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CITYFOOD Network Update November 2019

 

 




CITYFOOD Network Update
November 2019

Eight great ideas to tackle food insecurity from industrial legacy cities

Formerly industrial cities are showing how food systems can be made more equitable and sustainable. Deindustrialization has left industrial legacy cities with large tracts of under-utilised land and infrastructure that offer opportunities for local food production, urban agriculture and creative use of post-industrial buildings for activities such as food hubs, processing or incubation space.This CityTalk blog post draws on lessons learned by cities in the Urban Transitions Alliance, an initiative that brings together 12 cities across 3 continents, supporting members in identifying common challenges and co-creating solutions.

City News

Towards a safe, nourishing, economic and inclusive food system for Arusha, based on partnering

Arusha City Council has built strong relationships with multiple actors working towards shaping a sustainable food system, and has requested support in developing an urban food policy.This article reflects on a process to develop a food policy with Arusha City Council, which was supported as part of a city-to-city exchange project led by ICLEI Africa, with partners FAO, C40 and RUAF. Read more on the UA Magazine n.36 on Food Policy Councils.

Milan Pact Awards
At the 5th Milan Urban Food Policy Pact Annual Gathering and Mayors’ Summit in Montpelier, France, both Washington (USA) and Mezitli (Turkey) received the Milan Pact Awards monetary prizes for their innovative food policies. CITYFOOD Network members Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo, Brazil received special mentions on food production and food waste policies respectively. Read more here.

Antananarivo Food Policy Council: Policy as practice

The Antananarivo Food Policy Council evolved out of a multi-stakeholder platform originally established to enable scale-up of the city’s urban agriculture programme. The transition meant widening the platform’s focus from production to the whole food system.As the key facilitator, the Antananarivo City Council partners with non-governmental stakeholders to implement projects, safeguarding the initiative from electoral change. Read more on the UA Magazine n.36 on Food Policy Councils.

Share your work!

One of the benefits of participating in the CITYFOOD Network is the opportunity to promote your food systems work while receiving updates from other members’ initiatives. We regularly bring inspiring stories and experiences of interest and relevance to our members.

If you would like to feature your city news, projects or plans on the upcoming newsletters we kindly invite you to contact us: cityfood@iclei.org

CITYFOOD Network Recent Activities

South American members debate strategies and alternatives for sustainable diets
On October 31st 2019, ICLEI South America, in partnership with the “Conscious Eating Brazil” project by Mercy for Animals, organised the Workshop “Food systems and public policies: Strategies and alternatives for sustainable diets” during the I International Seminar and III Municipal Seminar on Food and Nutrition Security of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais.



The meeting, organised with support by 50by40, was attended by representatives of the following CITYFOOD Network members: Belo Horizonte (Brazil), Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), Rosario (Argentina), São Paulo (Brazil) and Quito (Ecuador). In addition, collaborators from the two organisations, citizens from neighbouring regions and visitors from the Seminar also gathered to contribute to the exchange opportunity. The guiding question for the workshop was “What is a sustainable regional urban food system and why do local governments have to engage?”, followed by presentations and discussions on how plant-based diets can support this agenda. Read more here.

Sustainable food systems regional workshop in Africa
ICLEI Africa Secretariat regional experts represented the CITYFOOD Network at a regional workshop organised by the Switch-Africa Green initiative, in partnership with members of the UN Environment One Planet Network Sustainable Food Systems Programme in Nairobi, Kenya. ICLEI moderated the session “Moving from assessment to action: how to initiate food systems transformation?” which counted with representatives from Arusha City Council, Tanzania.  The workshop took place during the Switch-Africa Green Regional Sector Meeting on Sustainable Agriculture.

First International Forum on Urban-Rural Linkages
Building upon its contributions to UN-Habitat’s Urban-Rural Linkages: Guiding Principles and Framework for Action to Advance Integrated Territorial Development, ICLEI CITYFOOD staff attended the First International Forum on Urban-Rural Linkages hosted by Songyang County and Zhejiang Province, China.



Organised by UN-Habitat and Songyang County People’s Government the three day international forum gathered 200 participants under the theme “Rural revitalisation through innovations and valorisation”. The sessions and site visits drew upon the inspiring and creative practices implemented in the mountain village empowering local people technically and financially by implementing an “architectural acupuncture” strategy to systematically promote economic and social restructuring in rural areas.

