Food Systems Countdown Initiative

THE CHALLENGE

Today, food systems are failing to support human health, threaten the long-term viability of life on earth and are similarly threatened by the impacts of climate change. Food systems are responsible for an estimated 30% of greenhouse gas emissions and the foods we eat are linked to six of the top ten risk factors for disease and death globally. Continuing on the present path is untenable for current and future generations. Food system transformation is central to meeting the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by their 2030 deadline as well as to meeting the targets and commitments established in the three Rio Conventions on climate change (UNFCCC), the Convention on Biological Diversity (UNCBD), and the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD). Meeting these goals is possible, but rigorous evidence is needed to guide the path forward.

PROJECT OVERVIEW

The Food Systems Countdown Initiative (FSCI) is working to build a science-based system to track food systems globally. No rigorous mechanism currently exists to measure and track all aspects of global food systems, their interactions, and their changes over time. Deliberately changing complex systems that cut across sectors, jurisdictions, and national borders calls for a comprehensive, ongoing program of observation and assessment of all aspects of the system and their interactions to guide decisionmakers and hold those in power to account for transformation. Tracking food systems facilitates performance assessment relative to established targets and goals and incentivizes action. Doing so for food systems complements other global and regional monitoring and tracking initiatives focused on related outcomes, such as sustainable agriculture, nutrition, and health. Such monitoring can further offer food system actors and stakeholders (e.g., civil society, governments, and international organizations) actionable evidence to hold governments, consumers (specifically, those with the privilege to choose), and the private sector accountable for food system transformation.

The goals of this Initiative are to:

Develop an architecture for a tracking system: In 2021, the Initiative published an initial framing paper in the journal, Food Policy, titled “Rigorous monitoring is necessary to guide food system transformation in the countdown to 2030 global goals and beyond,” that develops a framework for tracking food systems organized into five thematic areas.
Provide a global food systems baseline and subsequent annual assessments: In 2022, the Initiative conducted an inclusive, transparent process to select a set of curated indicators. A peer-reviewed scientific journal publication aims to provide summary statistics for the curated, parsimonious set of indicators that together cover all important aspects of food systems, thereby providing a food systems baseline. Annual publications aim to keep food systems transformation on the global policy agenda through 2030 and will include assessing performance relative to targets and other benchmarks and analyzing tradeoffs, synergies, and interactions between food system components.
Answer new food systems research question: Bringing about food system transformation requires deepening our understanding of the interactions, feedback loops, and distal impacts of changes in food systems. Our research agenda centers around the evidence gaps exposed by moving from siloed, disciplinary analyses of agriculture, nutrition, health, and the environment to a comprehensive understanding of food systems.

Recent highlight

Agri-food Systems Transformation: New, Ambitious Framework Proposed to Monitor Progress

Prof. Fanzo seeks rigorous metrics system in piece published by the Food Policy Journal

Food Systems Monitoring Webinar

UN Food Systems Summit side event: “Rigorous monitoring is necessary to guide food system transformation in the countdown to 2030 global goals and beyond,” held September 24, 2021

