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Draw public attention to the issue of food systems development, to formulate proposals for vectors of food systems development in Ukraine in the context of global trends and to start the first stage of discussions within the national dialogue on food systems transformation in preparation for the 2021 UN Food Summit

The main divergence between speakers and the citizens involved in the dialogues was on the issue of taxes and price interventions to promote, incentivise or reward the production or consumption of sustainable foods. This was an issue that was raised in various contexts during the citizens’ dialogues as a potential option to encourage sustainable consumer choices; however, when put to the European Commission representatives, it was not seen as a solution. It was pointed out that previously, price fixing has led to overproduction and proved to be economically unsustainable. Price support has b... Lire la suiteeen replaced since the early 2000s by direct income support to producers, which is said to be better aligned with the objectives to ensure a fairer standard of living for agricultural workers. One speaker raised the issue of the EU’s development cooperation programme, saying that while it helps people in developing countries, EU and EU Member States’ domestic policies have major consequences for people all over the world when it comes to trade, environment and other issues. They called for the EU to examine its policies and how they affect food systems within the EU and elsewhere. A speaker disputed the idea that consumers need to be educated about sustainable diets, saying that they know what is sustainable and are able to make informed choices. It was suggested that despite best efforts towards resilience, it’s impossible for food systems to be truly resilient, as has been demonstrated by the COVID-19 crisis, which has placed extreme pressure and uncertainty on the global food system. Lire moins

Food labelling is an area where the EU wants to improve transparency and the value of information given to consumers, through using technology such as QR codes. In parallel, there needs to be education to ensure consumers are more aware of the nutritional and environmental impacts of foods, and are better able to exercise choices. The EU has committed to reaching the UN Sustainable Development Goal of halving per capita global food waste at the retail and consumer level, and reducing food losses along production and supply chains by 2030, and will come up with its own proposal to set legally b... Lire la suiteinding targets for 2030. It was noted that the functioning of the food chain has had problems in the past. The price signal from consumers has not always reached farmers, and farmers have not always been able to find the right way to supply what the market required. In the last 10 years, the EU has done a lot to improve the way the supply chain functions, improve business-to-business relationships and eliminate unfair trading practices. There is now increased transparency in the food chain, particularly for better price information. Within the EU’s Farm to Fork strategy, the Green Deal and the human capital strands are key, it was said, but they could be more closely integrated. Globally, tackling hunger and malnutrition requires a doubling of investment in 10 key areas, mainly related to on-farm investments, food value chain and social protection. Two major areas of urgent concern are wasting among children and anaemia, especially among women. The latest projections are that we will not achieve the 2030 SDG target before 2130. A transformation of the food system solution needs to be combined with a health system solution and environmental vector solution, alongside a framework for women’s empowerment. There is also a need to focus on food safety along the supply chain. The panel highlighted the need to make safe food a universal human right, not just a commodity. It was suggested that there is a need for global policies because of globalisation, driven not only by the market but by public investment. In a globalised world, global standards and global mechanisms are required for issues such as biodiversity, nutrition and corporate governance. In providing support to third countries, it is necessary to look beyond emergency food aid and look at the root causes of hunger and food insecurity more broadly: these are linked to the economic and social situation and frequently to conflict. All these elements must be viewed together in a systemic perspective. As well as dealing with an acute food crisis in parts of the world, it is necessary to consider the longer-term perspective and increase resilience. Investing in rural and smallholder farmers results in significant poverty reduction and positive impacts not just for farmers but for the entire economy. Fisheries and aquaculture is an important sector to be considered in a sustainable food system, producing a much smaller carbon footprint than a lot of land-based types of farmed animals, in some cases by orders of magnitude. Aquaculture and fisheries can be sustainable but fisheries face two big challenges: managing fish stocks in a sustainable way, and managing the impact that fishing has on the whole marine environment, such as bycatch and damage to marine mammals. Lire moins

