scholarly journals City Region Food Systems: Building Resilience to COVID-19 and Other Shocks

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 1325
Author(s):  
Alison Blay-Palmer ◽  
Guido Santini ◽  
Jess Halliday ◽  
Roman Malec ◽  
Joy Carey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
Food System ◽  
City Region ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization ◽  
Entry Points ◽  
System Sustainability ◽  
United Nations Food

Using examples from the COVID-19 pandemic, this paper reviews the contribution a City Region Food Systems (CRFS) approach makes to regional sustainability and resilience for existing and future shocks including climate change. We include both explicit interventions under United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO-RUAF) led initiatives, as well as ad hoc efforts that engage with elements of the CRFS approach. To provide context, we begin with a literature review of the CRFS approach followed by an overview of the global food crisis, where we outline many of the challenges inherent to the industrial capital driven food system. Next, we elaborate three key entry points for the CRFS approach—multistakeholder engagement across urban rural spaces; the infrastructure needed to support more robust CRFS; system centered planning, and, the role of policy in enabling (or thwarting) food system sustainability. The pandemic raises questions and provides insights about how to foster more resilient food systems, and provides lessons for the future for the City Region Food System approach in the context of others shocks including climate change.

scholarly journals The Links between Human Diets and Health and Climate Outcomes in the World’s Macro-Regions during the Last 50 Years

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 1219 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Fischer ◽  
Pier Paolo Miglietta
Keyword(s):  
Food System ◽  
Diversity Index ◽  
Calorie Intake ◽  
Resource Base ◽  
Plant Products ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization ◽  
Total Calorie ◽  
Natural Resource Base ◽  
System Sustainability

Globally, traditional food security fears have been supplemented by concerns about food system sustainability that link current agricultural production practices to damages of environmental ecosystems and the world’s climate, thus threatening the natural resource base of future generations. This paper aims at creating a better understanding of the evolution of diet sustainability from 1961 to 2013. Data from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations were used to investigate the situation for the world as a whole as well as for its macro-regions Africa, Asia, the Americas, Europe and Oceania. We define diet sustainability by (a) the share of daily per capita calorie intake derived from vegetable/plant products and (b) the variety of vegetable/plant products consumed, measured by the Simpson diversity index. Moreover, total calorie consumption is considered. Then the correlations between diet sustainability and (a) macro-regional life expectancy rates and (b) food system greenhouse gas emissions are calculated. The results show that diet sustainability has not changed much during the last 50 years. Moreover, the nexus between diets and health and climate outcomes is not fully evident at the macro-regional level. Therefore, Malthus 2.0, i.e., scientific food pessimism, should be avoided. In particular, the limitations of dietary contributions to human and planetary health ought to be more widely acknowledged.

scholarly journals Indicators of Complexity and Over-Complexification in Global Food Systems

2021 ◽  
Vol 5 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip A. Loring ◽  
Palash Sanyal
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Genetically Modified Crops ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Disruptive Technology ◽  
Least Developed Countries ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Agricultural Revolution ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization ◽  
Global Food

Global food systems have increased in complexity significantly since the mid-twentieth century, through such innovations as mechanization, irrigation, genetic modification, and the globalization of supply chains. While complexification can be an effective problem-solving strategy, over-complexification can cause environmental degradation and lead systems to become increasingly dependent on external subsidies and vulnerable to collapse. Here, we explore a wide array of evidence of complexification and over-complexification in contemporary global food systems, drawing on data from the Food and Agriculture Organization and elsewhere. We find that food systems in developed, emerging, and least developed countries have all followed a trajectory of complexification, but that return on investments for energy and other food system inputs have significantly declined—a key indicator of over-complexification. Food systems in developed countries are further along in the process of over-complexification than least developed and emerging countries. Recent agricultural developments, specifically the introduction of genetically modified crops, have not altered this trend or improved return on investments for inputs into food systems. Similarly, emerging innovations belonging to the “digital agricultural revolution” are likewise accompanied by energy demands that may further exacerbate over-complexification. To reverse over-complexification, we discuss strategies including innovation by subtraction, agroecology, and disruptive technology.

scholarly journals Indicators of Complexity and Over-complexification in Global Food Systems

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philip A. Loring ◽  
Palash Sanyal
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Genetically Modified Crops ◽  
Developed Countries ◽  
Disruptive Technology ◽  
Least Developed Countries ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Agricultural Revolution ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization ◽  
Global Food

