Policymakers and scientists united for the transformation of food systems

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

True to its threefold mission of "feeding, caring for, and protecting," Muse has established itself as a stronghold 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 dialogue between science and policy to promote the transformation of food systems. The conclusions were forwarded to the United Nations ahead of the World Food Systems Summit to be held in New York in September.

" The issue of food systems is not just about nutrition; it is a cross-cutting concept that involves the environment, the economy, health, agriculture, and more. And we want to show that Muse has everything it takes to organize collective intelligence around this issue," explains Patrick Caron, UM Vice President for International Relations, who has overseen the organization of two major international events over the past three months. The first, on food security, took place last December, followed by a second on food systems on February 4.

UN summit objective

To fuel discussions at the summit, MUSE organized virtual exchanges on the transformation of food systems and, more specifically, on the necessary convergence between science and politics to achieve this. "The term 'food system' refers to the way in which individuals and social groups organize themselves to feed themselves," explains Patrick Caron. "This includes production, distribution, storage, consumer choice, and so on." This concept was defined by Montpellier professor Louis Malassis in the mid-1990s, but has seen renewed interest since 2010 in the current global context and the call for sustainable development.
Nearly 450 people from 62 countries participated in this day, whose main objective was to prepare for the United Nations summit to be held in New York next 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 this is not just Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) number 2, it concerns all the SDGs." The environmental and economic upheavals currently underway are calling into question our food systems across the board, "as are the increasingly frequent health crises that raise the question of the impacts of intensive livestock farming."

Four levers for action

Mechanisms combining politics and science are essential to strengthen interfaces that can sometimes be difficult. "On the one hand, we have scientists who are sounding the alarm and complaining that they are not being heard, and on the other, politicians who are expressing a need for expertise to arbitrate and who consider that scientific findings do not meet these needs. We also need to provide better scientific information about what is blocking change and, finally, in a context marked by the prevalence of fake news, mobilize scientific knowledge to facilitate dialogue between the stakeholders involved in these changes," notes the vice president. To this end, four levers were identified during the meeting. The first is to identify the obstacles: "What are the costs, risks, and potential conflicts of interest that make change difficult?" explains Patrick Caron.
The second lever is to strengthen partnerships between academic institutions, which is essential. The third lever concerns collaboration between areas of collegial expertise. We need to "move beyond silo thinking," says Patrick Caron, by creating collaborative spaces bringing 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 Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE/CFS). "They produce high-level knowledge, but each in their own field and without any organized dialogue between them on the challenges of sustainable development." The final lever identified is to ensure that the knowledge and frameworks available at the international level can be mobilized at the local level, which is not sufficiently the case today. "To achieve this, we need to invest more in international partnerships between researchers, in the design of original innovation and foresight mechanisms," insists Patrick Caron. These are all strong messages that will now have to be taken to the UN, but which could also be the subject of discussion and commitments at the Africa-France meetings to be held in Montpellier next July.

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