When food systems meet sustainability -Current narratives and implications for actions (original) (raw)
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Sustainable Food Systems <=> Sustainable Diets
International Journal of Sociology of Agriculture & Food, 2021
This Special Issue seeks to contribute to the debate around less resource-intensive sustainable diets demonstrating just how critical a social science perspective is in problematising and enriching the terms of that debate. There is general consensus that the global dietary transition towards westernized diets with high intakes of meat, refined fats, sugar and salt has unhealthy outcomes for people and the planet. Healthier and more sustainable diets are widely recognised as necessary to mitigate climate change, reduce the pressure on natural resources including aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems, and lower the global burden of disease. This editorial introduction presents eight articles selected from papers presented at the Conference 'Sustainable Food Systems <=> Sustainable Diets' held in October 2019 at The American University of Rome. Representing a diverse range of social science perspectives, the articles demonstrate the complexity in developing a shared understanding of what constitutes healthy and sustainable diets and which are likely to be inherently interconnected with regenerative agriculture and sustainable food systems. To different degrees the articles also reflect upon policy experiences to date and identify obstacles to the introduction of measures that would facilitate changes in consumption practices. Demonstrating the vital role of critical social analysis in deepening our understanding of the institutional, social, and cultural dimensions of food systems, this Special Issue will fill an important gap in the literature around sustainable diets.
Food Systems Sustainability: An Examination of Different Viewpoints on Food System Change
Sustainability, 2019
Global food insecurity levels remain stubbornly high. One of the surest ways to grasp the scale and consequence of global inequality is through a food systems lens. In a predominantly urban world, urban food systems present a useful lens to engage a wide variety of urban (and global) challenges-so called 'wicked problems.' This paper describes a collaborative research project between four urban food system research units, two European and two African. The project purpose was to seek out solutions to what lay between, across and within the different approaches applied in the understanding of each city's food system challenges. Contextual differences and immediate (perceived) needs resulted in very different views on the nature of the challenge and the solutions required. Value positions of individuals and their disciplinary "enclaves" presented further boundaries. The paper argues that finding consensus provides false solutions. Rather the identification of novel approaches to such wicked problems is contingent of these differences being brought to the fore, being part of the conversation, as devices through which common positions can be discovered, where spaces are created for the realisation of new perspectives, but also, where difference is celebrated as opposed to censored.
Is “sustainability” still relevant to food systems, or do we need a new term?
Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development, 2021
I looked forward to reading the Routledge Handbook of Sustainable and Regenerative Food Systems because I greatly respect the work of its editors and wanted to know how they would organize such a vast topic. It hardly needs repeating that today’s dominant industrialized food system is destroying biodiversity, degrading soil and water, emitting greenhouse gases, creating products that cause diet-related diseases, erasing traditional farm livelihoods, and destroying farm communities. Despite ample documentation of the problems and wide agreement on their existence, the solutions are much more contentious. What are the alternatives to the destructive industrialized food system, and what is the best trajectory from current practices to a better future? I hoped that this book would provide solid answers. . . .
Sustainable, resilient food systems for healthy diets: the transformation agenda
Public Health Nutrition, 2019
Sustainable, resilient food systems for healthy diets has been identified as the first of the six pillars for action during the UN Decade of Action on Nutrition (1). It is now THE defining issue for public health nutrition (2). A sustainable food system is one 'that ensures food security and nutrition for all in such a way that the economic, social and environmental bases to generate food security and nutrition of future generations are not compromised' (3) (p. 12). Resilience refers to the capacity of a food system to achieve this same objective 'in the face of various and even unforeseen disturbances' including environmental, economic or socio-political shocks (4) (p. 19). Sustainable food systems are essential if we are to nourish a projected global population of nearly 10 billion in 2050 within planetary boundaries (5). However, today's food systems are far from sustainable. Not only are dietary risk factors and malnutrition in all its forms the leading contributors to the global burden of disease (6) , but also food systems are not operating within some planetary boundaries and are contributing to widespread and potentially irreversible environmental breakdown degradation, including potentially irreversible disruption (7). Understanding the impact of population dietary intake has extended beyond health and the ability of food systems to provide sufficient quantity, quality and diversity of safe, affordable and nutritious foods, to interlinkages of diets and food systems with climate change, water and land pollution, deforestation and biodiversity loss and other forms of environmental degradation (7). The focus on healthy diets from sustainable food systems connects all parts of food supply chains (from food production to consumption) and the social, economic and environmental outputs of those systems (8). Unsustainable food systems producing unhealthy diets is the status quo, a lose-lose dynamic for both human health and the environment. Nevertheless, in principle there is hope. A system disruption might possibly flip new governance arrangements and policy actions for transforming food systems to win-win have been articulated. Certainly there is evidence to support the premise that 'a healthy diet is a sustainable diet' and vice versa (9). However, achieving these actions presents a major challenge. Food systems are multidimensional socio-ecological systems which involve many actors with diverse interests and worldviews, impacted by policies from sectors including agriculture, food, health, finance, trade and environment (10) .
