a UN Food System Summit & Sourcing Matters miniseries
Together, the UN Food Systems Summit and Sourcing Matters launch their new and thought-provoking podcast series, Laying Down Tracks.
This inspiring 8-part miniseries, led by Aaron Niederhelman, will feature world experts on issues related to world hunger, malnutrition, climate change, and much more. Focused on the real experiences of rolling out the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, each episode will bring forward solutions through motivating discussions.
We are laying down tracks to head into a new world where our food systems mean prosperity for people and the planet. Listen now to Laying Down Tracks (LDTs) to learn how you, too, can help save our planet.
EPISODE FOUR:
Equitable Livelihoods, Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment
Host: Aaron Niederhelman, Sourcing Matters podcast
Co-host: Dr Jemimah Njuki, Director for Africa at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Lead of the Summit’s Gender Lever of Change
Guest: Dr. Shakuntala Thilsted, the Global Lead for Nutrition and Public Health at World Fish, and 2021 World Food Prize Laureate.
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What better way to mark World Oceans Day then listening to episode 4 of Laying Down Tracks? This week’s episode brings a fascinating discussion about planet, gender equality, and how we can best engage with the Ocean. “We need women’s voices and leadership to be prominent in food systems. It’s the only way to guarantee that food systems are just. I’ve been working as the custodian for gender equality…working with all of the Action Track leaders…to make sure that gender equality, the empowerment of women, is embedded in these solutions,” says Dr. Jemimah Njuki, Director for Africa at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and Lead of the Summit’s Gender Lever of Change, who joins Aaron as co-host in this conversation about equitable livelihoods, gender equality and women’s empowerment.
Aquatic foods in the future can become a key forum for equality and inclusion. Guest in this episode, Dr. Shakuntala Thilsted, The Global Lead for Nutrition and Public Health at World Fish, and 2021 World Food Prize Laureate, explains how she hopes that winning the Food Prize will inspire young women and girls to study science: “It is extremely rewarding, extremely invigorating-you can reach far – and you can have a good time!” she says.
Listen to this conversation on gender equality, and women empowerment within the aquatic food economy as we continue to Lay Down Tracks to the UN Food Systems Summit.
https://www.un.org/en/food-systems-summit/laying-down-tracks
credits:
In our 50 minute discussion we learn about the lineage and focus of the Ocean Conservancy. I ask Janis Searles Jones, CEO of the Ocean Conservancy, about the organization’s strategic priorities and how they have evolved since she has taken the leadership role in 2017. We learn about their diverse ocean health efforts, and about what has successfully percolated to the domain of public knowledge. We hear what’s really working and how certain pathways to broader awareness – initiatives focused on the likes of plastic straws & sea turtles – are serving as an impetus to drive real change by empowering end users, consumers and voters. We discuss the state of biodiversity in our oceans and the capacities for the seas to continue to keep buffering the excess amounts of heat and carbon we’re spewing into the atmosphere. We learn what Ocean Conservancy is doing to instigate climate action in projects ranging from local clean-up initiatives, all the way up to global policy making in multi stakeholder relationships like the Paris Accord.
A focus area of our conversation is the utilization and shepherding of regenerative natural resources. Specifically, with the production of food. What humans eat from land and sea has a vast impact on the planet and its inhabitants. In our conversation we explore how 
Much of our conversation in this episode focused on the Circular Economy. The United Nations Industrial Development Organizations (UNIDO) describes this holistic approach as, “A circular economy is a new way of creating value, and ultimately prosperity, through extending product lifespan and relocating waste from the end of the supply chain to the beginning – in effect, using resources more efficiently by using them more than once. In a circular economy materials for new products come from old products. As much as possible, everything is reused, remanufactured or, as a last resort, recycled back into a raw material or used as a source of energy. ”
For today’s show we focus the discussion on the engine of environmental change – the economy. Professor Henderson has recently released the book “Reimagining Capitalism – In a World on Fire” – which borrows from the name of a course she teaches at Harvard Business School. As she explains, “I am convinced that we have a secret weapon. I spent twenty years of my life working with firms that were trying to transform themselves. I learned that having the right strategy was important, and that redesigning the organization was also critical. But mostly I learned that these were necessary but not sufficient conditions. The firms that mastered change were those that had a reason to do so: the ones that had a purpose greater than simply maximizing profits. People who believe that their work has a meaning beyond themselves can accomplish amazing things, and we have the opportunity to mobilize shared purpose at a global scale.”
For 30 years The Wildlife Habitat Council has been promoting and certifying habitat conservation and management on working lands through partnerships and education. As the only international conservation NGO focused exclusively on the private sector, WHC provides a framework for voluntary conservation action on a wide variety of corporate lands. Wildlife Habitat Council corporate members represent some of the leading national and multinational corporations seeking to support sustainable ecosystems and the communities that surround them. These efforts have resulted in more than 1,000 certified programs across 48 states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, and 29 countries.