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On the road to a sustainable food system – Newsletter October 2024
The people have voted and said No to the national biodiversity initiative. While this decision must be respected, the progressive loss of biodiversity continues to threaten the basis of human existence and economic performance, as written in the federal country report 2022 on the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. So how to deal with this situation? Let’s take a closer look: Rejecting the initiative does not equate to rejecting biodiversity. Rather, it means that we need to find a way that is supported by and can be implemented by a majority of the Swiss population.
What can this path look like? We need solutions that simultaneously respect planetary boundaries and are attractive for business and agriculture. This applies as well to the food system, which continues to drive the loss of biodiversity. Therefore, stakeholders must collaborate to develop solutions, which can only be achieved by open dialogue, mutual understanding of each others’ needs, and establishing common ground and trust.
We have already initiated this process: Ten days before the vote, on 12 September 2024 in Bern, we held the launch event for our ‘Avenir Alimentaire’ project. It was a pleasure to see representatives from the entire value chain – from agriculture to retail – as well as scientists, health specialists and representatives of civil society engage in constructive discussions. This willingness for an open dialogue encourages us to continue on this path and drive the joint search for solutions in order to create a future-proof food system that simultaneously strengthens human health, economic value creation and ecological livelihoods.
On a personal note, I am particularly pleased that we were able to organise the event with such a strong team: Claudia Stürzinger, who has only recently joined SDSN, is already a strong asset to our ‘Avenir Alimentaire’ project.
Inspired and motivated by the participants’ energy at the launch event, we are now eager to move forward with the implementation of the ‘Avenir Alimentaire’ project. Our goal is to collaborate with key players in the Swiss food system to jointly develop future-proof solutions that are supported and implemented by stakeholders along the value chain. Read more about our project in this newsletter.
Kind regards,
Jasmin Schwägli, Head of Food Systems SDSN Switzerland