Highlights:

The UN Food Systems Summit of 2021 (UNFSS) projected a vision, in which the transformation of food systems through profound shifts across production, storage, consumption, and disposal of food has the potential to generate multiplier effects, acting as catalysts for broader transformation across multiple systems and SDGs. By reimagining and redesigning our food systems, we can address pressing challenges and unlock opportunities for progress in other areas. Since 2021, 126 countries adopted national pathways and 155 appointed food systems national convenors, demonstrating their sustained interest in and commitment to transforming food systems. The preparations for the UN Food Systems Summit +2 - Stocktaking Moment (UNFSS+2) witnessed significant global participation and engagement, with 101 countries submitting voluntary country reports. These reports provided insights into the progress and efforts being made to transform food systems worldwide. In addition, inputs from the UN system and the Food Systems Ecosystem of Support and the stakeholders have been sought out. The analysis of these inputs has informed this report.

Main findings:

• Some 67 percent of the countries reporting, particularly middle and high-income nations, successfully integrated the priorities outlined in their national pathways into their overarching national development plans and strategies.

• Improvement at policy coherence is noticeable across many dimensions of sustainable development with the integration of the food systems transformation, food security, nutrition, food safety, agricultural and value chain development, climate, and water agendas in many countries. A few countries (for example, Georgia and Uruguay) referenced their Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) for climate action and promising signals indicate a likely increase in efforts at mainstreaming food systems in NDCs and vice versa, in the coming years.

• A significant number of countries (70 percent) indicated their efforts to establish or strengthen food systems governance, particularly among low- and low-middle-income countries. Countries around the world recognize the importance of engaging multiple stakeholders in the dialogue and decision-making processes for food systems transformation. Many countries (38 percent) took steps towards decentralization and sub-national engagement in advancing their food systems transformation agendas.

• The country reports show that despite the tight fiscal situation in many countries, significant levels of domestic funding are being mobilized for food systems transformation. However, financing remains insufficient for the transformation that is needed, and unsurprisingly, low-income countries are the most challenged in mobilizing financing for food systems.

• In recognition of the critical role of knowledge, science, evidence, and technology in driving food systems transformation, 59 percent of countries actively sought to enhance their engagement with the scientific community.

• More than 63 percent of countries report efforts to enhance data availability and utilization for monitoring progress and evaluating impact.

• A total of 31 self-organizing and independent coalitions emerged from the UN Food Systems Summit. As of July 2023, a total of 131 member countries including the African Union, and the European Union are members of one or more coalitions. Assessing the value-addition of coalitions is difficult due to the absence of agreed-upon metrics and the diversity within coalitions.