Second Food Systems Summit Stocktake to unlock investments for food systems transformation

Sub :IR

Sec: Int conventions

Context:

The Second United Nations Food Systems Summit Stocktake will take place in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia from July 28-30, 2025.
The event aims to identify and open up investment avenues crucial for sustaining initiatives that will transform global food systems. This transformation is key to achieving the United Nations-mandated Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Urgency of Food Systems Transformation:

The 2021 UN Food Systems Summit called for a new approach to global food systems, positioning food at the heart of efforts to combat issues such as poverty, hunger, inequality, climate change, and biodiversity loss.
With escalating challenges like rising living costs, social inequalities, climate change, and geopolitical tensions, transforming food systems has become an even more pressing priority.

Goals of the Second Stocktake:

Open avenues for investment into food systems transformation.
Monitor progress on commitments made during the previous stocktake in 2023.
Produce a report assessing the progress and contributions of stakeholders in the transformation of food systems.
Focus on national food system pathways and their contributions to SDG targets.

Previous Stocktake:

The first UN Food Systems stocktake was held in Italy in
The First Stocktake helped identify critical needs such as:
- Encouraging public-private-community partnerships.
- Improving private sector participation in food systems transformation.
- Securing concessional finance, investments, and debt restructuring.
- Addressing food security during crises.
This led to the Secretary-General’s ‘Call to Action’ with six areas of focus, including securing financial resources and addressing food security issues during crises.

UN Food Systems Summit:

The United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS) is a pivotal event aimed at transforming global food systems to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The inaugural summit took place on September 23, 2021, during the UN General Assembly High-level Week, serving as a historic opportunity to empower all people to leverage the power of food systems to drive recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and get back on track to achieve all 17 SDGs by 2030.
Food systems comprise all food products that originate from crop and livestock production, forestry, fisheries and aquaculture, as well as the broader economic, societal and natural environments in which these diverse production systems are embedded.