In this issue:
Upcoming CFS 49th Plenary Session and related CSM Activities
- CSM Forum and CSM activities
- CFS 49th Plenary Session logistic and registration
- CFS 49th Plenary Session main debates
- CFS 49th Side events
- Updates on other CFS Policy Processes addressed by the CFS Plenary
- Election of the new CFS Chair
CFS 49th Plenary Session logistic and registration
The CFS 49th Plenary Session will take place from 11 to 14 October 2021, and it will be also taking place virtually.
Please find here the timetable, the annotated agenda and the background documents informing the plenary discussions. If you have not registered yet, please do so by following these simple steps:
- Send an email to cfs49-registration@fao.org
- Write in the subject of the email: CSM registration to CFS 49
- In the email, please specify:
- Name and surname
- Name of the organization you belong to
CFS 49th Plenary Session main debates
The debates of the CFS week will kick off on Monday 11 October with a plenary discussion on the state of food security and nutrition in the world 2021, its policy implications and the role of CFS in the context of COVID-19. The HLPE has just released the third update of its issues paper “Impacts of COVID-19 on food security and nutrition: developing effective policy responses to address the hunger and malnutrition pandemic”.
Over the past year and a half, CSM has constantly stressed the urgent need of a coherent, coordinated global guidance to address the impacts and structural causes of the inter-connected crises triggered by COVID-19, claiming that the CFS is the appropriate forum to start.
CSM, together with Mali, WHO, ILO, OHCHR, HLPE, UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Food and IPES-Food held a virtual seminar on 30 September titled “Adopting globally coordinated policy guidance regarding impacts of COVID-19 on Food Security and Nutrition: An urgent and necessary action by the international community”. The event highlighted how COVID-19 has dramatically spotlighted the links between food, health, climate change, biodiversity, indebtedness, inequalities, workers’ conditions, migration, and all of the major challenges that the world is facing. It stressed how much coordination and collaboration are required between the CFS and other international UN agencies in which these challenges are addressed. The CFS49 Plenary constitutes an important occasion for convergence around this issue which is both urgent and emblematic for all.
The other main debate of the CFS 49th Plenary session will be addressing the UNFSS and its implications for CFS. The Autonomous People’s Response process has just concluded its second global mobilization against the UNFSS, which was very powerful and participated. All related information can be found here! At this link you will also find a policy briefing that was shared with member states to inform them about the risks and concerns of having UNFSS outcomes landing on CFS in a disruptive manner. Another relevant resource is the report ‘Exposing corporate capture of the UN Food Systems Summit through multistakeholderism’, produced by the People’s Autonomous Response and supplemented by 7 infographics which we invite you to download and share.
Check the counter-mobilization’s microsite here. Moreover, we encourage you to sign the Political Declaration: No to corporate food systems! Yes to food sovereignty!
Finally, the third highlight of the week will be the kick-off of the CFS policy convergence process on “Promoting youth engagement and employment in agriculture and food systems”, where CFS members and participants will be engaging into a plenary discussion on the HLPE report finding and policy recommendations. In November the policy process is expected to start by addressing the different policy recommendations of the report in order to start identifying areas of convergence and divergence. The negotiations are expected to take place in May and the policy recommendations to be adopted by CFS 50th Plenary Session in October 2022.
Sign the declaration NO to corporate food systems! YES to food sovereignty!
CFS 49th Side events
The CFS side events will take place virtually during the lunch breaks of the sessions (from 1.00 pm to 2.15 pm CET). The CSM Youth working group will be leading the only CSM side event: “Food for Our Future: Youth Leading Radical Transformations Toward Economies of Well-being”. The CSM side event’s speakers will address the major challenges and threats to securing dignified livelihoods for youth, such as climate change, environmental destruction, lack of access to productive resources (land, water, seeds) and systemic racism, gender discrimination and social exclusion. They will also indicate ways for overcoming these challenges, presenting a variety of youth-led, community-based solutions centered around the realization of human rights, re-establishing healthy environments, and holistic food systems transformation. The panel will particularly address why social transformations are needed for restoring ecosystems and achieving economies of well-being. Highlighted examples will include farmer-to-farmer training, land redistribution programs, and workers’ rights campaigns. Following from the HLPE report, this side event will emphasize the diversity of youth experiences in food systems and society and will underscore the need for policy instruments based on intersectional, relational, anti-oppression, and context-specific approaches which nurture heterogeneity and intergenerational connections within and between rural and urban communities.
Updates on other CFS Policy Processes addressed by the CFS Plenary
Guidelines on Gender equality and women’s empowerment: the CFS regional consultations have already started with the aim of gathering regional perspective and demands on the zero draft of the guidelines. Moreover, a global online consultation will also take place and will be concluded by the end of the regional consultations, November 2021. The outcomes of both, the CFS regional and global consultation will inform the contents of the new first draft of the Guidelines. The CSM Women Working Group is actively engaged and will also attend the CFS Plenary session in order to convey the expectations towards the process during the updating session on this issue and will also attend the session on the UN International Day of Rural women.
Monitoring of the policy recommendations on climate change and water: the CSM is preparing its inputs for the monitoring session of the policy recommendations. Both Policy recommendations speak to extremely pressing challenges for our constituencies and humanity in general: the advancing climate catastrophe and the increasing water crises. CSM has always fought for a strong and meaningful monitoring and
Election of the new CFS Chair
During this CFS 49 Plenary Session a new CFS Chair will be appointed as the current Chair, Thanawat Tiensin is concluding its two-years mandate. Two candidates, Gabriel Ferrero (Spain) and Médi Moungui (Cameroon), have submitted their nominations and had the opportunity to share their visions with the CFS Bureau and Advisory Group members.
CSM internal updates
The CSM constituencies and sub-regions are finalizing the renewal of their Coordination Committee focal points and even if some delays are experienced due to the strong impacts of the pandemic and virtuality, the new Coordination Committee will come together for its first meetings in October!
