The present note gathers a range of issues identified by the HLPE-FSN Steering Committee, considering the three previous notes as well as the activities already conducted by CFS. Several rounds of discussions were conducted by two successive Steering Committees and submitted for public consultation in April 2026 for inputs and feedback.

The ten issues in this note were selected by the HLPE-FSN, because of the scale and severity of their effects on food security and nutrition, their potential to intensify or generate systemic risks, their disproportionate impacts on vulnerable populations, and the scope for coordinated action through CFS. They are not ranked and should not be considered in isolation. Together, they describe interconnected immediate pressures, structural challenges and emerging opportunities that require coherent policy responses.

Climate crises, geopolitical uncertainty and the affordability of healthy diets demand urgent attention because they are already undermining food security and nutrition at scale. Trade governance, corporate concentration, and unequal agency are structural factors that shape the distribution of risks, resources and decision-making power across food systems. At the same time, the post-2030 agenda, the Rio Conventions, digital innovation and One Health offer important frameworks and opportunities for more integrated and forward-looking action.

The issues raised in this note are not standalone challenges. They are deeply interconnected, and many of the drivers that shape food security and nutrition cut across several of them at once. Power asymmetries – including corporate concentration – shape who benefits from trade, who is most affected by climate change, and who has agency over food choices. Similarly, gender inequalities, human rights, governance fragmentation and the need to strengthen agency are not separate topics; they are cross-cutting concerns that run through every single issue in this note. Rather than treating these as standalone themes, the HLPE-FSN Steering Committee has designed each section to integrate them explicitly. This reflects a deliberate choice to move away from siloed analysis and towards a more systemic understanding of how food systems work, and how they can be transformed. The interconnections between issues are also why some sections – such as climate and the Rio Conventions, or trade and corporate concentration – are closely linked, even when presented separately for analytical clarity.

This 4th note on Critical, Emerging and Enduring Issues for Food Security and Nutrition, will be discussed at CFS 54 as a first input into the development of the new CFS MYPoW. In developing its future programme of work, CFS may therefore wish to prioritize areas where the consequences of inaction are greatest, vulnerable groups are most affected, important international governance gaps remain, and CFS can add distinctive value through evidence-based, inclusive and cross-sectoral policy convergence. Particular attention should be given to the systemic connections among the ten issues, so that action in one area reinforces – rather than undermines – progress in others.