Food systems, health and the environment: how can we shed light on social issues?

Food is a key element in the health of living beings, throughout their entire existence. In human beings, numerous epidemiological studies have established that a healthy, sufficient, balanced and diversified diet is essential to the physical and mental health of populations, providing the energy needed for the body to function, enabling growth and strengthening immunity, promoting fertility and ensuring proper aging conditions. Conversely, a diet that fails to meet these criteria contributes significantly to the development of most chronic diseases, such as cancer, cardiovascular, metabolic and neurological disorders.

What's more, the majority of food systems - from resource production to processing, packaging, transport, distribution and waste - have short-, medium- and long-term consequences for deforestation, soil and water resource degradation, biodiversity loss and climate change, jeopardizing the very goal of food security and sovereignty that we all desire.

Finally, several studies have highlighted the negative impacts and hidden costs of our food systems on health, the environment and the economy (between 8 and 12% of GDP in each country, according to the FAO).

As agricultural, food, economic, health and environmental issues are all closely linked, this situation is no longer tenable.

To face up to these facts, the transformation of food systems to make them sustainable, favorable to health and the environment, is not a choice but a necessity that must be supported by societal, economic and political evolution.

Speakers from different sectors, disciplines and communities will be involved. The organizers will also be setting up a space dedicated to formulating collective recommendations for decision-makers.