Food plays a big role on the tropical island of Palau. Food is used to strengthen relationships and connect families, welcome visitors and send off guests, and express Palauan culture and traditions. Also, like other Pacific islands, the modern world has complicated Palau’s story with food. From a high prevalence of NCDs to preferences for unhealthy foods, Palau’s food systems need a systemic, comprehensive response. This year’s Dialogues offered an opportunity to apply a Systems Perspective to Palau’s Blue and Green Food Systems.

Building on the findings of its biennial National Environmental Symposium, the National Food Systems Dialogue in Palau focused on pathways to sustainably increase production while positively influencing consumption, health, accessibility, and livelihood outcomes. Palau also used this year’s Dialogue as an opportunity to fill gaps in understanding of its agricultural systems, which when combined with the nation’s long-standing investments into sustainable Blue Food systems yielded a comprehensive understanding of Food Systems as a whole.

The three-part Dialogue mapped the agricultural food system and connected it to the extensive body of work on Blue Foods, identified challenges and options for sustainability, and sought high level government agreement for proposed pathways.