International Consultation on the Urban Food Agenda
RUAF and ICLEI Brussels Office experts attended an international consultation at FAO’s headquarters in Rome on 21-22 November to explore possible strategies for effective multi-level food system governance. The consultation, following up on the Framework for the Urban Food Agenda, promoted discussions on how to bridge national and local food policy gaps strengthening the linkages between local and national level policy-making for inclusive and efficient urban food systems. Read more here and watch the webcast here.

Study of urban food systems in Asia
ICLEI South Asia partnered with FAO and The World Bank in a project to enhance the understanding of urban food systems and their impacts on the food choice, dietary patterns and the state of food security and nutrition among the urban residents in Asia. Learn more about the project here.

Upcoming Events
02-13 December UN Climate Change Conference Chile COP25, Madrid, Spain
05-06 December Rikolto – We Feed The City, Leuven, Belgium

Interesting Resources

Resilient cities, thriving cities: The evolution of urban resilience
This report uses the decade-long experience of the Resilient Cities Congress series as a proxy to track the evolution of the global resilience debate over the last ten years, creating a solid base to build the next decade of bold action. It explores a variety of resilience approaches; for example, how multi-stakeholder planning has contributed to finance and boosted local resilience, or how leveraging nature-based solutions has enabled cities’ adaptation to climate change and improved people’s quality of life. Read the full report here

UA Magazine no. 36 – Food Policy Councils
A growing number of cities and regions are forming Food Policy Councils (FPCs) and similar groups known by other names, such as multi-stakeholder food forums/platforms, food policy networks, food boards, food coalitions, food partnerships, and food labs. As the movement towards inclusive, multi-stakeholder food systems governance for cities and city regions gathers momentum, there is a pressing need to document and systematise experiences of city food systems governance from around the world. Find the magazine here.

Urban Food Agenda – A perspective from the City of Toronto
This seminar organised by FAO and held by Barbara Emanuel, Manager of the Toronto Food Strategy and RUAF partner, presents a case-study from the City of Toronto, which leveraged on climate change action and a food systems approach to improving the life of its communities. Watch the seminar here. To learn more about Toronto Food Strategy watch this interview with Barbara Emanuel at the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact Meeting in Montpellier.

A menu of actions to shape urban food environments for improved nutrition
The Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN) recently launched “A menu of actions to shape urban food environments for improved nutrition”, a reference resource developed in cooperation with the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact and RUAF. The menu of actions contains over 70 examples of policies and programmes that city governments have implemented to improve food security and nutrition by making healthy and nutritious food more accessible, desirable, and affordable within the urban setting. Access the publication here and find out more here

Transforming food systems under a changing climate
“Transforming food systems under a changing climate” is an initiative that brings together leaders in science, business, farming, policy and grassroots organisations to identify pathways for transformation. The initiative is led by the CGIAR Research Program on Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security (CCAFS) together with a wide range of partners that aims to realize a transformation in food systems by mobilising knowledge and catalysing action. Read more here and watch the video here

Cities100 report
The report features 100 leading climate action projects from cities around the world demonstrating that cities’ leadership on the climate crisis provides the added benefit of creating safe, liveable, and equitable cities for all.  Cities100 is a collaboration between C40 Cities and Nordic Sustainability, and is funded by the Danish philanthropic association Realdania. Download the full report here or read the dedicated chapter on sustainable food systems with cases from New York, Lisbon, Paris and Milan.

Handpicked: podcast series
The Laurier Centre for Sustainable Food Systems, one of the RUAF partners, launched a new podcast series to showcase research that drives positive changes in the ways we produce, gather, eat, dispose of and understand our food. Listen here

Opportunities
Call for contributions: Gender in urban food systems
The upcoming issue of the Urban Agriculture Magazine, a joint effort of the RUAF Global Partnership and CGIAR WLE programme, will explore the issue of gender in urban food systems. The magazine will be published in early 2020. For more information or to receive the detailed author guidelines, please contact info@ruaf.org or follow the link.

Call for papers: Leveraging sustainable food systems to address climate change
Papers should explore and discuss sustainable food systems as pathways to both mitigating and adapting to climate change and the gaps that must be confronted to bring about transformation, in particular papers focused on: agroecology; indigenous food systems; right to food; informal and social economies; the role of place-based initiatives; city-region and/or territorial food systems; deep adaptations in food systems; communications and education to enable climate change; biocultural diversity. Learn more here

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