The Secretary General of United Nations, Antonio Guterres, has convened for the first time in the history of the United Nations a global summit on food systems scheduled for September 2021 alongside the UN General Assembly in New York. He has extended invitations to all Heads of States to encourage their full participation in the summit. 

The call for the Global Food Systems Summit comes against the backdrop that food systems – the constellation of activities involved in producing, processing, transporting and consuming food - are currently inefficient and unsustainable in their current context and will not contribute adequately to the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the 2030 Agenda.  The inefficiencies and unsustainability of food systems are quite evident despite the plethora of actions, innovation and solutions that are being implemented across the globe to strengthen food systems. There is an increasing number of malnourished populations of over 840 million, an increase exacerbated since COVID-19 pandemic. One quarter of children, under 5 years across the globe are stunted according to World Health Organization (WHO) and 1.9 million adults are overweight. According to Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), food waste and loss are estimated at 30% of total production while there are increases in greenhouse gas emission, biodiversity loss and the impacts of climate change. In all these circumstances, small farmers are at the lowest end of the food systems and are most vulnerable, in particular female farmers. There is also the absence of a multi-stakeholder, multidimensional approach to include all actors and processes in the food system in a coordinated and integrated way to create a pathway to achieving the SDGs and the 2030 Agenda. Within the context of Trinidad and Tobago the global challenges are replete within the country compounded by a heavy reliance on food imports even though the country has the capacity to be self-sufficient in selected food systems. 

Leading up to the summit, under the leadership of the Secretary General and Prime Minister of Italy Mr Mario Draghi, a Pre-Summit has been scheduled for 19 -21 July 2021. The Pre-Summit will bring together the efforts and contributions of a global engagement process to shape ambitions for a transformed food system. The Pre-Summit will engage all stakeholders in the public sector (agriculture, environment, health, education, social protection, and finance), policy leaders, private sector, youths, women, farmers groups, researchers and academia, civil society organizations (CSOs), indigenous peoples, agro-processors, manufactures, marketers and others. The expectation is that the latest evidence-based and scientific approaches from around the world, together with the launch of a new set of commitment through collaborative actions, supported by the mobilization of new financing and partnerships will contribute to a transformed food system. A system that will be fit-for-purpose to accelerate actions that will work for people, planet, and prosperity. Therefore, global leaders are expected to step up and launch bold new actions, solutions, partnerships, and strategies to recover better from COVID-19 and to deliver progress on all SDGs, each of which rely to some extent on nutritious, sustainable, and equitable food systems.