WHAT: A 24-hour global relay conversation on World Food Day to launch the UN Food Systems Summit engagement process for the coming year. The marathon virtual conversation will bring together celebrity chefs, indigenous peoples, CEOs, youth activists, celebrities, small farmers, heads of state, and the general public, to discuss how to transform our food systems in the next 10 years.
WHEN: Friday, October 16, starting at 12 p.m. Fiji Standard Time (8 p.m. EST October 15) and moving around the world every hour for the entire day.
WHO: Jioji Konrote, President of Fiji, will open this one-of-kind global dialogue with chef, author and TV presenter Robert Oliver.
Speakers across the 24-hours will include:
- Amina Mohammed, UN Deputy Secretary-General
- Mariam Almheiri, UAE Minister of State for Food and Water Security
- Amelia Afuhaamango Tu’ipulotu, Health Minister of Tonga
- Alexandra Valkenburg, Ambassador of the Delegation of the European Union to the Holy See, Order of Malta, UN Organisations in Rome, the Republic of San Marino
- Agnes Kalibata, UN Special Envoy for the Food Systems Summit
- Massimo Bottura, chef and food systems activist, UN Environment Programme Goodwill Ambassador
- Sabrina Dhowre Elba, model, activist and UN IFAD Goodwill Ambassador
- José Andrés, chef, restaurateur, and founder of World Central Kitchen
- Kimberly Williams-Paisley, Actress and Best-Selling Author
The sessions will focus on some of the world’s most pressing issues: saving the last original colony of bees on a remote island; growing food in the middle of the desert; reintroducing ancient foods into modern kitchens; promoting non-violent movements to create change; hearing from refugees about the loss of their food culture; and much more.
Dr. Kalibata, and deputy to the Special Envoy, Martin Frick, are available for interviews on request.
Dr. Kalibata will also brief the press on Monday, 12 October, as guest at the daily UN noon briefing (12pm ET) on WebTV.
WHERE: The sessions will be broadcast via Zoom across Twitter, Facebook Live and YouTube. More information, including registration details, are available here: https://bit.ly/VoicesofFoodSystems
WHY: The UN Food Systems Summit is under way to identify bold new actions, solutions and strategies to deliver progress on all 17 Sustainable Development Goals, each of which relies to some degree on healthier, more sustainable and equitable food systems.
The Food Systems Summit Dialogues, launching on World Food Day, are a core component of the Food Systems Summit process and offer one of the most dynamic ways to engage stakeholders in considering their role in food systems, how their roles link with others, and ways in which they can unite around transformative actions in support of the SDGs. The Dialogues present an opportunity to engage all citizens as food system stakeholders, and to bring people together in a time where so much is pushing them apart.
The 24-hour global relay conversation will also highlight the Food Systems Summit’s five “Action Tracks” and cross-cutting levers of change. With 10 years to go to deliver the SDGs, the online conversation must stimulate greater local participation and partnership for a global movement.
Each 50-minute session, which will be produced by Future Food Institute, will feature video messages, statements, commitments and calls to action.
More information: /food-systems-summit
Contact: Katie Taft, Communications Lead. C: +39 348 791 7768, Email: Katie.Taft@un.org
