The global assessment of food systems leading up to 2030, as recently released by The Food Systems Countdown to 2030 Initiative (FSCI), provides the first science-based monitoring to guide decision-makers in their efforts to bring about a comprehensive transformation of global agriculture and food systems.

This urgent transformation is necessary to diminish the environmental impact of these systems and alleviate the effects of climate change upon them.

The primary goal is to ensure that everyone, particularly those who are vulnerable, has fair access to nutritious diets through sustainable and resilient agriculture and food systems.

The UN Food Systems Summit spurred action in agriculture and food systems, yet policymakers frequently lack the necessary data to inform crucial decisions.

The FSCI has established a framework comprising 50 indicators to oversee global agriculture and food systems, utilizing existing data to facilitate prompt action. Repurposing existing data, instead of undertaking time-consuming new research, ensures that policymakers can swiftly access pertinent information.

Following this first global baseline, the FSCI will track agriculture and food systems annually until 2030, updating the framework as needed when new indicators or better data emerge.

Lawrence Haddad, executive director, Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition, said, “The first annual Countdown report shows that no single region has all the answers. Europe and North America do well on undernutrition but poorly on indicators of unhealthy diets. In contrast, Africa and South Asia do relatively well on some environmental indicators but poorly on indicators of livelihoods. The data show very clearly that every region has significant room for improvement.”

Agriculture and food systems are crucial in achieving all 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). However, the SDGs alone are inadequate for monitoring these systems. The FSCI aims to bridge this gap.

The transformation of agriculture and food systems is imperative for countries to fulfill their Nationally Determined Contributions. However, this remains a developing discourse: agriculture and food systems had a limited role in climate negotiations at COP27. They gained more prominence at the recent COP28, where over 150 countries endorsed the Emirates Declaration on Sustainable Agriculture, Resilient Food Systems, and Climate Action. They pledged to integrate agriculture and food systems into their climate plans by 2025, signifying very encouraging progress.

Continue Exploring: Over 130 countries commit to reducing carbon emissions in worldwide food system at COP28

Mario Herrero, professor and director of the Food Systems & Global Change Program at Cornell University, said, “You can’t manage what you don’t measure. That’s why we need a monitoring system that shows strengths and weaknesses at national, regional and global levels across all parts of agriculture and food systems. And this complete picture highlights successes that provide valuable lessons for others.”

The FSCI indicator framework is designed for the worldwide monitoring of the transformation of agriculture and food systems. It also provides a selection of indicators that can be employed to formulate policies and actions, as well as to guide customized monitoring systems to address the specific needs of individual countries.

José Rosero Moncayo, director of the Statistics Division at United Nations FAO, commented, “We are at the beginning of the process and there are still gaps in the data that we need to fill to ensure we are effectively monitoring progress across all dimensions of agriculture and food systems. Filling those data gaps is a top priority for ourselves, and the global science and policy communities concerned about the future of agriculture and food systems.”

Kate Schneider, research scholar, Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies and lead author of the paper, said, “Better data is urgently needed to monitor progress in food safety, off-farm livelihoods tied to agriculture and food systems, food loss and waste, agriculture and food systems’ economic contributions, governance, and agriculture and food system resilience.”

She continued, “The state of food systems worldwide in the countdown to 2030” organises agriculture and food systems monitoring into five themes: diets, nutrition, and health; environment, natural resources, and production; livelihoods, poverty, and equity; governance; and resilience. Each theme contains three-to-five indicator domains that together provide a comprehensive picture of agriculture and food systems.

Jessica Fanzo, professor of Climate and Director of the Food for Humanity Initiative at Columbia Climate School, concluded, “There is a growing urgency to transform agriculture and food systems to support healthy diets in sustainable and equitable ways, and to protect the environment. Our research sets the stage for a data-driven approach to address the challenges and seize the opportunities to create a healthier, more equitable and sustainable future for all.”