Policymakers and Scientists Unite to Transform Food Systems

[Article] - Published on March 2, 2021 in Environmental Issues and Social Responsibility, International Partnerships

True to its three-pronged mission of “Nourish, Care, Protect,” Muse has established itself as a leading center for research on food systems. Following an international conference on global food security in December 2020, a day of discussions on food systems brought together more than 450 stakeholders in this field on February 4. Their goal: to improve the dialogue between science and policy to promote the transformation of food systems. The conclusions were submitted to the United Nations ahead of the World Food Systems Summit, which will be held in New York this coming September.

“ “The issue of food systems is not just about nutrition; it is a cross-cutting concept that encompasses the environment, the economy, health, agriculture, and more… “And we want to demonstrate that Muse has everything it takes to bring together collective intelligence around this issue,” explains Patrick Caron,UM vice presidentUM international relations, who has overseen the organization of two international events over the past three months. The first, on food security, took place last December, followed by a second event on food systems held on February 4.

UN Summit Goal

To inform the summit’s discussions, MUSE organized virtual discussions on the transformation of food systems and, more specifically, on the need to bridge the gap between science and policy to achieve this goal. “By ‘food system,’ we mean the way in which individuals and social groups organize themselves to obtain food,” explains Patrick Caron. “This includes production, distribution, storage, and consumer choice… ” This concept was defined by Montpellier professor Louis Malassis as early as the mid-1990s, but in the current global context and amid the call for sustainable development, it has seen a resurgence of interest since 2010.
Nearly 450 people from 62 countries participated in this event, whose main objective was to prepare for the United Nations summit to be held in New York this coming September on the sidelines of the General Assembly. Why a United Nations summit on food systems? “Obviously, to address the challenges of food security. But it’s not just Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 2—all the SDGs are relevant.” The ongoing environmental and economic upheavals are raising cross-cutting questions about our food systems, “just as the increasingly frequent health crises are raising questions about the impacts of intensive livestock farming.”

Four Areas of Action

Mechanisms that bring together policymakers and scientists are essential for strengthening these sometimes challenging interfaces. “On one side, we have scientists sounding the alarm and complaining that they are not being heard; on the other, we have policymakers expressing a need for expertise to help make decisions and who feel that scientific findings do not meet those needs. Furthermore, we need to provide better scientific insight into what is hindering these transformations and, finally, in a context marked by the prevalence of fake news, mobilize scientific knowledge to facilitate dialogue among the stakeholders involved in these transformations,” notes the vice president. To move in this direction, four key strategies were identified during this meeting. The first involves identifying the obstacles: “What are the costs, risks, and potential conflicts of interest that make these transformations difficult?” explains Patrick Caron.
The second lever is strengthening partnerships between academic institutions, which is essential. The third lever concerns collaboration among collegial expert communities. We must “move beyond a siloed approach,” explains Patrick Caron, by creating collaborative spaces that bring together, for example, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), and the High-Level Panel of Experts of the United Nations Committee on World Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE/CFS). “They produce high-level knowledge, but each within their own field and without any organized dialogue among them on the challenges of sustainable development.” The final lever identified is ensuring that the knowledge and frameworks available at the international level can be mobilized at the local level—something that is currently not happening enough. “To achieve this, we must invest more in international partnerships among researchers and in the design of innovative approaches to innovation and foresight,” insists Patrick Caron. These are all powerful messages that must now be brought to the UN, but which may also be the subject of discussion and commitments during the Africa-France meetings to be held in Montpellier next July.

Keywords: Agriculture, Economy, Environment, I-SITE, International, Research, Health