Project Team

Name	Affiliation	Role type
Jessica Fanzo	Johns Hopkins University	Co-chair
Lawrence Haddad	GAIN	Co-chair
Jose Rosero Moncayo	Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)	Co-chair
Nancy Aburto	FAO	Collaborator
Carlo Cafiero	FAO	Collaborator
Christopher Golden	Harvard University	Collaborator
Sheryl Hendriks	University of Pretoria	Collaborator
Anna Herforth*	Harvard University	Collaborator
Gina Kennedy	GAIN	Collaborator
Amos Laar	University of Ghana	Collaborator
Musonda Mofu	Government of Zambia	Collaborator
Stella Nordhagen	GAIN	Collaborator
Kerstin Damerau	Cornell University	Collaborator
Jessica Gephart	American University	Collaborator
Carlos Gonzalez Fischer	Cornell University	Collaborator
Mario Herrero*	Cornell University	Collaborator
Rattan Lal	Ohio State University	Collaborator
Brent Loken	World Wildlife Fund	Collaborator
Francesco Tubiello	FAO	Collaborator
Jane Battersby-Lennard	University of Cape Town	Collaborator
Christine Campeau	CARE	Collaborator
Piero Conforti	FAO	Collaborator
Ismahane Elouafi	FAO	Collaborator
Alejandro Guarin*	IIED	Collaborator
Maddalena Honorati	World Bank	Collaborator
Jikun Huang	Peking University	Collaborator
Quinn Marshall	Johns Hopkins University	Collaborator
Mary Nyamongo	African Institute for Health and Development	Collaborator
Rashid Sumaila	University of British Columbia	Collaborator
Simon Barquera	INSP Mexico	Collaborator
Namukolo Covic*	International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI)	Collaborator
Danielle Resnick*	Brookings Institution	Collaborator
Diana Suhardiman	KIT	Collaborator
Maximo Torrero Cullen	FAO	Collaborator
Christophe Béné *	Alliance of CIAT-Bioversity	Collaborator
Paulina Bizzoto Molina	ECDPM	Collaborator
Andrea Cattaneo	FAO	Collaborator
Carola Fabi	FAO	Collaborator
Patrick Foley	World Food Programme	Collaborator
Preetmoninder Lidder	FAO	Collaborator
Yuta Masuda	The Nature Conservancy	Collaborator
Michaela Saisana	Joint Research Centre of the European Commission	Collaborator
Ty Beal	GAIN	Collaborator
Fabrice DeClerck	EAT Forum	Collaborator
Roseline Remans*	Alliance of CIAT-Bioversity	Collaborator
Patrick Caron	CIRAD	Collaborator
Jose Luis Vivero	World Food Programme	Collaborator
Destan Aytekin	Johns Hopkins University	JHU data team
Deviana Dewi	Johns Hopkins University	JHU data team
Michael Di Girolamo	Johns Hopkins University	JHU data team
Lais Miachon	Johns Hopkins University	JHU data team
Kate Schneider	Johns Hopkins University	Collaborator & JHU data team
Alexa Bellows	Johns Hopkins University	other contributor
Ty Frazier	Oakridge National Laboratory	other contributor
Chiara Gnetti	FAO	other contributor
Sharada Keats	GAIN	other contributor
Hernán Muñoz	FAO	other contributor
Evans Nyamoto Nyang Oa	GAIN	other contributor
Charlotte Pedersen	GAIN	other contributor
Catia Pedro	GAIN	other contributor
Naina Qayyum	GAIN	other contributor
Kimberley Sullivan	FAO	other contributor
Catrin Kissick	GAIN	other contributor
Diana Carolina Arias	Alliance of CIAT-Bioversity	other contributor
Brayan Mora	Alliance of CIAT-Bioversity	other contributor
Marie Urban	Oakridge National Laboratory	other contributor
Dania Ortia-Aleman	2021	Data team alumni
Marissa Silverberg	2021-2022	Data team alumni
Shijin “Austin” Wei	2021	Data team alumni
Zhongyun Zhang	2022	Data team alumni

* Denotes working group lead

Related Publications

Fanzo, J.C., Haddad, L., Schneider, K.R., Béné, C., Covic, N.M., Guarin, A., Herforth, A.W., Herrero, M., Sumaila, U.R., Aburto, N.J., Amuyunzu-Nyamongo, M., Barquera, S., Battersby, J., Beal, T., Bizzotto Molina, P., Brusset, E., Cafiero, C., Campeau, C., Caron, P., Cattaneo, A., Conforti, P., Davis, C., DeClerck, F.A.J., Elouafi, I., Fabi, C., Gephart, J.A., Golden, C.D., Hendriks, S.L., Huang, J., Laar, A., Lal, R., Lidder, P., Loken, B., Marshall, Q., Masuda, Y.J., McLaren, R., Neufeld, L.M., Nordhagen, S., Remans, R., Resnick, D., Silverberg, M., Torero Cullen, M., Tubiello, F.N., Vivero-Pol, J.-L., Wei, S., Rosero Moncayo, J., 2021. Viewpoint: Rigorous monitoring is necessary to guide food system transformation in the countdown to the 2030 global goals. Food Policy 104, 102163.