Food Bytes is a weekly blog post of “nibbles” of information on all things food and nutrition science, policy and culture.
Its been a while since the last Byte. What can I say, COVID and all things America has got me down, slow to move and at times, speechless. So here it goes.
The Food Systems Dashboard was officially launched on June 1st and I think thus far, it is a useful tool. It brings together 170 indicators that characterize food systems, representing just about every country and territory on the planet. There are some snazzy ways to visualize the data or if you choose, you can just download the entire data set. Have at it and send feedback. Keep checking on it, because more features, bells, and whistles are coming soon.
The Global Panel on Agriculture and Food Systems for Nutrition published its new Report, Future Food Systems: For people, our planet and prosperity a few days ago. It’s chock-full of really good data with contributions from many stellar experts and scientists working on food system transitions and transformation. Plus, the cover is pretty badass.
Speaking of world order, or the lack thereof, a new book out of John Hopkins Press entitled “COVID-19 and World Order: The Future of Conflict, Competition, and Cooperation” is out. Project Muse was gracious enough to provide it as a free download. I contributed a chapter on food security. I recommend reading the last section of the chapter, “The necessity of world order for food security.” I am a bit harsh on the UN and CGIAR systems, but the COVID-19 response has displayed the weaknesses of the multilateral system and existing institutions. Many of these organizations are totally necessary but are perhaps now out of date and in need of an overhaul.
The High-Level Panel of Experts of the UN Committee on Food Security published a great paper on COVID-19 and food security. My guess is the very thoughtful Jennifer Clapp may have been a significant contributor. They lay out some scenarios of short to long-term impacts of the pandemic on food systems. Here is a quick diagram if you don’t have time to read the report. Basically, we are all screwed.
Food policy specialist Corinna Hawkes has a new blog series out entitled the Better Food Journey. Cool stuff. Check it out.
Are you getting sad? Brace yourself, because according to the World Wildlife Fund’s Living Planet Report, “Our relationship with nature is broken.” Sounds like a Werner Herzog documentary. They argue that because humans are the biggest instigators of nature’s destruction we should be the ones to fix it. Here here. Agreed. Too bad our current administration of the ol’ US of A doesn’t feel the same. And THAT is problematic for the whole world not just as dummie Americans or Californians, although “climate change is smacking California in the face.”
Let’s change the subject to one a bit more uplifting. Childhood stunting! In all seriousness, the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition just published a series on how countries can reduce stunting. They highlight some countries that have had success, and for those of us who work in nutrition, the usual suspects - Ethiopia, Bangladesh, Peru et al. But there are some good lessons to be had. Check out the supplement here. And for those more interested in the state of acute malnutrition, there is a good website of acute malnutrition data on over 20 indicators, including prevalence, incidence and coverage.
And for any of you interested in the UN Food Systems Summit slated for next year, keep posted on the latest news here. There will be a lot of activity leading up to the Summit. The question remains, will any of it matter for those being left behind living with hunger, food insecurity, and poverty? Or will it be just another global high-level meeting of the usual suspects? The jury is out…but I will remain hopeful.