CFS Policy Convergence Products Database

In situations of conflict and instability, address food insecurity and undernutrition in a conflict-sensitive manner and contribute to peacebuilding initiatives, by: i) Working to ensure that food security and nutrition related interventions do not exacerbate tensions or conflict; ii) Identifying opportunities to support and reinforce peace initiatives, particularly local initiatives, as elements of food security and nutrition related interventions, recognizing and promoting the roles of women in these interventions and in reconciliation and confidence building; iii) Working to ensure [...]

States should promote democracy, the rule of law, sustainable development and good governance, and promote and protect human rights and fundamental freedoms in order to empower individuals and civil society to make demands on their governments, devise policies that address their specific needs and ensure the accountability and transparency of governments and state decision-making processes in implementing such policies. States should, in particular, promote freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of information, freedom of the press and freedom of assembly and association, which [...]

Develop institutional and organisational capacities, by: i) Supporting, and strengthening local and national institutional and organisational capacities in a sustainable manner, and complementing them where needed, avoiding to create or reinforce dependency on international assistance; ii) Introducing policies and actions that fight corruption and fraudulent practices, in all their forms, when supporting food security and nutrition in protracted crises; iii) Rebuilding and supporting, where appropriate, informal and traditional institutions and organizations that help to foster [...]

States should promote and safeguard a free, democratic and just society in order to provide a peaceful, stable and enabling economic, social, political and cultural environment in which individuals can feed themselves and their families in freedom and dignity.

States should facilitate sustainable, non-discriminatory and secure access and utilization of resources consistent with their national law and with international law and protect the assets that are important for people's livelihoods. States should respect and protect the rights of individuals with respect to resources such as land, water, forests, fisheries and livestock without any discrimination. Where necessary and appropriate, States should carry out land reforms and other policy reforms consistent with their human rights obligations and in accordance with the rule of law in order to [...]

States are invited to consider, in accordance with their domestic legal and policy frameworks, whether to include provisions in their domestic law, which may include their constitutions, bills of rights or legislation, to directly implement the progressive realization of the right to adequate food. Administrative, quasi-judicial and judicial mechanisms to provide adequate, effective and prompt remedies accessible, in particular, to members of vulnerable groups may be envisaged

States should pay particular attention to the specific access problems of women and of vulnerable, marginalized and traditionally disadvantaged groups, including all persons affected by HIV/AIDS. States should take measures to protect all people affected by HIV/AIDS from losing their access to resources and assets.

Recognizing the primary responsibility of States for the progressive realization of the right to adequate food, States are encouraged to apply a multistakeholder approach to national food security to identify the roles of and involve all relevant stakeholders, encompassing civil society and the private sector, drawing together their know-how with a view to facilitating the efficient use of resources

States are invited to consider, in accordance with their domestic legal and policy frameworks, whether to include provisions in their domestic law, possibly including constitutional or legislative review that facilitates the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security.

States should take steps so that members of vulnerable groups can have access to opportunities and economic resources in order to participate fully and equally in the economy

States should take measures, where and if necessary, to develop, strengthen, implement and maintain effective anticorruption legislation and policies, including in the food sector and in the management of emergency food aid.

States should consider strengthening their domestic law and policies to accord access by women heads of households to poverty reduction and nutrition security programmes and projects

States that have established a right to adequate food under their legal system should inform the general public of all available rights and remedies to which they are entitled.

States should support higher education by strengthening developing country university and technical faculties of agriculture-related disciplines and business to carry out both education and research functions, and by engaging universities throughout the world in training developing country agriculturalists, scientists and businesspeople at the graduate and post-graduate levels

States should support investment in human resource development such as health, education, literacy and other skills training, which are essential to sustainable development, including agriculture, fisheries, forestry and rural development

States should encourage agricultural and environmental education at the primary and secondary levels in order to create a better awareness in new generations about the importance of conserving and making sustainable use of natural resources

States should implement measures to make people improve their housing conditions and their means for food preparation, because they are related to food safety. Such measures should be made in the educative and infrastructure fields, especially in rural households

States are reminded of the cultural values of dietary and eating habits in different cultures and should establish methods for promoting food safety, positive nutritional intake including fair distribution of food within communities and households with special emphasis on the needs and rights of both girls and boys, as well as pregnant women and lactating mothers, in all cultures.

States should provide information to individuals to strengthen their ability to participate in food-related policy decisions that may affect them, and to challenge decisions that threaten their rights

States should strengthen and broaden primary education opportunities, especially for girls, women and other underserved populations

States should adopt measures to eradicate any kind of discriminatory practices, especially with respect to gender, in order to achieve adequate levels of nutrition within the household.

States should recognize that food is a vital part of an individual's culture, and they are encouraged to take into account individuals' practices, customs and traditions on matters related to food

States are encouraged to promote basic social programmes and expenditures, in particular those affecting the poor and the vulnerable segments of society, and to protect them from budget reductions, while increasing the quality and effectiveness of social expenditures. States should strive to ensure that budget cuts do not negatively affect access to adequate food among the poorest sections of society

States should promote, and/or integrate into school curricula, human rights education, including civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, which includes the progressive realization of the right to adequate food.

States should raise public awareness of these guidelines and continuously provide and improve access to them and to relevant human rights laws and regulations, particularly in rural and remote areas.

States should provide proper training to officials responsible for the implementation of the progressive realization of the right to adequate food

States are encouraged to promote awareness of the importance of human rights, including the progressive realization of the right to adequate food.

