The Urban Laboratory of Public Food Policies (LUPPA) was created to facilitate the development of integrated, participatory municipal food policies with a systemic approach. It is a collaborative platform and an ongoing learning program run by Instituto Comida do Amanhã, co-organized with ICLEI Brasil.

LUPPA currently has 43 participating cities, spread across 18 states in all 5 Brazilian regions, totaling more than 14 million inhabitants. On joining the lab, participating cities embark on a collaborative journey to build public food policies and respond creatively and disruptively to contemporary demands, through a strategy of mutual support, knowledge exchange and inspiration drawn from successes and challenges. The lab is a program recognized as innovative by the UN (State of Food Insecurity in the World 2023), and highlighted by IPES-Food (From Plate do Planet 2023) and by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (Strengthening urban and peri-urban food systems 2024) as an example of support for cities to advance their food policies.

For Juliana Tângari, director of Comida do Amanhã and general coordinator of the program, LUPPA is today a well-established program among Brazilian cities and is considered innovative and unique in the world. “We have a community that is made up not only of cities, but of people, public officials, decision-makers and local activists, all committed to the agenda of healthy, fair and sustainable food. This community, horizontal by nature, has enormous power to transform food systems starting from cities,” she highlighted.

Now reaching its 4th edition, which will focus even more on medium-sized cities, where Brazil’s population growth is concentrated, 10 new cities will be selected to join the program, with 40% of these places reserved for cities in the Legal Amazon, aiming for greater territorial diversity.

“In its three years of existence, LUPPA has supported more than 30 city governments from all over Brazil in developing their food and nutrition security policies, 12 of them in the Amazon. And this fourth edition will be special, as it coincides with the year of COP 30 in Brazil, precisely in the Amazon, consolidating ICLEI’s partnership with Instituto Comida do Amanhã,” noted Rodrigo Perpétuo, Executive Secretary of ICLEI América do Sul.

To take part, cities must have between 100,000 and 1 million inhabitants and send a letter of commitment signed by their mayors or deputy mayors demonstrating their commitment to developing the Policy, plans and projects on food systems. Applications are free of charge and must be submitted by July 31 through the link: bit.ly/inscricoesLUPPA4.

About LUPPA:

LUPPA is a project of Instituto Comida do Amanhã, co-organized with ICLEI América do Sul, with full support from Instituto Ibirapitanga, ICS – Instituto Clima e Sociedade, Fundação José Luiz Egydio Setúbal and Porticus, institutional support from FAO Brazil – Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, and methodological partnership with Reos Partners Brasil.