Every year, 50+ of us monitor the state of food systems: The Food Systems Countdown to 2030 Initiative. Bottomline? Food system trends show some positive progress. Our third peer review pub and report are out! Find the paper here: shorturl.at/ZbyJ7 and the report here: shorturl.at/elfqu

📢 Major new study/report from Food Systems Countdown Initiative (FSCI), collab by @fao.org, @gainalliance.bsky.social, @cornellcals.bsky.social, @columbiaclimate.bsky.social, presents 1st comprehensive analysis of change in key food system indicators since 2000: openknowledge.fao.org/items/78839a...

The best levers of change to steer Food systems towards sustainability and fairness within Planetary Boundaries are not technical or agronomic. They are better governance and better resilience. And the full enactment and realisation of the Right to Food.

Jessica Gephart@jagephart.bsky.social · 2y ago

Interactions between different areas of food systems mean change in one area can directly or indirectly affect another. The Countdown’s 2024 report shows that governance and resilience are powerful leverage points that could trigger positive cascading effects across many food system indicators.

Theme 4 - Governance Public access to information and government effectiveness are improving, but we’re seeing declining government accountability and civil society participation. Other key areas of budget transparency and food safety capacity remain unchanged.

Theme 3 - Livelihoods, poverty & equity The % income in ag remains high for low-income countries, indicating persistent rural poverty. Under-/Un-employment isn’t improving, highlighting a need to support rural economies & pursue decent livelihoods, especially in agricultural areas.

Theme 2 - Environment, natural resources & production Mixed progress: Nitrogen use efficiency & yields are up, emissions intensity has improved for beef & milk but stalled for cereals and rice. Progress has stalled on agricultural water use and cropland change, while pesticide use keeps climbing

Theme 1 - Diets, nutrition, and health Global access to fruits, vegetables, and safe water has improved in recent years, with lower undernourishment. But there are some concerning trends: Healthy diets are becoming more expensive and food insecurity is rising.

Theme 5 - Resilience Growing mobile phone connectivity and social capital show promise for fostering resilience. The food supply is more stable, and plant and animal genetic conservation is advancing. However, agricultural biodiversity remains static and food price volatility is increasing.

Best way to kick-start the "Food Year"? With a new issue of the State of Food Systems worldwide. Thanks to Food Systems Countdown Initiative. New @nature.com paper on indicators to monitor progress in the Food Systems of 190 countries. The Right to Food emerges as a key lever of transformation

Jessica Gephart@jagephart.bsky.social · 2y ago

New Countdown Initiative paper which: - Presents the first indicator monitoring update across 5 themes (more below) - Provides an expert elicitation of interactions across indicators. - Reviews literature & country case studies Paper: tinyurl.com/CountdownMS Website: tinyurl.com/countdownweb...

What do we know about the future of measuring #foodsystems? With Bianca Carducci and Michael Puma we unpack some ideas for the new generation of food system indicators and the #FoodSystemsCountdownInitiative (FSCI). Thanks to @ifpri.org for the opportunity to publish this piece! shorturl.at/HqYET

What do we know about the future of measuring food systems?

Many food system-related databases, tools, and dashboards are available, but need to be harmonized to be helpful for decision-makers.

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