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The conference is supported by the Food Governance Node at the Charles Perkins Centre, University of Sydney; the Global Center for Legal Innovation on Food Environments housed at the O鈥橬eill Institute for National & Global Health Law at Georgetown University; and The George Institute for Global Health.

The COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated major defects in our food system, and global experts are meeting later this month for a timely food governance conference exploring multi-layered solutions 鈥� from decolonising food systems to more effective use of regulation.

The past two years have seen a rise in food insecurity and hunger experienced by millions worldwide, with up to 811 million people in the world going hungry in 2020, according to听, following disrupted supply chains and continued food price inflation.

The pandemic also highlighted the unacceptable prevalence of non-communicable diseases (NCDs) 鈥� which put millions at greater risk from COVID-19 鈥� fuelled by highly processed foods that dominate the current food market.

This, in large part, comes down to the colonised and corporate food networks that operate globally, says听, Distinguished Professor of Public Health at City University of New York School of Public Health and Director of the CUNY Urban Food.

鈥淲e have created a global food system that gives a priority to highly processed food, high in fat, sugar, salt and many other ingredients鈥�and that diet has come to dominate because it鈥檚 a diet that is profitable for global food industries, even though it also harms the health of people,鈥� he says.

Even before the pandemic,听听were attributed to unhealthy diets each year, despite ongoing calls for action on obesity and dietary NCDs. COVID-19 then put the more than听听living with obesity at risk of severe disease and death, if infected.

鈥淭he failure of governments to earlier address the harmful consequences of highly processed diets made the COVID pandemic much worse,鈥� says Freudenberg. 鈥淎s we see the cost of that getting higher and higher, I鈥檓 hoping people will see the benefits of acting to change our food system.鈥�

But acting is itself multi-faceted, with there being no single solution to overcome a problem of this scale.

Freudenberg鈥檚 research focuses on many pathways for change, from researching the role of corporations and businesses (the global food industry) to working on policies at the city-level, to getting healthier and more regional food to urban environments, and ensuring equitable access across cities worldwide.

鈥淚 believe cities have an important role to play in constructing alternatives to that highly processed diet that is favoured by the global food industry,鈥� he told Croakey, adding that this can be addressed through food programs and food served in schools, hospitals and childcare settings as well as using opportunities to market locally grown food.

The US-based researcher helps cities, including his home city of New York, to develop packages of policies to reduce the influence of the global food industry and the highly processed diet it pushes, to one that is 鈥渂etter supportive of human health and a healthy planet鈥�.

Creating a movement

Freudenberg鈥檚 work also explores the role modern capitalism plays in the state of global health and climate and the more recent changes that have made it more destructive. This includes corporate domination of not just the food industry, but also pharmaceuticals and fossil fuels.

鈥淲e have to acknowledge that it鈥檚 the political and economic system and corporate structure that is contributing to our food problems and many other problems,鈥� says Freudenberg, who authored the book 鈥�.鈥�

To really effect change, he believes a social movement is needed, details of which he will highlight during his keynote at the听听later this month.

Social movements to date have helped public health advance in the last two centuries, he explains, citing the examples of the labour movement which increased protection for workers in the late 19th and 20th centuries, as well as the environmental movements that led to cleaner air and water in cities.

鈥淚t鈥檚 not something new to say social movements lead to improvements in public health. Now we need to figure out how to do that in the 21st century,鈥� says Freudenberg.

This is just one solution that will be explored during the conference, which will see a wide range of experts come together, from lawyers and policymakers to nutritionists and health scientists. The meeting will explore how law, policy, and regulation can help address food system challenges and enable healthy and sustainable food for all.

Human rights approaches

Freudenberg鈥檚 keynote will be in conversation with听, Professor of Law at the University of Liverpool. Garde has a special interest in human rights law and the role this can play in the prevention of diet-related NCDs, which will be her focus during the conference.

Garde plans to discuss 鈥渢he potential of a human rights-based approach to promote the more effective regulation of the food industry to promote healthier food environments and therefore contribute to the prevention of obesity and other diet-related diseases,鈥� she told Croakey.

A recent example of this has been her calls to regulate the marketing of unhealthy foods to children in the European Union (EU).

According to the听, 39 million children under the age of five were overweight or obese in 2020 and this figure was almost ten times higher in older children and adolescents in 2016, with 340 million people aged five to 19 classed as overweight or obese.

鈥淩ates of childhood overweight and obesity have grown very rapidly around the world, including in [low and middle-income countries], with a significant burden for the children affected (and the adults they will become), their families and communities, and societies as a whole,鈥� explains Garde.

What drives her to push for change is the fact that obesity 鈥渋s eminently preventable and raises important questions regarding the priorities that societies set themselves鈥�, she says.

