The work sessions of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact (MUFPP) took place from 7 – 9 October 2019 in the French city of Montpellier. More than a hundred cities from around the world and representatives of various associations, foundations and universities shared experiences and knowledge about urban food systems: food production and supply, nutrition and diets, food waste, governance or food security were some of the issues addressed during the work sessions, all from the perspective of sustainability and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The group of signatory cities of the Milan Pact now exceeds two hundred. During this fifth summit 25 new cities joined the Pact. Two cities received the Milan Pact Award 2019: Maezitli (Turkey) for its aid programme for women producers, which provides them with economic independence, and Washington for its programme “Food as medicine” which improves the diet of the most disadvantaged population. On this occasion, 62 cities have presented a total of 104 good practices around sustainable urban food.
The director of CEMAS, Vicente Domingo, participated in the presentation of the publication A menu of actions to form urban food environments that improve nutrition. The initiative has been supported by MUFPP, GAIN (Global Alliance for Improved Nutrition) and the RUAF Foundation. Domingo said that “it is a fantastic collaborative initiative that demonstrates the knowledge that flows between cities on these important issues.”
The last day was closed by Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus who in his speech underlined that in many famine situations the problem is not the lack of food but the lack of purchasing power. Yunus added that it is the system that generates poverty and it is women who suffer most from these situations of lack of resources “because they never abandon their families.”
In this fifth meeting of the MUFPP the city of Mérida (Mexico) was chosen to be the host of next year’s summit and Barcelona will follow in 2021.