WFF Youth Assembly: Outcomes of the Discussions on COP27

While we currently produce enough food to feed every man, woman and child in the world, in 2021 there were still up to 828 million people who were hungry. While healthy diets are out of reach for three billion people, one billion adults and children are obese, and even more suffer from health conditions related to poor diets. Adding to the current dysfunctional agrifood systems, extreme weather conditions such as floods and tropical storms, increasing and more variable temperatures and more erratic rainfall put the world at risk of a general decline in agricultural production over the next few decades.

For years, we have all known what needs to be done - empowering smallholder farmers, valuing and utilizing Indigenous knowledge, respecting human rights, investing in sustainable agricultural practices, and engaging youth, farmers and Indigenous Peoples as stakeholders, among others.

Yet - we are lacking the action and scale needed. Young people have been advocating for change for years, and now the question is “how can young people become agrifood systems leaders for the future and repair the current system?”

Here is a call to action for all - youth, governments, private sector, civil society, academia, and all others. Work with us!

Mentorship and capacity development

Work with us to better understand how we can transform agrifood systems, accelerating action together and becoming effective leaders in agriculture and food for the future, and to better engage in policy spaces, green jobs and opportunities - We can learn from you, but please also be open to learn from us.

• Decision-makers: Be open and transparent to reciprocal co-creation and relationships, for instance, by stimulating mentorship programmes.
• (YOU)th: Be willing to learn and peer mentorship-empowerment - recognize that we as youth also have the knowledge and networks to engage other youth.

Examples: Adopt a parliamentarian, Climate Negotiators Programme, paid internships for young graduates, alumni mentoring (buddy systems) in universities, climate justice coaching.

Accountability

Let us hold each other accountable for the commitments and demands made at the international and local level – i.e. the national pathways from the UNFSS and COP27, National Adaptation Plans, etc.x

• Decision-makers: Create and report on a roadmap in a transparent manner, create legally binding methods in commitments and establish offsets when conditions are not met.
• (You)th: Review and follow-up on our policy asks; collect best-practices on accountability measures to take to our local governments.

Examples: Dashboard, Fridays for Future, court action

Education

Work with us to improve education modules: mainstreaming agrifood systems topics into school (extra)curricula and understanding the interconnection between food and climate (nutrition, food waste, farmers, etc) - informal and formal education

• Decision-maker: Review, update and implement evidence-backed local/regional-based food-centric programmes and curricula, working together with youth and experts.
• (You)th: Request agrifood systems modules and workshops to school/institution food boards and extracurricular partners

Examples: Creation of school food councils, sustainable school food procurement, training/knowledge sharing hubs, YUNGA badges, rotary clubs

What is next?

For the next steps, the youth action track will work on collecting best practices and projects already happening - as we believe solutions already exist.