Food security may seem like some far-off, abstract problem, but it’s really one of the most vital things touching lives everywhere on the globe. When food becomes expensive or scarce, it’s not a matter of mere inconvenience—it’s about parents not being in a position to feed their children, increased malnutrition, and whole communities suffering great hardship. We could see this plainly in the 2007 and 2008 food crises, when steep price rises exposed just how vulnerable and insulated our global food systems are.
The concept of global governance of food security and nutrition is to introduce some order and collaboration into this complex reality. It’s not merely about making government decisions in secret. It’s about a system of countries, international entities, non-governmental organizations, private enterprise, and scientists all combining their efforts to ensure that everyone has consistent access to nutritious food. Without coordination, initiatives can collapse, overlap, or fail in total.
That requirement for worldwide collaboration has never been more pressing. Highlighting recent food crises—marked by unexpected price spikes—the French Ministry for Europe and Foreign Affairs stressed how fragmented global food systems were revealed to be. To cope with that, the global community embarked on creating new institutions and platforms to enable people to communicate, plan, and act together more effectively.
France has risen to the challenge, prioritizing global food and agriculture governance at the top of its agenda. The nation is a proponent of more inclusive processes, ensuring that all corners of society are represented—governments, civil society organizations, and more—are at the table. France also supports the work of three major UN agencies in Rome (FAO, IFAD, and WFP) and the Committee on World Food Security (CFS), which since 2009 has become a major forum for global debate and coordination. CFS is where a diverse set of actors, ranging from large international organizations to small farmers, get together to exchange ideas and devise guidelines on thorny matters such as land ownership and the rights to food.
But the challenges continually shift. Climate change, wars, and the long-term impacts of COVID-19 have all contributed to making food security more precarious—particularly for the world’s most vulnerable populations. That’s compelled the international community to act rapidly and devise more effective means of assisting. For instance, during France’s 2019 G7 presidency, it advocated for creating quality jobs for young people in rural areas and intensified actions against hunger in regions such as the Sahel.
Perhaps the most promising shift in recent years has been towards increasing the voice of the local community. France and its partners are striving to ensure that those on the ground—those who really know the local context—have more influence over how aid is distributed and how solutions are shaped. This is particularly important in fragile or conflict-affected states, where top-down strategies tend to fail.
The battle for global food security is not easy—and far from over. World food security needs sustained innovation, flexibility, and most importantly, true cooperation across borders and sectors. As the world continues to grapple with new and familiar challenges, creating global governance with a human face is one of our strongest tools to ensure everyone has access to the food they require to survive and flourish.