Public procurement is increasingly seen and recognised as a strategic tool for food system transformation and to ensure access to healthy food for all. ICLEI Europe collaborated closely with FAO at the World Urban Forum 10 to share the fruits of recent work done on cities and food. In joint sessions such as 'Urban-Rurual Linkages for Nutrition' themes such as nutrition and health linked to sustainable public food procurement were explored.

ICLEI has been working together with FAO on the topic of food in cities for many years. 

For example, ICLEI together with frontrunner cities such as Ghent and Copenhagen made a few strong statements of the importance of using sustainable food procurement strategically, feeding into an international consultation at FAO in Rome at the end of 2019. 

The collaboration extends into other examples such as ICLEI’s CITYFOOD Network and the recently launched FAO Framework for the Urban Food Agenda looking at the interlinkages between the national and local level. Following the launch of the FAO Framework ICLEI Europe was asked to share its expertise on sustainable food procurement such as sustainable school meals as a driver for healthy food and healthy environments. 

Learn more about sustainable food procurement here.