In the last five years, we have seen many exhortations for food systems to provide not only nutritious foods, but to ensure those systems are sustainable from economic, environmental and social justice perspectives. With climate disruption, worsening food insecurity and malnutrition, systemic inequities, and now, the COVID-19 pandemic, the question remains: Can the world expect so much from food systems?
Data suggests that we should call on food systems to do much more – that is, promote optimal human health, ensure future sustainable planetary health, and provide equitable and fair livelihoods of food system actors. However, this will depend on political will, science, technology, and behaviors and decisions of the unpredictable variable in the equation - humans.
Dr. Jessica Fanzo, a Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Global Food Policy and Ethics at the Johns Hopkins University, will present some of the latest data on how food systems are coping in the context of climate change and the COVID-19 pandemic, and demonstrate how research and science, government to local action are imperative to ensure food systems are resilient, sustainable and equitable.
