Events

Pre-Summit gathering for the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit
2021 UN Food Systems Summit: Pre-Summit Gathering

Rome, Italy

Under the leadership of UN Secretary-General António Guterres and Prime Minister of Italy Mario Draghi, the Pre-Summit event will bring together the efforts and contributions of a global engagement process to shape ambition to transform food systems. The three-day event will bring together youth, smallholder farmers, indigenous peoples, researchers, private sector, policy leaders and ministers of agriculture, environment, health, and finance among others to deliver the latest evidence-based and scientific approach from around the world, launch a set of new commitments through coalitions of action, and mobilize new financing and partnerships. The Food Systems Summit will take place in September alongside the UN General Assembly in New York.

As hosts of the Pre-Summit, the Italian Government will make a national food system commitment to set the tone and a high ambition ahead of the Summit.

The Pre-Summit event is expected to take place in a “hybrid” virtual format over three days, during which many people will participate in person at the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome, while others from around the world will be engaged on a vast virtual platform. Global leaders are expected to step up and launch bold new actions, solutions, partnerships, and strategies to “recover better” from Covid-19 and deliver progress on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), each of which relies to some degree on nutritious, sustainable and equitable food systems.

The Pre-Summit will take place in Rome while Italy is chairing the G20 process and co-hosting the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in November. The role of food systems in achieving global goals and climate targets is expected to serve as a central priority of these other events and continue to carry forward momentum from the Food Systems Summit.

About the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit

The UN Food Systems Summit was announced by the UN Secretary-General, António Guterres on World Food Day in October, 2019 as a part of the Decade of Action for delivery on Agenda 2030. The aim of the Summit is to deliver progress on all 17 of the SDGs through a food systems approach, leveraging the interconnectedness of food systems to global challenges such as hunger, climate change, poverty and inequality. More information about the 2021 UN Food Systems Summit and list of Advisory Committee and Scientific Group members can be found online: www.un.org/en/food-systems-summit