Panellists agreed that the UNFSS is a solutions summit, and should be just the starting point for real change. The European Commission representatives welcomed and agreed with most of the points raised during the citizen dialogues and stated that citizens need to be at the centre of actions to be taken. Young people are the ones who will benefit the most from a successful transition and will also face the biggest challenges in the event of failure, so it is vital to give them the chance to speak and be heard. Business as usual is not an option, one speaker said, because business as usual is no... Lire la suitet sustainable. What society expects from farmers today is not just simply food and fibre, but also landscapes, climates, biodiversity and healthy food. There is a need to identify the opportunities and risks associated with transitioning to sustainable food systems, and to make use of the best available scientific knowledge. Binding regulatory initiatives should go hand-in-hand with a social impulse that influences business and politics to move towards sustainability. While the comprehensive legal framework for sustainable food systems is still a work in progress, scheduled to begin in 2023, the EU has taken a first step with the EU Code of Conduct for businesses and marketing practices. This is one of the first deliverables of the Farm to Fork strategy and an integral part of its action plan. It sets out the actions that food processors, food service operators and retailers can voluntarily commit to undertake to tangibly improve and communicate their sustainability performance. The EU’s Farm to Fork strategy makes it clear that research and innovation are key drivers in accelerating the transition to sustainable, healthy and inclusive food system, from primary production to final consumption, the strategy policies, research and innovation activities across the entire food system, and compensating all environmental, social and economic aspects. The Commission agreed with the need for clear food labelling and a level of uniformity in the way those labels are used, to help consumers make a sustainable choice. Animal welfare is another element of sustainability to be considered in legislation on food labelling. For food waste and other issues, there needs to be flexibility across Member States, with regulatory authorities in each state working effectively with food chain operators, farmers, manufacturers, retailers and consumers. It is not sufficient to look at food production, consumption or waste in isolation. A holistic and integrated approach is necessary but challenging to implement. This approach should build a sustainable production system that ensures improved ecosystem services, food security and human welfare as well as opportunities for decent employment. Agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture can play an important role in sustainable healthy food, and social partners can play a key role in making fisheries and aquaculture sustainable. It is essential that there is good quality food available for all, whatever their socioeconomic background, and those involved in food production should be reasonably remunerated for their work. Across the world, largely in Africa and Asia, there are 149 million children under five suffering from stunting, 45 million with wasting, and 3 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet. Addressing this emergency calls for coordinated action among humanitarian – development - peace actors, for helping people with resilience to climate shocks and economic downturns, for tackling structural inequalities and for a profound transformation of food systems to get safe, healthy and sustainably produced food to the world. Lire moins

This event was the culmination of the EU Citizens’ Dialogue process, to discuss the outcomes collected during the dialogues on 12 and 13 July and to address two additional topics: the European contribution to addressing global hunger and malnutrition, and the transformation of food systems in practice. In the first session, held in the morning, moderators and six citizen representatives from each of the breakout sessions of the citizens’ dialogues presented the results of their discussions on six topics: green claims and sustainable food labelling; the views of young people on sustainable ... Lire la suiteand healthy diets; sustainable food production; sustainable and healthy diets; prevention and reduction of food waste; and antimicrobial resistance. Representatives from the European Commission responded to the findings and provided further detail on the EU’s work in these areas. The second session, held in the afternoon, explored the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) action areas and the EU’s role in addressing global hunger and nutrition. The five panellists came from the European Commission, WHO, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition and the International Centre for Climate Change & Development. The final session looked at the transformation of food systems in practice with examples of ongoing initiatives at EU and international level. This featured five speakers from the European Commission, Food and Agriculture Organization, European Economic and Social Committee and Nestlé. All 10 panellists presented their work and responded to questions from the moderator and the online audience. Lire moins

