Achieving sustainable agriculture requires an integrated approach

Sustainability is a “varied and complex” concept and applying it to the world’s food and farming systems requires working in integrated and multidisciplinary way, FAO Director-General José Graziano da Silva said at the launch of Sustainable Food and Agriculture: An Integrated Approach.
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2nd Global Conference on the One Planet: Sustainable Food Systems Programme

5-7 February
San Jose, Costa Rica

The Sustainable Food Systems Programme of the UN One Planet network (10YFP) is a multi-stakeholder partnership with the aim to accelerate the shift towards sustainable consumption and production patterns in all areas related to food. 

Addressing the interrelated challenges in our food systems requires a holistic approach that involves all relevant actors and elements across the system. The conference theme – Good Food for People and the Planet, Working together towards 2030 - highlights the interactions between natural resources, livelihoods, and nutrition, and underscores the need for applying a systems lens. In addition, it stresses the importance of sustainable food systems for the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

More info available here.

Participation is upon invitation only.

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Call for experts for the FAO/WHO Joint Expert Meetings on Nutrition (JEMNU) on nitrogen to protein conversion factors for soy- and milk-based ingredients used in infant formulas and follow-up formulas

The Joint FAO/WHO Expert Meetings on Nutrition (JEMNU) was established in 2012 to provide scientific advice to the committees of the Joint FAO/WHO Food Standards Programme (i.e. Codex Alimentarius) or Member Countries. JEMNU aims to provide relevant scientific advice in an independent and cost-effective manner; therefore, the Meetings will be convened when there is a specific request from a Codex Committee or Member Countries.

Currently being discussed at the Codex Committee on Nutrition and Foods for Special Dietary Uses (CCNFSDU) is the most appropriate nitrogen to protein conversion factor (or factors) to use in estimating protein content of soy-based ingredients and milk-based ingredients used in infant formulas and follow-up formulas. To provide guidance on this topic, at the 39th Session of CCNFSDU in 2017, the Committee requested that JEMNU be convened to review the evidence and develop evidence-informed guidance regarding nitrogen to protein conversion factors. (To facilitate the work of JEMNU, a systematic review is currently being conducted to compile and analyse the available data on nitrogen to protein conversion factors for foods containing soy-based and/or milk-based ingredients.)

FAO and WHO have therefore initiated the convening of JEMNU and are in the process of identifying experts with relevant knowledge and experiences to participate in the expert meeting to be held during 15 – 19 July 2019 (exact dates to be confirmed). The selected experts will review the evidence to establish appropriate nitrogen to protein conversion factors for soy-based and milk-based ingredients used in infant formulas and follow-up formulas.

For more information please visit: https://www.who.int/nutrition/topics/callforexperts-JEMNU-Feb2019/en/ or http://www.fao.org/nutrition/requirements/proteins/en/.

Applications must be received by 1 March 2019.

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