By Neo Kolane
King Letsie III says the economic devastation brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic has compelled the people of the world to work together to attain equitable food systems.
In his address to the national food system dialogue held virtually this week, the King said there is no doubt that, as nations of the world, people should work together to build robust and resilient food systems that can help stimulate a speedy global economic recovery.
King Letsie III in his capacity as the African Union Nutrition and the UN FAO Special Ambassador for Nutrition said that the dialogue was aimed at “producing innovative ideas and policies that our country can present to the world at the United Nations fruitful summit in September this year in New York, United States.”
He congratulated the UN Secretary General Antonio Gutierrez’s for demonstrating vision and fore-sight by creating an important platform at this critical time, on which global leaders and other key stakeholders can share ideas on how to chart a path towards the creation of more suitable and suitable food systems.
“This year by which nations of the world have committed to achieve 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) it is becoming evident that many of those critical targets remain far out of reach, improvement of our food systems, that encompasses the entire process, from production to consumption of food in a sustainable manner has been identified as critical and instrumental for the achievement of the SDGs,” he said.
On her part, the acting UN resident coordinator Betty Wabunoha said that the global food system summit will incorporate solutions from the national food systems dialogues such as Lesotho’s as well as from scientists policy makers and business leaders.
“It is our hope that the national global dialogue will identify local and practical solutions to promote and strengthen food systems. We uphold the Kingdom of Lesotho for joining other countries to respond to this call,” she said.
She added: “Food systems touch every aspect of human existence; the health of our food systems deeply affect the health of our bodies as well as the health of our environment, our economies and our culture. “
Good and functional food systems have the ability to bring us together as families, communities and nations but too many of the world food systems are fragile unexamined and vulnerable as millions of people around the globe have already experienced at first hand during the COVID-19 crisis, she concluded.
