REPORT: Everyone at the table – Co-creating knowledge for food systems transformation

26-28 July 2021. The Pre-Summit event serves as the preparatory meeting for the UN Food Systems Summit in September by consolidating all the substantive work of the Summit into a common vision and setting a tone of bold ambition and commitment to action. 

Affiliated sessions bought out additional valuable ideas and offering a platform to convene actors around the world to ensure more voices and ideas are heard, and more actors are thinking about how to take action in their own contexts.

27/07 Everyone at the table: Co-creating knowledge for food systems transformation. 

Session by University of Montpellier and European Commission

This is the link to the latest EC High Level Expert Group’s report: 

EC (2021) Everyone at the table: Cocreating knowledge for food systems transformation.  (24 p.) 

• This mid-term report presents the early findings of the Expert Group exploring ways to strengthen the international science policy interface (SPI) for improved food systems governance.
• The experts have analysed a number of existing science policy interfaces and conclude that, while a number of them work very well, an additional framework linking local, national, regional and international levels as well as different facets of the food sector, will be required. 
• The Expert Group will draw on the outcome of the Pre-Summit meeting in July and the UN Food Systems Summit to elaborate a more detailed proposal on this additional framework during the second phase of their work, due for completion in the first half of 2022.

Panel 

• Moderator: Evan Fraser, professor of Geography at the University of Guelph
• Peter Wehrheim - Head of Unit for Food Systems and Bioeconomy · European Commission, DG Research & Innovation -  introduction. He announced the Farm to Fork conference of 14-15 October 2021 related to the World Food Day 16th of October
• Patrick Webb – United Kingdom, Vice Chair HLEG - highlight of interim report

How science can inform policy and dialogue at municipal, national and regional level

• Barbara Swartzenruber - Executive director Smart Cities, City of Guelph
• Thembi Mwamakamba - porgram manager FANRPAN
• Ismahane Elouafi, FAO chief scientist - the role of science to inform food systems policy
• Gerda Verburg - UN Asistant Secretary-general, Coordinator of the SUN movement
• Patrick Caron - HLEG member, France - concluding remarks
• Arnold, Tom - Ireland, Chair HLEG -

High Level Expert Group (HLEG) members: 

Arnold, Tom - Ireland, Chair / Sonnino, Roberta - Italy, Rapporteur / Webb, Patrick – United Kingdom, Vice Chair / Biermayr-Jenzano, Patricia - Argentina / Broerse, Jacqueline - Netherlands /  Brunori, Gianluca - Italy / Caron, Patrick - France / De Schutter, Olivier - Belgium / Fan, Shenggen - China / Fanzo, Jessica - USA / Fraser, Evan - Canada / Gurinovic, Mirjana - Serbia / McGlade, Jacqueline - United Kingdom / Nellemann, Christine - Denmark / Njuki, Jemimah - Kenya / Singh, Brajesh Kumar - Australia / Tuomisto, Hanna - Finland / Tutundjian, Seta - Bulgaria / Wesseler, Justus – Germany