Discussion based on the pre-identified priorities listed below: Priority 1: Promoting advanced technologies and digitalization throughout the food system; Priority 2: Strengthening food safety and promoting healthy diet; Priority 3: Strengthening sustainable use of natural resources and increasing climate resilience; Priority 4: Supporting family farmers and agri-food SMEs; Priority 5: Improving quality of education and research, strengthening collaboration between science and policy making; Priority 6: Development of food systems in liberated territories and integration of them into the natio... Lire la suitenal food system. Participants raised the key challenges and proposed solutions for ensuring access to safe and nutritious food for all. The discussions also centered on the question of what measures should be taken towards transitioning to nature-positive sustainable production practices. Participants agreed that the impacts and benefits of the identified priorities on sustainable food system to be further assessed and the adaptive mechanisms or strategies for emergency/perilous situations to be included to the Priority List. A special attention should be paid to the Priority 2 which mainly focuses on nutritious and healthy diet. The responsibility of all actors of this specific issue should be clearly identified. Lire moins

Main findings can be summarised as follows: • Improve the role of science in achieving the priorities defined under the national pathway via the enhancement the capacity of scientific institutions and ensuring their active engagement in policy making process. • A special attention should be paid to the Priority 2 which mainly focuses on nutritious and healthy diet. The responsibility of all actors of this specific issue should be clearly identified; • Effective coordination between the Food Safety Agency and the Ministry of Health is still crucial; • The comment on the food nutrition a... Lire la suitend health to be included as a sub-clause to the Priority 2 in order to emphasize the importance of all related actors’ roles – Establish stakeholder coordination and promote consolidated policy making on health dietary; • Priority 2 needs to be further discussed after the Summit by involving different agencies and stakeholders of various sectors including agriculture, education, health, nutrition. This issue is the main activity of FAO in Europe and Central Asia; the FAO is ready to support Azerbaijan as well; • Regards the Priority 6, it is offered to include the transfer of best practices and modern technologies; • The mitigation measures and adaptation in the climate change, forecast of changes in climate to be included to the Priority 3, as well; • Climate-smart agriculture technologies, capacity building and education on climate change should also be emphasized; • Improving and upgrading legal framework of cooperatives is of importance for small and medium farms to be considered; • The impacts and benefits of the identified priorities on sustainable food system to be further assessed; • Adaptive mechanisms or strategies for emergency/perilous situations can be included to the Priority List; • All priorities should be considered as a whole system while the implementation; Lire moins

The main objective of the second dialogue meeting was to share information among stakeholders on the status of the food systems in the country including assessing the scientific approach in achieving sustainable national food systems, discussing and reviewing evidence on key challenges to strengthening food systems – as highlighted in Dialogue 1 – and determining practical next steps along the pathway to more sustainable food systems that can be pursued at the country level. During the first session a presentation on “The status of the food systems in the country, key challenges to stren... Lire la suitegthening food systems and practical next steps” was presented by addressing the below points: • Status of food systems in the country; • Major challenges to strengthen those systems; • Possible solutions. The presenters noted the importance of the identification of the priorities focused on transformation of the existing systems into sustainable systems up to 2030. Two major information sources are used: the first source of the information is the outcomes of the first dialogue when extensive information was provided on digitization. The second source is the set of different strategic papers prepared and implemented by the government, as well as international organizations Main priorities emphasized during the 2nd dialogue process were: • Priority 1: Promoting advanced technologies and digitalization throughout the food system; • Priority 2: Strengthening food safety and promoting healthy diet; • Priority 3: Strengthening sustainable use of natural resources and increasing climate resilience; • Priority 4: Supporting family farmers and agri-food SMEs; • Priority 5: Improving quality of education and research, strengthening collaboration between science and policy making; • Priority 6: Development of food systems in liberated territories and integration of them into the national food system. The dialogue was actively participated by representatives of scientific institutions and the relevant feedback provided on how to achieve the mentioned priorities with the effective scientific approach. Lire moins

There has not been area of divergence in the main session and the thematic sessions. Participants were pro-active and very engaging to work together in tackling the pressing issues and offering solutions.

