs need to be analyzed carefully but... قراءة المزيد action with speed is required. • Many of food system workers are highly vulnerable to socioeconomic and natural shocks. Social Protection is critical during crisis time. It is important to understand the vulnerability of food system workers (who they are, where they are, when, why and how they are vulnerable). • Continuous effort for capacity strengthening is important to continue the effort for transforming food systems after the Summit. Regional organization such as ECO-RCC has a critical role to play in providing such opportunities. • Enhancing availability of and access to data on key elements of food systems and outcomes is important for facilitating evidence-based discussion and policy development قراءة القليل

Topic 1: Transformation of food systems • The participants shared a common understanding on food systems by reviewing the definition, conceptual framework and various elements of the systems. • The participants discussed and understood what transformation of food systems mean and why the transformation is needed. • The participants understood the potential cost of not transforming the food systems. Various data was presented, reviewed and discussed. • The participants understood that a business as usual approach to food systems won’t get us to the Paris climate change targets. The pr... قراءة المزيدesenter shared relevant data. • The participants understood that the multiple burdens of malnutrition are massive in the ECO region and universaland the double burden of malnutrition is rising in low- and middle-income countries. • The participants understood that food and agriculture have a big part to in the rise of zoonotic spillover events - animals are in close proximity to humans, either because their natural habitat has shrunk or been destroyed, or they are moved from their habitats. قراءة القليل

Topic 2: Purposes and modalities of UNFSS National Dialogues • The participants were briefed on the main objective of the UN Food Summit. • The participants were updated on the progress of the member countries of ECO in the preparation for the UNFSS, including the nomination of the national dialogue conveyors, the national dialogue process. • The participants were introduced about many opportunities for national dialogue conveyors and stakeholders to learn about food system concept, approach and preparatory work for the food system summit.

The Breakout Groups covered all 5 Action Tracks of the UN Food Systems Summit, each group focused on specific Action Tracks in their discussion to develop actionable recommendations. The major focus of the discussions was to provide feedback and comments on proposed game-changing solutions per each Action Track, as well as respond to the 3 questions posed by the UNFSS Special Envoy, Dr. Kalibata as mentioned in the methodology.

