About GLF Africa 2022

GLF Africa 2022: How to build an equitable, resilient food future brought together over 8,500 participants from 122 countries and featured 182 leading scientists, activists, Indigenous leaders, financiers, youth and government leaders, and 68 incredible partners to explore African solutions to the global food crisis caused by climate change, COVID-19 and the war in Ukraine. 

Across 31 plenaries, interactive sessions, launches, virtual tours, dialogues, performances, and a job fair, the digital conference explored ways to transform the future of food through healthy landscapes, equitable access to land, and shorter, greener value chains. Messages on social media rallied 26 million people around concrete ways for Africa to regain its food sovereignty.

GLFx Cape Town on innovative food systems that positively impact the environment and people

Earlier this year, the GLFx Cape Town Speaker Stage at Greenpop’s Reforest Fest carried out a series of talks that discussed how we could implement innovative food systems that positively impact the environment while also benefiting local communities.

Nicola Rule, Professional Officer at Local Governments for Sustainability (ICLEI) Africa presents extracts from this series and discusses the complex dynamics of food and equity and the potential for shaping the future of food systems in South Africa. Five speakers with innovative enterprises deliver their message on sustainable food systems:

1. Mercy Nqandeka works for Viva con Agua in Bulungula to facilitate clean water access and sanitation in schools. The degraded soils in the area make it difficult for even those who want to grow food to do so successfully.  The solution is to plant trees as they cover the soil and allow life to regenerate. But the tricky aspect of this context is that Rural South African villages maintain deeply ingrained cultural beliefs, habits, and superstitions around trees and land use, and these beliefs must be taken into consideration if these projects are to thrive.  Watch the full speech.
2. Kaspar Paur is a Swiss environmentalist and founder of the Muizenberg-based initiative Oceaneers, a growing community of sea aficionados looking to spread knowledge and positively impact the oceans around them.  Watch the full speech.
3. Tasneem Karodia, COO and co-founder of Mzansi Meat, is a long-standing advocate for plant-based diets in response to the severe negative effects of large-scale animal agriculture, and her involvement with Mzansi Meat came from a fortuitous Webinar, which saw her later joining forces with her co-founder and CEO Brett Thompson. Now they’re spearheading the change with the first cultivated beef in Africa.  Watch the full speech.
4. Gray Maguire is a member of the Climate Neutral Group and works with farmers to reduce the carbon footprint of production and ensure no one is deprived of access to resources. Watch the full speech
5. Rosanna ‘Rosie’ McLean recites her poem Find me in nature. Watch the full video.

Download From landscape to table, food systems in perspective White Paper  🌳