A/71/282 to create healthy food environments and reduce diet-related non-communicable diseases. It uses the healthy food environment policy index to monitor government actions. While currently at the pilot-testing stage, such tools will assist civil society in holding Governments and the food industry to greater account for creating healthier food environments. 58 The Nourishing Framework, created by World Cancer Research Fund International, is an interactive tool to promote healthy diets, allowing a selection and tailoring of polic y options for different populations. 59 Finally, WHO regional offices have developed regional nutrient profiling models, which can be used in policymaking to improve the overall nutritional quality of diets. 6. Making food systems “nutrition sensitive” 92. To promote meaningful change, actions must also be directed at the food system level to make it more “nutrition sensitive”. It is imperative that global food systems move away from agro-industrial production methods that are responsible for dietary monotony and reliance on ultraprocessed food and beverages towards a system that supports food sovereignty, small-scale producers and local markets, based on ecological balance, agro-biodiversity and traditional practices. Food sovereignty allows peoples to define their own policies and strategies for sustainable production, distribution and consumption of food. Globally, the majority of food is supplied by local farmers. Therefore, efforts to combat malnutrition should support smallholder farmers and promote nutrition-sensitive production. Agroecology ensures food and nutrition security without compromising the economic, social and environmental needs of future generations. 60 It focuses on maintaining productive agriculture that sustains yields and optimizes the use of local resources while minimizing the negative environmental and socioeconomic impacts of modern technologies. 61 It is imperative to support ambitious research initiatives to establish the scientific basis for claiming that agroecology is capable of nutrition-sensitive production while promoting local livelihoods and the environment. V. Conclusion and recommendations 93. To successfully combat universal malnutrition in all its forms, including the negative effects of the “nutrition transition”, the first step is recognizing nutrition as an essential component of the human right to adequate food, reinforced by monitoring, accountability and transparency mechanisms. 94. The United Nations Decade of Action on Nutrition, proclaimed in April 2016, could be an effective vehicle to strengthen implementation of existing nutrition commitments. However, the United Nations and the international community need to address existing flaws within the global governance system, especially the weakness of implementation and accountability. The General Assembly has called upon the World Health Organization and the Food and __________________ 58 59 60 61 22/24 See http://globalnutritionreport.org/files/2014/11/gnr14_pn4g_13swinburn.pdf. See www.wcrf.org/int/policy/nourishing-framework. High-level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition, “Food losses and waste in the context of sustainable food systems”, June 2014; A/HRC/16/49. See A/70/287, sect. IX. 16-13441