How can we ensure that health, food systems, and sustainable agricultural systems mutually reinforce one another to better support people’s livelihoods and well-being?

Health, food security, and sustainable agricultural systems are closely interconnected – and key to ending poverty and hunger. Conceiving of them as a nexus and considering them in relation to the Earth’s planetary boundaries and to people’s livelihoods and wellbeing calls for novel approaches that integrate different perspectives on health, income generation and access to employment, food security, land, and water. Sessions in this conference theme aim at identifying nexus solutions that overcome the drawbacks of sectoral solutions and enhance the resilience and efficiency of health, food systems, and agricultural systems.

How can we deal with environmental sustainability while achieving economic development?

The production of goods and services in agriculture and industry is key to economic development; it relies critically on use of natural resources and energy. Natural resource use and land use change can accelerate climate change and environmental degradation, disproportionately affecting the livelihoods of the poor but also threatening the rest of humanity in the long term. Sessions focusing on this conference theme should discuss novel approaches and governance frameworks, identifying pathways to achieve economic development that deals effectively with environmental change.

How can we promote inclusive, equitable, and peaceful societies?

Peace, social justice, and good governance are essential to achieve effective outcomes under all Sustainable Development Goals. Sound institutional arrangements and policies are needed to promote political, social, and economic inclusion as well as equal access to resources and services in sectors such as health or education. Sessions reflecting on this theme should enable discussions on pathways and transitions for enhancing societies’ and individuals’ capabilities, taking into account also contexts of state fragility as well as the risks and opportunities of global change related to access to resources and services.

How can we ensure that partnerships are transformative?

Producing and using knowledge that advances transformations towards sustainable development requires a broadened range of effective collaborations. An engaged dialogue between scientists, policymakers, civil society, and the private sector is needed to deal with the complexity of trade-offs between different sustainability targets, as well as to achieve policy coherence. The aim of this conference theme is to significantly advance discussion of different perspectives and critical reflections on innovative approaches to transformative partnerships.