At the invitation of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO), Prof. Xiande Li went to Australia to attend the 19th Meeting of the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE) Steering Committee of FAO held at Canberra from April 15th to April 18th, 2019. The agenda items of the Meeting include, scrutinizing the pre-V2 draft of “Agroecological Approaches and Other Innovations” report and providing guidance, drafting the outline of “Food Security and Nutrition: Building a Global Narrative towards 2030” report, updating on the HLPE Trust Fund situation, discussing on the HLPE Roadmap for 2019-2020, discussing on the terminology / HLPE glossary, and holding public event co-organized with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) of Australia.

With regard to the “Agroecological Approaches and Other Innovations” report, the Chairperson of HLPE, the Coordinator of HLPE and the Head of the report drafting group made presentations respectively. The HLPE discussed in detail the structure of the report and provided guidance on each chapters of the report. And based on which, the HLPE made the five recommendations to countries, governments, academic institutions, civil society, private institutions and other stakeholders, including application of agroecological approaches and other innovations to promote the transformation of food systems in a holistic manner, support for a shift to a diversified and resilient food system, establishment and use of performance measurement methods for integrated food systems, integrated use of agricultural education, training, research and advisory services to promote joint learning, and promote broader stakeholder participation, empower marginalized groups and focus on addressing inequality of rights within food systems.

With regard to the “Food Security and Nutrition: Building a Global Narrative towards 2030” report, the Coordinator of HLPE presented the background, expected objectives and workflow, and the HLPE discussed and drafted the outline of the report. The key topics included, the changes in the food system over the past 20 years; food systems in transition; mainly focus on the current food supply, consumption, food environment and other issues, and analysis of the development trend of the food system and the challenges faced; the changes need to be made to the global food system in the future; reinventing new food systems for a comprehensive renaissance in rural areas.

Prof. Xiande Li has been appointed by the Bureau of the CFS to serve as a member of the HLPE Steering Committee, and the Committee is made up of 15 experts from a global multidisciplinary. The HLPE aims to facilitate policy debates and inform policy making by providing independent, comprehensive and evidence-based analysis and advice at the request of CFS.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                         By Sun Zhilu

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      sunzhilu@caas.cn