Food system actors and stakeholders need actionable evidence to make decisions that can bring about food system transformation, yet no such mechanism currently exists. However, there are two complementary initiatives that focus on presenting, analysing, interpreting, and monitoring food systems data for improved decision-making: The Food Systems Countdown and the Food Systems Dashboard.
The Food Systems Countdown Initiative was created with the intention to provide a scientific measurement and assessment of all aspects of food systems and their interactions and track their progress to 2030. The aim is to guide decision-makers and hold those in power to account for transformation.
The Food Systems Dashboard is the first open-access platform that brings together global data across all components of the food system. It is a global repository of easily accessible and visualizable cross-disciplinary and multisectoral data. It contains over 200 indicators that measure components, drivers, and outcomes of food systems at the country level to allow decision makers and users to gain in-depth insights into the challenges and opportunities facing countries and their food systems and prioritize actions and policies to transform their food systems.
Food system actors and stakeholders need actionable evidence to make decisions that can bring about food system transformation, yet no such mechanism currently exists. © Unsplash / Calin Stan
At COP27, the call for action on nutrition and climate will be louder than ever. Never has the need been more urgent. The Food Systems Dashboard provides an ideal tool to translate this high-level agenda into tangible policy action on the ground in countries around the world.
Our Executive Director, Lawrence Haddad, wrote this piece just ahead of COP on the ways in which data can support better decision-making.
For more detail on the dashboard and how it can be used, you can watch the webinar recording at this link. The webinar discusses the importance of data for decision-making – why the Dashboard and the Countdown Initiatives were created, their relevance and their differences and where they will come together.
It features:
- Dr. Lawrence Haddad, Executive Director, GAIN
- Dr. Jess Fanzo, Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of Global Food Policy and Ethics, Johns Hopkins University
- Dr. Roseline Remans, Senior Scientist, Multifunctional landscapes, The Alliance of Bioversity International and CIAT
- Dr. Jose Rosero Moncayo, Director, Economic and Social Statistics Division, FAO
- Dr. Mario Herrero, Professor of sustainable food systems and global change in the Department of Global Development, a Cornell Atkinson Scholar, and a Nancy and Peter Meinig Family Investigator in the Life Sciences, Cornell University
- Dr. Namukolo Covic, Director General’s Representative to Ethiopia Country Convenor, CGIAR Regional Director for East and Southern Africa
Videos
