To spread the awareness around global governance of food security and nutrition, the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) organised a High-Level Special Event, hosted on Zoom on October 13-15, 2020. The virtual meet brought together prominent food security experts and decision makers from different parts of the world to discuss various means to strengthen global governance of food security and nutrition. It is one of the key goals of the global sustainable development agenda.

Mariam Almheiri, the UAE’s Minister of State for Food and Water Security, also attended the meet, which emphasized that the need of the hour was a complete paradigm shift in the way food was produced and human relationship with food. She said, "Global food systems are under unprecedented pressure. By 2050, the world’s food production and supply networks will need to sustainably feed ten billion people, meaning they will have to produce food to meet demand that will be 60% greater than it is today. We need to provide adequate nutrition for the 690 million people who are undernourished.”

She added, “The revised proposed CFS Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems is a vital contribution to this goal of transformation, addressing as it does the complex factors relating to food security and their interrelationships that govern our ability to create a sustainable food security landscape and to ensure that we leave no person behind.”

Almheiri mentioned how Emirates has been working in alignment with CFS guidelines by creating by food secure future, reduced environmental footprint across its entire food value chain; using solar-powered desalination techniques to supply water for irrigation and focusing on Controlled Environment Agriculture that minimizes the use of resources such as water. She said, "Furthermore, the proposed CFS guidelines highlight the need for global and national cooperation on food safety. This is enshrined in the UAE’s National Food Security Strategy, which targets a 35% reduction in food safety incidences by 2021."

She added that UAE supports the initiative also for its socioeconomic aspect, i.e. to help small shareholder farmers, connecting them with retailers, promoting tourism agriculture and encouraging the community to buy local produce.

Besides, the UAE ministers highlighted that the Gulf nation has been focusing on eliminating food waste in accordance with the CFS guidelines, and has targeted to reduce 15% of its food waste by 2021.

Almheiri concluded, "The proposed CFS Voluntary Guidelines on Food Systems and Nutrition promises a holistic approach to the transformation of food systems – nothing less is needed to ensure all elements of the community are engaged in creating a future for food that is sustainable, healthy and biodiverse.”