Transforming the way food is produced and consumed is essential for reducing
environmental damage and climate impacts, and delivering on the UN’s
Sustainable Development Goals
(SDGs); but the solutions
and holistic approaches needed to achieve this transformation currently lack the
necessary investment. In a new study, WWF outlines how the
additional $15.2
billion
of food-based innovation funds needed annually can be focused on the solutions
that will be most appropriate and most impactful for local people and nature.
Right Innovation, Right Impact, Right Place
dispels the notions that there are just a handful of innovations that could
transform the whole global food system, and that many innovations are yet to be
developed or rely on high-tech inputs that need further refinement. Rather, the
report argues that a suite of existing technological, social, legislative,
business and financial innovations can be applied with varying impacts —
depending on the place and context. Ensuring funding is not concentrated on a
narrow interpretation of food-systems innovation is critical.
The report provides a framework for funding and implementing the most impactful
food-based innovations, depending on where they will be applied and the level of
transformation required. It provides decision-makers with the tools to direct
finance to innovations which are most appropriate in various areas around the
world.
“Like all conservation and climate finance, food-systems innovation is
underfunded — we need another $15.2 billion annually,” says Elisa
Vacherand, Global Finance Practice
Leader at WWF. “Given the importance of food-systems transformation for
achieving the SDGs, the public sector must provide technical assistance and
concessional finance, and support blended finance
mechanisms
that de-risk and attract private investment for innovation. And innovators need
to identify potential sources of funding very early on — and ideally, create
bankable projects — so that investors can support the best innovations that
deliver the biggest impact in the shortest time in any given place.”
Examples of locally tailored food-system innovations highlighted in the report include:
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In Kenya, where a business innovation has seen a new marketplace for
smallholder farmers in Lake Naivasha Basin cut food loss and improve
nature-positive
production.
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In Democratic Republic of the Congo, where a technological innovation
has improved traceability and transparency in supply chains, ensuring
farmers are paid a fair
price
for coffee beans, and that nature-positive practices are applied.
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In Korea, a financial innovation in the form of organic-waste recycling
infrastructure and monetary penalties has helped residents understand and be
accountable for their personal food waste.
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In Paraguay, where social innovations to champion community-led
agroforestry and Indigenous food production have helped restore landscapes
and improve livelihoods.
In 2021, UN Secretary General António
Guterres convened the UN Food Systems
Summit to launch bold new actions to
deliver progress on all SDGs; and the event heralded major commitments to
dramatically increase innovation funding. However, on the eve of the first
biennial Stocktaking
Moment (24-26 July),
significant gaps remain in the ambition, finance and implementation of many
national-level plans for food-systems transformation.
“Innovations are essential for transforming food
systems
to end hunger and food insecurity, and reverse the climate and environmental
crises. But to deliver the best results in the shortest time possible, we need
to find the right innovation, with the right impact, in the right place,” says
Brent Loken, Global Food Lead
Scientist at WWF. “In some places, that means applying highly novel innovations;
in others, it’s about being creative with solutions that are already available.
Sometimes, smaller changes are all that is needed; while elsewhere, major
changes are needed to reorient people’s practices, habits and goals. It’s time
that the world steps up and delivers on the increased funding promised at the UN
Food Systems Summit or the decade of action will turn into the decade of
inaction.”
On 24-26 July, national ministers will attend the UN Food Systems Summit
Stocktaking Moment to update on their progress in implementing the national
pathways for food-systems transformation that they committed to in 2021. The
continued decline in biodiversity, threats to wildlife and drastic impacts of
global warming around the world show that urgent action is needed across the
food sector and all other sectors. The outcomes of the Stocktaking Moment will
be a key indicator as to the potential success of the SDG
Summit in September 2023.
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Sustainable Brands Staff
Published Jul 19, 2023 2pm EDT / 11am PDT / 7pm BST / 8pm CEST