Effective transformation of food systems requires a multi-scale approach to collaboration, involving stakeholders from local, urban, regional, national, and global levels. Engaging actors across these various scales helps bridge gaps and build synergies, ensuring that solutions are comprehensive and contextually relevant. Local stakeholders provide critical insights and practical solutions tailored to specific contexts, while regional and national bodies contribute policy frameworks and resources. Global institutions facilitate the exchange of best practices and foster international cooperation, creating a robust foundation for sustainable food system transformation.
Integrating environmental and climate agendas into food systems is a compelling reason for multi-scale collaboration. Sustainable food systems are intricately linked to environmental health, addressing challenges such as biodiversity loss, soil degradation, pollution and climate change. Multi-scale collaboration helps align food, climate and environmental policies, creating coherent strategies that promote sustainable agricultural practices, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and pollution, and enhance ecosystem resilience.
Achieving concrete results on the ground requires the active participation and commitment of stakeholders at all levels. Multi-scale collaboration enables the translation of global and national commitments into actionable plans and measurable outcomes at the local level, fostering shared ownership and accountability. UNEP supports this by facilitating dialogue and partnerships among stakeholders, providing technical assistance and capacity-building, and leveraging its global network to share knowledge and best practices connecting the global, national, urban and local levels. Additionally, UNEP supports the mobilization of resources and coordinates efforts to ensure that sustainable food system initiatives are effectively implemented at the local and urban levels and scaled up.
