Global – Sustainability

FAO Global Roadmap for Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2) without Breaching the 1.5°C Threshold (2023 Dec)

Don’t have time for the whole report?
**Read the Brief!**

The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) developed the Global Roadmap for Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 2 (SDG2) without Breaching the 1.5°C Threshold aimed at eliminating hunger and all forms of malnutrition without exceeding the 1.5°C threshold set by the Paris Agreement. The roadmap outlines a comprehensive strategy spanning the next three years that encompasses a diverse portfolio of solutions across ten distinct domains of action.

It challenges the prevailing narrative that increasing production is synonymous with higher emissions and environmental degradation. Instead, it emphasizes the opportunity within agrifood systems to enhance production efficiency while aligning with climate mitigation, adaptation, and resilience objectives.

The roadmap identifies 120 actions and key milestones within ten domains, supported by evidence gathered by FAO over several years. These domains include clean energy, crops, fisheries and aquaculture, food loss and waste, forests and wetlands, healthy diets, livestock, soil and water, and data and inclusive policies — the latter two identified as overall systemic enablers.

Concerning food and nutrition, it sets a path to eliminate chronic undernourishment by 2030 and ensure access to healthy diets for all by 2050. Additional milestones include halving per capita global food waste by 2030 and updating Food-based dietary guidelines (FBSG) by countries to provide context-appropriate quantitative recommendations on dietary patterns.

The roadmap also emphasizes the symbiotic relationship between agrifood systems transformation and climate actions, urging the mobilization of climate finance for implementation.

Highlighting a just transition at its core, the roadmap envisions transforming agrifood systems from a net emitter to a carbon sink. It calls for alternative production methods, adjusted consumption patterns, refined forestry management, and innovative technologies such as carbon capture.

Advocating for global resource optimization beyond crop production, the plan suggests rebalancing consumption patterns and promoting healthy diets for all. It stresses that adaptability to specific contexts is crucial, cautioning against one-size-fits-all solutions.

The process, unveiled at the United Nations Climate Conference COP28 as a concrete package of solutions, will undergo extensive fine-tuning and elaboration over the next three years. COP29 will delve into regional adaptation and financial options, while COP30 will outline concrete investment and policy packages at the country level.

The text above was extracted from an FAO press release.

Strengthening urban and peri-urban food systems to achieve food security and nutrition, in the context of urbanization and rural transformation (2024 July)

Citation: HLPE. 2024. Strengthening urban and peri‑urban food systems to achieve food security and nutrition, in the context of urbanization and rural transformation. Rome, CFS HLPE‑FSN. Retrieved from FAO CFS HLPE-FSN wesbiste.

In an era in which almost 80 percent of the global population resides in urban and peri‑urban (U‑PU) areas, understanding and addressing the complexities of U‑PU food systems is more critical than ever. This groundbreaking report by the High Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE‑FSN) challenges prevailing narratives, revealing that over three‑quarters of the world’s food‑insecure population lives in urban and peri‑urban regions, and that U‑PU areas are epicentres of multiple burdens of malnutrition.

The report provides an in‑depth analysis of the unique challenges and opportunities in these areas. It shows how U‑PU areas have a profound impact on food systems, influencing production, distribution and consumption patterns worldwide. The report emphasizes the need for equitable, accessible, sustainable and resilient food systems, for the realization of the right to food.

The report also stresses the importance of multilevel, multilateral and multi‑actor governance and highlights the intricate linkages between food systems and other critical systems related to water, energy and mobility. With action‑oriented policy recommendations, this report is an essential tool for policymakers, researchers and stakeholders dedicated to ensuring food security and nutrition in the context of rapid urbanization.

For a longer, more descriptive summary of the report, see the FAO news about the launch of the report on 2 July 2024.

#Dietitians & #Nutritionists are ideally placed to complement these efforts!

Regenerative Aquatic Foods (RAF) Roadmap (2023)

Citation: Food + Planet, CGIAR & GAIN. Regenerative Aquatic Foods Roadmap (Rockefeller Foundation, 2023); https://go.nature.com/3T9Tx7a

During a convening at the Bellagio Center in July 2023, a group of experts co-created the RAF Roadmap, aligning closely with the SDGs. The experts, with backgrounds in nutrition, environmental conservation, aquaculture, policy development economics and community practices, recognized the need for a universal cross-organizational effort to advance regenerative aquatic foods, emphasizing sustainability and equitable food systems.

