Four years after the UN Food Summit, Pacific countries are positioning themselves to take a stocktake on how far they have come and determining what their future food systems pathways look like. Pacific food systems commitments are grounded and rooted in national and regional policies. 

SPC supports this through its Strategic Plan and notably through the dedicated key focus area on food systems (KFA 3) and the SPC Food Systems Flagship.

Food Systems features prominently as one of seven key focus areas (KFA 3) in the Strategic Plan. Whilst SPC recognises the enormity of challenges facing Food Systems,  as a Key Focus Area, SPC wants it to serve as a beacon of light, and present a Future State in 2031, that is built around a narrative that says, “The Pacific food systems are accessible, regenerative, biodiverse, equitable and resilient to shocks. They provide access to safe and nutritious food and contribute to healthy people, ecosystems, vibrant cultures, and prosperity for all.” This is also the goal of the Food System Flagship.

SPC recognises the enormous challenges and the complexities, but it also recognises and embraces the following positive features:

1. Food is at the heart of Pacific identities, cultures, and economies. The coastal food systems, indigenous food systems, and the relationship/the ‘mana’ between the land and ocean, underpin this. The flagship can be the vehicle to leverage traditional knowledge and practices and use innovation to address food system deficiencies. 

2.  The blue Pacific continent, which is the Pacific Ocean, is at the heart of both regional and global food systems. The 2050 Strategy that Pacific Leaders (insert link) endorsed charts and presents the commitments for a shared stewardship of the Pacific Ocean; and

3. SPC has transformative roles in the food systems environment. The health and climate crises are stark reminders, as is our vulnerability to shocks and disasters.  As the Pacific’s own scientific and technical organisation, SPC brings research and technical expertise in competencies across many elements of the food system, and with access to line Ministries and Leaders and decision makers, and partners, it is perfectly placed to ground its interventions on Pacific-led ownership and accountability.

Where are we going

The SPC’s Food System Flagship is the ambition to integrate and streamline SPC work effectively, so that collective capability around food systems is harnessed to respond to emerging challenges and opportunities, and achieve results for members based on their priorities. 

What does this mean? It means how do we at SPC, through our programmes, work together better to deliver assistance so that the results are more impactful and benefit more people and communities. It means how do we plan and coordinate interventions so that we are not duplicating, that we are being efficient, and being transformative (ie the results go beyond normal and business as usual).

The Flagship’s focus areas (dimensions) are as follows:

Dimension 1: SCIENCE 4 NUTRITIOUS & RESILIENT FOOD PRODUCTION

Dimension 2: HEALTHY & EQUITABLE FOOD ENVIRONMENTS

Dimension 3: CRITICAL PUBLIC GOODS 4 PACIFIC FOOD SYSTEMS

Dimension 4: INNOVATION IN COASTAL & ATOLL FOOD SYSTEMS

Dimension 5: FUTURE FOOD CAPACITIES

Dimension 6: HARNESSING DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES

Through the dimensions, the Food Systems Flagship's role is therefore to:

• Enhance and build on (i.e. scale up) the technical work SPC is doing with its members.

The Flagships will elevate the visibility of SPC and the Pacific region, and will drive SPC to work differently and be more coordinated, to get better results for members. This will stem from the Flagships adhering and aligning to KFA 7: Transforming Institutional Effectiveness of the SPC Strategic Plan.

• Creating the base to draw in large-scale investments; 

Mobilising and facilitating resources to create a scalable pipeline of investments rooted in SPC capabilities and the food-climate-water-energy nexus is critical. This is intended to realise and bring to fruition the transformative changes the flagships are asserting. SPC, as the regional scientific organisation and food systems lead, has credibility to leverage resourcing for food systems in this way (systematic) versus leveraging by individual sectors and especially if there is unfamiliarity of sectors and of the region. These new investments could then fund existing work or via pilots, which are a major draw card for the Flagship. 

• Vehicle for collaboration with CROP Agencies, Non-State Actors, and Partners

The flagship is the perfect vehicle and platform to work with the community, academia and the private sector, and SPC sister organisations (CROP), and partners.  SPC programmes already work with and/or support these constituents and acknowledge that there needs to be more intentional ways of working and co-designing interventions that account for NSA inputs.  This work is rooted in SDG 17 on partnerships, the 2050 Strategy on inclusiveness and collaboration.