Sustainable global development is a function of the progress made on many dimensions of human and planetary wellbeing. These dimensions are embodied in the Sustainable Development Goals. Our food systems are central to the attainment of many of these, and are also at the epicentre of the nexus between human well-being and inclusion, food and nutritional security and environmental sustainability. Multi-sectoral and disciplinary actions in these areas require metrics, monitoring, accountability and socio-technical bundles to achieve rapid, inclusive progress. This paper discusses the importance of food systems, key actions to increase their sustainability and proposes ancillary actions to accelerate progress towards measurable SDG outcomes and goals.About the speaker:Mario Herrero is a 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. His research focuses on increasing the sustainability of food systems for the benefit of humans and ecosystems. He works in the areas of sustainable intensification of agriculture, climate mitigation and adaptation, livestock systems, and healthy and sustainable diets.Professor Herrero is a regular contributor to important global initiatives at the heart of the sustainability of global food systems, such as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the Lancet Commission on Obesity and the EAT-Lancet Commission on healthy diets from sustainable food systems. He has worked extensively in Africa, Latin America and Asia. Before joining Cornell, he was Chief Scientist of Sustainability, for Australia’s National Science Agency, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO).