Global food systems have increased in complexity significantly since the mid-20th century, through such innovations as mechanization, irrigation, genetic modification, and the globalization of supply chains. While complexification can be an effective problem-solving strategy, over-complexification can cause environmental degradation and lead systems to become increasingly dependent on external subsidies and vulnerable to collapse. Here, we explore a wide array of evidence of complexification and over-complexification in contemporary global food systems, drawing on data from the Food and Agriculture Organization and elsewhere. We find that food systems in developed, emerging, and least developed countries have all followed a trajectory of complexification, but that return on investments for energy and other food system inputs have significantly declined—a key indicator of over-complexification. Food systems in developed countries are further along in the process of over-complexification than least developed and emerging countries. Recent agricultural developments, specifically the introduction of genetically modified crops, have not altered this trend or improved return on investments for inputs into food systems. Similarly, emerging innovations belonging to the “digital agricultural revolution” are likewise accompanied by energy demands that may further exacerbate over-complexification. To reverse over-complexification, we discuss strategies including innovation by subtraction, agroecology, and disruptive technology.

scholarly journals Grassroots and Global Governance: Can Global–Local Linkages Foster Food System Resilience for Small Northern Canadian Communities?

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
pp. 2415
Author(s):  
Carla Johnston ◽  
Andrew Spring
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Global Governance ◽  
Land Tenure ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Global Climate ◽  
Local Level ◽  
Indigenous Communities ◽  
Global Network ◽  
Global Networks

Communities in Canada’s Northwest Territories (NWT) are at the forefront of the global climate emergency. Yet, they are not passive victims; local-level programs are being implemented across the region to maintain livelihoods and promote adaptation. At the same time, there is a recent call within global governance literature to pay attention to how global policy is implemented and affecting people on the ground. Thinking about these two processes, we ask the question: (how) can global governance assist northern Indigenous communities in Canada in reaching their goals of adapting their food systems to climate change? To answer this question, we argue for a “community needs” approach when engaging in global governance literature and practice, which puts community priorities and decision-making first. As part of a collaborative research partnership, we highlight the experiences of Ka’a’gee Tu First Nation, located in Kakisa, NWT, Canada. We include their successes of engaging in global network building and the systemic roadblock of lack of formal land tenure. Moreover, we analyze potential opportunities for this community to engage with global governance instruments and continue connecting to global networks that further their goals related to climate change adaptation and food sovereignty.

scholarly journals Agro-Food Innovation and Sustainability Transition: A Conceptual Synthesis

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (12) ◽  
pp. 6897
Author(s):  
Xiangping Jia
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Innovation System ◽  
Ecosystem Approach ◽  
System Innovation ◽  
Agricultural Innovation ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Sustainability Transition ◽  
Entrepreneurial Activities ◽  
Agricultural Innovation System

The global community faces the challenge of feeding a growing population with declining resources, making transformation to sustainable agriculture and food systems all the more imperative and ‘innovation’ all the more crucial. In this study, agro-food system innovation (re)defines sustainability transition with a complexity construct of cross-scale interaction and an adaptive cycle of system change. By taking a panarchical view, top-down and bottom-up pathways to innovation can be reconciled and are not contradictory, enabling and constraining innovation at every level. This study breaks down the structure of the agricultural innovation system into four components based on multi-level perspectives of sustainability transition, namely: actors and communities, interaction and intermediaries, coherence and connectedness and regimes rules and landscape. Meanwhile, this research frames the functional construct of system innovation for food and agriculture with five perspectives drawing on broad inputs from different schools of thought, namely: knowledge management, user sophistication, entrepreneurial activities’ directionality and reflexive evaluation. This research advocates for an ecosystem approach to agricultural innovation that gives full play to niche-regime interactions using social-technical perspectives.

scholarly journals Food System Sustainability Metrics: Policies, Quantification, and the Role of Complexity Sciences

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (22) ◽  
pp. 12408
Author(s):  
José V. Matos ◽  
Rui J. Lopes
Keyword(s):  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Policy Design ◽  
Sustainability Metrics ◽  
Investment Projects ◽  
Complexity Sciences ◽  
Human Needs ◽  
Confidence Levels ◽  
System Sustainability ◽  
And Control

The rise of global attention toward sustainability and sustainable development (SD) has provided increased incentives for research development and investment in these areas. Food systems are at the center of human needs and global population growth sustainability concerns. These drives and the need to provide quantified support for related investment projects led to the proliferation of sustainability metrics and frameworks. While questions about sustainability definition and measurement still abound, SD policy design and control increasingly need adequate quantified support instruments. This paper aims to address this need, contributing to a more consistent and integrated application of food system sustainability metrics and quantified management of the implemented solutions. After presenting the relationships between sustainability, resilience, and robustness and summarizing food system sustainability quantification developments so far, we expose complexity sciences’ potential contributions toward SD quantified evaluation, addressing prediction, intangibles, and uncertainty issues. Finding a paramount need to make sense and bring existing sustainability metrics in context for operational use, we conclude that the articulated application of multiple and independent modeling approaches at the micro, meso, and macro levels can better help the development of food SD policies and implemented solution quantified management, with due regard to confidence levels of the results obtained.

