Dr. Stefanos Fotiou, Director of the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub www.unfoodsystemshub.org
Global cooperation is under strain. Climate negotiations stall, trade wars deepen, wars rage from Europe to the Middle East, and trust in international institutions sinks lower each year. Yet amid this turbulence, one issue still binds nations together: food.
Food systems will help decide the future of multilateralism. They go far beyond calories and crops – shaping economies, ecosystems, and security itself. They are the most cross-cutting issue on the global agenda, and perhaps the last, best chance to prove that cooperation can still deliver.
This message will be central to the UN Food Systems Coordination Hub’s engagements at COP30 and at the Second World Summit for Social Development in Doha. In both forums, the Hub will stress that food systems are no longer a soft-development issue but now sit at the heart of diplomacy, stability, and economic transformation.
The overlooked engine of cooperation
Food is often dismissed as humanitarian policy. But it is also a political stabiliser, environmental lifeline, and economic multiplier. When bread prices spike, governments fall. Food systems account for roughly one-third of global emissions and drive much biodiversity loss. In low- and middle-income countries, agriculture employs up to 70 per cent of workers.
When food systems falter, everything else falters too. Hunger fuels extremism, malnutrition erodes human capital, and failed harvests drive migration.
Conversely, resilient food systems anchor societies and foster peace. This is hard security – the foundation on which global order rests.
Food as common ground for cooperation
While many multilateral processes struggle to make headway, food has quietly become a rare area where cooperation is advancing. At the UN Food Systems Summit +4 (UNFSS+4) Stocktake in Addis Ababa this year, 159 countries reported progress, and more than 130 have developed national food systems pathways, many now embedded in national climate and development strategies.
Countries as diverse as Kenya, Brazil, Japan, and Indonesia are embedding food systems into climate, biodiversity, and development plans. Coalitions linking governments, civil society, and business are driving innovations from school meal programmes to digital agriculture.
These efforts show that food can succeed where other agendas stall – by aligning national interests with global stability. In an era when trust in multilateralism is fragile, food has emerged as one of the few shared priorities capable of rebuilding it.
Rising stakes
This progress comes as global conditions worsen. Wars disrupt supply chains, driving up prices and destabilising importing nations. Climate extremes hit faster than predicted, from droughts in the Horn of Africa to floods in Pakistan. Debt distress forces governments to cut social protection just when people need it most.
In this environment, food systems are central to stability and security. The Arab Spring was triggered by bread price spikes. Today’s protests over food and fuel costs in Latin America and Africa are reminders that hunger is political dynamite. Without stronger multilateral frameworks, food shocks will continue to ignite wider crises.
What must change
If food is to rescue multilateralism, three shifts are essential.
First, food must move to the centre of global governance. Climate talks should treat agriculture as central to mitigation and adaptation. Trade frameworks must consider nutrition and resilience, not just tariffs. The UN Security Council should view food shocks as threats to peace.
Second, finance must be scaled up and restructured. Transforming food systems requires hundreds of billions annually. Debt swaps for food security, concessional finance, and new multilateral funding windows are essential. We already spend trillions on defense; spending a fraction of that on food security would do far more to stabilise societies.
Third, inclusivity must be non-negotiable. Food systems transformation is not only about ministries of agriculture. It must involve youth, Indigenous Peoples, women, smallholders, and consumers. The legitimacy of multilateralism depends on whether people see that cooperation delivers. Inclusive food systems can rebuild trust; exclusion will deepen cynicism.
The test of credibility
Food systems are not a panacea, but they are a test of whether global cooperation can still work. Unlike energy or defence, food creates natural incentives for collaboration: even rivals benefit from stable trade, predictable prices, and resilient ecosystems. That is why G20 leaders endorsed food initiatives in 2023, why COP30 is set to put food at the centre, and why regional blocs from ASEAN to the African Union are aligning their food agendas with sustainable development.
If multilateralism can deliver here – on something so essential and universal – it can regain credibility elsewhere. If it cannot, global order risks fracturing into blocs defined by food insecurity as much as ideology.
A choice for leaders
Food can be the foundation of renewed multilateralism – proof that cooperation still works – or it can become another casualty of fragmentation. World leaders often ask where the next breakthrough for cooperation will come from. The answer is on their plates.
If leaders want to rebuild trust in multilateralism, they should start with food systems that deliver for their people.
Peace will not be measured by summits or communiqués, but by whether families can put food on the table. If leaders want to rebuild trust in multilateralism, food is where they must begin.
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