Food connects us with one another, our cultures and our planet. Rather than nourishing our collective health and well-being, however, food systems are at the heart of the social and environmental crises we face1. Despite significant investment and effort towards transforming food systems, the solutions emphasized so far are not delivering the necessary impact. This impasse calls us to examine more deeply the root causes of our crises and the structural barriers to transformation.

Progress is hindered by entrenched power structures that severely limit agency to create change at individual and collective levels. These structures maintain and are themselves maintained by a pervasive cultural narrative of separation. This narrative underpins a dominant paradigm of unfettered economic growth, deprioritizes care in policymaking, depresses stakeholder collaboration, and manifests in a widespread inability to think and act systemically.

While these barriers are embedded in structural inequities and the lack of agency of the most marginalized stakeholders, they are also fundamentally rooted in our consciousness, particularly in cultural patterns of disconnection from self, others, and nature (see Box 4). Consciousness refers to our awareness of inner and outer phenomena, which influences the lens through which we see and relate to ourselves, and the world around us: others, nature, and future generations. Cultivating consciousness leads to an increasing circle of identity, care and responsibility2.

In the field of sustainability, the importance of deepening consciousness, and cultivating inner capacities – individual and collective awareness, mindsets, beliefs, values, worldviews, and associated transformative cognitive, emotional and relational qualities and skills - that support it, is increasingly recognized3. Accordingly, the latest IPCC reports on climate change mitigation and adaptation highlight for instance the role of “inner transitions” and inner capacities of individuals, organizations, and societies as a lever for accelerating the transition in the context of sustainable development4,5.

Overcoming structural barriers to food systems transformation requires investments in building and cultivating the inner capacities of individuals, groups, and institutions that comprise them. This implies fostering reconnection with nature, others, and self (see Box 5) and cultivating specific transformative qualities and skills (see Figure 3). Integrating the cultivation of inner capacities with ongoing investment in existing external solutions represents an untapped opportunity to unlock food systems transformation. The Conscious Food Systems Alliance (CoFSA) was created in recognition of this urgent global need.

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.