It was agreed that RAFs are aquatic foods from systems that enhance ecosystems, rather than deplete, and also offer restorative benefits, fostering positive relationships between people and nature. A four-dimensional (4D) framework of sustainable food systems (Fig. 1) was employed to identify the diverse benefits of RAF across nutrition, planetary, socio-cultural, and economic dimensions.

This roadmap identifies strategic areas essential for upscaling RAF production sustainably:

Consumption:
- integrate RAFs into diets by creating appealing products, gaining endorsements from food champions, including RAFs in dietary guidelines and food composition tables, and supporting efforts in consumer education.
Community-based practices:
- enable local and Indigenous communities to steward and benefit from RAF resources, enhanc-ing food sovereignty and sustainable management.
Ecosystem services:
- monetize services such as carbon cycling, species recov-ery and nutrient reduction to promote economic systems that value ecological restoration and conservation.
Capital investment:
- encourage innova-tive, environmentally friendly production methods through sufficient funding and effective financial mechanisms.
Technology and innovation:
- utilize advanced technologies (for example, environmental monitoring and forecast-ing technology, and native species breed-ing programs) to optimize production and participatory incentive structures designed by local communities to ensure sustainability.

The Rockefeller Foundation and the Bellagio Center provided the facilities and funding to host this historic convening. Support (monetary and in-kind) were also provide by GAIN, The Nature Conservancy, Builders Initiative, and Food + Planet.

This text was adpated from: Vogliano, C., Kennedy, G., Thilsted, S., Mbuya, M. N. N., Battista, W., Sadoff, C., White, G., Kim, J. K., Pucher, J., Koome, K., D’Cruz, G., Geagan, K., Chang, K., Sumaila, U. R., Palmer, S., & Alleway, H. (2024). Regenerative aquatic foods can be a win–win for human and planetary health. Nature Food, 5, 718–719. https://doi.org/10.1038/s43016-024-01043-5.

TABLE (website)

TABLE’s mission: ingredients for better dialogue. TABLE is a food systems platform that sets out the evidence, assumptions and values that people bring to debates about resilient and sustainable food futures. They explore the data, the biases and the beliefs behind those debates in order to support better dialogue, decision making and action.

TABLE is for everyone with an interest in food. Acting as an interface between the worlds of research and practice, our work reflects and interrogates real and relevant food system debates. We are in constant dialogue with people working within the food system, including civil society, policy makers, advocates and practitioners.

TABLE puts together many resources such as explainers, blog posts, podcasts, letterbox series, other publications in their resource library, and a list of events and job opportunities. They have a page in Spanish as well. TABLE es MESA en América Latina.

A useful resource for busy people is their summary series which break down some of their explainers into a brief format. Short summaries are now available for the following explainers:

What is regenerative agriculture?
What is ecomodernism?
What is feed food competition?
What is the land sparing-land sharing continuum?
What is agroecology?
What is food sovereignty?
Soy: food, feed and land use change
Rewilding and its implications for agriculture
Agricultural methane
What is malnutrition?
What is the nutrition transition?
What is ultra-processed food? And why do people disagree about its utility as a concept?

TABLE was created in collaboration with the University of Oxford, building on the work of the Food Climate Research Network; the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), via the SLU Future Food platform; and Wageningen University & Research, and then expanded to include la Universidad de los Andes (Colombia), la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México, and Cornell CALS (USA).

Sustainability-informed dietetics education: key messages for educators and national dietetics associations (2024)

Browne S, Corish C, Nordin S, Carlsson L. Sustainability-informed dietetics education: key messages for educators and national dietetics associations. J Hum Nutr Diet. 2024; 1–10. https://doi.org/10.1111/jhn.13322

Background

Dietetics curricula currently fail to meet the educational needs of the future dietetic workforce to contribute expertise in sustainable, healthy food systems in the settings in which dietitians work. A ‘Global Networking Event on Sustainable Food Systems in Nutrition and Dietetics Education’ was held in June 2023 with the goals of building relationships among international stakeholders and informing the development of shared curricula.

Methods

Plenary lectures, panels and roundtable discussions were held over 2 days, designed to provide the background required to generate informed actions. Topics included recent research from practice and education, competency standards and relevant policy documents, examples from the field, ‘big questions’ about scope and student perspectives. Key messages were summarised thematically to inform educators and national dietetics associations.

