G7 Principles Supporting A Vision of Improved Global Food Security Monitoring and Analysis

G7 Foreign Ministers Meetings | Road to the 2021 UK Cornwall Summit

G7 Principles Supporting A Vision of Improved Global Food Security[footnote 1] Monitoring and Analysis

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office of the United Kingdom, December 8, 2021
[pdf]

As part of their Elmau Food Security Commitment, G7 Members pledged in 2015 to "improve the data input for monitoring our goal regarding food security". G7 also committed to "better connect short-, medium- and long-term support, embedded within a comprehensive development strategy, in order to strengthen resilience… as key to increasing effectiveness and sustainability." Considering the deterioration of global food security, in particular with the onset of the pandemic, in 2021 the G7 FSWG agreed to further improve the approach to interventions towards this commitment to maximise effectiveness and impact.

During their deliberations through the G7 Food Security Working Group, partners

agreed on the nature and importance of the problem and felt the urgency to take action
welcomed a landscaping study commissioned by the UK Presidency exploring elements of current global food security monitoring systems, agriculture data, mapping and monitoring systems, gaps in these systems, and potential solutions to address these
agreed on this analysis to inform joint action and complement work by the G7 Famine Prevention Compact that called for strengthened data and analysis, based on the IPC as the gold standard
supported and informed a consultation and visioning phase, involving G7 technical experts, keystone multilaterals, and incorporating country and regional voices as much as possible

G7 partners agreed key principles for a vision to enhance evidence-based, action-oriented global food security monitoring and analysis that emerged from the analysis and consultation process. These include:

To promote the production of food security and nutrition analysis that is evidence-based, politically and institutionally neutral, contextualised, multifactorial, responsive to the information needs of national governments and donors, in order to better inform response
To strengthen a global network of food security information systems that are designed for (i) effective and efficient interoperability, (ii) distinct added value, and (iii) to improve equity and inclusivity within the food system, building on existing structures[footnote 2]
To promote continued development 1) of national and regional food security information systems, particularly those adhering to international standards for comparability, interoperability, and reliability and 2) regional and national data gathering activities that promote data standards, interoperability, and the open sharing of public data to increase accessibility[footnote 3]
To further support existing initiatives that aggregate information, monitor agricultural commodities and conduct analysis of the underlying causes of disruptions to food production and distribution and the effects of climate change on this key sector for food security
To maximise efforts to put the humanitarian-development nexus into practice, at all levels
To promote stronger linkages between information systems and action, including prevention and the early release of funds based on early warning and pre-agreed trigger indicators
To encourage global food security monitoring systems to innovate, including with advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, data science, and others; additionally, to encourage engagement with all relevant expertise, in multilateral organisations, governments and other actors, while also ensuring the responsible use of data under the overarching "do-no-harm" principle
To promote key institutions that aim to enhance collaboration (including between humanitarian, resilience and development actors), common standards, and knowledge sharing among leading food security information systems; and challenge them to put into practice the vision and its themes, for the world, in particular the most vulnerable, to benefit from enhanced evidence-based action

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"Food security" is understood in its FAO-led 4-dimensional definition of availability, access, stability and utilisation/nutritional uptake as agreed by UN Member States in 1996. ↩
This can be done through designated hubs within a global network that can aggregate diverse data, methods and models to produce consolidated and multi-stakeholder, consensus-based analysis for action of food security nationally and globally. ↩
Building on broader G7 agreement on standards for data and analysis ↩

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Source: Gov.UK

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	Please send comments to: g7@utoronto.ca This page was last updated August 15, 2024.