With nearly a third of the world’s population lacking steady access to adequate food, it’s no secret that our food systems are failing. As diet-related diseases skyrocket, global temperatures rise, and ecosystem collapse looms closer, the stakes are growing with each passing year. The need to correct course presents one of the biggest challenges of our generation, spanning health, climate, biodiversity, jobs, trade, infrastructure, diet, and human rights.

Luckily, there is an opportunity for action coming — September’s United Nations Food Systems Summit will put the global spotlight on the people and interconnected processes involved in producing, providing, and consuming food for the first time.

UNFSS can be a leap forward in the global journey toward a nutritious, regenerative, and equitable food future but only if we follow through on its promise to be a people’s summit, and a solutions summit. The day after the summit and every day moving forward, we must channel the summit’s energy together into actions that tangibly solve the myriad problems we’re facing today.

I attended the three-day UNFSS Pre-Summit, which brought together representatives from more than 100 countries in July. I felt the collective enthusiasm that can make the September summit a groundbreaking moment. Many people have shared valid criticism about the same voices who have always made the decisions on food systems continuing to dominate summit conversations.

But in Rome, I was encouraged to see a more inclusive picture: Civil society representatives, food producers, Indigenous peoples, and youth all exchanging ideas to build a more sustainable, equitable, resilient, and nutritious future. Democratizing food systems is a long-term project — we are not there yet, but the summit is attempting to take steps in the right direction.

Read the full article about the UN Food Systems Summit by Sara Farley at The Rockefeller Foundation.