Results

Fifty-five delegates attended from 11 nations representing education, research, dietetic associations, industry and diverse practice backgrounds. Key priorities identified for educators included co-development of curricular frameworks and pedagogical theory, practical training supports and solutions to limited time and expertise. Key recommendations for national dietetics associations included strategic promotion of sustainable food systems in dietetic roles and practical supports.

Conclusions

Outcomes are anticipated to stimulate ongoing discussion, collaboration and actions on sustainable food systems education within the dietetics profession leading to shared curricular models and supports.

Highlights

Sustainable food system (SFS) competency requirements and curricular integration are inconsistent globally and lack robust frameworks to support dietetics education.
There is a need to define the scope of practice for SFS within dietitians’ roles.
Current opportunities in education include scaffolding existing topics and activities with signature pedagogies for sustainability, harnessing transferrable knowledge and skills to adapt to future SFS roles, and establishing interdisciplinary food systems teaching and learning activities.
National dietetics associations can act to support SFS in the professional role of dietitians.

How Practitioners Can Influence Planetary Health (2024)

Published by Orgain, written by Mary Purdy, MS, RDN. This 12-page article is inclusive of a useful list of resources and references with 9 suggestions for putting recommendations into practice.

In addition to the topics they raise, two other issues are key for Sustainable Food Systems:

🥤 🛒 PLASTICS are a huge part of the problem in all parts of the food system from production to processing to consumption. We can avoid plastic and help our clients and networks to do the same.

🌳 🦗 There are thousands of INDIGENOUS SPECIES around the world – diverse flora, fungi, and fauna – which can help to heal our planet & people.

Playbook for Guiding Diners Toward Plant-Rich Dishes in Food Service (2020)

World Resources Institute (2020). Playbook for Guiding Diners Toward Plant-Rich Dishes in Food Service.

To help food service companies support diners in choosing more plant-rich meals, this playbook from WRI’s Better Buying Lab outlines the top 23 ‘behavior change’ strategies drawing on cutting-edge academic research into how people choose food, as well as insights from experts in the food service industry about what works and what doesn’t.

Producing beef emits 20 times more greenhouse gases than common plant-based proteins, which is why shifting diets toward containing less beef, and more plants, is an important climate action.

The playbook is designed to be used by anyone working in the food service sector wishing to make changes within their operations to encourage diners to choose more sustainable, plant-rich options — including chefs, food servers, managers, sales people, marketing and communications professionals, food operators, distributors, researchers, nutritionists, dietitians, and procurement teams.

A conceptual framework for understanding the environmental impacts of ultra-processed foods and implications for sustainable food systems (2022)

K. Anastasiou, P. Baker, M. Hadjikakou, G.A. Hendrie, M. Lawrence. A conceptual framework for understanding the environmental impacts of ultra-processed foods and implications for sustainable food systems. Journal of Cleaner Production. Volume 368, 2022, 133155, ISSN 0959-6526, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2022.133155 (paywall).

Relevant to:

Dietitians interested in understanding the environmental impacts of UPFs.

Question:

Research aim: to determine the types of environmental impacts resulting from each stage of UPF production, and the magnitude of these impacts in the context of dietary consumption patterns

Bottom line for nutrition practice:

The findings highlight that environmental degradation associated with UPFs is of significant concern due to the substantial resources used in the production and processing of such products, and also because UPFs are superfluous to basic human needs.

Abstract:

Minimising environmental impacts and prioritising the production of nutritious foods are essential qualities of a sustainable food system. Ultra-processed foods (UFPs) are potentially counterproductive to these objectives.
This review aims to summarise the magnitude and types of environmental impacts resulting from each stage of the UPF supply chain and to develop a conceptual framework to display these impacts. It also aims to identify the terms used to describe UPFs in the sustainability literature, and the methods used to measure the associated environmental impacts.
A narrative review approach with a systematic search strategy was used. Fifty-two studies were included that either described or quantified the environmental impacts of UPFs.
This review found that UPFs are responsible for significant diet-related environmental impacts.
- Included studies reported that UPFs accounted for between 17 and 39% of total diet-related energy use, 36–45% of total diet-related biodiversity loss, up to one-third of total diet-related greenhouse gas emissions, land use and food waste and up to one-quarter of total diet-related water-use among adults in a range of high-income countries.
- These results varied depending on the scope of the term used to describe UPFs, stages of the lifecycle included in the analyses and country.
- Studies also identified that UPF production and consumption has impacts on land degradation, herbicide use, eutrophication and packaging use, although these impacts were not quantified in relation to dietary contribution.
The findings highlight that environmental degradation associated with UPFs is of significant concern due to the substantial resources used in the production and processing of such products, and also because UPFs are superfluous to basic human needs.
The conceptual framework and findings presented can be used to inform food policy and dietary guideline development, as well as provide recommendations for future research.

