Do we need a new science-policy interface for food systems?

Food systems require urgent transformations to meet multiple demands of food and nutrition security, justice, livelihoods, biodiversity conservation, and climate change mitigation and adaptation. These transformations require knowledge on the multiple dimensions of food systems (e.g., production, trade, consumption, culture, human and animal health, livelihoods and employment, food waste, and environmental sustainability), as well as a mechanism to translate these insights and analyses into governance processes. Drawing on the role of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) in global climate policy, an equivalent platform has been proposed to support food system transformations (1). These calls have gained momentum in the context of the upcoming United Nations Food Systems Summit ( FSS) (2). We reflect on the science-policy landscape for food systems and discuss requirements for and challenges of a science-policy platform, focused on addressing social, cultural, and political dimensions of food and challenges in food systems governance.

Turnhout, Esther; Duncan, Jessica; Candel, Jeroen; Maas, Timo Y.; Roodhof, Anna M.; Declerck, Fabrice; Watson, Robert T.