Sustainable Food Monitor

World Youth Speak up at the UN’s 17^th Commission on Sustainable Development,

an International Symposium to Address Global Crises,

and

New York City Showcases Vibrant Local Markets to Youth from Around the Globe

May 4-15, 2009

Young People Demonstrate Power and Concern at Several Events

New York, NY Now, as the converging food, finance, energy and climate crises push governments and citizens to consider innovative ways to manage current and future challenges, young people are staking their claim to the future by voicing their support for sustainable development to feed the world’s growing population.

Willing to face these crises head on, a sizeable youth caucus from the 53 member countries will attend the 17^th session of the Commission on Sustainable Development and participate in events in- and outside the UN ranging from local NYC market tours to high-level policy debates.

In a show of solidarity with the Youth Caucus, the New York City CSD Host Committee members – including high school and college students — have come together to collaborate with UN delegates and representatives.

NYC Youth and their mentors will present:

• May 13, from 1:00 to 3:00 PM, a Youth Showcase at Dag Hammarskjold Farmers Market (47^th Street and Second Avenue), co-led by the NYC CSD Host Committee, Council on the Environment, Family Cook Productions, and World Hunger Year and others will showcase youth-led and youth-oriented programs about nutrition, food security, farmers markets, youth empowerment and youth leadership. Several high school students will demonstrate their cooking and leadership skills using local market produce and international recipes. NYC youth will interview and videotape Youth Caucus members about their role in CSD policy negotiations, and the role of youth in helping to feed their communities and sustainable agriculture.

Important NYC CSD Host Committee events with youth participation

• May 4 - Workshop inside the UN on Public Procurement of Food for Schools and other Institutions, featuring the authors of “The School Food Revolution”.
• May 5 - “Regions Feeding Cities” side event inside the UN, featuring local authority leaders from New York and the world on city/regional planning, food and agriculture, health and nutrition, and supply chain infrastructure including school food procurement and community and youth-led farms and markets.
• May 9 — Brooklyn City Farms Tour for government and civil society delegates, including Youth Caucus members, that’s led by World Hunger Year and the Host Committee. The world youth will meet NYC youth leaders engaged in urban agriculture on their tour to Brooklyn Rescue Mission, East New York Farms and Market, and Hattie Carthan Community Garden. Examples of rural farmers from the countryside working with urban communities also growing food to supply low income neighborhoods and emergency feeding programs with nutritious, regionally grown produce will underscore the importance of these urban-rural linkages for food security and youth engagement.
• May 9 - City Markets Tour for government and civil society delegates, including Youth Caucus, co-led by the Host Committee and New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, New York City’s Office of School Food, Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, Economic Development Corporation, and Council on the Environment. The tour will include Hunt’s Point Wholesale Farmers Market, Grand Army Plaza Farmers Market and a nearby public school for a school lunch prepared by the NYC Office of School Food.

These dynamic young people realize that they will inherit the global challenge of balancing the growing demand for food within an environmentally fragile landscape. They are rising to the occasion and seeking out public forums to educate their peers and adults about the necessity of rethinking “how we eat, what we buy, and to care about how their food is produced,” notes author and FamilyCook Productions’ founder, Lynn Fredericks.

Conversations among youth are expected to address themes common to the developed and developing worlds alike: regions feeding cities, infrastructure, community empowerment and youth engagement in agriculture, direct-to-consumer, wholesale, retail and institutional sales of rurally-grown food including procurement issues surrounding homegrown school feeding programs, urban agriculture, emergency food systems, health and nutrition, among other sustainable development topics including agro-ecological farming practices.

This show of solidarity is a product of a wide range of NYC-based groups and individuals active in promoting regional food systems for food security and food education: Council on the Environment NYC’s Greenmarket Youth Programs, New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets, Department of Education’s Office of School Food, the Food Systems Network NYC, Just Food, World Hunger Year, Cornell University Cooperative Extension, Family Cook Productions Teen Iron Chef, the USDA and many others.

Reporters can find a story around the collaboration between young people, local and global food leaders and sustainable development advocates ranging from local interest to global policy debates.

Visit the New York City Host Committee’s website at http://sustainablefoodmonitor.org/event-calendar/ for a complete calendar of Host Committee events in- and outside the UN.

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