Through this first Food Day @ UNCCD COP 15 we aim to call upon countries, private sector and other actors to take a food systems approaches in the LDN targets, the Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) and the biodiversity targets. We will do so by leveraging three levers recommended in the report on LDN for Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security.

• Cross-cutting policy responses spanning multiple global agreements By adopting a ‘food systems lens’, LDN response actions can further enhance the impact of existing policies and initiatives focused on environmental sustainability, inclusive economic growth, climate stability, and improved public health that are embedded in a range of key global agreements, most notably the SDGs and the Paris Agreement and the post 2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.

• Interdependence of food system demand-side drivers and supply chains The interdependence of food system demand-side drivers and supply chains provides a singular focus for LDN response actions that simultaneously encourage the uptake of plant-based diets while at the same time reducing food loss and waste.

• Capacity to deliver a coherent suite of on-the-ground actions (including finance) Nature-positive food policies that incentivize more sustainable practices and ensure supply chain transparency could help unlock the constraints in our current food systems. Developing the capacity to deliver a suite of coherent LDN response actions at the national level will necessarily include monitoring and evaluation protocols to guide future investment and including soil health.

TMG is organising the session My Land My Rights - Legitimate Tenure Rights for Food Security, Climate Resilience and Ecosystem Restoration, scheduled to take place at 10:00-11:00.

Secure tenure rights are a precondition for investments in land, soils, and the sustainable production of food. As underlined by the UNCCD in its recent land tenure decision (26/COP.14), responsible land governance is a fundamental component of sustainable land management and important to addressing desertification, land degradation and drought. Land governance is also key to adapt to climate change and create resilience among local communities.

UNCCD parties are encouraged to recognize legitimate tenure rights, including customary rights and invited to legally recognize equal use and ownership rights of land for women. The enhancement of women’s equal access to land and land tenure security as well as the promotion of gender-sensitive measures to combat desertification/land degradation and drought and achieve land degradation neutrality are also key issues for tackling food system challenges.

This session will highlight the interconnections between grassroots work to improve land governance and the opportunities and challenges on local, national and international levels to increase women's, Indigenous Peoples' and local communities' tenure security enabling sustainable food systems. This will contribute to informing future policy debates on the linkages between governance of tenure and Sustainable Food Systems from local to national and international level.