Viewpoint: Rigorous monitoring is necessary to guide food system transformation in the countdown to the 2030 global goals

TLDR

Food systems that promote healthy, sustainable, and equitable diets can advance poverty eradication, human rights, and environmental restoration, yet current trajectories fall short of SDG targets and mounting crises underscore the need for rigorous evidence to guide transformation. The authors aim to establish a global, science‑based monitoring framework that will inform decision‑making and accountability, thereby enabling the transformation of food systems toward universally accessible healthy diets produced sustainably and equitably. They propose a monitoring framework organized around five thematic areas—diets, environment, livelihoods, governance, and resilience—to illustrate performance, enable cross‑geographic comparisons, track progress, and support accountability.

Abstract

Food systems that support healthy diets in sustainable, resilient, just, and equitable ways can engender progress in eradicating poverty and malnutrition; protecting human rights; and restoring natural resources. Food system activities have contributed to great gains for humanity but have also led to significant challenges, including hunger, poor diet quality, inequity, and threats to nature. While it is recognized that food systems are central to multiple global commitments and goals, including the Sustainable Development Goals, current trajectories are not aligned to meet these objectives. As mounting crises further stress food systems, the consequences of inaction are clear. The goal of food system transformation is to generate a future where all people have access to healthy diets, which are produced in sustainable and resilient ways that restore nature and deliver just, equitable livelihoods. A rigorous, science-based monitoring framework can support evidence-based policymaking and the work of those who hold key actors accountable in this transformation process. Monitoring can illustrate current performance, facilitate comparisons across geographies and over time, and track progress. We propose a framework centered around five thematic areas related to (1) diets, nutrition, and health; (2) environment and climate; and (3) livelihoods, poverty, and equity; (4) governance; and (5) resilience and sustainability. We hope to call attention to the need to monitor food systems globally to inform decisions and support accountability for better governance of food systems as part of the transformation process. Transformation is possible in the next decade, but rigorous evidence is needed in the countdown to the 2030 SDG global goals.