Details of results:

From a resource-use perspective, UPFs are not a necessary component of diets and therefore environmental impacts are avoidable. Environmental impacts from UPFs occur across the entire supply chain. These impacts range in magnitude, but research on Australian discretionary food consumption indicates that they are significant; approximately one-third of diet-related energy, greenhouse gas emissions, land use, and water use was driven by the production of discretionary foods in Australia.

UPFs reliance on low-cost, high-yield commodities is a driver of diet-related greenhouse gas emissions and biodiversity loss, intensive processing technologies is a driver of diet-related energy use and reliance on packaging drives plastic pollution.

Meat-based UPFs appear to be significant drivers of UPF-related greenhouse gas emissions. Plant-based UPFs also contribute to greenhouse gas emissions but their impacts on biodiversity and deforestation are perhaps more concerning.

Of additional interest:

The ways in which foods were classified in the original research articles influenced study findings. This highlights the importance of considering the most relevant food classification system, and the potential impacts of the classification on the findings. Specifically, some outcomes, such as greenhouse gas emissions and land use, appeared to be driven by whether or not studies included processed meats in their ‘unhealthy food’ category.None

Conflict of interest/ Funding:

none

External relevant links:

Ultra-processed foods should be central to global food systems dialogue and action on biodiversity (2022) – The contribution of ultra-processed foods to agrobiodiversity loss is significant, but so far has been overlooked in global food systems summits, biodiversity conventions and climate change conferences. Ultra-processed foods need to be given urgent and high priority in the agendas of such meetings, and policies and action agreed.

Consumption of Ultra-Processed Foods by Pesco-Vegetarians, Vegetarians, and Vegans: Associations with Duration and Age at Diet Initiation (2020) – This study assessed the intake of ultra-processed foods (UPFs) and unprocessed foods within a group of meat eaters and vegetarians (pesco-vegetarians, vegetarians, and vegans) in France.

2022-Anastasiou-author-version-conceptual-framework-environmental-impacts-UPFs Download

Corresponding author:

Kim Anastasiou, Ms, kim.anastasiou@adelaide.edu.au

Conceptualising the drivers of ultra-processed food production and consumption and their environmental impacts: A group model-building exercise (2023)

Kim Anastasiou, Phillip Baker, Gilly A. Hendrie, Michalis Hadjikakou, Sinead Boylan, Abhishek Chaudhary, Michael Clark, Fabrice A.J. DeClerck, Jessica Fanzo, Anthony Fardet, Fernanda Helena Marrocos Leite, Daniel Mason-D’Croz, Rob Percival, Christian Reynolds, Mark Lawrence. Conceptualising the drivers of ultra-processed food production and consumption and their environmental impacts: A group model-building exercise. Global Food Security, Volume 37, 2023, 100688, ISSN 2211-9124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.gfs.2023.100688 (paywall)

Relevant to:

Policy makers and dietitians interested in system-wide policy change.

Question:

This study aimed to develop and validate a conceptual model of the known and potential environmental impacts across ultra-processed food (UPF) systems.

Bottom line for nutrition practice:

UPFs are associated with a wide range of environmental harms, driven by a profit-based, corporatized food system and enforced by product design and a food environment structured to encourage UPF consumption. Effectively reducing UPF production and consumption would require a suite of policies acting on the political economy, food environment and production system.

