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Resource and Environmental Management
SFU professor appointed to UN Panel of experts for resilient food systems report
The High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition of the Committee on World Food Security recently announced a new drafting team for the report “Building resilient food systems” to assess vulnerabilities and strategies in agriculture and food systems.
Tammara Soma, an associate professor in Simon Fraser University’s School of Resource and Environmental Management, has been selected to join the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE-FSN) of the Committee on World Food Security (CFS) for the report “Building resilient food systems,” expected at the 53rd Plenary Session of the CFS in October 2025.
The HLPE-FSN is the United Nations body for assessing the science related to global food security and nutrition. Soma was selected for her expertise in food systems planning, waste management, the circular economy and community engaged research, contributing to a nuanced understanding of food system vulnerabilities and resilience strategies. This appointment underscores SFU’s commitments to the CFS to support the global governance for food security and nutrition, and to advancing Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) like SDG 2: End hunger, achieve food security and improved nutrition and promote sustainable agriculture.
Soma is a certified professional planner, the associate director of SFU’s Global Institute for Agritech and the co-founder and research director of the Food Systems Lab, a research and social innovation lab at SFU. She is also an active community engaged researcher who works with diverse communities to address concerns and questions surrounding food systems.
"I have dedicated my academic career to solving critical food systems issues that impact the resiliency of our food systems from the point of production to consumption and beyond. My background in food systems planning also allows me to connect the dots from a systems perspective and contribute to the interdisciplinary work that our international team of scholars will embark on for the year,” says Soma.
Selected through a rigorous process emphasizing scientific and technical expertise, alongside regional insights, the team embodies interdisciplinarity. Their collective experience spans health and nutrition, human rights, gender analysis, Indigenous Peoples knowledge, environmental sciences, and more, ensuring a comprehensive understanding of agricultural and food system vulnerabilities.
“I am excited about joining this interdisciplinary team, the timing of this report and work is critical as we are witnessing conflicts and global disruptions that are impacting our ability to grow, distribute and access food. And these impacts are not felt equitably with some groups being disproportionately impacted depending on their race, income, nationality etc. I feel honoured to contribute my service and represent SFU,” says Soma. “In the scope of the report, our team recognizes that resiliency is not just about bouncing back to status quo, but it really is about designing a better food system future for all. The problems in our food systems can be overwhelming and daunting, but we are hopeful about the solutions too.”
The team is led by Alison Blay-Palmer, UNESCO Chair and Professor at Wilfrid Laurier University Canada and renowned for her research in food systems, biodiversity and community resilience, and also features Colin Anderson, Philip Antwi-Agyei, Garima Bhalla, Lidia Cabral, Francisco Javier Espinosa Garcia, Tomaso Ferrando, Isabel Madzorera, Monika Zurek, Paola Termine (Secretariat), Johanna Wilkes (Research Assistant).
More information is available here.