(See more detailed findings in the attached documentation) Action Track 1: We [Indigenous Peoples of North America] are dedicated to maintaining our traditional ways of life, prioritizing our youth, teaching the next generations, and taking care of our resources to ensure viability for future generations. There is a growing recognition and request for consultation about our longstanding ability to sustainably live in our environments through our own management systems. Not only do Indigenous Peoples need to be consulted with the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) principles, we must also... قراءة المزيد be an active part of the entire processes – not solely “knowledge sharing”. Indigenous Peoples’ food systems are a game changing solution, but only with Indigenous leadership and control over our own systems. To this end, fundamental to ensuring access to safe and nutritious food for all is the protection, respect and actualization of Indigenous Peoples’ rights – at all levels. In no case should a people be deprived of their traditional subsistence. States are obligated to protect these rights. We ask for protections to land and water rights, rights to practice our traditional food systems including the freedom to hunt and fish by our own systems, and protection of our seeds and intellectual property rights. We have crucial perspectives and willingness to bring about a needed paradigm shift. It is not sufficient for only Indigenous Peoples to commit; we need Member States’ commitment and the creation of opportunities to get involved in food systems in order for our [Indigenous Peoples] commitments to be actionable. Action Track 2: We need Indigenous led curriculum in public schools and community education settings to teach people how to support their local food systems and better understand Indigenous Peoples’ cultures, rights, knowledge and practices. There are good examples of these types of curriculums and programs being led by Indigenous Peoples in the United States and Canada. To reconnect and/or sustain our sustainable consumption patterns we need to be able to carry out hunting, fishing, and harvesting on the ceded territories, where perpetual right to hunt, fish, and harvest traditional foods is guaranteed by the treaties. This requires the environments to be healthy and free of toxic contaminants, and federal/state governments to prevent harassment by upholding the treaty rights and educate law enforcement and the public on Indigenous Peoples’ rights to harvesting and land/water access. Teachings and strategies from Indigenous Peoples’ approached and practices can provide essential solutions in reaching the SDGs. There is opportunity for Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples and programs to collaborate on these shared goals. First we need a change in mentality to see Indigenous Peoples’ food systems as vital to the solutions, which can help inspire the change to sustainable consumption. Action Track 3: There are current movements to return space and land to Indigenous Peoples for protection, management, and restoration following Indigenous biocentric restoration practices. Recognizing the collective human and tenure rights of Indigenous Peoples is crucial to Indigenous Peoples’ ability to revitalize traditional practices of generating food and stewarding lands/waters. Indigenous Peoples’ practices and systems of knowledge are needed to restore healthy, balanced populations of native and non-native species in regions. To support the exchange of knowledge and practice with the native plant species, regulations are necessary to protect the intellectual property rights of Indigenous Peoples and protection measures and consultations/consent are needed to safeguard against further issues with invasive plant and animal species. We need to start supporting agroecological systems and Indigenous Peoples’ food systems with the same way we support industrial production systems through comparable allocation of resources, extension services, trainings, research, and land designation. This would include increased localized production through market incentives for local economies of scale, incentives to promote agrobiodiversity working with local chefs, restaurants and markets, and increased support of conservation and biocentric production. Action Track 4: A multi-faceted approach is required to advance equitable livelihoods for North American Indigenous Peoples. We need to focus on creating opportunities for strong partnerships and alliances, such examples include in the carbon exchange and land/water/natural resource management. Existing programs and tools with organizations and governments can be improved with direct feedback from Indigenous Peoples/practitioners. Indigenous youth must be prioritized in the creation of opportunities and programs. It is important to use Indigenous curriculum and learning models that support Indigenous health, wellness, and advancement. Action Track 5: As the impacts of climate change intensify and affect more people, expanding Indigenous Peoples’ management practices and adaptation strategies is critical. Many Indigenous Peoples’ organizations and traditional governments in the United States and Canada have created climate change adaptation plans for their communities and territories. They have prioritized long-term water security in their planning. Indigenous and non-Indigenous leaders and communities need to work together to implement climate change adaptation strategies and regional plans. قراءة القليل

These four points cut across all Action Tracks as encompassing pillars needed for the success of the expressed commitments: We want the world to commit to… - Increase awareness and implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples - Increase and embrace opportunities for the inclusion of, and complete validation of Indigenous youth perspectives. - Stop ignoring us, instead build respectful, reciprocal collaborations and partnerships. - Understand our systems of management and see our Indigenous knowledge is the basis for many current practices, value our wa... قراءة المزيدys and technologies, respectfully employ them. In response to the three questions of commitment: Action Track 1: To ensure access to safe and nutritious food for all: 1. We are willing to commit to Indigenous leadership to sustain and safeguard Indigenous Peoples’ food related practices and food systems. We are willing to commit to maintaining our traditional ways of life, teaching the next generations, and taking care of our resources. 2. We ask Member States and conservation organizations to commit to allow us the freedom to hunt and fish by our own management systems without being impeded by “Western models”. Work with us and recognize we share conservation goals. Recognize and respect our rights to traditional subsistence and to change misconceptions that Indigenous hunting and fishing practices are a threat to ecological biodiversity (ie. whaling). We ask that in no case should a people be deprived of their traditional subsistence. 3. We ask Member States and others to recognize our [Indigenous Peoples] food systems and leadership can contribute to the regional and global needs and goals. 4. We ask others to practice Free, Prior, and Informed Consent, and not commit/appropriate our food practices into “universal access” through taking, patenting, and marketing of Indigenous Peoples’ foods. 5. We ask Member States, UN Agencies, Multinational Corporations and Private Sector to respect Indigenous Peoples’ rights and protection of their seeds and food products against Genetically Modified Organisms (GMOs). We ask for regulations to be in place and implemented to protect Indigenous Peoples’ food systems and lands. 6. We ask FAO, other UN Agencies and others to think of food as an ancestor, recognizing the spiritual significance, and as a relationship that needs to be maintained; we are asking the FAO and other parties to make a paradigm shift away from a market-based approach towards an approach of respectful health and well-being for food systems. 7. We are committed, and ask Member States and associated parties to join us, in educating the younger generations about our connection to the Earth through our food systems, teach how to sustain the holistic nature of Indigenous Peoples’ food practices and culture, and provide opportunities to learn and maintain the legacy of Indigenous Peoples’ food systems, land tenure and natural resource management. They are our best allies and central to the future of food systems. Action Track 2: To shift to sustainable consumption patterns: 8. We ask Member States and others to commit to granting and protecting unfettered access to ceded territories for Indigenous Peoples to practice traditional harvesting rights, including fishing, hunting and foraging. We ask Member States to educate law enforcement and public on Indigenous Peoples’ protected harvesting rights, so to stop further harassment. 9. We commit and ask all parties to commit to restoring and maintaining pristine environments; addressing the agricultural and other contaminants in watersheds and lands. 10. We commit to leading and ask other parties to support Indigenous-created and led curriculum on food systems in public schools to teach people how to support their local food systems. قراءة القليل

