This side-event organised by the Transformative Partnership Platform on Agroecology and co-hosted by Switzerland, is associated with the 77th United Nations General Assembly (UNGA). It will explore the implications for the Agroecology Coalition of the interim report on how to address the current food crisis by the Special Rapporteur on the right to food.
In his report on the right to food and the COVID-19 pandemic, Michael Fakhri, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to food, identifies structural constraints to realising the right to food globally and provides a framework to guide States in developing action plans to overcome these constraints and coordinate an international response to the food crisis. Enabling just agroecological transitions are a central plank of his recommendations, resonating with the Agroecology Coalition comprising nearly 40 countries, the EU, AU and ECOWAS and over 80 organisations worldwide, seeking to transform food systems through agroecology. The side event focuses on equity in food systems, with particular reference to gender and social inclusion and the role of civil society and social movements in realising just agroecological transitions.
Agenda
Framing – agroecology and the right to food
- Welcome and brief description of the Agroecology Coalition
Moderator: Fergus Sinclair, Scientist at CIFOR-ICRAF and one of the interim coordinators of the Agroecology Coalition - Opening remarks (constraints to addressing the food crisis – insights from the right to food perspective)
Olivier de Schutter, UN Special Envoy on extreme poverty and human rights - Gender constraints and opportunities associated with the food crisis
Jemimah Njuki, Chief of Economic Empowerment at UN Women - Practical imperatives in addressing power imbalances in food systems
Jahi Chappell, Director of the Centre for Regional Food Systems, Michigan State University - Questions and answers (in person and virtual)
Jemimah Njuki
What all this means from farm to fork
- How important are international processes for social movements and civil society?
Million Belay, Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa - Are food consumers shifting their preferences to more equitably and sustainably produced food?
Eve Turow-Paul, thought leader on youth food culture, Executive Director, Food for Climate League - Questions and answers (in person and virtual)
Conclusion
- International and national perspective
Representative from Switzerland (TBC)