Abstract:

Using group model building we developed a series of causal loop diagrams identifying the environmental impacts of ultra-processed food (UPF) systems, and underlying system drivers, which was subsequently validated against the peer-reviewed literature.
The final conceptual model displays the commercial, biological and social drivers of the UPF system, and the impacts on environmental sub-systems including climate, land, water and waste. It displays complex interactions between various environmental impacts, demonstrating how changes to one component of the system could have flow-on effects on other components. Trade-offs and uncertainties are discussed.
The model has a wide range of applications including informing the design of quantitative analyses, identifying research gaps and potential policy trade-offs resulting from a reduction of ultra-processed food production and consumption.

Details of results:

There are a range of mechanisms by which UPFs harm the environment. Impacts do not occur in isolation and many are cumulative, whereby one type of environmental damage acts to further degrade other forms of environmental damage. Impacts include climate change, land and soil degradation, water scarcity, biodiversity and agrobiodiversity loss, eutrophication, food loss and waste, plastic waste and air pollution.

Drivers of environmental degradation include a political economy system which acts to reinforce profits of UPF corporations, drive corporate political power and ultimately weaken protective food policies. Other drivers include product design, whereby UPFs are designed to be as palatable as possible and a food environment which enables access to inexpensive UPFs around the globe.

Ultimately a shift in production is required to meet the goals of healthy, sustainable and equitable food systems. However, policies which encourage a shift away from UPF production towards unprocessed, minimally processed and processed foods, need to account for trade-offs. Trade-offs relate to production efficiency, time pressures, food loss and waste, land use, cost and convenience (see Table 1).

Of additional interest:

The model highlights research gaps which could be used by future researchers to determine UPF-related research studies. Furthermore, the model can be used to guide researchers on designing quantitative environmental impact assessments, as well as to provide a guide for interpreting quantitative findings in the context of complex and dynamic food systems.

Conflict of interest/ Funding:

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency, commercial or not-for-profit sectors. KA was funded by a Deakin University Postgraduate Research Scholarship.

External relevant links:

2023-Anastasiou-author-version-Conceptualising-the-drivers-and-impacts-of-UPFs Download

Corresponding author:

Kim Anastasiou, Ms – kim.anastasiou@adelaide.edu.au

Ultra-processed foods should be central to global food systems dialogue and action on biodiversity (2022)

Leite FHM, Khandpur N, Andrade GC, et al. Ultra-processed foods should be central to global food systems dialogue and action on biodiversity. BMJ Global Health 2022;7:e008269. doi:10.1136/bmjgh-2021-008269

This commentary highlights the impact of global diets characterised by a high intake of ultra-processed foods on agrobiodiversity. It calls for prioritising and addressing ultra-processed foods in global food system dialogues and policy, and country-level action.

Summary box

► The global industrial food system and consequent rapid rise of ultra-processed foods is severely impairing biodiversity. Yet although the impacts of existing land use and food production practices on biodiversity have received much attention, the role of ultra-processed foods has been largely ignored.

► An increasingly prominent ‘globalised diet’, characterised by an abundance of branded ultra-processed food products made and distributed on an industrial scale, comes at the expense of the cultivation, manufacture and consumption of traditional foods, cuisines and diets, comprising mostly fresh and minimally processed foods.

► Ultra-processed foods are typically manufactured using ingredients extracted from a handful of high-yielding plant species, including maize, wheat, soy and oil seed crops. Animal-sourced ingredients used in many ultra-processed foods are often derived from confined animals fed on the same crops.

► The contribution of ultra-processed foods to agrobiodiversity loss is significant, but so far has been overlooked in global food systems summits, biodiversity conventions and climate change conferences. Ultra-processed foods need to be given urgent and high priority in the agendas of such meetings, and policies and action agreed.

Conclusion

The very rapid rise of ultra-processed foods in human diets will continue to place pressure on the diversity of plant species available for human consumption. Future global food systems fora, biodiversity conventions and climate change conferences need to highlight the destruction of agrobiodiversity caused by ultra-processed foods, and to agree on policies and actions designed to slow and reverse this disaster. Relevant policymakers at all levels, researchers, professional and civil society organisations, and citizen action groups, need to be part of this process.

Background

Methods

Results

Conclusions

Highlights

Related links

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Bottom line for nutrition practice:

Abstract:

Details of results:

Of additional interest:

Conflict of interest/ Funding:

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Corresponding author:

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Question:

Bottom line for nutrition practice:

Abstract:

Details of results:

Of additional interest:

Conflict of interest/ Funding:

External relevant links:

Corresponding author:

Summary box

Conclusion