INTPA Infopoint: Why nutrition matters more than ever before

26 October 2021. Why nutrition matters more than ever before by INTPA Infopoint

See the RECORDING here:

https://ec.europa.eu/international-partnerships/events/why-nutrition-matters-more-ever_en

The UN Food System Summit represented a milestone in the Year of Action for Nutrition, elevating

nutrition as a key driver for food systems transformation and ensuring links with other global summits and processes including Tokyo’s Nutrition for Growth (N4G) Summit on 7-8 December. The summit will be a key opportunity to mobilise financing. 

The EU’s sixth progress report on the EU Action Plan on Nutrition  (August 2021, 46 p.) reviews and reflects on the EU’s key achievements during the 2014- 2020 cycle. The lessons learned in the past years present evidence on what works best for improved nutrition is a locally adapted, sustained, multi-sectoral and rights-based approach. 

While ensuring availability and access to sufficient, safe, healthy and affordable food within our planetary boundaries remains essential for our rapidly growing population, we need to continue simultaneously addressing the broader drivers of malnutrition such as poverty, inequality, climate change, biodiversity loss, forced migration or conflict, and to promote an integrated approach to address malnutrition.

• Marjeta Jager, Deputy Director-General, Directorate General for International Partnerships (DG INTPA)
• Gerda Verburg, UN ASG and Coordinator of the SUN Movement
• Leonard Mizzi, Head of Unit, INTPA F3 Unit, Sustainable Agri-Food Systems and Fisheries
• Antonia Potter Prentice, Director Alliance2015

Shared resources

September update of the 2021 Global Report on Food Crises

EU Nutrition investment. No time to waste (17 p.)

Several EU policy processes and frameworks already exist which have the potential to provide suitable platforms to positively impact the nutritional status of the most vulnerable people: 

• the Green Deal clearly shows the connection between the planet and food systems and the need to feed the world within planetary boundaries; 
• the renewed EU-Africa partnership can re-prioritise nutrition to build a healthier, greener, fairer and more resilient future; 
• and the Global Europe instrument (NDICI) committed to allocating at least 20% of the Official Development Assistance (ODA) to social inclusion and human development, including basic social services, such as health, education, nutrition, water, sanitation and hygiene, and social protection. 

Each of these frameworks must embrace nutrition as a cross-cutting and stand-alone issue which needs ambitious action. 

Questions asked during the webinar:

1. How important is the contribution of biofortification? (see: 27 October 2021. Financing the fortification unfinished agenda - looking ahead to the Tokyo nutrition for Growth Summit by GAIN
2. As of 20 October, 107 pathways towards sustainable national food systems by 2030 have been shared on the Food Systems Summit Dialogues Gateway. WHO WILL SCREEN THEM ON NUTRITION PRIORITIES for FUTURE DIALOGUES?