When the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres called for a Food Systems Summit two years ago, the ambition was to start a "decade of action" by recognising that several global challenges come back to food systems.
Then the Covid-19 pandemic happened. Food systems, which are the connections between how we produce food, distribute it and how we consume and dispose of it, fell under the spotlight.
The summit in New York last month marked a checkpoint for progress not only towards the UN’s 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, but also towards an entire food systems transformation. The pandemic put out of reach access to food and healthy diets for an additional 141 million people, and pushed up to 124 million people into poverty.
The summit in September represented an 18-month effort to increase dialogue and take more action. But the hard work is only just beginning, and it is vital that all of us keep our eyes on the prize of food systems that deliver for people, planet and prosperity.
In the first instance, countries must continue to unite and prioritise food systems in all international summits and negotiations in the coming months and years.
Across the more than 900 so-called independent dialogues and 600 member state dialogues that the summit inspired, a common theme emerged: healthy food systems are inextricably linked to healthy environments. This was the message from indigenous peoples, climate-vulnerable countries and island states such as Fiji and Barbados.
Food systems must continue to play a defining role in next month's Cop26 climate talks, which is unlikely to achieve its aims without more sustainable, inclusive and resilient food systems.
Second, governments must refine and enact the pathways they announced at the summit to transform their food systems with clear targets and deadlines.
More than 160 countries set out their commitments to improve food and nutrition security, climate action and equality through food systems, but this must now be translated into policy and action.
For countries such as the US, for instance, which pledged $10 billion to tackle hunger and malnutrition at home and abroad, this means making use of the best available science to guide investment decisions and strategies for delivering on its commitments.
Finally, countries should collaborate and engage on areas of mutual interest with neighbours and allies to support progress in the interests of people everywhere.
The Food Systems Summit helped launch several coalitions, including those supporting indigenous peoples’ food systems, universal school meals, family farming and climate resilient development pathways. These must now draw upon and complement commitments made by member states, civil society, indigenous peoples, farmers, youth, and other constituencies to encourage change and hold one another to account.
Notwithstanding the various commitments, pathways and strategies, it is up to countries to deliver tangible progress on the pledges they have made. We know from the summit that people are ready to play their part.
The UN is committed to co-ordinate and support countries, and track progress with a review mechanism every two years to ensure the world delivers the dream of a healthier, more sustainable food system of the future.
In just two years and against the odds, we have moved to a paradigm of food systems thinking. The Food Systems Summit has given rise not only to a new approach to food but also led to the hope that a food revolution in the next 10 years may be possible. It would help deliver on the world's shared goals – from more nutritious diets to cleaner air and water and greater equality.
We have learnt that people around the world are ready for this and are willing to mobilise. To this end, we have together set off on the right track with great momentum.
A better future for this generation, the next and those to come is within reach if the world seizes the opportunity and transforms food systems for the better. The summit was just the appetiser.
Dr Agnes Kalibata is special envoy of the UN Secretary General for the UN Food Systems Summit
Gothia Cup 2025
4,872 matches
1,942 teams
116 pitches
76 nations
26 UAE teams
15 Lebanese teams
2 Kuwaiti teams
Milestones on the road to union
1970
October 26: Bahrain withdraws from a proposal to create a federation of nine with the seven Trucial States and Qatar.
December: Ahmed Al Suwaidi visits New York to discuss potential UN membership.
1971
March 1: Alex Douglas Hume, Conservative foreign secretary confirms that Britain will leave the Gulf and “strongly supports” the creation of a Union of Arab Emirates.
July 12: Historic meeting at which Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid make a binding agreement to create what will become the UAE.
July 18: It is announced that the UAE will be formed from six emirates, with a proposed constitution signed. RAK is not yet part of the agreement.
August 6: The fifth anniversary of Sheikh Zayed becoming Ruler of Abu Dhabi, with official celebrations deferred until later in the year.
August 15: Bahrain becomes independent.
September 3: Qatar becomes independent.
November 23-25: Meeting with Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Rashid and senior British officials to fix December 2 as date of creation of the UAE.
November 29: At 5.30pm Iranian forces seize the Greater and Lesser Tunbs by force.
November 30: Despite a power sharing agreement, Tehran takes full control of Abu Musa.
November 31: UK officials visit all six participating Emirates to formally end the Trucial States treaties
December 2: 11am, Dubai. New Supreme Council formally elects Sheikh Zayed as President. Treaty of Friendship signed with the UK. 11.30am. Flag raising ceremony at Union House and Al Manhal Palace in Abu Dhabi witnessed by Sheikh Khalifa, then Crown Prince of Abu Dhabi.
December 6: Arab League formally admits the UAE. The first British Ambassador presents his credentials to Sheikh Zayed.
December 9: UAE joins the United Nations.
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Most match wins on clay
Guillermo Vilas - 659
Manuel Orantes - 501
Thomas Muster - 422
Rafael Nadal - 399 *
Jose Higueras - 378
Eddie Dibbs - 370
Ilie Nastase - 338
Carlos Moya - 337
Ivan Lendl - 329
Andres Gomez - 322
The rules on fostering in the UAE
A foster couple or family must:
- be Muslim, Emirati and be residing in the UAE
- not be younger than 25 years old
- not have been convicted of offences or crimes involving moral turpitude
- be free of infectious diseases or psychological and mental disorders
- have the ability to support its members and the foster child financially
- undertake to treat and raise the child in a proper manner and take care of his or her health and well-being
- A single, divorced or widowed Muslim Emirati female, residing in the UAE may apply to foster a child if she is at least 30 years old and able to support the child financially
What can victims do?
Always use only regulated platforms
Stop all transactions and communication on suspicion
Save all evidence (screenshots, chat logs, transaction IDs)
Report to local authorities
Warn others to prevent further harm
Courtesy: Crystal Intelligence
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