Global food systems are at breaking point – and our current policy solutions and technical innovations are not delivering the change we need. To create more regenerative systems, we need to access deeper levers of change.
The crisis begins within us, and how we see and relate to the world. While food connects us fundamentally with the earth and with one another, the current global food system is shaped by a deep cultural story of separation that sets individuals apart from other beings and from nature. This inner disconnection manifests in dysfunctional food systems: in hungry children and obesity epidemics, in farmers’ despair, and in extractive production practices, devastated landscapes and biodiversity loss. While these issues are embedded in structural inequities and the disempowerment of the most marginalized stakeholders, they are also rooted in our collective consciousness.Â
To activate solutions we must therefore also look within; shifting the collective ways of being, thinking, and doing that have produced the current crisis. We require new ways of collaborating based on care, trust and shared awareness of our deep interconnectedness.Â
The time has come to build the inner foundations of sustainable food systems.Â
The Conscious Food Systems Alliance (CoFSA), is a movement of food, agriculture and consciousness practitioners, convened by UNDP, and united around a common goal: to support people from across food and agriculture systems to cultivate the inner capacities that activate systemic change and regeneration.Â
We aim to complement existing approaches; exploring ways to integrate evidence-based consciousness practices such as mindfulness, compassion, nature-connection, non-violent communication, and self-reflection, into food systems initiatives. These practices foster the awareness, connection and creativity that can unlock structural solutions.
We know these practices are effective, and their value in supporting sustainability at multiple levels is increasingly recognised. We also know that they are not new: indigenous and wisdom traditions have embraced these practices for millennia, within a whole-istic understanding of food and the natural world.Â
CoFSA offers a bold vision on the role of consciousness in food systems transformation. Around this shared purpose, diverse stakeholders are uniting – co-creating and adapting approaches to their own contexts, and learning from each other.Â
Reconnection begins here. Join a growing community of practitioners, exploring pathways toward conscious food systems.
The Manifesto was co-created by CoFSA members. Special thanks to: Rosie Bell, Jamie Bristow, Kira Cooper, Simon Cooper, Jo Confino, Jeroen Janss, Gabor Karsai, Katie Palmer, Noemi Altobelli, and Thomas Legrand.
