🌱 What’s Growing in the Future of Food?

🌱 What’s Growing in the Future of Food?

It starts with hope—and grows through action.

In a world where millions go hungry while food is wasted, our food systems are at a breaking point. But the seeds of change and hope are already planted in the hands of changemakers and everyday heroes.

A New Recipe for Food Systems: Youth, Art, and Action

At the event Young People as Changemakers: How Art and Creativity Are Transforming Our Food Systems, co-hosted by the Governments of Ethiopia and Italy, and the UN SDG Action Campaign, high-level speakers including UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed and Dr. Ergogie Tesfaye, Ethiopia’s Minister of Women and Social Affairs, joined UN SDG Action Award changemakers, artists, youth leaders, and civil society in a dynamic, intergenerational experience. The message was clear: art is not a soft power — it’s a systemic force.

📖 Read the Full Story on the Blog

📺 Watch the Replay on UN Web TV

What if Art Could Show Us the Truth — in Contrast?

Parallel Realities, a short film featuring art from Turkish digital artist Uğur Gallenkuş, presents stark visual pairings: abundance and absence, peace and conflict, oppression and opportunity. First featured at Triennale Milano, the film turns his powerful collages into a reflection on inequality, climate injustice, and collective choice.

“Art can show us the world as it is — and the world as we want it to be.” — Uğur Gallenkuş

🎥 Watch the Film

Explore Parallel Realities

The Taste of Tradition: A Cooking Session with Chef Kabui

What if the future of food is deeply rooted in the past? In a special cooking session, Chef Njathi Kabui — chef and food justice advocate — prepared a traditional African dish in Addis Abeba while sharing stories of ancestral wisdom and the power of food as activism as a tool for resistance and reconnection at the My Food Is African gathering hosted by the Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa.

🎥 Watch the Video

New UN Day: International Day of Hope

Rise, United by Caroline Harroe, featured in the HOPE IN ACTION Art Exhibition curated by the UN SDG Action Campaign.

Why hope? Because “Hope becomes our most powerful currency,” shared UN Deputy Secretary-General Amina J. Mohammed at the High-level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF) 2025. On 12 July, the United Nations declared the International Day of Hope, recognizing hope as a powerful driver for our collective future.

Explore HOPE IN ACTION art exhibition — where creativity becomes a force for change.

Explore Hope

Hope in Action:
Nzambi Matee Turns Plastic Waste into Purpose in Kenya

Our UN SDG Action Awards changemakers are turning hope into action across the world. Among them is 2024 UN SDG Action Awards winner Nzambi Matee, who recycles plastic waste into building blocks for a better future, proving that innovation can rise from what others throw away.

Want to meet changemakers like Nzambi? Register now to watch the UN SDG Action Awards Ceremony on 29 October 2025.

Expert Voices

What does it take to transform food systems—for people and for the planet?

Hear insights from leading civil society voices:

Dr. Ana Maria Franco, Permanent Representative in Geneva, FIAN International
Dr. Carlos Heredia, Professor at CIDE in Mexico City
Dr. Million Belay, General Coordinator, Alliance for Food Sovereignty in Africa

Together, they shared why food systems must be reimagined to be sustainable, inclusive, and resilient—leaving no one behind.

G20 Development Working Group Ministerial Meeting —
A Call to Action on Illicit Financial Flows

The Government of South Africa hosted the G20 Development Working Group Ministerial Meeting on 24–25 July 2025 under the theme of its G20 Presidency: “Solidarity, Equality, and Sustainability”, where the Group issued a Ministerial Call to Action on Combating Illicit Financial Flows (IFFs).

Listen to leading experts, including Kimberly Kay Hoang from the University of Chicago and Ricardo Soares de Oliveira from CERI Sciences Po, who underscore the urgent need for coordinated international action to tackle the worsening debt crisis that is undermining progress on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Listen to Experts

Featured Publications

Explore this FAO report highlighting the crucial role youth play in transforming agrifood systems to improve food security, nutrition, and economic opportunities.

Discover the latest report on global progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals. Where are we, and what more must be done?

Explore Publications

Coming Next...

August brings International Youth Day—and a closer look at changemakers shaping the future through action and imagination. Stay tuned.

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