Sustainable Food Systems

The February 2021 UNEP report, "Making Peace with Nature" noted that the current development model is unequal and intensive in the extraction of natural resources, which prevents meeting the basic needs of a large portion of the population and combating the crises of climate change, pollution and ecosystem destruction.?

In the last 50 years, the population has doubled, while resource and energy extraction has tripled, trade has increased tenfold and the global economy has grown fivefold. However, 1.3 billion people (17% of the total) live in poverty; 700 million suffer from hunger; 2 billion suffer from water stress; 3.2 billion (40% of the total) are affected by land degradation; and there are 9 million premature deaths per year due to pollution.

The ecological footprint of the current production model is enormous and includes greenhouse gas emissions, use of antibiotics, pesticides and chemical fertilizers, water use and overfishing, among others.

Previously, in 2014, during the Second International Conference on Nutrition, by adopting the Rome Declaration on World Food Security, 193 countries recognized that: (1) the progressive realization of the right to adequate food in the context of national food security must be promoted through sustainable, equitable, universally accessible, resilient and diverse food systems, and 2) food systems, including all components of production, processing and distribution, must be sustainable, resilient and efficient in providing more diverse foods in an equitable manner, with due attention to environmental and health impact assessment.

In this regard, among the thematic lines for achieving the sustainable development goals is the transition to sustainable food systems, defined as those that guarantee food security and nutrition for all, in a way that does not compromise the economic, social and environmental bases for future generations.?

A food system is the interrelationship of food production, distribution and consumption. A sustainable food system uses agricultural practices that are environmentally friendly, humane, economically viable and socially just. It develops more sustainable food distribution systems and diets and reduces food waste throughout the system.

In his speech on "The State of the Planet", UN Director General António Guterres pointed out that the sustainable food system must aim at global food production and consumption, as food systems are one of the main reasons that prevent us from respecting the ecological limits of the planet.

The FAO has stated that, "currently, food systems are responsible for a significant share (20-33%) of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and are a major factor in land conversion, deforestation and biodiversity loss. Agriculture alone accounts for approximately 70% of global freshwater withdrawals, while it is also an activity that causes water pollution."

According to the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition, a food system "brings together all the elements and activities that relate to the production, processing, distribution, preparation and consumption of food, as well as the products of these activities, including socioeconomic and environmental outcomes." Let's look at the main elements of the system:

Sustainable agriculture. Agriculture contributes significantly to climate change, water scarcity and pollution, deforestation and soil degradation, among other processes, and at the same time is negatively affected by them. Therefore, sustainable agriculture implies avoiding these adverse effects in both directions while meeting the needs of present and future generations for products and services, ensuring economic benefits, environmental health and economic and social equity.

Sustainable distribution systems. Transportation plays a fundamental role in the timely distribution of food in sufficient quantities and is even more important when it comes to food that must be refrigerated. In addition, large amounts of energy are required to heat, cool and light storage or distribution warehouses, especially in the case of cold or frozen products. Some alternatives to reduce the environmental impact in this sector include the use of LED lamps, motion sensors and quick-closing doors to maintain a constant temperature.

Sustainable diets. Despite the implicit difficulty in determining what a sustainable diet is, since the concept requires the consideration of economic, cultural and geographical issues among many others, experts gathered at the International Scientific Symposium "Sustainable Diets and Biodiversity: United against Hunger" came up with the following definition:

Sustainable diets are those diets with low environmental impact that contribute to food and nutrition security and healthy living for present and future generations. Sustainable diets are protective and respectful of biodiversity and ecosystems; culturally acceptable, accessible, economically fair and affordable; nutritionally adequate, safe and healthy; while optimizing natural and human resources.

On this basis, FAO has developed food based dietary guide lines for a sustainable diet, which take into account international nutrition recommendations; the environmental cost of food production and consumption; and adaptability to local social, cultural and economic contexts. ?

Food loss and waste. This refers to food that is not eaten by humans or animals and is not used as compost or to generate bioenergy. This component is an important part of agriculture's impact on climate change as a major generator of greenhouse gases, and occurs throughout the food system. In 2021, a UNEP study estimated that of the 931 million tons of food wasted in that year, 61% came from households, 26% from food services and 13% from retail.

Solutions to this problem can be found in all components of the system, although a great deal of attention is devoted to consumption, collection and disposal. On the consumption side, a significant reduction can be achieved through proper planning of purchases, adequate food storage and avoiding unnecessary accumulation of food. Collection requires the collaboration of both households and authorities, adopting practices that allow the separation of waste to facilitate final disposal. As for disposal, in addition to sanitary landfills, waste can be composted, mainly to be used as fertilizer, in many cases it can be used as animal feed or to generate energy.

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Making food value chains sustainable has become an important aspect of scientific and political discourse. To provide sufficient quantities of nutritious food while conserving natural resources and minimizing environmental impact, it is necessary to understand the links between dietary quality and food value chains, including modern retail formats.

In order to transform food systems and make them sustainable, fair and inclusive, regulations are needed to enable the population to have access to products that are nutritious, safe, varied, fairly priced and produced in an environmentally responsible manner. These regulations must also, according to the High-Level Experts, guarantee a responsible and effective governance system, especially with regard to the use and protection of natural resources.

Panelists at the 3rd Sustainable Food Systems Program Conference, held in November and December 2021 recognized that sustainable transformation requires the alignment of actions and the use of joint indicators to guide these actions.

In this process, there are policy tools with a high potential for effectiveness, such as government spending through public procurement for school meal programs, which can have a significant effect on a sustainable and healthy transformation of the food system.

Finally, in order to achieve the necessary progress, in this issue as in almost any other related to the global crises of climate change, pollution and ecosystem degradation citizen participation is as important as that of governmental authorities. But it is not necessary to wait for one or the other to take the first step.?The dilemma between waiting for actions that will change the system to end the crisis or focusing on changing individual behaviors only distracts us from the real work and detracts from the power of individual choices.

When both efforts are put into action, our capacity to solve problems increases. Even more so when, in cases such as the one discussed here, we have models and guidelines such as the guiding principles for a sustainable diet, mentioned above, or, in a more general context, the concepts of the circular economy or the United Nations' Act Now campaign.

To learn more about sustainable food systems, you can see the report “Transforming food and agriculture to achieve the SDGs”.

At 2° Much! we also have ongoing projects that support citizen participation in actions that favor our planet. Check them out on our website.