Ávarp Katrínar Jakobsdóttur forsætisráðherra á Matvælaráðstefnu Sameinuðu þjóðanna 23. september 2021

The government of Iceland welcomes the UN initiative to gather members at this Food Systems Summit. 

It is now evident that we exceed Planetary boundaries in a number of ways, taking more from Mother Nature than is sustainable.

How we produce, distribute, and consume food is not only harmful to our environment and our existence, but also wasteful.

All the while we have to 2 billion people that are malnourished or hungry so we have failed to make progress towards the elimination of hunger. 

So with all the hopeful resolutions and re-energized promises coming out of this Summit we must not fail those who are in desperate need as we speak.

International cooperation is the national pathway for Iceland towards improvements in our approach to food.

Being an island nation in the North Atlantic,  a healthy ocean is to our existence what fertile soil is to many others. 

Therefore, we welcome the proposed Blue Food Alliance.

It can highlight the significance of aquatic food in providing valuable nutrition in the diet of billions of people. 

This alliance should re-energize our effort in areas where there is broad consensus, but implementation falls short.  One such area is the evil of Illegal, unregulated, and unreported fishing.

Eliminating IUU fishing is pro-poor, pro-nutrition, and pro-nature.

Iceland is mindful of the cross-cutting reach of our action tracks.  Therefor we do not only declare our support to the school feeding coalition but remind us all of the importance of aquatic nutrition to the growth and well-being of children seeking education.

Finally,

The current unsustainable state of our food systems is also an expression of a bankrupt value system. There are still influential actors who profit enormously from the plundering of the planet.

It takes courage to simultaneously transform our value systems and food systems.