An Integrated Approach to Identifying and Characterising Resilient Urban Food Systems to Promote Population Health in a Changing Climate

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah W James ◽  
Sharon Friel
2015 ◽  
Vol 18 (13) ◽  
pp. 2498-2508 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah W James ◽  
Sharon Friel

AbstractObjectiveTo determine key points of intervention in urban food systems to improve the climate resilience, equity and healthfulness of the whole system.DesignThe paper brings together evidence from a 3-year, Australia-based mixed-methods research project focused on climate change adaptation, cities, food systems and health. In an integrated analysis of the three research domains – encompassing the production, distribution and consumption sectors of the food chain – the paper examines the efficacy of various food subsystems (industrial, alternative commercial and civic) in achieving climate resilience and good nutrition.SettingGreater Western Sydney, Australia.SubjectsPrimary producers, retailers and consumers in Western Sydney.ResultsThis overarching analysis of the tripartite study found that: (i) industrial food production systems can be more environmentally sustainable than alternative systems, indicating the importance of multiple food subsystems for food security; (ii) a variety of food distributors stocking healthy and sustainable items is required to ensure that these items are accessible, affordable and available to all; and (iii) it is not enough that healthy and sustainable foods are produced or sold, consumers must also want to consume them. In summary, a resilient urban food system requires that healthy and sustainable food items are produced, that consumers can attain them and that they actually wish to purchase them.ConclusionsThis capstone paper found that the interconnected nature of the different sectors in the food system means that to improve environmental sustainability, equity and population health outcomes, action should focus on the system as a whole and not just on any one sector.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (4) ◽  
pp. 925 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jan Erisman ◽  
Allison Leach ◽  
Albert Bleeker ◽  
Brooke Atwell ◽  
Lia Cattaneo ◽  
...  

Reducing nitrogen pollution across the food chain requires the use of clear and comprehensive indicators to track and manage losses. The challenge is to derive an easy-to-use robust nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) indicator for entire food systems to help support policy development, monitor progress and inform consumers. Based on a comparison of four approaches to NUE (life cycle analysis, nitrogen footprint, nitrogen budget, and environmental impact assessment), we propose an indicator for broader application at the national scale: The whole food chain (NUEFC), which is defined as the ratio of the protein (expressed as nitrogen) available for human consumption to the (newly fixed and imported) nitrogen input to the food system. The NUEFC was calculated for a set of European countries between 1980 and 2011. A large variation in NUEFC was observed within countries in Europe, ranging from 10% in Ireland to 40% in Italy in 2008. The NUEFC can be used to identify factors that influence it (e.g., the share of biological nitrogen fixation (BNF) in new nitrogen, the imported and exported products and the consumption), which can be used to propose potential improvements on the national scale.


2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 4112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alessandra Durazzo ◽  
Johannes Kiefer ◽  
Massimo Lucarini ◽  
Emanuela Camilli ◽  
Stefania Marconi ◽  
...  

Italian cuisine and its traditional recipes experience an ever-increasing popularity around the world. The “Integrated Approach” is the key to modern food research and the innovative challenge for analyzing and modeling agro-food systems in their totality. The present study aims at applying and evaluating Fourier Transformed Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy for the analysis of complex food matrices and food preparations. Nine traditional Italian recipes, including First courses, One-dish meals, Side courses, and Desserts, were selected and experimentally prepared. Prior to their analysis via FTIR spectroscopy, the samples were homogenized and lyophilized. The IR spectroscopic characterization and the assignment of the main bands was carried out. Numerous peaks, which correspond to functional groups and modes of vibration of the individual components, were highlighted. The spectra are affected by both the preparation procedures, the cooking methods, and the cooking time. The qualitative analysis of the major functional groups can serve as a basis for a discrimination of the products and the investigation of fraud. For this purpose, the FTIR spectra were evaluated using Principal Component Analysis (PCA). Our results show how the utilization of vibrational spectroscopy combined with a well-established chemometric data analysis method represents a potentially powerful tool in research linked to the food sector and beyond. This study is a first step towards the development of new indicators of food quality.


2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jeena Mary

World is now facing a greater menace of climate change and this has a long term impact on agriculture system. Weeds are one of the major factors that hold back the crops from attaining potential yield. The changing climate can have an effect on weed diversity, establishment and management. The response of weeds to altering climate mainly leans on the physiological characteristics of the weed and how productively it can respond to the immediate climatic condition. Due to high plasticity of weeds, management of these unwanted plants become difficult. This has significant repercussions on weed control practices, especially herbicide performance and effectiveness. Therefore, an integrated approach of weed management is adopted to reduce the impact of climate change on crop-weed interaction. 


Author(s):  
Marie T. Ruel ◽  
Jef L. Leroy ◽  
Olivier Ecker ◽  
Manuel Hernandez ◽  
Danielle Resnick ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (17) ◽  
pp. 10551-10560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Prajal Pradhan ◽  
Steffen Kriewald ◽  
Luís Costa ◽  
Diego Rybski ◽  
Tim G. Benton ◽  
...  

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document