This is where the law comes in, she believes, by providing opportunities to regulate the food industry and truly effect change. Laws can ensure that States better regulate the commercial determinants of health and the food industry and do so in a way that promotes healthier food environments. This will 鈥渆nsure a high level of听public health, consumer and human rights protection,鈥� says Garde.

Coming together to think differently

During their keynote, Freudenberg and Garde will explore how to frame these intersecting problems of obesity, diet-related disease, and food insecurity. They also plan to discuss how to get from where we are, under the unhealthy influence of the global food industry, to a place where we have 鈥渂alance between meeting human needs and assuring corporate profits鈥�.

鈥淏y the two of us coming to this from different perspectives, we hope to engage other participants in the meeting in that conversation,鈥� says Freudenberg.

The idea of different minds coming together is the goal of the Food Governance Conference overall, to bring together people working on all aspects of the food system, to take a 鈥渉olistic view鈥� of the challenges.

More than 100 different presentations will be given on diverse topics, with the central theme of NCD prevention and sustainable food systems.

, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health, will give a keynote discussing the importance of decolonising the food system, with a specific focus on the role of large multinational food companies in this colonisation.

Mofokeng will discuss the concept of the commercial determinants of health, in which corporations influence the social, physical and cultural environments听that impact health, for example by promoting products that are detrimental to health in exchange for profit.

She then will draw attention to the resulting double burden of malnutrition 鈥� undernutrition and overnutrition 鈥� that affects one in three low and middle-income countries, and pay particular attention to the role that corporations play in 鈥渃reating and maintaining the inequitable food systems that underpin this health crisis鈥�.

Food systems summit

In a separate keynote, 顿谤听听Senior Research Coordinator at the International Food Policy Research Institute and Editor of the听, will also discuss outcomes from the听听which took place in September.

Earlier this year,听听that the summit was an 鈥渋mportant moment to garner political and financial attention to the challenges that food systems face鈥�.

She stressed, however, that there must be 鈥渞obust accountability mechanisms to ensure that commitments to address food systems challenges are upheld鈥�.

The summit听听from people around the world and across all constituencies to accelerate action and to transform food systems.

Covic will discuss related aspects of transformative food systems in conversation with Carlos Monteiro, Professor of Nutrition and Public Health at the School of Public Health, University of Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Monteiro is known for his work on the听, which categorises foods into four groups based on how processed they are:

• Group 1: Unprocessed or minimally processed foods, such as fruit, seeds, eggs and milk
• Group 2: Processed culinary ingredients, such as oils, butter, sugar and salt
• Group 3: Processed foods, such as canned fish, bottled vegetables, fresh bread and cheese
• Group 4: Ultra-processed food and drink products, such as soft drinks, packaged snacks and reconstituted meat.

This system has informed a new wave of progressive policies directing people away from ultra-processed foods (UPF), and has been adopted by many countries. For example, dietary guidelines in Brazil recommend limiting consumption of group three and avoiding group four. Monteiro will discuss both outcomes from the UN food Summit and COVID鈥檚 impacts.

Other eminent speakers at the Food Governance conference include Professor听, Chief Economist at the Food and Agriculture Organization, and听, Professor of Population Nutrition and Global Health at the University of Auckland.

A keynote panel will discuss food governance from power and inclusivity perspectives. They will explore how state-based systems of food governance typically privilege white values, norms, and culture, while those of Black people, Indigenous people, and People of Colour are marginalised, oppressed, or problematised.

The panel includes:

• Assistant Professor听听Canada Research Chair in Indigenous governance at Dalhousie University
• 听Social Research Associate at Ohio State University鈥檚听Kirwan Institute for the 高清福利片 of Race and Ethnicity
• 听Executive director at Te Whare W膩nanga o Awanui膩rangi, New Zealand
• 顿谤听听Director of Te Atawhai o Te Ao, New Zealand
• 顿谤听听Chief Planetary Doctor at PH lab, Philippines.

Sparking new ideas

Through the broad interdisciplinary approach outlined above, the Global Food Governance conference aims to explore four key issues within our food networks:

• Food security, safety, and sustainability
• Promotion of healthier diets, addressing both under and over-nourishment
• Equity and social justice in global food systems, including human rights-based approaches
• Indigenous food systems governance.

Freudenberg is excited about the variety of disciplines coming together and hopes to use his keynote to inspire new thoughts and ideas among conference attendees.

鈥淎t this meeting, if participants come away with one or two ideas about things they could do differently the next day, or the next month, or the next year that would build their connections with other people working for change. That would be a wonderful outcome,鈥� he says.

鈥淚n my talk, I will hope to spark some of those ideas that will enable people to think differently, and act differently, when they go back to their regular life.鈥�

听

The is held virtually:

• AEDT: 6-11 am,听 14-16 December
• EST (Washington DC): 2-7 pm, 13-15 December听

This article was first published in .