Answer:
The year 2020 has not been easy for today’s young people. Your education has been disrupted; you have been separated from your friends and family. You may have lost your job, or lost hope of finding work in uncertain economic times. But I am here to tell you: big changes are coming, and you need to be part of them.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, we cannot simply hope that things will go back to normal. We now have a chance to do things differently, to use our knowledge to steer our shared future toward meeting global goals on climate change and sustainable development. We have the chance to build back a world that you, the youth, will want to inherit – and this starts with transforming food systems. We need you to be part of that process.
In 2021, the world will come together for the United Nations Food Systems Summit (UNFSS). I have high hopes for this summit, that we will not just see another declaration, but real commitment, funding and partnerships for change. As CGIAR Special Representative to the summit, I will be making the case for collective, science-based action to sustainably transform our food systems. I believe that our youth must be central to the discussions – after all, the decisions taken at this summit are ones that you will have to live with in the long term.
