Key Inputs from Summit Workstreams

CFS INTEGRATED POLICY INSTRUMENTS

Brief paper specific to the FSS

UN COMMITTEE ON WORLD FOOD SECURITY (CFS)

The Committee on World Food Security (CFS), as reformed in 2009, is the UN’s foremost inclusive international and intergovernmental platform for relevant stakeholders to work together to ensure food security and nutrition for all. With a Rome-based Secretariat, CFS reports to the UN General Assembly through the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) and to FAO Conference.  CFS develops and endorses policy recommendations and guidance on a wide range of food security and nutrition topics via an inclusive multi-stakeholder approach. CFS policy recommendations are negotiated and agreed by Member Nations with participation of civil society, private sector, UN experts, researchers, foundations and others.  The CFS High Level Panel of Experts provides evidence and scientific analysis, and the three Rome-based Agencies FAO, IFAD, and WFP and other Participants provide technical expertise.

Among CFS’s most impactful products to date are its  2012 Voluntary Guidelines on the Responsible Governance of Tenure of Land, Fisheries, and Forestry (CFS-VGGT), its  2014 Principles of Responsible Agricultural Investments (CFS-RAI), its  Framework for Action for Food Security and Nutrition in Protracted Crises (CFS-FFA), and its  2021 Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition (CFS-VGFSN), along with a host of Policy Recommendations including the  2021 Policy Recommendations on Agroecological and Other Innovative Approaches for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Systems that Enhance Food Security and Nutrition.  The HLPE has produced  16 excellent reports and other analysis that forms the basis upon which CFS policy convergence products are based.

The CFS considers the prioritization of the Right to Food as essential for ensuring food security and sustainable food systems. CFS has consistently stressed the right to adequate food as a key guiding principle in support of food security and nutrition. However, implementation of the right to food is uneven in practice, and much work remains to be done for its full realization.  The CFS adopted a sustainable food systems framework since it’s  2017 HLPE report on nutrition and food systems, which is the basis of the  2021 CFS Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition (VGFSN) endorsed by 130 members at CFS 47 in February 2021. The Voluntary Guidelines are the only global policy instrument negotiated multilaterally on connections between food systems and nutrition.  They address the full complexity of our food systems and shortcomings, providing concrete recommendations for governments and others to address the causes of hunger and malnutrition in all its forms.  The Guidelines are structured around seven focus areas encapsulating cross-cutting factors that are relevant for improving diets and nutrition.  They are:  transparent, democratic and accountable governance; sustainable food supply chains to achieve healthy diets in the context of economic, social and environmental sustainability, and climate change; equal and equitable access to healthy diets through sustainable food systems; food safety across sustainable food systems; people-centered nutrition knowledge, education and information; gender equality and women’s empowerment across food systems; and, resilient food systems in humanitarian contexts.

The entirety of the CFS policy product toolbox, including access to all CFS HLPE reports and other products can be found at:   http://www.fao.org/cfs/en/