On 28 July 2021 the Mountain Partnership, organised the United Nations Food Systems Pre-Summit event on food systems in mountains.
The session brought together over 130 participants for a fruitful discussion on the role of sustainable food systems in mountain areas and how they can contribute towards a more equitable and inclusive development.
In mountain areas, agriculture and food production are often the most important economic and development drivers. However, mountain food systems are also facing the challenges of rapid outmigration of rural youth, land abandonment, inadequate access to markets, agrobiodiversity loss, changing food habits, declining dietary diversity and low food purchasing power.
One of the speakers at the event was Dominique Barjolle, president of the Origin, Diversity and Territories Forum, and partner of the MOVING H2020 project responsible for the participatory multi-level foresight.
Dominique Barjolle said that mountain value chains are essential for the Origin forum. She stressed the importance of promoting and nurturing both cultural and biological diversity in vulnerable ecosystems in mountain areas. She also spoke about the need to find new balance between production and conservation, innovate sustainable farming systems and build resilience to adapt to crises.
The event highlighted the need for concrete solutions for mountain areas and the involvement of different actors to leverage the power of food systems to make progress on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
To learn more about the Mountain Partnership’s info sheet on sustainable food systems in mountains for the UN Food Systems Summit 2021 click here.