Action Track 3: To boost nature-positive production: 11. We ask regional governments to continue giving land and space to Indigenous Peoples to protect and restore land and watersheds through Indigenous restoration practices and traditional management styles. We commit to engaging with regional governments partners to lead ecological restoration and enhance biodiversity. 12. We ask Member States and all parties to recognize and learn from us that Indigenous Peoples’ traditional methods of hunting, fishing, and harvesting can be regenerative for ecosystems. 13. We commit to exercising our tre... قراءة المزيدaty rights as Indigenous Peoples, and ask non-Indigenous peoples to recognize, respect and learn about our treaty rights and the legislature that enforces them. 14. We ask all parties to respect and protect our intellectual property rights, and in return we commit to sharing our Indigenous knowledge that can support sustainable agricultural practices. 15. We ask all parties to support scaling up agroecological and traditional systems with the same focus and resources allocated for industrial production systems. 16. We commit to, and ask others to join us in increasing localized, sustainable production and food generation for local consumption, as well as local economies to promote increased agrobiodiversity, including Indigenous chefs and businesses Action Track 4: To advance equitable livelihoods: 17. We commit to aggregating Indigenous landowners and entering the carbon exchange market. 18. We commit to improving existing tools and programs for food producers and generators with government agencies and other organizations. 19. We commit to, and ask others to join us, in embracing Indigenous youth voices, input, and engagement in Indigenous Peoples’ food systems. 20. We commit to, and ask others to join us, in developing and using Indigenous curriculum and learning models to support Indigenous Peoples’ health and well-being. 21. We commit to and ask others to support Indigenous agriculture/food system exchanges to expand knowledge sharing and capacity-building. Action Track 5: To build resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks, and stress: 22. We recognize climate change is affecting more and more people. We commit and ask for all parties to include Indigenous Peoples’ leadership, knowledge, and management practices to face and mitigate impacts of climate change. 23. We commit to and ask all parties to join us in focusing on long-term water security by prioritizing watershed health, decontaminating streams and rivers, and working towards restoring potable water sources across large regions. 24. We commit to and ask others to join us in recognizing that the other actions in preceding action tracks will contribute to building resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks, and stress. Recommendations specific for the UN Food Systems Summit coordination: A. Member State delegations from the United States of America and Canada invite and include Indigenous Representatives to join the country delegations for the Pre-Summit and Summit, online and in-person. B. That Indigenous leaders/experts be added to solution clusters - at minimum, all 27 clusters that include Indigenous Peoples and Action Track committees. C. That Indigenous scientists be invited to join the UN Food Systems Summit Scientific Group. D. That in all after Summit actions and implementation strategies, delegations of Indigenous Peoples (building upon existing mechanisms in the UN system) be included from the beginning with resources allocated for proper compensation. قراءة القليل

