In a report by the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food and Nutrition Security (HLPE – FSN) released on Tuesday, 02, the Laboratory on Urban Food Policies (LUPPA) was mentioned as a national network of cities.

The HLPE is an auxiliary body for the UN Committee on World Food Security, which focuses each year on a topic and launches a report with technical analyses and public policy recommendations. This year, following in the footsteps of the 2023 “State of Food Security and Nutrition in the World” (SOFI) report, the theme chosen was urban and peri-urban food systems and the context of growing global urbanization, with the aim of achieving food and nutrition security for the populations living in these areas. It presents an in-depth analysis of challenges and opportunities, and shows how peripheral areas have an important impact on food systems, influencing production, distribution and consumption patterns globally.

In addition, the report highlights the importance of multi-level, multi-lateral, multi-stakeholder governance and the relevance of city networks that support municipalities to advance in the management of food systems, presenting LUPPA as an example. LUPPA is the largest laboratory of public food policies in the world, a program of Comida do Amanhã Institute in co-realization with ICLEI Brazil. It aims at facilitating the construction of integrated and participatory municipal food policies with a systemic approach.

For Juliana Tângari, director of Comida do Amanhã and coordinator of LUPPA, this mention recognizes the relevance of LUPPA’s work in Brazil. “As the IPES-Food in 2023, the HLPE recognizes the relevance of support networks for cities, especially national city networks. As does IPES-Food, it mentions LUPPA as an example of a support and facilitation mechanism for cities. Once again, LUPPA is included in a list of few world examples, being the only one from the Global South, which indicates the relevance of the work we are doing here”, she affirmed.

This report is an important tool for policymakers, researchers and stakeholders dedicated to ensuring food and nutrition security in the context of rapid urbanization. Access the full report here.