UNEP is supporting the food and finance agenda by co-hosting the Finance Network for Food Systems together with the World Business Council for Sustainable Development (WBCSD). The Network will be launched by the Finance Lever of the UN Food Systems Summit.
Food systems, which refer to everything from the production to the consumption of food, are the key solution when it comes to tackling the most critical challenges of our time. Therefore, they must have the health of the people, planet, and economies at heart. When food systems are sustainable, they can underpin strong economic recovery – including job creation and getting out of debt traps –, climate action, and public health.
But today's food systems are working neither in our nor the planet’s favor – rather, they are leading us on a dangerous path towards all-encompassing catastrophe. Currently, food systems account for a third of all anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions, while agriculture is responsible for 80% of global deforestation. Not only does the current situation pose a great risk to biodiversity, but also to our economy, considering that sectors representing nearly half of global GDP heavily depend on nature. Additionally, food systems contribute to the chronic hunger of 690 million people, and the inaccessibility of regular and nutritious food for 2 billion people worldwide.1
An additional $350 billion per year in investments is needed to transform our food systems for the better. This means, that we need to change the fundamentals of how food is financed. To set this transition into motion, the UN Food System Summit’s Finance Lever seeks to increase alignment on what actions which stakeholders need to take in order to mobilize the finance needed to foster the transition.
1 FAO, IFAD, UNICEF, WFP and WHO. 2020. The State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World 2020. Transforming food systems for affordable healthy diets. Rome, FAO. https://doi.org/10.4060/ca9692en