The Dialogue has been jointly organised by the World Farmers’ Organisation and the International Seed Federation, ISF, with the technical expertise of the International Union for the Protection of New Varieties of Plants, UPOV. The aim, in fact, was to explore and discuss the needs, expectations and constraints for farmers around the role of innovation in agriculture, with a focus on new improved plant varieties for the sustainability of food systems. One round of break-out sessions was organized under the following themes: 1) How can new improved plant varieties contribute to sustainable fo... قراءة المزيدod systems? 2) How do we ensure that new improved plant varieties are suitable for sustainable food systems and viable for the farmers? 3) What is needed to facilitate the use and access of new improved plant varieties in food systems? Each discussion that took place in the various break-out sessions was reported back to the plenary by a representative from a farmer and from a representative of the seed sector. At the end of this discussion, in the plenary session, strategies and visions were developed with respect to future steps that could be leveraged through the process. قراءة القليل

Main findings: • A consultation carried out with the farmers’ community highlights the farmers’ utilisation of new improved plant varieties (71 % of the respondents) • Farmers look at new improved plant varieties with an innovation lens to ensure better yields, the economic stability of the farms, also ensuring resilience over shocks, but also to make farming easier and less labour/input-intensive; • New improved plant varieties can be key to tackle the challenges of climate change and for the sustainability of food systems: ensuring resistance to droughts, better pests and diseases ... قراءة المزيدmanagement; enabling sustainable use of inputs, getting closer also to consumers demand; • New Improved varieties can be key to build trust around the farming activity with financial partners (insurance companies), ensuring reliable yields; • There is a need to ensure access to seeds for farmers (in terms of availability and affordability); • Organized Agriculture has a key role: Farmers Organisations’ are key actors to ensure that farmers of all sizes and everywhere have access to the best available innovation; • It is important to ensure access for farmers to training, information and knowledge on New Improved Plant Varieties, first and foremost through their Farmers’ Organisations; • There is a need for an enabling regulatory, innovation and scientific framework to encourage the development of, and access to, new improved plant varieties; • Consumers’ education is important in order to build trust around new varieties thanks, among others, to traceability systems; • Partnership between the private and public sector is crucial to ensure development and access to innovation; • There's no one-size-fits-all solution and it is key to ensure farmers have the widest possible choice of seeds: providing the right choice to the farmers that they can access, including improved varieties; • Cooperation in the value chain is essential: only a true involvement of all stakeholders in the innovation process, starting from research, from farmers to breeders and all the actors involved, can ensure that we can develop a product that responds to the farmers’ needs; • Breeders always need to work with farmers to understand their downstream needs. This cooperation should address not only the different agronomic and productivity aspects but also the information needs of value chain stakeholders and consumers to increase transparency and traceability; • There is a need for a global/harmonized regulatory framework on new improved plant varieties that covers the entire process, starting with intellectual property rights (plant variety protection), in order to encourage investment in plant breeding and seed production, through regulations to ensure good quality seed is available to farmers for completing the food chain to the consumers; • Predictability and transparency of the regulatory pathway is absolutely essential for sustainable agriculture; • it is not innovation for innovation sake, but improved varieties targeted to support the farmers in the day-to-day business, to help to achieve sustainable development goals. قراءة القليل

How can new improved plant varieties contribute to sustainable food systems? On the issue raised, participants emphasized the importance of selecting and developing new plant varieties according to the expectations expressed by both farmers and consumers regarding yields, quality, diversity and nutrition. In order to do this, it is crucial to involve farmers, taking into account the diversity of local systems and communities. In addition, the simplification and streamlining of a coherent policy environment cannot be overlooked. In terms of sustainability, efforts should be made to improve prod... قراءة المزيدucts’ quality and reduce perishability for a longer shelf life and better transportability. Therefore, not only improving agronomic traits, but also traits that are particularly important for consumers. There was also a discussion on how to make varieties more available to farmers, which requires a good regulatory environment. This includes intellectual property rights (plant variety protection), to encourage investment in plant breeding and seed production and seed laws that guide and do not hamper regulation for new breeding techniques, which should be science-based and predictable. Finally, the last point is information. Information and dialogue with legislators, policy makers on the science behind latest breeding methods, educating farmers with better extension services and educating consumers to give them a better choice on what to buy. قراءة القليل

