The Commission on Population and Development, at its fifty-fourth session, will consider the special theme of “Population, food security, nutrition and sustainable development”.
The high-level panel will discuss linkages between population trends and policies, food systems, nutrition and sustainable development. Panel members will include stakeholders from Member States, United Nations entities, academia, civil society and the private sector.
Following opening remarks by the moderator, panelists will be invited to address the guiding questions (see below). Following these interventions, Member States, observers and civil society are encouraged to ask questions or raise issues in response to the interventions made. Reading from prepared statements is discouraged. The panelists will respond to the questions and issues raised by the audience, after which the moderator will make brief closing remarks.
Indicative guiding questions for the panelists
- What are the interrelationships between climate change, food security and sustainable production and consumption?
- How will population growth, population ageing, urbanization and migration affect food security and food systems?
- What are some of the trade-offs between food security/nutrition objectives and environmental sustainability, also in light of the projected population growth?
- What interventions are required to achieve a major shift towards the consumption of healthy and sustainable diets and to significantly reduce food waste?
- What are some of the good practices to protect, manage and restore nature, while meeting the fundamental human right to healthy and nutritious food for all?
- What actions can be taken to address discriminatory social norms, practices and roles with a view to advancing equitable livelihoods in food systems?
- How can we ensure that newborns, girls and boys have access to the best nutrition?
- What actions can be taken to make food systems affected by conflict, shocks and stresses, more resilient, also in light of the COVID-19 pandemic?
- What messages on population and sustainable development are most urgent to send to the Food Systems Summit?