Food systems are an integral part of human life, providing nutrition, food security and livelihoods to people across the globe. The livelihoods of those dependent on food systems are at stake with climate change impacting crops, livestock, fisheries, and aquaculture, and current food systems contributing to climate change at the same time. Against this background, there is a clear need to transform food systems and make them more resilient, sustainable, and climate-friendly. Resilient food systems will ensure human well-being and health, help people adapt to climate change impacts, and secure their livelihoods, thereby reducing poverty.

Youth are key stakeholders in this transformation of food systems. The health, stability, and sustainability of food systems connects directly to the health, well-being, food security, nutrition, development, and financial stability of youth, with sustainable consumption and production as a prerequisite for a healthy and conducive environment for the young generation. It is vital that youth are a part of transforming food systems as they can contribute to the progress of the five action tracks and climate adaptation action.

Guided by five Action Tracks and four “levers of change,” the United Nations Food Systems Summit is aimed at transforming the way the world produces and consumes food as a part of the Decade of Action to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030. The five action tracks include ensuring access to safe and nutritious food for all, shifting to sustainable consumption patterns, boosting nature-positive production, advancing equitable livelihoods, and building resilience to vulnerabilities, shocks, and stresses.

Each action track aims at transforming food systems, focusing on access to safe and affordable food, changes in consumption and dietary patterns to reduce wasteful food patterns, optimal use of environmental resources to reduce stress on the environment and greenhouse gas emissions, resilience of the workforce through social protection, and risk management for the stability of food systems.

SLYCAN Trust is launching a national workshop series on International Youth Day on August 20th, 2021 that will take place as part of the activities under the Global Youth Forum on Climate Change and as an independent dialogue under the Food Systems Summit. The event series will focus on all nine provinces of Sri Lanka and engage youth and key stakeholders working on climate change, food systems, and sustainable development to identify key gaps and needs to build resilience to climate change and lead to an inclusive and sustainable food system transformation. Furthermore, a country wide online survey will be conducted to collect data pertinent to each of the nine provinces based on five action tracks. The information gathered through this series would be shared with the focal point for the Member State Summit Dialogue for Sri Lanka with the aim for these inputs to be included in the consultative process for developing the official country report.

Objectives of the Dialogue

1. Launch a series of provincial workshops covering all nine provinces of Sri Lanka
2. Identify different vulnerabilities and key areas of priority in Sri Lanka under all five action tracks
3. Identify key areas for youth engagement in climate action and get youth engaged in the discussion on food systems and climate change
4. Identify entry points to scale up youth contributions to food system solutions through innovative action
5. Identify challenges and barriers, gaps, and needs for effective engagement of youth
6. Enhance the inclusion of youth into global and national efforts to move to resilient and transformational food systems
7. Integrate the inputs and perspectives of youth into the national report