Nourishing our future: young people’s opportunity to shape the future of food

EVENT BACKGROUND

This is an official side event of the World Food Forum (WFF) Flagship Event scheduled in Rome, Italy from October 17-21, 2022.

SYNOPSIS

The world faces unprecedented challenges in providing healthy and sustainable diets. Decades of change across agriculture, food processing, retailing and marketing have given rise to new and different nutritional problems, while issues of undernutrition persist in many contexts. While all forms of malnutrition have complex etiologies, it is increasingly recognized that unhealthy diets are an important common factor. Highly processed, nutrient poor foods, including sugar-sweetened beverages, now feature prominently in diets almost everywhere. Increasingly there is a recognition that agriculture and food industries are not aligning to achieve healthy diets for all people: nor are they aligned with the health of planetary ecosystems.

Young people play major roles in food systems from production to consumption and can be drivers of change. Increasingly, we understand that adolescent diets carry major implications for health across the life-course. Adolescents across contexts are also exercising greater choice over what, how and when they eat. Many adolescents are already actively engaged within their families, peers and local communities in creating healthy, sustainable diets and food preferences but they can do so much more. 

This event will bring together leading young advocates and thought leaders to draw upon the Lancet Series on Adolescent Nutrition and discuss the importance of adolescent nutrition, the drivers of adolescent food choice, and young people’s opportunity to shape the future of food.

MASTER OF CEREMONIES

Oisín Gill, World Food Forum (WFF), Ireland

PANELLISTS

• Sophie Healy-Throw, Act4FoodAct4Change and WFF Youth Champion, Ireland
• Joanna Trewern, Young scientist from the WFF, England
• Nanna Skau, World Food Programme (WFP), Armenia
• Dr. Purnima Menon, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI)

ORGANISING ENTITIES

Murdoch Children’s Research Institute, Australia, Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) Food and Nutrition Division, Italy, and the World Food Forum (WFF), Italy. Supported by partners that include Act4Food Act4Change, World Food Programme (WFP), International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI), Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition (GAIN), Imperial College London, the University of South Carolina, the University of the Witwatersrand, Oxford Emergency Nutrition Network and Fondation Botnar.