States may wish to empower civil society to participate in the implementation of these guidelines, for instance through capacity building

Regional and local authorities are encouraged to allocate resources for anti- hunger and food security purposes in their respective budgets.

States should ensure transparency and accountability in the use of public resources, particularly in the area of food security.

Encourage the appropriate intake of animal sourced foods, that is culturally acceptable, for healthy diets and improved nutrition, including through awareness-raising and education in the context of promoting sustainable agriculture and livestock production in accordance with SDG 12

Develop capacity to meet national and international food safety and quality standards, frameworks, and schemes, ensuring that they are appropriate for different scales, contexts and modes of production and marketing, in particular CODEX Alimentarius standards

Promote a fair and market oriented world agricultural trading system in accordance with multilateral trade rules, in acknowledgment of the role of trade as an important element in support of sustainable agricultural development for food security and nutrition.

Ensure that the working and living conditions of all workers at all stages of production, transformation and distribution comply with ILO conventions, and are protected by domestic laws, and provide adequate living wages

Recognize the important role that animal sourced food, including dairy products, can play for children, pregnant and lactating women, and elderly people

Promote and integrate low-carbon, renewable energy schemes for FSN in sustainable forest management plans including on a small scale supported by the indigenous peoples and local communities and smallholders to achieve multiple benefits such as adequate access to fuel for food preparation; and invest in social and technical innovations in particular to minimize health risks associated with the use of wood fuel;

Facilitate access and sustainable use of forest and trees resources as well as access to markets for indigenous peoples and local communities and smallholders for the progressive realization of their right to adequate food in the context of national food security, national laws and legitimate tenure and resource use rights

Perform more research on the contribution of Neglected and Underutilized Species (NUS) to FSN and on relations between trees and agricultural productions in agroforestry systems, as well as knowledge on insufficiently explored diversity of forest genetic resources likely to meet human FSN needs.

Promote forests, trees and farmlands-related policies, legislation and programmes based on the VGGT, that respect and secure the legitimate tenure rights of indigenous peoples and local communities and smallholders and the Free, Prior and Informed Consent of indigenous peoples;

Apply the Principles for Responsible Investment in Agriculture and Food Systems (RAI) to all types and sizes of agricultural investments including fisheries, forests and livestock for enhancing food security and nutrition

Ensure that working and living conditions meet national and internationally agreed labour standards and reduce occupational hazards and other harmful effects on workers across the value chain

Improve production efficiency and protect the environment, including by improving the management of waste and the use of by-products, and through the use and sharing of innovative and appropriate technologies and practices

Promote a physical environment and genetic selection that ensures compliance with the OIE welfare standards, including the Five Freedoms

Promote and expand opportunities, including implementing institutional procurement programs for public institutions, food assistance and school feeding where smallholders are linked to structured demand for food and agricultural products and where consumers can access sufficient, safe, healthy, nutritious, and diverse smallholder produced food, including during all cases of protracted crises and conflicts

Collect comprehensive data on markets linked to local, national and/or regional food systems' both rural and urban, formal and informal ' to improve the evidence base for policies, including age, gender, and geographic-disaggregated data, incorporate this as a regular aspect of data collection systems, and make this information available to smallholders

Establish policy and institutional arrangements, including innovative partnerships, related to value chains' functioning that empower smallholders, particularly women and youth, and their organizations, to have an effective and equitable role in the design and implementation of contractual arrangements

Support affordable mechanisms for smallholders' access to useful, timely and transparent market and price information through Information and Communication Technologies, and smallholders adapted market information systems, to enable informed decision-making on what, when and where to produce and sell

Improve procurement procedures through the promotion of inclusive agreements with adapted modalities, which include simplified language, waiving of performance bonds, fast, regular and advance payments and manageable quantities and timeframes

Promote a more enabling market environment for smallholders, that provides fair and transparent prices that adequately remunerate smallholders' work and investments

Consider developing common protocols and methodologies, and improve coherence amongst existing ones, for measuring FLW and analyse the underlying causes. This should be done through an inclusive and participatory process, taking into account product, country, and stakeholder specificities and initiatives, and building upon the experiences of FAO, IFAD, WFP and other organizations as appropriate.

Improve the collection, transparency and sharing of data, disaggregated when appropriate, on FLW at all stages of the food chain as well as sharing of experiences, and best practices relating to reducing FLW in food systems.

Assess the direct and indirect effects of water and land related policies and actions, including largescale land acquisitions, on the progressive realization of both the right to safe drinking water and sanitation and the right to adequate food in the context of national food security. Pay particular attention to the needs, use and tenure rights of marginalized and vulnerable users, those of indigenous peoples and of those whose rights are reflected in customary arrangements, in line with the VGGT

Fully observe the international human rights obligations as they relate to water for FSN and acknowledge the linkages between the right to safe drinking water and sanitation and the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security

Promote a common understanding on the nature and scope of FLW, which may lead to a common definition of FLW.

Improve data collection and knowledge sharing on FLW

Develop effective strategies to reduce FLW

Promote the full and meaningful implementation of international human rights obligations and instruments as they relate to water for FSN

Take water into account when applying CFS policy instruments, as appropriate

Promote and support research, innovation, and development initiatives that aim at enhancing the contribution of sustainable aquaculture to food security and nutrition with due consideration to improved feed efficiency and disease control.

Identify and promote policies, programmes and activities aimed at addressing the impact of land-based agriculture, including the management of pollutants, sediments and nutrients to receiving coastal and inland waters.