Joining the Global Youth Forum

Statement of the Youth Delegation from ETH Zurich

On October 15th, the academic delegation of ETH hopped on the train in Zurich to travel to Rome for the World Food Forum hosted by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization. The World Food Forum is a youth-led initiative, which aims to steer agri-food systems in support of the Sustainable Development Goals. Our delegation consisted of master, doctoral, and postdoctoral students at ETH Zurich from a broad range of disciplines, including environmental policy, soil science, and sustainable food systems. The Forum was quite large and was essentially four conferences in one with many parallel sessions. The four conference areas were (i) Global Youth Forum, (ii) Indigenous People, (iii) FAO Science & Innovation Forum, and (iv) FAO Hand-in-Hand Investment Forum.

Going into the Forum, we had explicated our intentions for the week, which can be summarily stated as: (i) Strengthening transdisciplinary research for policy coherence, (ii) Building competency of youth in conducting transdisciplinary research, (iii) Exploring the potential of food sharing initiatives to reduce food loss and waste, (iv) Delineating expectations for the 2024 global action plan for agri-food systems advocacy. Regarding these intentions, some of our delegates were able to share their opinions in more interactive sessions. The theme of transdisciplinary research was discussed in the Forum, and it is clear that there are still many challenges to overcome in this space.

This first day opened with statements of general calls to action from different national representatives such as the president of Ireland, the king of Lesotho, the president of the Central African Republic, the price of Jordan, and many others. Over the following days, we heard from scientists, industry professionals, investors, and indigenous peoples. Unsurprisingly, all of these groups had very different experiences to share and solutions to propose.

During the breaks, we were able to exchange with people from different areas of the world and different sectors (i.e., private sector, academia, public administration, NGOs, international organizations, and indigenous peoples). Despite the interactions among these actors, the large divide between scientists and politicians was evident. Based on this, it is clear that in order to build our competence and strengthen our will to engage in transdisciplinary research, we will have to bridge the communication gap between these groups. This bridging will also be critical in implementing evidence-based and actionable policies.

While the dialogues were often fruitful, future Forums should focus on more action-based discussions. Large parts of the sessions were an exchange of political and action attitudes upon which most participants were already aligned before the sessions. Likewise, many of the talks were centered around ‘safe’ discussion points based in status-quo thinking. Future Forums should provide a safe space for more bold thinking and calls to action that are ‘outside of the box,’ with a clear focus on equity and inclusion.

Lastly, as young scientists, we believe that a dynamic exchange of ideas and experiences between different generations is crucial for progress. Unfortunately, while a prime space for such collaboration, coordination between higher-level actors and youth was lacking at times. For instance, more sessions with mixed-generation panelists would have been welcome.

In conclusion, this was a useful and enriching experience from which we learned a lot. Hearing and understanding how politicians versus scientists conceptualize solutions to our sustainability problems will be key in instrumentalizing future change. Nevertheless, we hope for more bold and concrete action plans that can truly help drive society and agri-food systems towards a more sustainable future. We are grateful to the World Food System Center for this opportunity that brought us new insights and allowed us to exchange views in a motivating context.

Yours sincerely,
ETH Zurich Youth Delegation

Fabian Bättig
Sophia Demekas
Ashley Green
Shun Hei Lee
Claude Müller
Swapan Preet
Inès Astrid Tougma
Flavian Tschurr
Letizia Zuliani