scholarly journals Options for reforming agricultural subsidies from health, climate, and economic perspectives

2022 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Springmann ◽  
F. Freund
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Food System ◽  
Global Scale ◽  
Integrated Modelling ◽  
Agricultural Subsidies ◽  
Sustainable Food ◽  
Equal Distribution ◽  
Modelling Framework ◽  
Economic Perspectives

AbstractAgricultural subsidies are an important factor for influencing food production and therefore part of a food system that is seen as neither healthy nor sustainable. Here we analyse options for reforming agricultural subsidies in line with health and climate-change objectives on one side, and economic objectives on the other. Using an integrated modelling framework including economic, environmental, and health assessments, we find that on a global scale several reform options could lead to reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and improvements in population health without reductions in economic welfare. Those include a repurposing of up to half of agricultural subsidies to support the production of foods with beneficial health and environmental characteristics, including fruits, vegetables, and other horticultural products, and combining such repurposing with a more equal distribution of subsidy payments globally. The findings suggest that reforming agricultural subsidy schemes based on health and climate-change objectives can be economically feasible and contribute to transitions towards healthy and sustainable food systems.

scholarly journals Foresight for income and employment: What can we learn for agricultural research for development

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gideon Kruseman ◽  
Ahmad Dermawan ◽  
Mandiaye Diagne ◽  
Dolapo Enahoro ◽  
Aymen Frija ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
Food Systems ◽  
Agricultural Research ◽  
Decision Makers ◽  
Comprehensive Overview ◽  
Agricultural Income ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Study Results ◽  
Entry Points ◽  
The Future

Challenges related to poverty, hunger, nutrition, health, and the environment are widespread and urgent. One way to stress the urgency of making the right decisions about the future of the global food systems now is to better understand and more clearly articulate the alternative scenarios that food systems face. Developing, synthesizing, and presenting such alternatives to decision makers in a clear way is the ultimate goal of e CGIAR Foresight team.No single source of information focuses regularly and systematically on the future of food and agriculture, and challenges facing developing countries. Our work aims to fill that gap with a focus on agricultural income and employment.group systematically collects information about past, on-going and planned foresight activities across CGIAR centers and their partners, spanning the global agricultural research for development arenaWe present a comprehensive overview and synthesis of the results of relevant foresight research, which through the tagging with metadata allows for customized investigations in greater detail. The cross-cutting nature of this work allows for a more comprehensive picture and assessments of possible complementarities/trade-offs.Potential users of this report and associated activities include CGIAR science leaders and scientists as well as the broader research community, national and international development partners, national governments and research organizations, funders, and the private sector.The approach developed by the CGIAR foresight group is used to make foresight study results accessible across organizations and domains in order to aid policy and decision makers for strategic planning. The approach allows visualization of both the available information across multiple entry points as well as the identification of critical knowledge gaps.

scholarly journals Sustainable and Environmentally Friendly Essential Oils Extracted from Pineapple Waste

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 6833-6844
Keyword(s):  
Essential Oil ◽  
Essential Oils ◽  
Bioactive Compounds ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Ananas Comosus ◽  
Pineapple Waste ◽  
Food And Agriculture ◽  
Food And Agriculture Organization ◽  
Aldehydes And Ketones ◽  
United Nations Food

Pineapple (Ananas comosus (L.) Merril), one of the major fruit crops, is mainly used for raw consumption and for industrial juice production, which creates large amounts of residues. The United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) has estimated that pineapple waste accounts for between 50 to 65 % of the total weight of the fruit. Industrial pineapple waste is a major source of pollution as important quantities of primary residues are not further processed. Pineapple waste contains bioactive compounds such as carotenoids, polyphenols, fibers, vitamins, enzymes, and essential oils. These phytochemicals can be used in the food industry, medicine and pharmacy, textile, and others. This review highlights essential oil and other bioactive compounds extracted from pineapple waste and the composition of pineapple essential oil. Pineapple peels are the potential raw material for essential oil extraction through various methods. Modern spectrometric methods have shown that essential oil extracted from pineapple waste comprises esters, alcohols, aldehydes, and ketones. From this overview, it can be concluded that there is an important need for further research into pineapple waste as a potential source of valuable byproducts, as well as new techniques to studying industrial organic residuals to achieve higher recovery rates of valuable bioactive compounds used in pharmaceuticals, cosmetic and chemical industries as well as for developing new functional foods.

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