Managing city region food systems – Enhancing strength and resilience against pandemics and climate change
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) / RUAF Global Partnership on Sustainable Urban Agriculture and Food Systems
Time: Tuesday, 19. January 2021, 8:00 a.m. – 9:00 a.m. (CET), subsequent deep dive 09:00 a.m. – 09:30 a.m.
Languages: English, German
Summary:
The panel discussion provided a forum for urban and national representatives to share experiences and review how the City-Region Food Systems approach has helped them deal with multiple risks such as climate shocks and stresses and the COVID-19 pandemic.
The discussion shared experiences among different institutions and actors involved in local food systems in managing multiple risks and building resilience across urban and rural areas.
The speaker from Antananarivo emphasized that the CRFS approach has helped the city region in dealing with the impacts of COVID-19 on the food system by, e.g., aligning climate risk management and COVID-19 response mechanisms to build up a multi-risk governance system.
Quito stressed the importance of understanding the city region food system and its boundaries from production to consumption for multi-risk management and the importance of urban agriculture allowing vulnerable people to have access to fresh food during the pandemic.
Melbourne, being in a region affected strongly by climate change, explained that one of the main actions taken by the local government to build a resilient food system is the protection of farmland from urban development through stronger regulations. One of the key learnings: the need to prepare for the compound impacts of multiple shocks and stresses.