The Sustainable Diet Question: Reasserting societal dynamics into the debate about a Good Diet
International Journal of the Sociology of Agriculture and Food, 2021
This paper locates the notion of Sustainable Diet as the latest iteration in the long-term policy question: What is a ‘Good Diet’? It reviews why there is tension over broadening the notion of a Good Diet to include the environment. It contrasts simple and complex approaches to sustainability for food systems and diet in particular. It proposes a multi-criteria approach to dietary analysis and to policy guidelines. The experience of a number of countries are summarised and analysed for sources of resistance and difficulty. It proposes that the socio-cultural dimension of Sustainable Diet requires further analysis but already offers promising avenues for change.
Sustainability of food systems: The role of legal and policy frameworks
2018
Food plays a critical role in human life for sustenance, nutrition, cultural expression and socio-economic development. It is, therefore, imperative that food production, processing and consumption systems are managed in a manner that ensures access to adequate, quality, safe and nutritious food for all for present and future generations. However, the world continues to struggle with different nutritional challenges such as undernutrition, overnutrition and malnutrition. It is essential that a system of food production, processing and consumption be adopted that effectively responds to these challenges in a comprehensive and holistic manner. This article elaborates on the food sustainability approach as an alternative to the prevailing conventional industrial approach to food production that has failed to end the world’s nutritional challenge while, at the same time, adversely degrading the ecosystem. The food sustainability approach adopts a systems approach to the global nutrition...
Towards sustainable food systems: a holistic, interdisciplinary and systemic approach
AgroFor international journal, 1/1: 103-112, 2016
One of the biggest challenges facing humanity is achieving sustainable food security in the face of population growth, resource scarcity, ecosystem degradation and climate change. Transitioning towards sustainable food systems (SFS) is a must for achieving sustainable development. This review paper highlights the need to adopt a holistic, multidimensional, interdisciplinary and systemic approach for better understanding food systems, which is a prerequisite for fostering transition towards sustainability. A better understanding of food systems means comprehending issues at play from 'farm to fork' i.e. production (crop, animal, seafood), processing, trade and distribution, and consumption. For gaining a full awareness also cross-cutting issues such as gender, innovation and technology should be considered. Such a deep knowledge and consequent corrective actions are crucial to address the multiple challenges and dysfunctions of the current global food system such as food insecurity, obesity, food waste, climate change, biodiversity loss, land degradation, water depletion, deforestation, market concentration and food heritage erosion. It is fundamental to foster transition towards sustainable and resilient food systems to achieve sustainable food and nutrition security for present and future generations. All dimensions (environment, economy, society and culture, nutrition and health) of food sustainability should be tackled while considering policy and governance. Different food consumption and production models can help speeding up journey towards sustainability. These include, inter alia, organic agriculture and different alternative food systems allowing to link consumption and production such as urban agriculture, community-supported agriculture and short food chains. While the challenge is titanic, there is a menu of options that can be jointly used to foster shift towards SFS such as sustainable and eco-functional intensification, sustainable diets, food loss and waste reduction. Nevertheless, a holistic and systemic approach is necessary to develop a systems thinking for generating interdisciplinary knowledge needed to support transition towards sustainable food systems.
Environmental Research Letters, 2020
Many detrimental effects on the environment, economy, and society are associated with the structure and practices of food systems around the world. While there is increasing agreement on the need for substantive change in food systems towards sustainability, divergent perspectives exist on what should be the appropriate points of intervention and strategies to achieve such change. Change in diets and nutrition, the importance of social food movements, and sustainable farming practices are all disparately featured in the literature; yet, there is little effort at synthesis and integration. This review offers a comprehensive overview of perspectives on food systems change towards sustainability. We discern where there is convergence in approaches and assess how the literature reflects emergent theory on sustainability transformation. We analyzed more than 200 peer-reviewed articles employing a fertile approach that combines both quantitative and qualitative analysis. First, we performed a semantic hierarchical cluster analysis of the full texts to identify thematic clusters representing different perspectives on sustainability transformations and transitions of food systems. Second, we conducted a qualitative text analysis for the most representative papers of each cluster to examine in detail how deep changes in the food system are conceptualized in these clusters. We identified five distinct approaches to food systems change that are currently discussed, i.e. Alternative food movements, Sustainable diets, Sustainable agriculture, Healthy and diverse societies, and Food as commons. Each approach provides a nuanced perspective on identified sustainability problems, envisioned sustainable food systems, and proposed actions to change food systems towards sustainability. The findings offer guidance for researchers and practitioners working on food systems change towards sustainability.
Food systems everywhere: Improving relevance in practice
Global Food Security
Food systems approaches are increasingly used to better understand transitions in diets, sustainable resource use and social inclusion. Moreover, food systems frameworks are also widely used in many recent policy and foresight studies. We assess 32 highly-cited international studies, identifying and comparing differences in the frameworks used for food systems analysis, and discrepancies in the procedures to identify strategies for and performances of food system transformation. We show that the relevance of existing food systems analysis for identifying critical trade-offs and understanding relevant policies and practices for achieving synergies remains limited. While many studies are largely descriptive, some offer more practical insights into and evidence of entry points for food system transformation as well as opportunities for improving multiple food system outcomes (i.e. nutrition and health, environmental sustainability and resilience, social inclusion). We distinguish four different pathways for food system transformation and outline their analytical underpinnings, their views on multi-stakeholder governance, and how they deal with critical trade-offs between multiple food system objectives. We conclude that food systems approaches must be useful to decision makers and performance can only be improved if decision makers have a better understanding of these underlying interactions and dynamics of food systems change.