Amid a growing web of complex and intensifying crises that endanger humanity’s ability to build a just and resilient global food system, the 2025 edition of the World Food Forum (WFF) arrived at a particularly timely moment, as nations grapple with a series of interconnected challenges ranging from conflict and climate change to environmental degradation and economic shocks.

The Forum brought together participants from around the world, including 10 heads of state and government, 115 ministers and vice-ministers, and many other representatives from governments, civil society, farmer organizations, research institutions and other stakeholders to deliberate on transforming global agri-food systems. 

Shemona Moonilal, Representative of the Bahá’í International Community's (BIC) Addis Ababa Office, shared that, "only by identifying, critically examining and revising the principles and assumptions that currently underpin food and agricultural systems—in light of humanity’s interconnection and interdependence—can we work towards a truly just and sustainable system, that is capable of nourishing all.”  This was among the central themes raised by the BIC at the Forum, to which the BIC Offices from Addis Ababa, Brussels, and Cairo actively contributed. 

Held under the theme Hand in Hand for Better Foods and a Better Future, the Forum also coincided with the 80th anniversary of the establishment of the FAO, marking eight decades since the international community united for the first time under a permanent body to collectively address food security and agricultural development.

Representative of the BIC’s Cairo Office, Hatem El-Hady, said that “deliberations about agriculture, food, and water should include a profound exploration of alternative societal and economic models, not merely minor adjustments within the existing system.”  

A policy officer from the BIC’s Brussels Office, Chloe Jamali, said that “it is essential to revisit the assumptions, values, and structural foundations upon which the current global food system is built, not only to understand how they have shaped its present outcomes, but also to begin articulating new foundational principles upon which a more just system can be built.”