In the next 3-5 years: • Comprehensive assessment of the implementation of state policy and legislation on food and improving the activities of the Food Security Council; • Adoption of a separate law on trade and improvement of the regulation of food and nutrition services; • Increasing the participation and accountability of local government institutions in the policy, planning and implementation of the food systems; • Improving the system of statistical indicators that measure food security and the formation of a joint fund for registration and information on domestic and imported fo... Lire la suiteod products and its use in policy development and decision-making; • Updating. development and application of national food norms, standards and methodologies in accordance with international standards for food quality and safety; • Improving quality control at the stages of procurement, transportation, storage and sale of food products; • Strengthening the capacity of foreign-recognized reference laboratories; • Evaluation of the results of the performance of professional monitoring organizations functions and their further updating; • Development of a network for the procurement of raw materials and products of agricultural origin based on herdsmen cooperatives of somons; • Conducting meat export management through a “one window” policy; • Formation of sustainable pasture management and guaranteeing the right of herdsmen to use pastures; • Regulating the number of livestock in line with grazing capacity by increasing meat exports and effectively applying taxes on livestock; • Guarantee relations of use and ownership of sown areas and their introduction into economic circulation; • Clarifiyng the criteria for defining people of vulnerable groups and pursue a policy of transferring part of them from social assistance to employment (approximately 50 thousand citizens belong to them); • Study and assess the impact of support and incentives provided to farmers from the Agricultural Development Support Fund and further increase their efficiency and direct them to adobtion the environmentally friendly technology; • Supporting private sector initiatives to develop and create enterprises that produce packaging products needed for food production and reduce imports; • Development of enterprises for the processing of non-food raw materials and by-products of animal origin as a new industry; • Supporting private sector initiatives to develop the habits of the population for sorting and disposing of food waste and the development of enterprises for their processing; • Consider the issue of the development of dairy farms near cities and settlements as a prioirity direction and support them with loans and investment policies; • Prioritizing support for producers of vegetables, berries, fruits and eggs through preferential loans and reduce import dependence on their procurement; • Supporting the initiatives of professional associations and citizens to develop the movement so that every rural family and fence have a food greenhouse and especially to develop winter greenhouse farms; • Development and implementation of a special educational policy to increase the knowledge and education of citizens, especially vulnerable groups, children, youth and women about the consumption of nutritious and healthy food products, proper nutrition and the reduction and use of food waste; • Establishing an independent food research organization and improving the scientic evidence-based food policy development. Lire moins

Participants in the consultative meetings of the national dialogues offered the following general recommendations to address the above pressing issues: In the next 10 years:  Development and implementation of a national program on the formation of a sustainable food systems in Mongolia;  Development and implementation of a national strategy that links further climate change and conditions with the future trend of food security;  Formation of a policy and legislative environment to improve the food supply of the urban and rural population and its assortment and reduce its seasonal and ... Lire la suiteimport dependence;  Updating and implementing social health policy;  Comprehensive implementation of the international food standard system and rational habits;  To carry out a coordinated policy for the comprehensive renewal of the food logistics network and for the development of common infrastructure and increase investments in this direction;  Updating the system of vocational training professional workers in the food industry in accordance with market supply and demand and supporting training young successors of food producers, especially young herdsmen and their sustainable work through the economic leverage;  Increase in investments for enterprises processing raw materials and products of livestock origin and having an export orientation;  Prioritize the development of smart farming and livestock breeding through foreign and domestic projects and programs;  Cluster development of local small and medium-sized businesses engaged in food and support for its technological reform;  Stimulate nature-positive organic agricultural production, and bring its share to 5% of the total cultivated area;  Supporting nature-positive agricultural and food production through economic incentive levers of green credit;  Formation and implementation of a rational mechanism for cooperation between government agencies, the private sector and scientific and non-governmental organizations for the effective implementation of food objectives of sustainable development. Lire moins