How do we ensure that new improved plant varieties are suitable for sustainable food systems and viable for the farmers? The participation and involvement of all stakeholders at the discussion table on product development and on future needs has been recognized as a key point in the spread of new plant varieties. Farmers recognize the need to be partners in the process of developing new plant varieties, with the involvement of the public and private sectors, to provide investment in areas where there is not necessarily a sizeable market return as well as in those minor crops. Also, it is neces... قراءة المزيدsary to ensure that farmers' interests are represented and to support the extension and transfer of knowledge necessary to guarantee that new plant varieties are produced appropriately and take advantage of all new technologies, while securing sustainable farm incomes, because without sustainable profitability at farm level, the system collapses. Hence a recognition of risk and reward sharing and fairness in the supply chain is needed to keep the whole system sustainable. This entails a collaboration between farmers, plant breeders and seed producers. Finally, it is important to consider that availability and accessibility are crucial, both to breeders and to farmers, because no sustainable solution is really viable if it is not affordable. قراءة القليل

What is needed to facilitate the use and access of new improved plant varieties in food systems? One of the highlights was that farmers learn from peer groups, so increasing awareness of access to seeds is crucial. However, information is not always fully shared with farmers, so they are not aware of the availability of resources. Therefore, it is very important that farmers' needs and expectations can be included by those (private or public actors) that would like to undertake the research and development work for new varieties in accordance with farmers' demands. Last but not least, the coll... قراءة المزيدaboration between the public institution and the private company is a very important process, which can speed up the diffusion of innovation. Such partnerships rely on regulatory systems that enable the public sector, private sector and farmers to meet their objectives. قراءة القليل

All panellists and participants acknowledged the positions expressed and elaborated during this dialogue.

3. Process: How can transparency and accountability in FSS governance be enhanced? Many participants felt there needed to be more direct discussion of how and why the FSS was initiated without direct involvement from existing UN bodies and processes concerned with food systems – including the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS), the FAO Committee for World Food Security (and the FAO Right to Food office), and the Civil Society and Indigenous Peoples’ Mechanism (CSM). Several positive suggestions were made for how FSS governance could be enhanced by adopting norms and practices that a... قراءة المزيدre already familiar in related policy contexts. There was particularly strong support for drawing on the UN Standing Committee on Nutrition’s principles for managing interactions with the private sector, including: - Identification and management of potential conflict of interest - Ensuring independence from commercial interests - Differential safeguards to protect policymaking and to identify private sector organisations whose activities best align with nutrition objectives - Promoting and respecting human rights principles, treaties and covenants Other suggestions advanced by participants to enhance accountability and transparency in FSS governance included the following: - Provide a clear definition and process for managing conflict of interest - Develop a ‘risk and opportunity assessment’ process to identify business entities that should not be represented at Summit meetings (including pre-Summit workshops) and that should not be invited to make UNFSS pledges. - Provide a clear account of how various UN bodies were involved (or not) in initiating, developing and leading the Summit - Provide greater transparency regarding which organisations and individuals are involved in the Summit, including how members of the Scientific Group, Advisory Committee and Action Track Leadership Teams were selected. - Provide greater transparency regarding the funding of the Summit and its associated meetings. - Provide adequate time for public input and scientific review of proposed actions / solutions emerging from the Summit Many participants noted that civil society groups were effectively prevented from engaging with the Summit because they lack the financial resources to do so. Some suggested that funding support was needed in order to ensure meaningful participation of civil society groups in the Summit. There was a strong sense that future Summits needed to be initiated and organised more transparently, with the involvement of Member States and existing UN bodies and processes. قراءة القليل

