Climate Change and Nutrition

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ECOSOC Coordination and Management Meeting Panel on Climate change and Nutrition

In a world challenged by climate change and a growing population, with evolving food demands and a variety of health challenges, we need to be smarter and fairer about what and how we produce and consume food.

Many countries have already taken action to mitigate and adapt to the impacts of climate change, however, meeting the challenge requires an integrated and coherent approach to minimize trade-offs. UNSCN is working to help governments work through those compromises by hosting a panel discussion during the ECOSOC Coordination and Management Meeting on 20 April 2017. The event explored the interlinkages between the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Agreement, particularly through the climate change and healthy diets nexus. Panelists, including the Chair of the CFS and the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food, helped identify policy options to ensure that measures to mitigate climate change do not undermine the nutrition efforts of countries, nor affect the right to adequate food. The discussions also informed the work of the High-Level Political Forum (HLPF) on Sustainable Development, as SDG2 will be reviewed in depth during the upcoming HLPF convened under the auspices of ECOSOC in July 2017.

The findings of the recent UNSCN study on climate change, healthy diets and nutrition were also presented during the panel discussion. The Discussion Paper analyses the various types of food production systems, along with i) their vulnerability to climate change, ii) their impact on the climate and biodiversity and iii) their health and nutrition outcomes. Since all of these aspects are interconnected and country specific, it then provides examples from countries that have taken these factors under consideration in their national strategies, such as through sustainable dietary guidelines and national adaptation plans. Since commitment to action by Member States is essential, it then makes the linkages between the global frameworks and the agreed commitments under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, Sustainable Development Goals, the Nutrition Decade, the World Health Assembly, and the Second International Conference on Nutrition. And since our dietary choices aren’t governed by international processes alone, it also considers the awareness raising and safeguards required to promote healthy eating. The paper argues that, by increasing the focus on the quality of foods produced and lowering industrialized meat production and the global consumption of ultra-processed foods, we could effectively address malnutrition while improving human health and the wellbeing of our planet.

The outcome of the meeting is an informal summary by the ECOSOC Vice-President, highlighting the main conclusions and policy recommendations.  UNSCN will make the recent study available soon.

Concept Note

Informal Summary - Climate Change and nutrition

 

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