The UN Food Systems and Stocktaking Summit begins in Rome today. – Photo: FAO / Giuseppe Carotenuto

The UN Food Systems Summit +2 Stocktaking Moment begins today in Rome, Italy.

The meeting, which will be held until 26 July, provides an opportunity for countries to review progress made since the last Food Systems Summit, held in 2021.

According to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization, the number of people unable to afford a healthy diet increased between 2019 and 2020 to almost 3.1 billion, in part due to rising prices caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Russia-Ukraine war further exacerbated food insecurity as grain exports were blocked in the Black Sea due to Western sanctions on Russian imports. The combination of the pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine war pushed many countries to implement price control measures on key food items, putting further pressure on already weakened economies.

Earlier this week, the Black Sea Grain deal collapsed, worsening the already disastrous effects of the global food crisis. Although the UN will push for Russia to extend the deal, the Kremlin has stated that it will only rejoin the deal once Russian banks are connected to the SWIFT global banking system and sanctions on grain exports are lifted. With these demands, and increasingly tense rhetoric, the likelihood of a deadlock situation appears more likely in the near future.