UN Food Systems Summit is already cringe
Wheat harvest in Hebei Province, China on June 11, 2021 (Illustrative image).
REUTERS
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
Almost 20 years after the last UN food summit, this is the opening this Thursday, September 23 of the United Nations summit on food systems in New York.
In the background, one of the immense challenges: food systems are considered responsible for about a third of global greenhouse gas emissions, and hunger continues to increase in the world.
More than 85 heads of state and government are expected to participate in this virtual summit.
Some NGOs and scientists criticize the organizational methods of this summit, deeming them "opaque".
They fear that the avenues chosen will give pride of place to "agribusiness" to the detriment of peasant agriculture.
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Eighteen months of preparation and an ambitious program, since it involves questioning the way in which food is produced in the world and the inequalities that result from it. For the first time, the entire food chain is represented, from producers to distributors, including food industries, and even input manufacturers. That is what is on paper.
In reality, things are more controversial. Some NGOs denounce the invisibility of civil society and small producers and the omnipresence of multinationals. And for good reason, it is the first time that a UN summit on food has not been initiated by the States, but is the result of a partnership with the Davos Economic Forum. The mix of genres makes people cringe. Calls have also been made to dismiss the special envoy appointed by the UN, Agnes Kalibata, former Rwandan Minister of Agriculture and chair of a coalition created by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation. It would be likely to orient the debates in favor of agribusiness, which it denies.
The question of human rights is also another point of contention, since it was added at the last moment.
Farmers' organizations and scientists even asked France to withdraw from the event.
With its lack of inclusiveness and legitimacy, the @UN-initiated food systems summit, self-dubbed the “peoples summit”, is jeopardizing the future of our agriculture and our food. /t.co/fGvQgxZPUM
- ActionContreLaFaim (@ACF_France) September 21, 2021
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