The importance of the food system to our ability to attain the Sustainable Development
Goals has increasingly come under the spotlight in global debate. Several reports, not least
from the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), show that world hunger has been
on the rise for several years in a row, biodiversity is in crisis, desertification is continuing, as
is the depletion of the world’s soils, and the world’s natural resources are being consumed
at an unsustainable rate. Global food production and consumption place the climate and
the environment under strain and are also contributing to malnutrition and illness.
A change in our food system is necessary, and every part of the system offers potential for
improvement and new opportunities. This publication presents some of the latest thinking
in this field and introduces examples from Sweden and Swedish projects and collaboration
in other countries. Although our circumstances vary in different parts of our planet, we
share many of the same challenges. The Swedish FAO Committee, therefore, hopes that the
examples provided may also prove inspiring outside Sweden’s borders and that they may
help to foster mutual dialogue to bring about improvements. If the change is made bearing
all three dimensions of sustainability in mind, that change will do good for the climate, the
environment, the food supply, health, and the global and local economy.