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Why food systems governance must be grounded in human rights

Nature Food volume 6, pages 817–818 (2025)Cite this article

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From 27–29 July 2025, governments and other stakeholders from across the world will convene in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, for the United Nations Food Systems Summit Stocktake (UNFSS+4). The event aims to assess progress on transforming food systems and meeting the United Nations (UN) 2030 Agenda. The UNFSS+4 will be the first global food summit to be organized in Africa.

As governments meet to coordinate action towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG2: zero hunger, human-made famines in Gaza and Sudan are pushing millions to starvation, foreign aid budgets are being slashed, and industrial food systems continue to wreak havoc on human health and the environment. Amid these escalating crises, political will and coordinated global food governance are needed more than ever. Yet, it remains deeply uncertain whether the summit can rise to the urgency of this moment.

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References

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Van Vollenhoven Institute for Law, Governance and Society, Leiden Law School, Leiden, the Netherlands

    Matthew Canfield

  2. Rural Sociology Group, Wageningen University, Wageningen, the Netherlands

    Jessica Duncan

  3. Institute for Agroecology, University of Vermont, Burlington, VT, USA

    Anisah Madden & Molly Anderson

  4. Community Economies Institute, Chewton, Victoria, Australia

    Anisah Madden

  5. Middlebury College, Middlebury, VT, USA

    Molly Anderson

  6. Galatasaray University Faculty of Law, Istanbul, Turkey

    Dolunay Çörek Akyıldız

  7. Leiden Law School, Leiden, the Netherlands

    Dolunay Çörek Akyıldız

  8. Institute of Development Studies, Sussex University, Brighton, UK

    Giulia Simula

  9. CSIPM Secretariat, Rome, Italy

    Giulia Simula

Authors
  1. Matthew Canfield
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  2. Jessica Duncan
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  3. Anisah Madden
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  4. Molly Anderson
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  5. Dolunay Çörek Akyıldız
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  6. Giulia Simula
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Matthew Canfield.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Canfield, M., Duncan, J., Madden, A. et al. Why food systems governance must be grounded in human rights. Nat Food 6, 817–818 (2025). https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01217-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-025-01217-9

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