The Mayors of Washington DC, Muriel Bowser and Madison (Wisconsin), Paul Soglin signed today the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact during an official event held in the capital of the United States. In the event organized by the City of Washington and the US Conference of Mayors (USCM) took part Catherine Pugh, the mayor of Baltimore, food policy advisors and the Vicemayor of Milan Anna Scavuzzo.
“DC is well on its way to becoming the sustainability capital of the world,” said Mayor Bowser “With a framework for providing a sustainable food system that grants healthy and accessible food across all the city our commitment to the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact is a great example of how we are building a greener, healthier, and more sustainable DC.”
“Adopting the Milan Urban Food Policy allows the municipalities throughout the country participating in the  US Mayors Food Policy Task Force to coordinate their efforts, achieving common goals and measures efforts in addressing food insecurity in our communities” added Mayor Soglin
“Since its launch in 2015, the MUFPP has been key to boost the collaboration among cities towards more sustainable and equitable urban food systems”  said Vicemayor Scavuzzo “Exchanges of good practices on urban agriculture, school meals and prevention of food waste are ongoing at a global and especially at a regional level. West African cities members of the Pact are working together on specific challenges. In Europe many cities networks are engaged in a dynamic and strong process of knowledge sharing and advocacy on food issues. We are honoured and happy to see that American cities are so committed to foster the implementation of the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact ”
Over the past months an increasing number of US cities expressed their intention to join the Pact: Pittsburgh, Austin and West Sacramento signed the MUFPP in 2017, Minneapolis and New Haven will finalize their subscription in the forthcoming weeks; Seattle and Philadelphia are also considering signing the Pact. This interest is the result of the city of Baltimore’s efforts to spread the principles and the potential of the Pact in the United States. Baltimore won the first edition of the Milan Pact Awards (MPA) with the highest score for its Baltimore Food Policy Initiative. The MPA rules provide that winners of the monetary prize use the sum of the award to transfer their good practice to other signatory cities. Since winning the MUFPP Award, the Baltimore City Food Policy Director has served as the Chair of the USCM Food Policy Advisory Network to strengthen the role of the advisors and better coordinate their activities.  As a result, the US Mayors Food Policy Task Force has officially adopted the Milan Urban Food Policy Pact as a guiding framework and will work to recruit other US cities to work on food issues.
The Milan Urban Food Policy is working with global and regional cities networks, such as C40 Food Systems Network, EUROCITIES,  Nordic Cities Eat Initiative, CityFood, to reinforce the  collaboration among local governments on food and sustainability issues.
Beside promoting the exchange of solutions  the MUFPP has been advocating at the global level to strengthen the role of cities in tackling global challenges. At the last MUFPP Annual Gathering (Valencia 19-21 October 2017)  MUFPP cities launched an appeal to the UN Secretary and the all UN agencies for their efforts to foster inclusion, resilience and sustainability to be recognized. They call on the UN bodies to adopt multi-level approaches to food systems governance” acknowledging “the need to include actors at subnational level in upcoming review and follow up to the global agendas.”
Watch the video of the press conference