Transforming Food Systems: We Adopt 13 Key Principles

Sustainable food

While in other spheres large international meetings are organized to discuss the future of food systems, we launch a call, together with 1000 other organizations and individuals, to call for an urgent transformation that allows us to respond to climate, social, economic and health challenges. This is an initiative led by the IPES-Food panel of international experts, whose creation we supported seven years ago.

A call to governments, private companies and civil society to adopt 13 key principles

The need to transform global agri-food systems as a way to address the climate emergency and growing environmental, socio-economic and health challenges is more evident than ever and is widely recognized. The agri-food systems that dominate the current landscape – driven largely by an industrial logic of economies of scale, intensification, specialization and standardization – do not guarantee food security and adequate nutrition for all. Dangerously exceeding “planetary boundaries,” these systems weaken the very foundations on which they rest, destroying soil fertility and biodiversity, overexploiting natural resources, polluting soil, air, and water, and emitting more greenhouse gases than any other sector.

Addressing these challenges requires more than incremental improvements: a bold paradigm shift is needed that allows us to reinvent our agri-food systems and deliver on the Sustainable Development Goals, the Paris Climate Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity, as well as to respect the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Peasants and Other People Working in Rural Areas.

In this context, a wide range of organizations and movements have come together to demand urgent transformation. The call states that the 13 principles for food systems transformation outlined in the 2019 report of the High-Level Panel on Food Security and Nutrition must form the basis of the transformation we are calling for, which is as urgent as it is necessary.

“Now that agroecology or regenerative agriculture have become catch-all words, used with a vocation for greenwashing without complexes, it is increasingly necessary to make the discourse clear. By signing this appeal, we want to show our support and share the message with our partners, with our entire ecosystem, both in Spain and France and internationally, in order to collect more signatures.”

Marie-Stéphane Maradeix, General Delegate of the Foundation

After more than 10 years of commitment to Sustainable Food, we join this call which, to date, already has the support of more than 1000 organizations and individuals, including CIRAD, IFOAM or Michael Fakhri, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food. Among the protagonists of this mobilization are Agroecology Europe, FIBl Europe or Regeneration International, as well as IPES-Food, an international panel of experts in sustainable food systems, whose creation we promoted seven years ago, within the framework of our support for research and the dissemination of knowledge.

IPES-Food: a unique think tank

“In 2014, we identified gaps in international discussions on food and agricultural systems and understood the need for independent, multidisciplinary experts to enlighten and inform decision-makers, who often act under economic and political pressures,” explains Guilhem Soutou, Head of Sustainable Food – France. “Together with a scientific committee, we asked Olivier De Schutter, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to food, to constitute a panel of experts. And so IPES-Food was born, a panel that the Foundation has since financed in a structural way, respecting its independence and governance at all times.”

This panel brings together 24 internationally renowned experts, agronomists, environmental specialists, nutritionists, sociologists, development economists and professionals from NGOs and social movements. Its composition gives it exceptional richness, great legitimacy and a unique profile. Its transdisciplinary and democratic vision of knowledge values cutting-edge science while recognising the importance of experiential, indigenous and traditional knowledge. Within the framework of the panel’s work, it brings together actors linked to the different stakeholders that the group aims to connect: public authorities, companies, funders, citizen organizations or producers.

“This scientific think tank has managed to acquire credibility and notoriety among the community of decision-makers, but also among researchers and civil society. It has become an indispensable channel of dialogue. For the Foundation, it is a key source of strategic reflection.”

Pilar Martínez, project coordinator of
Sustainable Food - Spain

An increasingly recognized experience

In its publications, IPES-Food has focused on complex issues, often neglected by institutions because they are too politically sensitive. Some examples are:

From Uniformity to Diversity (2016), a report that advocates for a paradigm shift from industrial agriculture to diversified agroecological systems and identifies the “blockages” that hinder this transition.
Too Big to Feed Ourselves (2017), which focuses on one of these blockages, namely the concentration of economic power.
Towards a common food policy for the European Union (2019), which defends a food policy that places the transition towards sustainability at the centre of all actions. This latest report was the result of three years of research and reflection and a collective intelligence process that brought together more than 400 actors. This study has been particularly appreciated by the European Commission, the European Parliament and the European Economic and Social Committee, which have used it to inform the Farm to Fork strategy under the Green Deal.

Its publications are highly regarded and are often cited as one of the best sources of analysis by scientific bodies (Science Advice for Policy by European Academies), international bodies (European Commission, FAO, etc.), politicians (parliaments, ministries) and the media in Europe and around the world.

The media have also echoed the Glasgow Declaration on Food and Climate promoted by IPES-Food and its partners in the run-up to COP26 and in the context of the Covid-19 crisis. The latter has been endorsed by more than 40 local and regional authorities from six continents, including the Scottish government, the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh and the city of Paris.

A Unifying Framework for Food Systems Transformation

The call driven by IPES-Food is based on 13 principles identified by the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) to guide the transformation of agriculture and food systems that our society needs.

From the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation we adhere to this initiative, considering it essential to work together for the generalization of food models that are more respectful of people and the planet, urging governments, private companies and civil society to adhere to and firmly adopt its principles in their own actions.

If you want to join the growing number of adherents, you can sign the appeal in your personal capacity or as an organization, social movement or country.

> Check the list of signatory organizations and individuals here