There were diverse views as to whether the UNFSS is capable of providing an effective forum for accountable and transparent discussion, given concerns noted above. Some participants felt that – with appropriate adjustments – the Summit can have a positive impact on the development of sustainable and equitable food systems. Other participants felt the Summit’s limitations are too fundamental for it to provide for meaningful and effective engagement, and that the most appropriate action at this stage is to not participate. While there were limited expectations that the FSS would itself gen... قراءة المزيدerate significant progress in addressing food systems, many participants felt that that discussion around FSS governance created opportunities for indirect benefits in stimulating broader and longer-term discussions about effective ways of engaging relevant actors in this agenda. قراءة القليل

Our Dialogue provided an opportunity for participants to engage constructively and critically with the Summit’s Principles, seeking to inform pragmatic actions and develop recommendations to enhance Summit governance and to support transformation of food systems.

While participants broadly agreed with the Principles of Engagement, dialogue discussions highlighted widespread anxieties about the operationalization of these principles in the Food Systems Summit. In particular, participants expressed concern over what were perceived as inadequacies in FSS governance with respect to managing conflict of interest and to defining terms of engagement with commercial sector actors. These themes are consistent with academic and civil society critiques of the opacity of the FSS process. In particular, participants expressed concern that: ● The legitimacy of the... قراءة المزيد UNFSS is undermined by lack of clarity about the process by which its Principles of Engagement were developed ● The organizational structure of UNFSS lacks accountability and transparency ● The process for implementing Summit-generated solutions is unclear ● UNFSS governance risks neglecting rights-based approaches A common concern was that the development and governance of the FSS exacerbated existing power imbalances between different types of actors, in that stakeholders with substantial economic and political power are better able to engage with and dominate FSS discussions while less influential groups (including food workers, Indigenous communities, and other minority groups) will find it more difficult to engage effectively in the Summit. (To illustrate this point, we quote one participant who made the following comment in small-group discussions: “I have had no capacity to engage. And I’m privileged. I am fully employed, a stable job in academia. I’m not working on the front lines, as an unprotected restaurant worker, trying to manage kids at home, etc. It’s impossible to engage fully in this process if you aren’t paid to do it, and it’s confusing about how you can engage, even for me. I didn’t understand until today what the real issues were.”) Many participants felt that meaningful participation of less advantaged groups was unlikely to occur given they hadn’t been directly involved in the development of the Principles of Engagement and their operationalisation in Summit processes. A key conclusion of the dialogue was that a more participatory and legitimate Summit should combine recognition of power imbalances between relevant actor groups with a process for managing conflicts of interest. Summit principles and practices tend to assume that all actors and stakeholders have equal capacity and resources to engage in Summit discussions and shape outcomes. This is incompatible with demonstrable power imbalances and substantial evidence that multi-stakeholder dialogues tend to favour privileged actors and fail to generate effective solutions. This danger is compounded by the assumption that all actors participating in the process can be expected to contribute positively to the achievement of Summit objectives. The inclusion of actors with economic interests in maintaining harmful and inequitable aspects of contemporary food systems challenges this assumption, creates risks of generating tokenistic solutions, and highlights the need for governance mechanisms to actively manage such conflicts of interest. قراءة القليل

1. Principles: what are the key strengths and limitations of the FSS Principles of Engagement? A majority of participants were broadly supportive of the Principles of Engagement, although many participants noted a lack of clarity in what they meant in practice (e.g. the processes via which they would be operationalised). Some principles were regarded as potentially ambiguous, or underspecified. This included principle 5 (emphasising ‘multi-stakeholder inclusivity’ – which could be seen as a basis for allowing commercial actors to engage on an equal basis with less powerful actors); and p... قراءة المزيدrinciple 7 (where establishing ‘trust’ might require very different things for different stakeholders). For example, one participant asked “how do you build trust if there is no transparency and you don’t address conflict of interest?” At the same time, participants noted some key deficiencies in the Principles, including the absence of commitments: i) to human rights (particularly the right to food); ii) to ensuring independence from commercial interests; and iii) to recognising and managing conflicts of interest between participating stakeholders. قراءة القليل