title: Advance Equitable Livelihoods
title: A paper on Action Track 4
titleType: Subtitle
Creators: name: Neufeld, Lynnette M.
name: Huang, Jikun
name: Badiane, Ousmane
name: Caron, Patrick
name: Forsse, Lisa Sennerby
Publisher: name: Center for Development Research (ZEF) in cooperation with the Scientific Group for the UN Food System Summit 2021
Year: 2021
Subjects: classificationCode: 300
subject: FOS: Social sciences
subject: Food security
subject: Livelihood
subject: Food systems
subject: FOS: Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries

description: 	Food systems transformation provides the opportunity to shift current trends in all forms of malnutrition, prioritizing nutritious food availability and affordability for all – from shifting priorities in agricultural production, to improved food systems that favour nutrition and sustainability. The task of Action Track 4 is to explore approaches to doing so that will ensure equitable livelihoods for producers, businesses, workers across the food system and consumers, with particular emphasis on addressing inequalities and power imbalances. As the Science Group for AT 4, we explore the nature of these issues, using the drivers of food systems as articulated by the High Level Panel of Experts of the UN Committee on World Food Security1 as framing. Small and medium sized producers and people living on the food system in rural and urban areas are disproportionately affected by all biophysical and environmental drivers including soil and water resources, and climate change. Unequal opportunity in access to all types of resources reduces overall production, resilience, rural transformation. Advances in innovation, technology and infrastructure have had important impacts on food production and sustainability, transportation and processing along food value chains, marketing, and ultimately diets, including consumption of both nutritious and unhealthy foods. But achievement of equitable livelihoods in food systems will require that issues of access to contextually suitable innovation and technology be substantially enhanced, and that such advances better build on and learn from indigenous knowledge. Many economic and political factors are essential causes of inequality and power imbalances at house- hold, community, national and global levels, which constrain the ability of food systems transformation to deliver poverty reduction and sustainable, equitable livelihoods. Finally, vast evidence illustrates that several socio-cultural and demographic drivers underpin inequalities among and within societies and constrain the potential for some to benefit from actions to improve livelihoods, particularly women, youth, disabled, elderly, and indigenous peoples. These issues are exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. The pandemic is having a significant impact on the global commodity markets and trading systems, economic growth, incomes, and poverty levels, with likely disproportionate burden on the vulnerable communities in both urban and rural areas. This is likely to worsen inequalities and under- nutrition including child wasting. To address these issues, we must transform not only food systems, but the structures and systems that continue to enable and exacerbate inequities. Drivers of food systems inequities are highly interconnected and progress to address one will likely require change across several. For example, globalization and trade interact with other powerful drivers, especially technology resource mobilization, and demographic trends, which shape food production, distribution, and consumption. Drawing of this evidence review, in the final section we reflect on several factors that should be part of effective solutions, including grounding in rights-based approaches. We then share a series of recommendations aimed to enhance inclusive decision making, protect the livelihoods of those living in situations of vulnerability while creating opportunities, adapting institutions and policies to favour equitable food systems livelihoods, and increasing investment to realize the potential of improved institutional and policy actions. We invite governments, businesses, and organizations to hold themselves and others to account for ensuring equitable livelihoods, and open avenues to realize the potential of science, innovation, technology, and evidence to favour equitable livelihoods.